whose food we eat, their song we sing

April 15, 2008: We are at the London Book Fair, held at Earl’s Court, London from April 14-16 this year. It is spectacular, well organized and a treat to the eyes as you see rows and rows of books from so many categories.

Gourmand is in partnership with LBF this year, and there is a fabulous, well designed spacious set up for Gourmand at LBF. There is a small, efficient and buzzing kitchen set up to assist demonstrations by many popular culinary authors / chefs.

What you can see in the pic above is the demo space called LBF Gourmand Cookbook Corner. Don’t miss the huge mirror on the top where you can see everything arranged on the counter below. On the left is the door that leads to the kitchen. We both were also invited to make a presentation about ‘Cooking at Home with Pedatha’ and Indian cuisine.

WE RECORDED OUR SPEECH, EMAILED THE RECORDING FILE TO OUR OFFICE AND THEY TYPED IT; HERE ARE SOME EXTRACTS:

“Good afternoon. Lovely weather here in London! In India this is the hottest time of day…Mittha majiyaanam…one is already getting exhausted & lethargic with the heat. But of course, that depends on which region of India one is talking about & what time of the year. April? Definitely hot & humid in all coastal areas and hot & dry in the interiors, pleasant – almost cold – with a cool nip in the hills! Such is the vastness of India’s geographical boundaries that when we travel from one place to another, it is quite often that we have to pack our bags keeping weather conditions of the next state in mind! And vaster still is India’s rich cultural & culinary heritage.

Is there really something called an INDIAN cuisine? Is there ANY ONE dish that can at all represent the whole of India?

Of course, the Indian curry, Biriyani, Tandoori delicacies are world famous, but truly, they represent only a few regions of this unique country. To give you an example of its diversity, rice is the staple meal of the entire southern region, but as you move up North, in areas like Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, even till a decade ago, rice was an occasional treat in daily household cooking. These regions are known for their Rotis made from wheat and various other grains & millets. To date, the South Indians are astonished at the art of perfect Roti making…and the North Indians marvel at the fluffy Idlis & crisp Dosas of the south.

It is only the human mind that has the power to convert a basic need like food into an aesthetic experience…a creative expression…into a forum where ideas can be expressed & exchanged. And it is for precisely this exchange of ideas that we are gathered here today. To share with you that which we think makes Indian cuisine unique. We also have with us, Dr. Prakash Kalmadi, whose reputed Ayurvedic institute in India is the resource point of our next book on vegetarian recipes enriched with Ayurvedic wisdom.

Both of us with Dr. Kalmadi

At any forum that we address in our country, one of the foremost questions asked of us is – how is it that the two of you, from North India- one from Gujarat & one from Rajasthan, wrote a book on Andhra cuisine which is of South India? This question is justified, simply because it is a fact that every state in India has its own unique recipes, so very different from the others. So, although Indian curry is world famous, what is not simple knowledge is that there are different curries that taste very different from each other.

But the fact that we were both unfamiliar with Andhra cooking and that we were eager to learn, helped us in the making of this book. We could not take anything for granted. We had to break all pre knowledge…all presupposition. We had to write like beginners & for beginners in a certain sense. We could not take for granted that our readers would know how to temper spices the Pedatha way! We could not take for granted that readers would be okay about using 20 chillies in a recipe for 4 people :). It was new knowledge to us too! And we do believe that if readers have enjoyed & liked our book, it is in a big way due to the simplicity & thoroughness with which every instruction is written. And this happened more so because we were ourselves seekers & learners.

Today, we bring to you one important aspect of Indian cooking - TEMPERING.

Almost every Indian recipe, except Dessert, is tempered with crackling spices. Usually heating is associated with the word temper. But in the context of Indian cooking, the term ‘temper’ takes on a very different meaning. How is this tempering done? Primarily by heating a little oil or clarified butter and adding the relevant spices until they change colour or crackle. Here again although the basic concept of tempering is the same all over the country, each region…why, even every family for that matter has its own distinctive way of tempering, and each claims proudly & possessively that theirs is the best way to temper food!

