Cookbooks for mE

Cookbooks roundup for mE magazine

When one is bonkers about something, it tends to permeate every aspect of one's life. But when two loves combine, well it is a recipe for chaos! I have always been book lover. Then gastronomy writing happened to me and food took over my life. My husband may well disagree but it has to be said, that my bookshelf bore the brunt (literally) of my new interest!

With a new one arriving almost every day for review, my husband stopped commenting, or even looking heaven wards about 200 cookbooks back. In fact when I carried in a bagful of new cookbooks on Saturday, he made me so proud by not batting an eyelid! (Although I suspect that might have more to do with the array of dishes and cuisines he's been coming home to every night!)

The first book I snagged on my latest shopping spree was One Perfect Ingredient by celebrity-chef, Marcus Wareing. The beauty of it is that it offers simple but unusual ideas to get creative with easily accessible ingredients. Got cabbage? Do a Savoy Cabbage with Nut Butter, spiced red cabbage with apple or with hicken. Fishwalla delivered prawns? Try the Prawn Laksa, Panceta prawns or Prawn Bisque, defrost that chicken and roast I with forty cloves of garlic, toss it with bacon and pesto or make a Thai green curry. One Perfect Ingredient is a neat book that delivers on its promise, 50 ingredients X 3 recipes each that cover each section of the kitchen; vegetables, fish and shellfish, meat and poultry, dairy and eggs, fruit and the store cupboard. It has been written for a UK audience so access to some ingredients (negligible) might be difficult and a few recipes might be too complicated for Indian kitchens but that said it is a practical book that you will actually use AND come to love. I have added several recipes from it to my home menus already, most celebrated of which has been the Lemon and Olive oil cake. Not only did the recipe inspire me to bake after YEARS but it turned out the PERFECT cake in with no wrist exercise required!

Books by chefs seem to be all the rage currently, Exploring Taste and Flavour by Tom Kime is another one I am glad I bought. It is not as simple to use as One Perfect Ingredient but Kime uses the principles of the Eastern taste theory and shows why combining the 4 main 'taste' elements of hot, sour, salt and sweet guarantees truly delicious food, every time. Ever one for exploring interesting combinations of food, Exploring Taste and Flavour offers a lot of scope for exploring fusion cuisine.

And then while I am reveling in these two current favourites - "Exploring taste and flavour" and One Perfect Ingredient another book arrives for review. Italian Khanna by Ritu Dalmia. I find it extremely EXCITING. Because for the first in my five years as a food writer, here is an Indian cookbook that is at par with the other two. I have lamented often at the dismal standard of cookbooks that come out of India, but Italian promises to be fun. It promises to show the Indian food lover how to cook authentic Italian food using ingredients from the Indian kitchen. It shows one that it is possible to cook a cuisine from halfway across the world with intelligently used substitutes.

I am sure puritans will scoff but I believe that the evolution of all cuisine is in fusion and adapting to local produce. Which is why I love cookbooks Italian Khana and American Masala by Suvir saran, they explore the melding of varied culinary influences but celebrate the beauty that is to be found in local and seasonal produce. I had been waiting for American Masala because I liked Saran's approach to cooking in his first book Indian Home Cooking (which makes the ideal gift for newbies to Indian cuisine incidentally). I was eager to see what American Masalla would serve up. I was not disappointed Classic western recipes were served with a intellgent masalafied twists and Indian recipes were tweaked to perfection. His Kararee Bhindi is a favourite with my husband's beer buddies and the Chicken Chickpea Harrira has become a comforting spicy meal to make ahead and eat with pav on weekdays. I am so glad my darling husband did the forbidden and picked up this book for me on a recent trip to the USA.

He also got me another book I have been dying to get my hands on. Namely Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson, a book that has been hugely coveted by me for a while now because I admire the author but her book never made it to Indian shores. I love experimenting with unusual ingredients, but I love discovering unusual local ingredients more and Super Natural Cooking offers a lot of inspiration. Written as a guide for cooks so they can cook with more natural (less processed) ingredients and recipes, like most cookbooks written in the West, it tends to be a little of the beaten track for Indians, but indirectly, this book has served to awaken me to the rich repertoire of whole-foods, whole grains and their flours, minimally processed fats, sweeteners, and phytonutrient-packed fruits and vegetables we have access to locally in India. Ingredients we should be fighting tooth and nail to save NOW rather than trying to revive them 10 years down the line.

