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Specially by grandmothers

Meet some grandmothers who have simplified authentic recipes in the hope of preserving them for posterity and have rustled up cookbooks

THE PAST Sulakshana Rajagopal and Vasanthi Govindan

It's the heavy grinding stones, drenched in decades of spices. Handwritten recipe books smudged with turmeric. Shadowy larders bursting with jars of pickles. Your grandmother's banana jam and tomato chutney will always have that unbeatable, unachievable old-world flavour.

Each of these women spent decades learning how to create healthy, delicious meals for their families. Each of them took totally different culinary paths, in keeping with their own traditions and heritage. And then each of them simplified the past for their grandchildren.

They had no experience. No book agents. No hype.

And yet, three extraordinary books were quietly born.

Grandma's Recipes

"I tried out every recipe at home, whether my husband liked it or not," smiles Sulakshana Rajagopal, thumbing through, `Grandma's Recipes from Near and Dear."

"His favourite is always sambar... he's pukka South Indian," she says affectionately, adding that she would never have been able to write the book if it wasn't for him. "He proof read, put it on the computer, took it to the publisher... "

Although Sulakshana isn't quite the hard-nosed professional author ("I was so thrilled about writing a book, I didn't ask for royalties,") this seemingly timid homemaker has been enterprising enough to write three books and is currently collecting wedding songs to compile them "so the next generations don't forget we have such a rich tradition."

She's clearly got a passion for the past. So, she has not only put her mother's recipes into this book, but also talked her friends into contributing to it.

"I got married at 17, and was always interested in cooking," she says, pouring out a glass of her deliciously tangy garlic rasam. Over the years, she learnt how varied traditional South Indian cooking really is.

"You go out, and you only see a few vegetarian dishes," she says, shaking her head ruefully, "but there's so much."

A quick glance at her book confirms this fact. She's got 19 varieties of chutney, including umpteen vegetable preparations, more than a dozen varieties of curd pachadis and 23 ways to make rasam.

"My children live in the U.S. and my daughter uses all my recipes when she has American guests. Even my son-in-law uses the book. He's a very good cook," she smiles proudly.

Enterprising Writer

Ashwathy Mathen is tireless. She always has been.

"She needs to keep herself busy," says her son Ashok, discussing his mother who currently lives in Kerala.

A dedicated homemaker, in 1961, Ashwathy experimented with writing scripts for her husband, movie producer Raju Mathen. "Her story `Manavati,' (meaning Bride) went on to become one of his most successful movies," says Ashok.

She then made pickles in her garage under the `Eves' label, nursing it into a successful business, before she sold it and looked for something else to do. A book was, perhaps, inevitable.

Watching her grandchildren grow up she realised that "most kids these days don't know how to cook... Not only cooking, they don't know a thing about life," states Ashok, explaining why after five years of research and relentless hours in the kitchen — her book, `Ende Tharavad Pajagam,' written in Malayalam, includes everything from traditional recipes to her household tips to advice for brides.

"My grandchildren wanted me to write this," she says in her preface, "and because I wrote it for my grandchildren I made it even more specific, and easy to follow."

She adds, "They said they don't want to know what old people do — they'd rather use a mixie than grind masalas on a stone."

She adds, wryly, "They don't know how to cook!"

Ashwathy therefore worked each recipe out. "She would make me try them myself," chuckles her granddaughter Preethi, "then taste what I made, and trace why it went wrong by going back step by step... That's how I learnt cooking."

The 262 Syrian Christian recipes in the book include everything from the popular to the traditional, like the customary tangy fish curry rich in tamarind, cooked in a clay pot for weddings.

And the advice for brides? "Success, failure, disappointments are all part of life. Don't lose courage. Smile."

Indian Cookery

"I said I'm too old to write a book and all," smiles charming Vasanthi Govindan, as we settle at her dining table over cups of fragrant coffee.

Fortunately, her nephews insisted that `Vasanthi Aunty,' — who spent years conjuring up lavish meals for them when they were hungry collegians and still sends them lovingly wrapped date chutney — put all her best recipes into a book.

Wife of an army man, parties never fazed her. "In the Army, we only entertained," she states. "Service people want to enjoy life when they are with their families. And when the men were sent to the front, their wives found constructive ways to keep themselves busy."

"We would learn different types of cooking from each other. And every time someone threw a party all of us would help in the kitchen," says Vasanthi. Naturally, her repertoire is formidable: especially since they moved frequently. "Delhi, Bangalore, Calcutta and Saigon (Vietnam) in 1964."

Her book, "Indian Cookery: An Army Wife's Choicest Recipes For All Occasions" includes a rich collection of Kerala recipes from the Malabar region.

"Jackfruit payasam, sweet and sour bitter gourd curry... they're all typical of North Kerala," she says. It also includes intensely interesting recipes she learnt while helping out in friend's kitchens, such as a traditional but relatively unknown green grapes chutney.

"I had bundles of written recipes that I carried everywhere," she laughs. Finally giving in to her insistent family, with help from her daughter-in-law Neena, she chose 110 recipes and sent them to Mumbai, where her nephew got them edited and printed.

"I was very excited when the book came out," she beams, "He called and said, `It's in front of me. Right from the oven!'"

SHONALI MUTHALALY

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