God knows the number of near fights we both have had over whose tempering is correct or better . Tempering or Tadka or Taalinchu…depending on which language you are speaking gives Indian food its flavour.

An Indian kitchen is incomplete without two things – 1) the deafening sound of the pressure cooker and 2) the tempering box or masala box. The general ingredients that go into the various compartments of this box are: cumin, mustard, split black gram, chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder. Asafoetida is often kept in a tiny bottle right here, but with its lid closed since it has a very strong aroma. Each of these ingredients has something to offer in terms of good health…especially for proper digestion.

For example, turmeric is used for its great healing as well as cosmetic properties. My grandma used to say that if a pregnant woman takes turmeric regularly, her child will have beautiful skin.

Black gram is added for its heating quality, while cumin seed for its cooling, digestive properties. Asafoetida and fenugreek are excellent digestives, especially after a heavy meal. Salt of course is called the king of tastes.

Now shall we demonstrate a few temperings for you, Pedatha style.

First, we will demonstrate a healthy & delicious salad made with yellow lentil & carrots. So what do we have ready?

On one side we have the wok & oil ready for tempering. And on the other side we have - 1 cup yellow split lentil, washed and soaked in water for 3-4 hrs, strained and ready to be tossed up.

½ cup grated carrots (peeled, washed & grated…actually, washed, peeled & grated. When you wash a vegetable, you take away some of the nutrients, so it is better to wash before peeling. )

1-2 tsp finely chopped green chillies

1-2 tsp finely chopped coriander leaves (cilantro)

Salt to taste

Now all we have to do is mix these ingredients together, add a dash of fresh lemon juice to it and toss it up. This salad, known as Kosumbari is for all practical purposes, ready to eat. But, let’s just see how a little tempering can magically enhance its taste.

The wok used for tempering should not be too small because when the mustard splutters it’ll be all over the place & if not careful, could give you a few small burns as well! So anyway, allow the oil to warm up, but not start smoking. Let’s pour approximately 2 tsp oil in this wok. Keep the flame high.

Now the oil is just hot enough. First we put in a tbsp of split black gram…it is creamish in colour because it is husked. Otherwise it is black & therefore the name. I’m sure many of you must have relished the famous black dal or kali dal of North India. It’s the same gram. Pedatha taught us that the black gram should turn ‘rose red’ in the tempering. Since this gram does not splutter, we must stir to avoid them turning black on the under side. So we stir.

As the gram turns golden, we add in a tsp of mustard seeds. The important thing about mustard while tempering is that it splutters rather vigorously in the wok! There we go! And it also tends to burn easily if the flame is too high. So halfway through the spluttering, we reduce the flame. It’s almost like popcorn popping away. As the spluttering reduces, lets add in a red chilli. Pedatha said, don’t allow it to turn brown…let it become crisp & bright red.

So we shut off the flame, add a dash of asafoetida powder…ummm…not one day in an Indian household goes by without this aroma of tempering, except when a family is in mourning, at which time no food is cooked at all.

So now we pour this tempering into the salad…toss it up a bit…or if serving right away, you could also leave the crunchy tempering on top…somewhat like a garnish.

Next, we will demo a crunchy yummy onion pickle. Lets move the salad aside. Now what do we have here.

3 onions, (1 ½ cups) julienned, preferably white onions.

For tempering this, we need - oil, fenugreek, fennel, kalonji (nigella seeds), asafoetida, chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt to taste.

Heat 2 tsps oil, add ¼ tsp fenugreek seeds and stir so that they don’t burn. Now add ¼ tsp fennel seeds & ¼ tsp nigella seeds. Keep stirring, allow the aroma to rise. Lower the flame and add a pinch of asafoetida powder.

Next, in goes ½ tsp chilli powder & a pinch of turmeric. Switch off the flame and toss in the onions and salt.

If you would like to avoid the raw taste of onions, then let them cook for 2-3 minutes before switching off the flame.