And you will find the best recipes for these indigenous ingredients, in a special genre of homegrown cookbooks. The kind of cookbook self published by enterprising ladies or representative bodies of the various communities of India. Communities defined by religion, geographical location, history and a variety of other things but with a distinct cuisine of their own. Each of these books are full of recipes following the "a little this and a little that" advice grandmothers would be known for but they are invaluable to cooks of every stripe from the community they belong to and are often the uncelebrated but mandatory in the wedding trousseaus for girls getting married.

By that definition, On the Threshold of Kitchen, by the Danthis sisters has to be my most treasured possession. In no small part for the "Rasoda ni rani banje" (may you be the queen of your kitchen) inscribed in it by my mother. But also because, growing up in a modern Mumbai home I very rarely stepped into the kitchen, so this book that came as my "dowry" became my fallback when I needed to cook traditional Gujarati recipes in my North Indian marital home. I also love Dadima no Varso a beautifully put together cookbook of Palanpuri Jain cuisine by Nita Mehta, Rajul Gandhi, Dr. Satyavati S Jhaveri and the Rachana group of women because of its amazing attention to detail and comprehensive coverage of Palanpuri jain cuisine. In this genre, I also group a pile of local language and unusual cookbooks, I wont get into details but the I have to mention here "My Lady's Everyday Cookery Guide" by PD Dias. I just had to buy it after I read the following "late cook to Their Majesties King George 5 and Queen Mary and two former viceroys Lords Minto and Hardinge." I also love a Marathi book that promises 150 recipes for Baigan, a gujarati book of Faral or fasting recipes and a hindi recipe book of the unknown cuisine of Kumaon.

But Indian Cookbooks have come a long way since these community cookbooks. With India becoming the flavor of the moment abroad, Indian cookbooks are all the rage. Unfortunately this means that one could end up with some really bad cookbooks but the silver lining to this culinary cloud is that some excellent region-specific cookbooks have been published and giving the extensive but often lacking Penguin culinary range a run for their money. South Indian cuisine has had particular attention with classics like Dakshin and Southern Spice (both by Chandra Padmanabhan), making space for Pedatha on Andhra cuisine on Indian bookshelves. Some excellent books on regional cuisines of India that have been published abroad. Indian publishers have missed the boat on these but it seems that Indian distributors don't seem to want to correct the error either to the great loss of Indian cookbook lovers. There is the little known Purba – Feasts from the East by Laxmi Parida – a nifty little book that long ago addressed the lack of information on Oriya cuisine but never made it to Indian shores for some reason. It was joined by the stellar Grains, Greens, and Grated Coconuts by Ammini Ramachandran that I cannot praise enough which is into it's second print run and continues to curry favour in foodie circles all over the world but is unknown in India. And then there is the graceful My Bombay Kitchen by Niloufer Ichaporia King that silently set sail last year and returned to port triumphant, having won the most prestigious award any cookbook can win, the James Beard award. We have many parsi cookbooks in India, but none tell the story of Parsi cuisine quite as beautifully or as inspiringly as this book. And since it is on my mind, I must say The Kitchen Revolution is another book that has been inspiring me greatly. The three authors, Rosie Sykes, Polly Russell and Zoe Heron have fine tuned a fantastic system that takes a 'back to the basics' approach to the kitchen. Travelling through the year one week at a time it offering 7 dinners each week that allow you to economize on time, money and ingredients and minimize wastage through thoughtful shopping and a little preparation. If you lived by the book (no pun intended) your week would start with a "Big Meal from Scratch" - a wholesome meal for the entire family that is designed to leave enough leftovers to make 2 dishes called "Something for Nothing" (recipes provided) later in the week. It also includes one Seasonal Supper recipe - a quick, simple supper made from seasonal ingredients, a Larder Feast - using ingredients from the store cupboard for later in the week when the fridge is bare and 2 for 1 - a meal that freezes well so that you can freeze half for another day. The recipes are foolproof, allow for division and multiplication and allow one to make the most of one's cooker, fridge, freezer and store-cupboard. The Kitchen revolution has been written for a UK audience but it includes recipes from all over the world. It is easy to see that if one did live by it, it would certainly save money and time. That said it doesn't matter if you don't live by it. Skip weeks, use only what you can or treat it like a normal cookery book and you still save money, eat healthy and widen your repertoire of dishes. I have been using the 2 for 1 and Larder Feast recipes to great advantage at home. All in all, I think the idea behind The Kitchen Revolution is brilliant. In fact I will go so far as to say it is the sort of book I would love to write in the Indian context. (Any publishers listening?) In the meanwhile I will continue to be inspired by it.

