whose food we eat, their song we sing

Entries categorized as ‘Events’

At a Paradise called Kare

June 11, 2008 · 3 Comments


We have been away to a place where there are no signals (as yet!) to connect us to the mobiles or internet. In a setting where the connection that is nurtured is only with oneself. Set in the lap of nature is an Ayurvedic resort at Mulshi in Pune, India. Every scene that meets the eye is picture perfect.


  • At the lotus pond at Kare! Srivatsa Shandilya, our photographer, had a field day at Kare with his camera.


  • This place is KARE, which stands for Kerala Ayurvedic Research and Rejuvenation Centre. A place built with aesthetics and a vital sense of space. Our next book on Ayurvedic recipes is researched at Kare. And our stay there was so wholesome and enjoyable that we recommend it wholeheartedly to those who want to take some time to attend to themselves, to the body, mind and the inner being.


  • The visionary of this place is Dr. Prakash Kalmadi, who is with us in the photo above, a previously practicing allopathic doctor who found his own resurrection in Yoga and Ayurveda. Intense in his beliefs, he is also blessed with an unassuming sense of humour. He is fun to be with, with his simple perceptions and sharp intuition. His own life and his transition from allopathy to ayurveda is a story we have heard many times, yet are riveted everytime we hear it.


  • A photo with some of the staff and doctors at Kare, including Uttam who cooks as well as serves the food there along with Raju. His cousin Ashok is the main chef at Kare. Ashok cooks with the flair, ease and care that comes from years of practice and comfort in the kitchen. Snehal is the in-house dietician, a person who really made us comfortable in the kitchen and encouraged us to check out each recipe till we were satisfied.


  • Dr. Kalmadi and Ragini with some of their team at Kare. Dr. Rohit, Dr. Roli and Dr. Nayana (who is in the pic above, 2nd person from left) are so dedicated that we actually asked Dr. Kalmadi what was the secret of his selection of people suited to their tasks. He simply said that you have to believe in yourself and God. We also met Dr. Shetty this time and enjoyed discussing ayurvedic philosophy with him in the evenings. In the centre is Jessica, who takes care of administration.


  • At Kare, the yoga practices are inspired by Iyengar Guruji, Dr. Kalmadi’s master & inspiration. We attended classes held alternately by Dr. Kalamdi and Mr. Shah. Their explanations and keen eye with which they watch each and every person, their reiterating that yoga is not a physical exercise, but one of mental steadfastness and strength resounds in our ears after we have returned and during our morning practices.


  • Kare is nestled in undulating hills that surround the pristine mulshi lake. To say it is a paradise on Earth is no exaggeration. In the picture above, we are seen enjoying a meal with Dr. Kalmadi, Ragini, his ever cheerful wife and the guests at Kare.


  • The rooms are spacious, comfortable and decorated with windows and doors that open to scenic perfections created by God.


  • This wonderful lady, Ragini is the pleasant and warm person whose pride and faith in the work at Kare is indeed the spirit that guides her doting husband. An excellent cook herself, she has trained and continues to supervise and assist the chefs at Kare. We love mealtimes there, as do the other guests, for the simplest, healthiest and tastiest of food.



  • Mealtime Thali – what you see in the pic. above is our lunch - Spiced Rice, Jowar Roti, Fenugreek vegetable, Drumstick Vegetable, Dal, Kheer (Dessert), Salad, spicy Flak seed powder, buttermilk and herbal water.

    As we delve deeper into the insights that were passed on to us by the Great seers of centuries gone by, it is fascinating to realize how much these Ayurvedic insights were daily knowledge and practice for our elders. Our grandmothers instinctively knew the qualities of spices and vegetables and legumes. They knew that mangoes must be soaked in water for a couple of hours before eating, they knew when to add fenugreek and when to avoid coconut, they knew that almonds soaked overnight and consumed the next morning helps memory and learning. In our few years of learning from Pedatha, we were constantly amazed at the knowledgable tips she shared with us of food, ingredients and cooking methodology.