Our third demo is a cooling summer drink - buttermilk. There is an ancient folklore which says, he who has no mother, for him, buttermilk is his mother. It nurtures us & cools our digestive system. What is buttermilk? It is nothing but churned & diluted curd! When unwell, we eat curd rice. When acidic, drink cool buttermilk. When done with a full meal, drink buttermilk to end the meal. In sunny hot summers, there is nothing more satisfying than a pot of cool buttermilk.

We now have a pitcher of cool, churned buttermilk which is already seasoned with salt, cumin powder and a dash of chilli. Again, it is absolutely ready to drink. But when tempered spices are added into this buttermilk, it is an even greater storehouse of taste & nutrition.

First, lets pour 2 tsp oil in the wok and allow it to warm up.

All right, now that it is hot enough, first we put in ¼ tsp mustard seeds & allow them to splutter. Next in go a tsp each of fenugreek and carom seeds. Now we lower the flame & keep stirring so that the fenugreek doesn’t burn. As it browns, we add just ¼ tsp cumin seeds & a pinch of asafoetida powder. Switch off the flame and pour this into the buttermilk. Serve chilled on a warm summer afternoon.

In this way, there are temperings & temperings that enrich Indian food. When cooking a feast or making sweets, more exotic spices are tempered into the food, like bay leaves, cinnamon, coves, cardamom, cashews etc. Such temperings go well in pullavs made with aromatic Basmati rice and in the making of Indian sweets. The medium used for these dishes is almost always ghee or clarified butter.

Every one who cooks in India has to learn the art of tempering…we burn some…but eventually we learn. It’s like all we North Indian girls learn to roll perfectly round Rotis…but not before we make shapes of all the countries in the world. But that art of recognizing the aroma of a perfect tempering we learnt from Pedatha. Oh! How patiently she taught us! Black gram - rose red… mustard crackling…red chilli not turning brown yet becoming crunchy…same with curry leaves.

She taught us a lot, and fed us too…with her own loving hands. Which brings us to another interesting aspect of Indian food, which is, the use of hands to eat it. According to us, half the flavour of food is lost if you eat Indian food with a fork & knife or spoon. You have to mix the food with your fingers. In fact, we have written something about this in our book, about fingers & palm moving in precise unison to make the famous ball of rice and pachchadi, known as Muddha.

It is interesting how we associate eating styles with food. Sometimes at home there is a leftover of the previous day’s meal which could have been a Thai red curry & rice or a sphagetti bolognaise. So if one of those is placed on the dining table along with the present Indian meal, then we automatically go for the fork & spoon or fork & knife as the case may be. Once we have eaten that & shift over to the Indian food, we set down the cutlery & eat with God’s Own Cutlery! It is truly strange.

This is what we are here for today, to share with you the rules of perfect tempering of spices, seeds & lentils that we learnt from Pedatha.

Our journey with food continues into our next book dealing with Ayurvedic recipes. According to Ayurveda, every spice, every ingredient of food has something called Rasa or taste. There are six Rasas, i.e. the six tastes of sweet, sour, pungent, astringent, bitter, hot. So every ingredient has all the six Rasas in different proportion, but whatever is predominant becomes its defining feature. Chillies for instance have predominance of spiciness, bittergourds of bitterness, but chillies as well as bittergourds have all the other 5 Rasas also. This ancient Indian science subscribes to this theory of Rasas rather than the categories such as proteins, carbs, fats etc.

Now, among these, sweetness is the heaviest to digest, hence should be eaten at beginning of a meal. A meal should end with astringent taste, which aids in digestion, for instance, buttermilk or fennel seeds or betel nuts. Pedatha was our Guru in Andhra cooking, we now call upon Dr. Kalmadi who is our Guru in Ayurvedic food.

Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Guru Devo Maheshwara. Indian tradition says that Guru is respected and loved as God, the One who creates, the One who sustains and the One who dissolves.

These are the words with which we began our presentation at the Olympia theatre, London where the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards were held this year. Mr. Cointreau (behind us in the pic, holding a mike), the President of the organization, made the announcements about the winner books in the respective categories. Just like last year, we were stunned with his knowledge about each book, the interest with which he highlights what makes the winner books special. The one that really caught our attention since it was also a tribute cookbook was Roshan Ara Khan’s ‘My Grandmother’s Cookbook’. We missed seeing an Indian book this year among all the winners.

