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Back to forgotten flavours

Photo: K.Ganesan

On a roll Reviving ethnic south Indian cuisine

“Try this new dish, Mohana Kalavai”, Chef Jacob Sahaya Kumar Aruni teasingly invites me. Taking it as one of his gastronomical exuberance, I taste it and he springs a surprise. “It is simple “sambar”, the South Indian vegetarian gravy made with tuvar dal,” he tells me gleefully. But there’s a catch. It is of the third century A.D.

But then all those who are familiar with this 33-year-old celebrity chef and food consultant, such surprises are not a rarity any longer. He has independently and intensely researched on ethnic food and today is a mine of some spectacular information.

“I could have become a chef in any hotel and made good money. But I am not cut out for that. When I finished my catering course, I felt I was not here to peel onions and garlic alone. I had this desire to explore ethnic South Indian delicacies,” he shares.

Today, Chef Jacob is a household name with his innovative recipes and highly creative popular culinary show on TV, “Aaha Enna Rusi”.

“My idea was to pull people out of their kitchen. It is a travelogue kind of cookery show and it caught the imagination of the public,” he beams.

Born into a family of doctors in Uthamapalayam, he was an exception when he chose to pursue catering.

“Though I went on to do B.Sc. Physics from the American College, Madurai, my love for cooking started much early. Ours was a big family and I always used to assist my mother in the kitchen whenever required. My tryst with cooking started when I first made chapattis and my family members encouraged me fully. Whatever the preparation is, they never criticised and that encouraged me to experiment more,” he recalls.

After his graduation, he joined the S.N.R. and Sons College in Coimbatore, where he did his catering course.

“The management provided fodder for my inquisitive mind. When I took up the job at the same college after completing the course, I decided to help students develop interest in south Indian cuisine. For, most of them declined to learn our traditional food and opted for Mexican, Italian, Continental and Chinese. So I asked every student to bring their mothers 100 best different recipes and it sparked off an unbridled enthusiasm among them”

He then visited houses of the students whose recipes qualified and asked them to demonstrate a particular recipe and video graphed it.

During one such visit I came to know about the Vennai Pongal (butter rice) at Oothukuli. It is unique because it is not cooked with green gram dal, which is normally used to make pongal. Instead, the recipe is cooked in pure butter and tastes brilliant. In fact, I learnt from one elderly Muslim person in Dharapuram that the popular Dhalcha, an accompaniment for the biryani, is nothing but a sambar cooked with mutton. It is perfect example of a culinary marriage. Similarly our Keeranur Kuzhambu resembles the Parsi dish of Dhansak, normally had with brown rice, he goes on.

For chef Jacob, South Indian cuisine is a challenge given the fact that it lacks a gravy base. “European cuisine is very much white sauce with salt and pepper-based while onion and tomato gravy is intrinsic to Punjabi food.This can get monotonous but South Indian cuisine tests the true skills of the chef. With idli/dosa and sambar fast becoming a global food attracting everybody beyond age and country barriers, it is imperative for the youngsters to turn towards our ethnic cuisine,” he says.

He started researching in ethnic South Indian food at the age of 24 just to remind people of the forgotten flavours and showcase the culinary strengths of south Indians.

He has successfully completed his research on Kongu Nadu cuisine, which is in vogue in Coimbatore and surrounding districts.

“I organised a food festival based on this theme in Chennai in 2004. The huge success propelled me to take this cuisine to other parts of the country. Now, we have successfully organised food festivals on this theme all over the country. It has become a runaway hit. The next work on the list was Nanjil Nadu Cuisine, which is popular in the area between Madurai and Kanyakumari. I am also interested in Sourashtrian food.

It is simply fascinating to taste their variety rice preparation and different chutneys for the idlies. We have also worked on North Arcot and South Arcot cuisine, he informs.

His latest passion is the Sanga Kaala Unavu, a research on the food habits of people between 3rd and 16th century A.D. “Our team with the help of 12 popular litterateurs decoded the references found in the ancient scriptures and compiled the work. We have come out with some spectacular information (see box),” he reveals and gets ready for his next job – to prepare Coffee biryani!

He is at GRT Regency, Madurai, till May 24 for a food festival that brings recipes from 10th to 16th Century.

FASCINATING FACTS

There was no onion, garlic, tomato, green and red chilli before 10th century A.D.

Dry ginger and pepper were only used instead of chillies Onion came to India from Mexico and chillies, both green and red came to us from Northern part of Chile after 10th Century A.D.

Portuguese brought garlic and cloves to India.

The root cause for creating acidity problems in our body is onion and tomato.

Gingelly oil was the earliest known oil medium.

Paratha made of the hand ground wheat flour during the 4th century was called Mandaga.

ONGOING PROJECTS

Research on flower cuisine, where in he is concentrating on preparing salads with flowers, payasam with sampangi poo (lilly flower).

Seafood cuisine. To be also called as coastal cuisine.

Cooking with coffee beans. Like coffee biryani and coffee chicken.

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