    It is sad that this rich tradition is no longer a part of our daily gyaan, rather, we now refer books to know that which should have been in our bloodstream. In this fast pace of life and technological growth, like gigantic trees we seem to have stretched ourselves to the skies, tearing ourselves away from our very roots. This is probably the price we pay for modernization. But we are not unhappy. Ironically, thanks to modernization, we now have the means & the tools to still make the choice of falling back on ancient Indian wisdom every now & then for longevity, peace and good health.

    This recipe is a tribute to the great seers who gave us texts like Charaka Samhita and Bhava Prakash Nighantu that have kept alive a precious storehouse of knowledge. At a personal level, it is also our humble way of saying thanks to Ragini for reviving health and simple taste at kare.

    DRUMSTICK VEGETABLE
    Sweet and astringent in taste, drumstick reduces Kapha Dosha and Pitta Dosha, relieves abdominal pain, heals skin disorders and clears worms. It is defined as ‘deepanam param’ in Sanskrit, which means digestive fire at its highest.
    Drumsticks, 2 large, chopped into 2 inch pieces
    Rock salt, powdered, to taste

    The tempering:
    Cow’s ghee, 1 tsp
    Cumin seeds, ½ tsp
    Garlic, 4 cloves, crushed
    Turmeric powder, a pinch
    Chilli powder, ½ tsp

    Method:
    · Peel off the outer fibrous skin of the drumsticks.
    · For the tempering, heat the ghee in a wok. Add cumin seeds and crushed garlic.
    · As the garlic starts browning, add the turmeric and chilli powder.
    · Add a cup of water, rock salt and chopped drumsticks. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Take off the lid and continue to cook until the vegetable turns soft and the water evaporates.

    POSTED BY Pratibha & Jigyasa

    Categories: Events

    Pedatha – Nandan’s ‘Naamapoo’ & Blog Awards

    May 26, 2008 · 14 Comments


    Two of Pedatha’s stars are featured in this photograph. One is great grandson Nandan, the apple of her eye, and the other, Cooking at home with Pedatha, a new dawn in the dusk of her life. For as Pedatha said, life can begin even after 80.
    At 84, with Cooking at home with Pedatha, she found fame, received letters of love and admiration from strangers far and wide, from bloggers around the globe, and in her own words, became a model without walking the ramp. To many of you, she sent back her message of love, she read and re-read your loving comments and told us about the joy it brought to her heart.
    At 85, with the birth of Nandan, she found yet another link to posterity. His gurgles and babbles brought back the innocent laughter of childhood to her life.


    ’Cooking at home with Pedatha’ was not just a book. It was for her, a creation of love, a space that recorded her beauty, wisdom & knowledge forever and ever, thus keeping her alive…immortal.
    So also, Nandan was not just a child, he was her little
    Krishna. He is well behaved, he is naughty, he is obedient, yet has a mind of his own, he looks like butter won’t melt in his mouth, yet is so caring…as soft as butter….utterly irresistible.
    Last week, Nandan was in Chennai with his adorable parents, Rohit & Aarti. While we were chatting together he did something that we as authors of ‘Cooking at Home with Pedatha’ simply consider the most spectacular moment in the history of the book. He was playing and suddenly picked up the book from the coffee table and said with glee, “Naama Poo buk.” That’s what he called her – Naamapoo…and he gave the most affectionate, uninhibited, slurpy kiss to her picture on the cover. And it didn’t stop there. He turned to every page which carries Pedatha’s picture and planted a kiss on each one with the pure innocent love that only babies have in abundance! We watched with wonder as he closed the book, placed it back on the table & went back to playing with his ball…it was like he had just stepped into his Naamapoo’s room, chatted with her in their very own language of love and then got back to the business of life.

    That very same day, we found that our blog had received the “You Made My Day” award from Swati of Chatkhor.

    Google could not take us to the blogger who started this award, all we understood is that it is to be passed on to ten bloggers for similar reasons. It is our pleasure now to pass on this award to some of those bloggers whose comments had reached Pedatha and added to her joy. What better way to express our appreciation than to give away the award along with these beautiful pictures of those precious kisses?

