Pranav Jain, Meena Bazaar & Pedatha’s Podi

Ever since we wrote “Cooking at home with Pedatha”, the only gift that Pratibha’s brother Pranav Jain wants from the two of us on his birthdays is a Pedatha meal cooked by us at his home – for him and his friends. Well, it is difficult to refuse someone who won’t take no for an answer and why would we anyway! Not every one gets such open adoration for one’s work! But I’m a lazy one, so I work on the menu plan with Pratibha and then she, the ever energetic one ends up in his kitchen cooking away with his bubbly wife, Sandhya in tow. His list always starts with 10 friends and invariably stretches to 25, 30, even 40 at the last minute! Thus taking Sandhya’s well timed warnings, we shop for ingredients, just doubling all quantities along the way. During the meal, the boys (his pals) would call up Pedatha, tell her what they were eating, and bring laughter and smiles into her voice. That’s Pranav in a nutshell – larger than life, passionate about what he does, warm and charming.

(Pranav & Sandhya in the centre with their two sons)

There are many reasons why we cannot refuse Pranav, and Rajasthan Cosmo Club (RCC) is one of them. Comprising around 130 members, this club, apart from its various noteworthy activities, also has a wing called the Cloth Bank. They have 2 more clubs under their banner – RCC Platinum with around 100 members and RCC Diva with 50 women members. Sushil Sethia is the President of RCC this year and Pranav the Managing Trustee of the Cloth Bank.

The Cloth Bank distributes 10,000 free uniforms to needy students every year. They recycle, alter and distribute more than ONE LAKH clothes to the poor. There are more than 500 institutions on their recipient list. Apart from that, they have sent aid to Latur & Bhuj which were affected by earthquake, to Orissa after the devastating floods, to the tsunami affected areas in Tamilnadu and recently to Bihar which is badly affected by the floods. A free, secular school in Kodaikanal called My School Satya Surabhi, started and run by my aunt, Mrs. Padmini Mani, of which Pratibha and I are trustees is also one of the beneficiaries. Our 120 children wear crisp, smart uniforms every year thanks to Cloth Bank.

The RCC women play an active role in the activities of the club. They started ‘Meena Bazaar’ 8 years ago with the aim of raising funds for Cloth Bank and encouraging women entrepreneurs to sell their wares. Year after year, we have seen it grow bigger and better. This year saw a display of 85 stalls, many from Chennai and some from other cities as well. Meena bazaar is a buzzing event with the shopoholics of the city going ballistic over all those glittery, fashionable wares, home need articles and art works coupled with food stalls and the lure of free Mehendi and lucky draws by the hour!

This year, RCC offered us a space to display “Cooking at Home with Pedatha” at Meena Bazaar, the profits of sale going towards Cloth Bank. We happily agreed. With Pranav being at the helm of the event, the request for something from Pedatha’s recipes was bound to happen, and soon we found ourselves making the Podi Chutney as a free gift along with the book. Pedatha looked stunning (as always-God bless her dear soul) on the huge 4 by 3 poster at the entrance.

Pranav’s wife Sandhya compering this year’s event announced in her warm enthusiastic style, “Meena Bazaar is held year after year not only to bring the best of fashion to Chennai, it is also a means to raise funds for the cloth bank whose motto is to ensure that every needy person has basic clothing in his or her life.” She further said, “By being sellers as well as buyers at Meena bazaar, each one of you is contributing to society. In fact, this is what we call the two days of guilt free shopping! So ladies, shop with your hearts open, since you are helping us to help the underprivileged. Meena bazaar is not just a shopping experience, it is also a philanthropic movement.”

So getting into the spirit of it all, we freaked out as well and went on a guilt free shopping spree! Pratibha bought a lovely Mal saree with zardosi workfrom Pooja sarees, Hyderabad. I too bought a georgette for my Diwali party from them and 2 classy hand bags from Adaa, brought by Sanjana of Mumbai. There were exquisite hand made murals from Swakrith by Sangeeta Chordia, cute teddie towels from Nirmala Jamad and a fascinating collection of Jhumkis and rings by Amita Bothra of Akarshan, to name a few. Our friend, Manish Parmar’s stall featured an equipment from Essjaypee that can generate clean drinking water from air!

I lost my younger brother Hardik in an accident in 1994. Years later I met Pranav and was struck by how much he reminded me of Hardik. And then a little incident settled the matter. One day while Pratibha and I were working on the final edit of the Pedatha cookbook at Pratibha’s house, Pranav dropped by with his Diwali gift for his sis – a pair of stunning diamond earring which, being true to our species, Pratibha & I sufficiently drooled over. Just as Pranav was leaving, my then 12 year old daughter Avani arrived to pick me up on her way home from a game of Tennis. I don’t know what came over me, but the words just popped out of my mouth and without a thought I told Avani to say hello to “Pranav maama” (one’s mother’s brother is called maama). Pranav burst into laughter and said, “wah wah, diamond earrings can do anything, even get you a sister!” Well, ever since, I am his adopted sister, and I must add, quite a pampered one!

So here is Pedatha’s Podi Chutney, my tribute to Pranav. May he always remain as warm hearted, fun loving and generous. May life shine warmly on him, Sandy and their boys Utkarsh and Dhruv.

PODI CHUTNEY – Andhra’s popular powdered chutney – spicy and tasty

You will need:

4 tbsps oil & 2-3 tsps ghee

To be roasted without oil: 1 cup bengal gram, 1 cup split black gram (husked), 1 tbsp poppy seeds, ¾ cup grated dry coconut.

To be roasted in oil: 1 heaped cup red chillies, ½ cup curry leaves, small marble-sized chunk of asafoetida, large lemon-sized tamarind.

For the tempering: 1 tbsp split black gram (husked), 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp asafoetida powder.

On a low flame, dry roast the grams, each separately, to a deep brown.

Dry roast the poppy seeds and dry coconut, each separately, to golden brown.

Heat 3 tbsps oil and roast the chillies until crisp and bright red, but not brown. Remove the chillies from the oil and set aside. Now, roast the curry leaves until crisp and dark green. Remove from oil and set aside.

In the same oil, roast the asafoetida (after tearing it into bits) for 10-15 seconds. Press with a ladle so it roasts well. Remove from oil and set aside. Alternately, you may dry roast 1 tsp of readymade asafoetida powder.

Next, roast the tamarind. Press with the ladle so it roasts well. Remove from oil and set aside.

Grind all these ingredients along with salt into a coarse powder.

Heat the remaining oil for tempering. Add the gram; as it turns golden, pop the mustard and switch off the flame. Add the asafoetida and pour this tempering into the prepared powder and mix well with your fingers. Finally, pour in warm ghee and mix well. Cool and store in an airtight container.

This mouth watering (or should we say, eye watering!) podi chutney mixed with steaming hot rice and a dollop of ghee makes a great ‘lazy day’ meal.

Pedatha says: If you are not accustomed to handling spices with your fingers, it can be quite a fiery experience. Feel free to use a spoon.