Our own presentation revolved around how knowledge in Indian tradition is rooted in the concept of the Guru-Shisya relationship. We spoke about Pedatha as our Culinary Guru…just as all traditons are rooted in the spoken word, our learning from Pedatha was through what she spoke. She spoke and we wrote, documenting her speech into a book of recipes.

We spoke about the precious pearls of wisdom she had shared with us, how she had taught us that when you cook, don’t look at the time, look at the pan. She said, when you cook, don’t forget to love.

Caricature by Michaela Maria Drux at Olympia show

We ended on the note that we as learners & seekers pay homage to our teacher in the presence of many Culinary Gurus who are here today.

A few posts on our blog…and we are already hooked. There is so much we want to write about tributes and recipes, but looks like that will have to wait a bit. We are now in London, getting ready for our presentation at The London Book Fair on April 15th. There is a lot of ‘first’ happening this month, our first blog, our first formal visit to a book fair, Pratibha’s first visit to UK…a lot of excitement…a lot of preparation.

With all this and the fact that we are yet to figure out how to be quick bloggers, we are going to be a bit slow here. It is going to take time to get things right, for instance, this morning the Image Header was missing. Good God! How did that happen? We could not figure that out, but we knew how to post the header immediately :).

While doing that, we also discovered that the blog title was not yet updated, it was still ‘a tribute to Pedatha’. We thought we had changed that on day 2, so there you go :). But it is a lot of fun and we are happy here.

As you can see it now, the title is: ‘whose food we eat, their song we sing’. When we first received the email from Mr. Parigi (Pedatha’s son) for the foreword in our book, this title was befitting to their relationship as mother and son. In the book, it is in first person. We have tweaked it into plural now so that all of us can pay our culinary tributes. According to Google, ‘whose food I eat, His song I sing’ is an ancient German proverb of 12th century.

Pedatha always found it hard to believe that her ‘plain home cooking recipes’ could feature in a cookbook and win an award too. Its been a year since “Cooking at Home with Pedatha” was awarded the Best Veg Cookbook in the World by Gourmand. On April 7th last year, we went up on the stage at Beijing and passed on Pedatha’s message to the audience, “…Pedatha sends her love and blessings to all of you, many of whom who she says are her children, grandchildren and great grand children.”

She continued to be surprised until one day we told her, “Pedatha, does a diamond know its worth? It is only the jeweller who can estimate its worth and create a befitting setting for it. Similarly, you are like a jewel and we are like the jeweller.” She beamed smilingly and clapped her hands, “I like this comparison. Now I can understand why the book is special!”

We simply miss you Pedatha, beyond words.

Jigyasa’s students, Manasvi, Aditi & Gayathri dance at a felicitation event

Being a Gujarati who married into an Andhra family, I just automatically turned to Mrs. Sarala Surya Rao, my father-in-law’s sister to learn the basics of Andhra cooking. She was ever willing to teach and quick at sharing traditional recipes. Sarala Athaiyya also happily sent me dishes after dishes in her tiffin dabbas. Recipes using easy contemporary methods, yet retaining the flavours of yester years. That’s the secret of her popularity with family and friends.

When years later, Pratibha and I wrote “Cooking at Home with Pedatha”, Sarala Athaiyya who is Pedatha’s younger sister was equally delighted and wrote the foreword to the book.
Year after year, when the season is right, and the tamarind trees are lush with new fruit, Sarala Athaiyya makes her special Kotha chintakaya pachchadi and sends it to us. Lip smacking and eye-wateringly spicy, it is simply delicious with plain rice

This is Sarala Athaiyya’s recipe:
Fresh, raw tamarind – 150-200 gms.
Sesame oil – 2 tbsps
Salt to taste

The 1st Tempering:
Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
Fenugreek seeds – ¼ tsp
Dry red chillies (optional) – 3-4
Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
Asafoetida powder – ¼ tsp
Green chillies – 8-10
Fresh coriander leaves – 1 heaped tbsp, finely chopped