    We feel so happy to continue the tradition by presenting the “You make my day” award to:-

    1. Indira of Mahanandi whose review of our book inspired many readers to own the book and cook from it. In her simple, profound style, she called this book an “emerald gem…that would bring good health and good luck to my cooking.”
    2. Jyotsna of The Cook’s Cottage who was one of the first bloggers who posted this book on her site. Someone sent us that link and that’s when our fascination with blogs began. For her, each of the recipe from the book was “accurate in the measurement of ingredients, true to the Andhra style of cooking and is absolutely ‘no fail’. An added advantage is the simplicity of every one of them…”
    3. Jai & Bee of Jugalbandi who have ardently tried many recipes, encouraging us with their compliments such as - “The title description of Cooking at Home with Pedatha is “Vegetarian recipes from a traditional Andhra kitchen”. The book makes no further claims. What you see is what you get. There are just 61 recipes, but no one dish is like the next…”
    4. Linda of Out of the Garden who wrote about ‘Cooking at home with Pedatha’- “Full of simple, beautiful photographs, it conveys the wisdom and instinct of a woman who reminds me very much of my own nana. When I returned to the kitchen, instead of facing a quandry, I was inspired…”
    5. SRA who wrote at When My Soup Came Alive - “This is the only book I’ve noticed that tells us exactly how to temper a dish – what goes in first, the mustard seed or the urad dal, and it’s fail-proof…” Pedatha really enjoyed seeing our book prominently displayed in SRA’s collection.
    6. Suganya of Tasty palettes who has tried and posted many recipes using Pedatha’s insights wrote at her blog, “Thank you Pedatha, for your inspiration and ingenious ideas. The recipes I have tried and techniques I have adapted from this book, have never failed me…”
    7. Barbara of Tigers & Strawberries who wrote about Pedatha, “She also is a woman who understands innately that cooking is a deeply spiritual act which is intimate and intensely personal…”
    8. Aahaar Vihaar who bought the book after reading the review at Mahanandi wrote, “I…picked the book and read from start to finish. The book not only has recipes from the 86 year old culinary queen Pedatha, but also the variations and tips with which a recipe can be cooked…”
    9. Gini of Salt & Pepper who wrote at her blog, “It has a green hardcover, pictures in every page, simple instructions - what’s not to like…I had forgotten to do that slow stirring for sometime now but this
      cookbook has reminded me to slow down, and enjoy my cooking…”
    10. Mythili of Vindu who said, “The narration and recipe in the book jonesed me to try out Spinach (palakoora) chutney. Needless to say it came out awesome and I was surprised at the results.”

    Thank you all from the depths of our hearts. We hope you enjoy these awesome pictures that capture the essence of life….pure & uncomplicated LOVE.

    Ten is a small number and did not complete our list J. As if providence agreed with us, within a couple of days, Madhu of Eggless Cooking thought of us for the Nice Matters Award. This award was started by Genevieve of Bella Enchanted “for those bloggers who are just nice people, good blog friends and those who inspire good feelings and inspiration. Those that care about others that are there to lend support or those that are just a positive influence on our blogging world.”

    nice matters

    Thank you very much for thinking of us Madhu. We happily pass on this award to those bloggers who were our first links to the blogging world:

    1. Kiruba Shankar – Much before we became familiar with culinary blogs, we were regular visitors at kiruba.com. Therefore, when we published “Cooking at Home with Pedatha”, we wrote to him and he responded promptly and warmly. He said he liked the idea of documenting grandma’s recipes and wrote on his blog, “Pratibha and Jigyasa did something I had long wanted to do. Capture Grandma’s expertise in a book…”
    2. Prabha of Food for Thought – Prabha’s blog is one of our first favourites. Her wit, unassuming humour and latitude of thoughts makes it a place one wants to visit again and again. We were naturally delighted when we discovered our book being mentioned at her site, “It’s just the book to have no matter how long you have been cooking…”
    3. Sailu of Sailus Food – The first culinary blog we chanced upon, thanks to Google. We still remember our first impressions of being stunned. When we wrote to her asking her if she had seen our book, she replied, “Let me inform you that I am a proud owner of your wonderful book. I bought it the day it arrived at my regular bookstore in Vizag. How can I miss it?…”

    Thank you friends for making “Cooking at Home with Pedatha” a special experience for us with your warm words and encouragements. You may continue this blog friendship chain by passing on these awards that you have received to those you cherish.