Mindless Eating - Why we eat more than we think.

Mindless Eating - Why we eat more than we think.

Browsing through Crosswords bookstore at Kemps Corner one day I mindlessly picked up, well, “Mindless Eating”. It was the question “Wondering why you ate too much popcorn or Chinese food?” in one of the comments on the back cover that caught my eye. Since the one thing I cannot resist is Chinese food - I probably eat Chinese once a week and the totally “paisa vasool” but absolutely unhealthy personal buffet at the Mah Jong restaurant in Khar has been on the menu a lot off late - I wanted to see what would convince me to eat less of it!

Closer examination revealed that the author Brian Wansink Ph.D is a food psychologist who specializes in investigating the mental and emotional factors that cause us to eat. A food anything will usually catch my attention but a food psychologist was a new one and I bought the book despite the steep price.

According to the Mindless eating , each time I give in to this craving for Chinese food, I consume unnecessary calories. Just to check I got some expert input. According to nutritionist Naini Setalvad, “an ideal restaurant meal should total upto 500 – 800 calories, but in the case of Indian Chinese, which comprises of deep fried, corn flour gravy smothered dishes like Manchrian, Chilli chicken, and fried wontons, your calorie intake can shoot up to a whopping 2-3000 calories at a single meal. Factor in the buffet format, and you can cross all limits!” Taking into account the tendency most of us have to eat until our stomachs protest, this is worrying.

The problem lies in tendency most of us have to eat until our stomachs protest since, as mindless eating points out, our stomachs can’t count how much we eat and therefore don’t know when to stop. It goes on to say that an average person of normal weight underestimates their food intake by 20% and an obese person by 30 – 40%. Citing various case studies Mindless Eating illustrates the solution – while the stomach cannot count, the eyes can.

According to Mindless eating, if one was presented with the entire volume of food they consumed after several servings at a buffet, one would not be able to eat it all. It suggests you see your food before and while you eat it. Have you ever noticed how leaving restaurants that serve plated food, you are usually pleasantly full as opposed to bursting? Come to think of it, I rarely manage to actually clear the plate on these occasions! Plating meals result in you consuming 14% less then when you have everything handy for refills.

That said however plating food is tough to do in the Indian meal format but here is a workable solution. Serve recommended amounts of Dal, rice and rotis into your plate and leave serving bowls of them in the kitchen, out of sight. However keep vegetables and salads in front of you at the table. This results in the healthier options being more accessible making it more likely for you to reach for them to fill the gap between the stages of “I could eat some more” and “I am full”.

This is only one of the lessons I learnt from Mindless Eating, the book has many more. The essential lesson the book teaches however, is that the mindless food choices we make can add 200 - 300 calories to our diet daily amounting to 12-15 kgs annually! However, just like ones mind is conditioned to make the choices that result in weight gain, it can be reconditioned to lose weight, simply by being more mindful of one’s eating habits.

The message is a valuable one. It is also eruditely delivered in snappy packaging. The chapters are full of interesting, case studies based on scientific research but presented in an eminently readable avatar and each chapter concludes with solutions to the issues it studies.