The 2nd Tempering:
Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp
Cumin seeds – ¼ tsp
o Wash the raw tamarind and scrape off the outer skin. Roughly pound the tamarind with a pestle so as to expose the seeds from within. Remove all seeds. (Once the seeds are removed, the quantity of tamarind should amount to 1 cup).
o In a wok, heat 1 tbsp oil for the 1st tempering. Pop the mustard and then add the fenugreek. With the browning of the fenugreek, lower the flame and add the red chillies. As they turn bright red, switch off the flame and stir in the turmeric, asafetida, green chillies and coriander leaves. Allow to cool.
o Grind this tempering into a coarse paste along with the tamarind and salt. Do not add any water as that will spoil the taste and consistency of the pachchadi..
o Heat the remaining oil for the 2nd tempering. Pop the mustard and then add the cumin. Switch off the flame as soon as the aroma of the cumin rises. Garnish the pachchadi with this crunchy tempering.
Serve with steaming hot rice and a dollop of ghee.

Sarala Athiayya says:
o Be sure to buy the tamarind when it first hits the market. Those will be the ones that are very raw and with hardly any seeds at all.
o Make sure that the tamarind is sour, otherwise the fenugreek will make the pachchadi bitter.
o The shelf life of this pachchadi is 3-4 days without refrigeration and 10-14 days with refrigeration.

Today is UGADI – The Telugu New year. Ugadi shubakankshalu - Warm wishes to all of you on this auspicious day of new beginnings. Today is also yet another beginning for me – my first tribute recipe as a blogger.
One of the first persons I want to pay a culinary tribute on this site for ‘Jihva for Love’ is Mrs. Sarala Surya Rao, my father-in-law’s sister. The tribute recipe is Ugadi Pachchadi, a befitting dish, since it signifies the importance of Ugadi and also since I learnt it from Sarla Athaiyya.

To stand tall and resolute like a candle in the wind we will learn from admirable Sarala Ammama…these words are from a poem my children, Avani & Arnav, wrote to honour the elders in our family.
By nature, I am not a very ritual oriented person, but on Ugadi day, I religiously make this Ugadi Pachchadi. Perhaps what Sarala Athaiyya told me many years back about what this pachchadi signifies caught my attention and stayed with me. Ugadi pachchadi is a combination of the six rasas as described in Ayurveda (shadarasa) – sweet, bitter, salt, sour, astringent and hot. It reminds us that life is a combination of good and bad, sadness and happiness, ups and downs and we have to take it all in our stride always.
What a beautiful way to remind ourselves on this first day of the new year about the natural law of life!

Sarala Athaiyya’s was barely 36 years old when her husband passed away. She had four young children to bring up all by herself! At that point, her father, Dr. V.V.Giri was the President of India. Her parents tried hard to convince her to stay with them at the Rashtrapathi Bhavan so that they could help her with the upbringing of her children. She simply said, “No, I want to bring them up my way, affording whatever I can.” From what I have heard and from logical inference too, this was not an easy task. Yet, when you look at her and speak to her you can only see a cheerful, strong and happy woman.

One can only be filled with inspiration and admiration in the presence of this beautiful human being. As one of my friends commented about her, “ She is like a majestic lioness.” In another post, I would like to talk about her children, each one of them wonderful, successful and simply the most witty and loving people I have met.
Stunning even at 75, Sarala Athaiyya is truly dear to me. We share the same birthday on June 1st. She is a true Gemini, with her quick silver charm and witty conversations. She is unintimidated by the ups and downs of life, straightforward in her approach to any situation. Aptly therefore, we call her a candle in the wind.
So do make your Ugadi Pachchadi today and feed a pinch or two to all your near and dear ones. Ugadi Pachchadi, unlike any other, can only be eaten in pinches. Every ingredient has rich medicinal value too. Here is the simple recipe:
You will need:
Tamarind pulp – 1 tbsp
Powdered jaggery – 2 tsp
Fresh neem flowers – 2 tsp
Raw mango – 2 tsp, chopped into small bite-size cubes
Green chilly – 1tsp, chopped fine
Salt to taste

Mix all the ingredients together and place in a bowl.
Tip: You can add 1-2 tsp of bite-size pieces of ripe banana and sugarcane to this Pachchadi as these fruits also signify the new harvest crop.