    POSTED by Pratibha & Jigyasa

    Categories: Events

    Pickles with Shanta Ben & The Young Indian Vegetarians of UK

    May 20, 2008 · 2 Comments

    To begin with, a mention of the people in this post:
    - Shanta Ben, an 85-year-old lady who lives with her family in UK
    - Her son Mr. Nitin Mehta and his wife Pratibha Ben
    - Their daughters Janaki & Jyoti Mehta

    Jyoti Mehta says, “My mum’s food is famous among my friends. The good thing is that mum enjoys feeding them as much as they enjoy being fed! I am a Vegan and mum has been hugely supportive in this choice. She has found ingenious ways to Veganise many Indian dishes. She uses Tofu instead of Paneer and has actually managed to improvise on recipes like ‘ Kadhi’ by replacing yogurt with coconut milk! Now, even my Grandma uses Soya milk in tea thus giving me a chance to rediscover Indian Chai (just don’t watch how much sugar she puts in)!”

    This is the pic. of Shanta Ben, the Grandma mentioned above. Let us quickly share how we met this lady, the proud mother of Nitin Mehta. Mr. Mehta has made a name for himself in the United Kingdom with his intense work in the field of Vegetarianism. He is quite popular and has made many friends who frequently visit them. They stay in a lovely house at East Croydon, UK. The first thing that catches your eye as you enter his driveway is an old white Amabassador car which they shipped from India to UK . It is like a magnificent welcome to their cozy home.
    Mr. Nitin Mehta started an organization called The Young Indian Vegetarians of UK. They are a group of people committed to the cause of vegetarianism and a healthy way of life. Their website is comprehensive, featuring many writings (LINK) by Mehtaji and even a newsletter dating back to August 1983, encouraging comments by many popular organizations.

    The Young Indian Vegetarians of UK (Nitin Mehta in the black and white shirt) with Jigyasa, Pratibha & Dr. Kalmadi

    On April 18th this year, Mr. Mehta invited us to his home where we were to address this group about our book “Cooking at Home with Pedatha” since it had won the Gourmand award of ‘Best Vegetarian Cookbook in the world, 2006’. But before the talk, we were to dine with his family.
    As we entered his home with Dr. Prakash Kalmadi (whose Ayurvedic insights form the basis of our next book), we were ushered into the dining room where the first thing that our eyes fell on was a delicious spread of pickles on the dining table. Jigyasa was instantly excited since it was an all Gujarati spread. The next attention grabber was Shanta Ben who stood there with such a warm smile! It was like meeting Pedatha all over again.

    An array of Gujarati pickles
    We sat down for dinner, a lovely meal made by Mr. Mehta’s wife, Pratibha Ben. Dhoklas, Gujarati dal, soft rotis, sweet dish – what a regional fare to discover in a foreign land! The pickles were amazing and we found ourselves asking the ladies for the recipes.
    As Jyoti says, “Being a family of Gujaratis who came to Britain via East Africa, mum has absorbed the flavours and ideas of Kenyan food and incorporated it into our diet. I love ‘Mandazi’, ‘Iriyo’, ‘Bharaji’ and dad’s Sunday is incomplete without ‘Muhogo’ (cassava). In fact, some of my friends say that ‘Muhogo’ is a dietary symbol of all that I am! We add ‘Imli’ (tamarind) chutney on the Muhogo to Indianise it and now we add ketchup to make it a British dish as well!”
    Shanta Ben took a while to realize that we were serious about wanting the recipes in detail, but once in the groove, she excitedly reeled them off. Those were fun moments as Shanta Ben reeled of the recipes the traditional way and Pratibha Ben kept adding her inputs on how to them user friendly and contemporary.

