Poornakala (The Complete Art)

"Annam vai daivatam"............ Food is divinity. Cooking is equated to a penance in our tradition. The Vedas prescribe procedures and correct ways of even lighting a stove, manners of using the ingredients, and about food that should adhere to Nature. Eating habits originated from reasons like climate, weather and natural availability of resources in different regions. Modem times and technologies enable us to transcend limiting factors of distances and differences, and making cuisine an experience without boundaries and infinite possibilities of innovations. The inevitable consequence of a continuous process leading to amalgamation of diverse cuisine has also unfortunately diluted, and even led to loss of some exotic cooking culture, causing a great gap between traditional cooking that was based on logical factors, and comfort cooking that is based on convenience factors. This book is an attempt to fill that hiatus by removing the dust in the context of South Indian Tam Bram cuisine.

Amma, Smt. Santha Devi, was the first source of learning for me. She was a Diploma holder in Classical Carnatic Music from the prestigious Swati Thirunal Academy of Music in Thiruvananthapuram, and was often found softly singing while cooking, While I learnt numbers and tables by counting the gold bangles in her wrists, I learnt the art of cooking, in the growing years, by merely watching her intently, and absorbing what she did, and perhaps derived the joy factor of working in the kitchen from her music. As the eldest daughter, I had automatically assumed the role of a kitchen assistant" to her by the time I was eight years old. At that age I could light a stove, heat milk, and make tea for the entire family. By ten years of age, I knew how to chop, grind, saute, do seasoning; in another two years I could prepare tiffins and snacks; at fourteen, I surprised myself by making the "mysore pak", the most exotic sweet and considered difficult to make, to console my weeping baby sister, when my parents had gone out. In the same year, I impressed the whole family by cooking a complete meal of capsicum saambaar, string-beans vegetable accompaniment and papadams, to be eaten with plain rice, before my mother and aunt returned late from a navaratri pooja, worrying about the hungry mouths waiting at home. I cannot forget how impressed Amma was, though totally taken aback that I could do that! Needless to say, I had realised well by then that cooking was a beautiful and enjoyable art; later in my life I further realised that it was also a complete art, "Poornakala".

Appa, Shri A.P. Hariharan, was no less a cook. A Presidency Gold Medallist in Chemistry, the man who set up the first PSU of independent India, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL, which was initially called Heavy Electricals Ltd.) as its first Secretary, Appa ran amuck in the kitchen. When he cooked, the children ran for cover; Amma spun around, taking over the mantle of the kitchen assistant at times, and walking out in indignation at others. While the ruckus that Appa created during cooking was annoying, it simultaneously whetted our appetites too, as nothing could match the aroma that emanated from the kitchen when he was in charge. His shouts and commands for running errands, to whosoever was within the range of his sight, equally made us drool in anticipation of the culinary outcome. My younger brothers were adept in the art of mysteriously disappearing during preparation times to avoid errands, only to appear innocently when the food was ready, expressed with a joyous and triumphant announcement from Appa. I have never seen Appa happier than when seeing his off-springs eat, a trait that he displayed till the end, when even his youngest child was 42 years old.

I learnt to love cooking by just being present when Appa or Amma cooked.

After my marriage, the role of the cook was accepted automatically and naturally by me, and as expected by my husband and his family, in spite of my full time career in the Civil Services. I thought I hated it at times when it became an inevitable chore, and when all at home took the food availability for granted, only to realize that my love for cooking had become part of my being. I had to learn to balance taste and nutrition, as Ravi (Narayanan), my husband, was particular about the nutritional aspects more than anything else, and about using only the best of ingredients in terms of health and quality of product. The arrival of my children, Yamini and Mani, and their growing years saw to it that my need to experiment and learn, coupled with growing all round awareness about food and nutrition, only chiseled me more and more in my expertise as a cook. Appa's cooking expeditions, in retrospect, acquired a new meaning in my mind, as, like him, nothing makes me happier than seeing my near and dear ones enjoy the food prepared by me.

The Civil Services and the inevitable transfers and postings exposed me to different people and different cuisine. I saw more and more that South Indian food, routinely prepared in our households but hardly known outside homes, was greatly relished and enjoyed by our guests. Many non-South Indian friends would actually ask for South Indian food at our homes. I increasingly wanted that even others should know that idlis and dosas are merely snack/breakfast items and were not even part of a meal; that meals of South have been virtually unknown outside homes of South Indians. Our growing children also made this project a necessity, because though they grew up loving South Indian food, they are beginning to feel that the art would be extinct in the next generation if the knowledge is not preserved and made easily and widely accessible.

My latter stint with an international organization made me see that even foreigners not only enjoy little known South Indian meals, but some of them are also very much aware of the diverse food habits of the Peninsula. I derived encouragement that it is time for the South Indian cuisine to become part of the world cuisine. Indeed, some of the westerners are more exposed to the nomenclatures of some traditional recipes than many non-South Indians, thanks to the various Indian and Sri Lankan food outlets in many countries in Europe and the USA, but which can hardly be called authentic versions.

The word "Bhojanam" has a comprehensive meaning denoting a complete meal comprising of all courses and items to be served. It is an interesting fact that in South India the normal practice was to serve food on banana leaves. This ensured hygienic eating and environment friendly disposal. Even today at least during ceremonies and festivals this practice continues.

This book includes only complete meals meant for lunch and dinner and does not include snack items, that are meant for breakfast or evening tea (tiffin); nor does it include festival cuisine. Traditional pickles also do not find a place here, as pickling being an art in itself, that needs a separate project. Original Tamil names of the recipes are retained, with suitable translation within brackets wherever possible. As in any language that is not familiar, the names may prove to be tongue-twisters to non-Tamilians; I am confident that the introduction and the consequent familiarity to Tam Bram food will enable overcoming of that inconvenience. I am sure that just as "dosai" and "vadai" became "dosa" and "vada", the pronunciation will find its own way out.

Efforts have been made to add footnotes under recipes in case of any specific characteristic or variation. Care has been taken to convey correct pronunciation by adapting phonetically suitable spellings. The book is divided into twelve sections, listing out recipes under various heads of individual courses. Each section has a brief introduction explaining the course in general. In the end, a glossary is added, giving the equivalent names in English and Hindi.

My sisters Susheela and Poornima kept contributing with their own recollections and observations whenever I would need to confirm if Amma did this way or that. They also helped in making the book as comprehensive as possible, by reminding me of dishes that I might have missed to include. My constant sources of inspiration till today are my children Yamini and Mani Shankar, who make cooking a most meaningful and worthwhile pastime for me, and motivate me to prepare whatever food item fancies them at various points of time. They sustain my love for cooking, and both have grown into outstanding cooks themselves. M/s CDCS eventspecific (P) Ltd. gave the book its present physical form. Besides all those who love cooking and experimenting and to whom this will be a window to reach South Indian cuisine, to my children, nephews and nieces, and to their contemporaries, I hope this book, along with the other two books in the Poornakala series (Bhakshanam on traditional snacks and Neivedyam on festival cuisine), will be a reference point.