What I appreciated most about Mindless Eating however was that it focused on the micro-environment – my surroundings as opposed to a macro-food environment of the world that other books have covered. After all it is my immediate environment that directly influences my food choices on a daily basis; tells me how seemingly unimportant choices such as the size of the plate I eat from, my dining company, and even the ambiance I eat in influences how much food I will serve and eat. It also underlined to me that as the primary food provider I am the Nutritional Gatekeeper in my home and 72% of what my family eats inside and outside the home is because of choices I make.

To think I almost put it back because I thought it was a diet book! I hadn’t read the first and last sentence of the book then - “The best diet is the one you don’t know you’re on!”

Here is a link to the authors blog and website.

Interview with Usha Prabhakaran author of Usha's Pickle digest

Interview with Usha Prabhakaran author of Usha's Pickle digest

Usha Prabhakaran is the self published author of "Ushas Pickle digest", "The perfect Pickle book" as it says on the cover. A thick volume of 365 pages, the book contains exactly 1000 recipes, is meticulously researched, perfectly cross-referenced and according to my friend Vikram Doctor food columnist with ETworth it for the multilingual ingredient glossary alone. (In fact it was Vikram who showed me the book almost a year an a half ago. He had found it at Landmark bookstores in Chennai.)

Always fascinated with the idea of pickles and its associated traditions - I was intrigued to hear of this extremely well put together book. Unfortunately by the time I went looking for it not a single book store in India had a copy left. I kept looking for the author, Usha Prabhakaran and her book off an on with the help of friends until we finally managed to get a number for her.

Untill the moment I called her I knew her as the author of an excellent book that had been self published (and anyone who has tried to sell a book to an Indian publisher will recognize that as a feat in itself) but after I spoke to her my respect and admiration became awe and inspiration. Not only did I find out that Usha had survived a fatal disease but she the disease had struck the day her book was published.

Here is an interview I have conducted of her via the internet and on the phone.

When did you decide to write a book on pickles and what made you decide to write a book about pickles?

Whoever had the opportunity of eating my pickles liked them very much and I found myself meticulously writing down the recipes for them. That is when the seed for a pickle book was planted in my mind. After all the pickle is a great subject to write about because it is compatible with almost any dish, can be easily adopted to suit available ingredients, countries and palates and following canons of pickling allows for them to be prepared without much difficulty. Also store bought pickles have preservatives added to them which can be avoided if the pickles are prepared at home which is an added advantage and of course home made pickles are always tastier, being made with first quality ingredients.

How did you go about your research, which were some of the people you spoke to?

Whenever and wherever I taste something new, I instantly approach the person that made it without any hesitation whatsoever and tell them how tasty their recipe was and ask if I could jot down the preparation method. My book is a tribute to the many housewives in general and to the Komitti Chettar community in particular, who generously and painstakingly shared their recipes with me, happy in the knowledge that the information they parted with will be documented and be part of a valuable pickle recipe book.

Did you learn anything unusual from any older person you spoke with during your research?

I found all the old persons as a rule very disciplined and fastidious. Pickling required that there should be no moisture of any sort in the containers, the vegetables should be dry, adequate salt should be added, the pickle should be steeped in oil etc. Experienced hands were extremely particular with vegetable, spice and oil selection, they used pickle jars that had been washed and dried in the sun and were particular about using home ground spices (chili, turmeric, asafetida, fenugreek etc. as much as possible doing the grinding themselves in many cases, no matter how tedious, or tiring, because they believed much of the end result depended on these things.

Is there anyone you spoke to in your research of recipes whom you will never forget?

Apart from my mom-in-law, I had a neighbor - a very close friend of my mother's – who taught me all I needed to know about Andhra pickling but I can safely say that I did not spare any person who I felt would add some value to my book.

What made you decide to self-publish?

Publishing a book means finding a publisher worth the name and finding one such is not that easy to come by, if the effort happens to be your first one. So I decided to go it alone – it gives you such a sense of pride and achievement, believe me. I have not for one moment regretted it, although the book would have sold faster with glossy pictures et al. and been a more economic deal with greater visibility, if published by an established publisher.

Did you have problems publishing your book? What hurdles did you face?