First of all, kudos to Indira not just for hosting a fabulous blog, but also for inspiring many of us to do so. It was her constant encouragement coupled with the enormous void we felt with Pedatha’s passing away that led us to thinking of a culinary tribute in Pedatha’s memory.

JFI or Jihva for Ingredients is a beautiful concept by Indira started on her blog. Online culinary events create strong frames of references among food bloggers. It has been a pleasure to see the enthusiasm and participation on these innumerable blogs. A virtual space where affection is so real. It is tough to believe that we have never met many of them (Indira, have we really not met ) whom we consider such good friends today.

It is fascinating to note the similarity of sound between the words Jihva & Jiva. The former means palate and the latter means life. Jiva in most philosophical schools refers to the embodied soul or self while also meaning ‘life.’ When the prana or life breath leaves the body, it is said, “The jiva has left (the body)”. Since there can be no life without food, Jihva and Jiva have a factual connection. It may be said that of the five sense organs, the jihvendriya (the sense organ of taste) is indispensably related to living because one can continue to live without seeing or hearing, but none can live without food.

We are glad to pay a tribute to Pedatha with JIHVA for May 2008. Pedatha’s birthday is on May 2nd, so the special ingredient we have chosen in her memory is that without which no food can be relished and cherished - Jihva for love. We have chosen this ‘love’ as an ingredient although it is completely non physical, but is still the very soul of cooking. This is the reason why it is believed that when food has been cooked with pure thoughts and loving feelings, its consumption purifies the one who consumes it. As Pedatha always said, “If you cook with love, you cannot go wrong.” It is a necessary and irreplaceable ingredient. You can replace beans with capsicum and black gram with red gram, but love can only be substituted by other expressions of itself such as affection, inspiration, devotion, ‘prema’, ‘mamtaa’, ‘paasam’ and the like.

Jihva and Jiva also have an aesthetic connection. The sustenance of stomach is food, but the food of life is love. To be nurtured is not just a physical need, it is emotional. The palate of the heart can never be satisfied without affection and warmth, the need for which is always aesthetic.

We welcome all of you to participate in Jihva for love. Pay a tribute to that moment in your life, to that person, to that recipe when you experienced the feeling of being ‘nurtured’. There would be many such moments, many such persons, many such recipes in your life. Open the doors of your mind and you will find many such moments, persons and recipes in your memory. Share them with us, in this space where Pedatha’s ‘muddha’ ( see the pic. below) will be remembered forever.

Here are the guidleines for participating in Jihva for Love.

• Write a tribute that you would like to pay to someone in your life, in the form of a vegetarian recipe/s, even a culinary health tip/s. That person could be:
  • Someone who is dear to you;
  • Someone whose cooking you have loved;
  • Someone whose cooking inspires you either to cook, or at least to share the recipes with others.
• A small writeup about that person followed by a recipe/s; what that person means to you; any anecdotes, what that interaction meant to your life and growth.
• In your write-up, focus on what is special about the recipe! Even if it is a very simple recipe, what made it special for you (may be a childhood memory).
• POST THIS RECIPE ON YOUR BLOG IN THE MONTH OF APRIL, LINKING TO THIS EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT AT THE BEGINNING OF YOUR POST.
• Include photographs of that person, preferably with you as well as photographs of the recipe, if possible (yes, since it is a tribute recipe, the focus on the person is greater than the recipe).
• Send us the pictures after enclosing in approx. 100 x 100 pixel size with your e-mail.
• If you don’t have a blog, just send us an email and we will post it here.
• Kindly send us an e-mail notifying us of your entry at pedatha@pritya.com, with “JFI” as the subject, and your full name.
• Send in the entries by April 28, 2007. The round-up will be posted by May 2.

Looking forward to your involvement in this.