    Shanta Ben with Pratibha Ben
    Shanta Ben is popular among friends for her pickles and sweets, and she is often invited to make her yummy pickles to her friends’ homes. Grand daughter Janaki says, “My grandmother’s best preparation is ‘Adadiya’, a sweet dish with plenty of Ghee prepared during Diwali!”
    The guests began to arrive soon after, so we got just 3 recipes which we would love to share out here. Shanta Ben experienced such joy at sharing the recipes that she was beaming even hours later. She may not understand English in depth as she would her mother tongue, but she was attentive through out our talk. Perhaps we had struck the language of love as we spoke about our book and the importance of striking a chord with our elders. She stayed awake till we left, blessing us many times. Simple joys that make a difference!
    The idea is not just to document traditional recipes, but to enjoy moments of sharing and caring, to convey to our elders that they are special because they are such a storehouse of knowledge and love.
    We must say that back home, for many of us, home meals have become so cosmopolitan and contemporary, that we can hardly call them meals of the region we belong to. But at the Mehta home that evening, we had to remind ourselves that we were indeed in UK and not in the heart of Gujarat!
    As Janaki says, “Even though I like Pizza and Pasta, as most youngsters do, my mum and grandma made sure I developed a taste for our traditional food - daal, bhaat, shaak, rotli (Chapatti, vegetables, lentils and Rice). My favourite dish prepared by my mum is ‘ Chana Bhatura’. I like the Gujarati speciality ‘ Thepla’–the life saver at picnics and holidays where you cannot get vegetarian food! Her home made ‘Mathia’ made during Diwali is also very good.”

    These pickles are tasty accompaniments to an Indian meal

    1) RAIWALA MARCHA (chilli pickle with a twang of mustard flavour)
    Wash and pat dry 15-20 thick green chillies. Remove the stalks and slit each chilli length-wise. Remove the seeds unless you enjoy the spice.
    Add 1 tablespoon Split Mustard (Rai Naa Koraya), a pinch of turmeric, a pinch of asafetida, salt to taste and 2 teaspoons oil to the chillies.
    Squeeze juice of half a lemon to the above and shake well.
    Let the pickle mature for a day; can be refrigerated and kept for a week or two.

    2) TINDODA NO ATHANU (Gherkins pickle; Tindoda is also Tindola/Tondli in Hindi, dondakaya in Telugu)
    Salt, lemon juice, turmeric, Chilli powder
    asafoetida
    Raw oil
    They lose their crispiness
    Wash and pat dry 15-20 Tindodas. Cut them into thin strips (approx. 8 per veggie).
    Add 1 teaspoon chilli powder, ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder, a pinch of asafetida, salt to taste and 2 teaspoons oil.
    Add 3 teaspoon Achaar Masala (also known as Sambhar, this is not the south Indian sambhar made with lentils), readily available in Indian stores.
    Squeeze juice of half a lemon to the above and shake well.
    Can be eaten instantly; stays good for weeks in the refrigerator.

    3) METHI NO ACHAAR (Fenugreek seeds pickle)
    Wash and pat dry 3-4 raw mangoes. Chop, add ¼ cup of salt and leave overnight.
    Next day, drain off the excess water and let the mangoes dry for an hour. Don’t dry them much longer as they will lose the crunch.
    Now, wash and soak 2 cups of fenugreek seeds for a couple of hours.
    Strain and dry on a cloth for 1-2 hours.
    Sprinkle ¼ teaspoon of asafoetida powder and shake it up
    Heat 1 cup of hot oil. Pour ½ cup of hot oil on the fenugreek.
    Add 2 teaspoons chilli powder, ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder and salt to taste.
    Add the chopped mangoes to the fenugreek pickle.
    Add the remaining oil and shake well.
    Let the pickle mature for another day.
    Stays good for 3-4 months in the refrigerator.
    POSTED by Pratibha & Jigyasa

    Categories: Events · Tributes

    Indian Tempering at London Book Fair

    April 28, 2008 · No Comments

    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.

    Categories: Events

    At Olympia Theatre, London - April 13, 2008

    April 20, 2008 · No Comments

    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.

    Categories: Events
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    To The London Book Fair

    April 10, 2008 · No Comments

    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.

    Categories: Events

    A year since Beijing

    April 8, 2008 · 3 Comments

    Gourmand

    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.

    Dance Manasvi Dance

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

    Categories: Events