As already mentioned, the publishers I went to – the ones who you think you would like to be associated with - placed restrictions: time wise/other publisher-wise/money-wise etc. These were not things I could accept. Deep in my heart I knew, a good thing would speak for itself.

Why do you think pickling has been popular in India?

India is blessed with cheap and plentiful availability of a staggering variety of vegetables, fruits, spices and oils. It is no wonder then that pickling has always been popular in India. India being a hot country, hot spicy foods such as pickles which perk up any meal and whose diversity is well recognized are key features of Indian cuisine. This is especially true of South India. Pickles go well with rice, idli, dosa, chappathi (and all other Indian breads), puri, parathas etc. Naturally every community and every family has a tradition of pickling.

How did you become interested in pickles?

My mother-in-law hails from the Komitti Chettiar family, originally from Andhra Pradesh, with a long and highly regarded tradition of pickle making. After every visit to her place, I would return home with bottles of tasty, mouth-watering delicacies. I wanted to document these pickle recipes so that they would not be lost to posterity.

What have you found are some of the major differences between pickles from different parts of India?

Although mango is the preferred base vegetable for pickling, the fundamental variation is that in the north the pickles are made with chilly powder, turmeric powder, garam masala, vinegar or lime juice, sugar and mustard oil, while in the south, the same pickle is prepared with chilly powder, turmeric powder, asafoetida, tamarind extract or lime juice, jaggery and gingelly oil. In the north, east and west, the preference is for sweet and sour pickles. In the south, the sweet portion is hardly visible. Besides these pickles being made at home, no artificial preservatives are used.

In your research have you found any health risks related to pickled foods?

Pickled foods do not cause health risks. If a person is already suffering from ailments, she/he can be selective in the choice of pickles. In general because of the spices used in them, pickles stimulate the appetite, aid digestion, cool the system, cure cough and cold etc. You will be amazed at the highly spiced Andhra avakkai ( A.P) being consumed in enormous quantity, with little or no side effects. This could be attributed to the large consumption of ghee.

On the positive side, you have propagated that pickles can be effective in treating various ailments, Can you elaborate on that?

The spice and seasoning used in pickling have clearly defined attributes that help the body in specific functions. Spices are anti-oxidants, so they act as free-radical scavengers. Pickles contain essential oils that help to kill bacteria in the intestinal tract.

Ginger, asafoetida and turmeric are all considered digestives. They are pickled with beans or split peas to fight off their hard–to-digest stubbornness. Mint does the same thing. It also kills germs. Asafoetida is considered a nerve tonic; Cumin and green cardamom are cooling, clove and cinnamon are warming, ginger is good for the cold, raw garlic is good for circulatory ailments or jangled nerves, red chilies in small doses have antiseptic properties, black pepper promotes appetite and acts as a tonic for new mothers.

When reading your book you soon realize how many variations of food can get pickled. Was there any food that you were surprised to find in a pickle recipe?

Sure, I will give you an example. I generally look for great variety in food that can be pickled. I was truly amazed when I learnt that hibiscus flower is a good base material for pickle making.

Do you think it is important to preserve traditional recipes and food lore? If yes, why?

Indeed, there can be no doubt that traditional pickle recipes and food lore should be preserved. Pickling is an art and as in the case of all art forms, pickling is time consuming, but if left unrecorded, the recipes and the food lore that go with them will be lost to posterity. Traditional methods can often be laborious and time consuming, but the final product is tasty.

What are some of your favorite recipes out of your book?

Some of the favorite recipes from my book are small red onion in tamarind sauce (27), sweet and sour orange peel (30), plantain flower – hot (32), stuffed kalakkai chain – oil less (70), curd gooseberry – green chilly- watery (490).

What was the first pickle you made?

Mango-ginger was the pickle I experimented with first and most of my friends still love it. It is easy to make, the peeled slices of mango-ginger are combined with chopped garlic, a few strands of green pepper and tossed in salt and lemon juice. The pickle required frequent turning to prevent spoilage and lasts for up to 10 days at room temperature and about a month in the refrigerator.

