whose food we eat, their song we sing

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.