Which is your favorite pickle to make now?

Gooseberry pickle in whipped curd is a pickle I like to prepare. All you have to do is whip up some curd (yogurt) with turmeric powder, salt and a generous amount of water and whip well again, steam the gooseberries and remove their segments, reserve but discarding the seeds. Heat oil and season with mustard seed, green chilly, curry leaves and stir into the whipped curd mix. Add in the gooseberry segments and mix well. The pickle can be used after a few hours and stores well up to a month in the refrigerator.

What is your favorite pickle to eat, do you like sweet pickles, spicy ones or sour ones?

I love spicy pickles with a dash of sweetness and sourness. I don't much fancy sweet pickles and I love the Methi sprouts pickle because it's health-giving properties. Methi seeds are soaked in the water for about 8 hours then drained and wrapped up in a damp cloth. The cloth is to be constantly moistened, to ensure that the sprouts appear. When the sprouts reach the desired length i.e. 1cm. approximately, the sprouts are pickled with tamarind extract, chilly powder, turmeric powder, asafoetida powder, jaggery and salt boiled in oil. The sprouts are to be sautéed for a very short time, because otherwise the pickle will become bitter.

Which was the most unusual pickle you come across in your research?

On a visit to the home of one of my husband's relatives I was told that I could create a great pickle out of curry leaf seeds. I tried it out and found it out to be out of this world. Not only was it delicious, it is also rich in vitamin A & D, and good for hair growth.

I know you are working on your second book on Rasams. Could you tell me more about Rasams?

Rasams are usually watery sometimes thicker, concoctions made from different vegetables, fruits, grains or combinations of these, with the addition of cooked dals and seasoned with ghee or oil. The seasoning normally contains a few spices like mustard seeds, curry leaves, asafoetida, cumin seeds etc. There are rasams prepared from grains, plain and sprouted, leafy greens, herbs, vegetables and fruits.

When will the book be published?

Usha's Rasam Digest is likely to be published in 2 months' time.

What are some of the interesting recipes you have covered in it?

You would be surprised to find rasam being prepared from waste vegetable materials like peas pods of fresh green peas along with ginger, green chilly and onion, addition of powdered pepper and cumin and seasoned with cumin seeds and crushed garlic seasoned in ghee.

Unripe tomato rasam is a favorite with me. When we utter the word rasam it conjures up images of a ripe tomato in tamarind sauce but this is not the case here. Here the rasam with tender green tomato is pressure-cooked with toor dal, turmeric powder and gingelly oil. Later, the rasam mix is boiled with rasam powder, salt and seasoned with mustard and asafoetida powder fried in ghee.

What advice do you have for people who wish to write a book and self publish?

Writing keeps the mind active and writing or working on a subject one likes does not tire a person too much. Self – publish one must because, although it costs a little more, one can be proud of it at the same time.

The Hour of the Goddess, Memories of Women, Food and Ritual in Bengal

Chitrita Banergee, Publisher - Penguin Price Rs. 195

In The Hour of the Goddess: Memories of Women, Food and Ritual in Bengal, Chitrita Banerji is eloquent and erudite as she demonstrates the place of food in Bengali culture in prose that is as light as a luchi "set afloat (in oil) like a paper-boat". The food memoir, by the writer from Calcutta now based in the US is a delight whether she is describing the famed Bengali penchant for fish, the quintessential Bengali five spice mix - Panchphoron, bitter flavours, the versatility of Bengali widows with their food despite the strict food proscriptions forced on them and the discovery and subsequent journey the Bengali Sandesh to iconic status. Unlike some memoirs that include recipes which are incomplete or half baked, the recipes at the end of each chapter in this book were authentic, and easy to follow. The addition of occaisional annecdotes and friendly advice almost gives the illusion that Banerji is standing by you guiding you through the recipe. The hour of the goddess bares the longing of a woman for idyllic bygone days, gently reminding us that change may be all around us but it is possible to stop for a moment and indulge in a spot of nostalgia with a traditional family recipe. All read and cooked, The hour of the Goddess is aromatic with Panch phoron and delicious!

Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal