Home chefs reminisce culinary lineage passed on by family matriarchs

In Ray Bradburyrsquos 1957 book Dandelion Wine the young protagonist writes about witnessing the magic of his grandmotherrsquos cooking ldquoHer hands then like the hands of great grandma before her were grandmarsquos mystery delight and liferdquo More recently in Julia Child Rules Lessons on Savouring Life Karen Karbo says ldquoBehind every Michelin guide chef there was a woman usually a fourfoot cataractridden old granny from whom hersquod filched his best recipesrdquoBandrabased chef Smita Deo agrees ldquoEvery recipe has a story to tellrdquo usually about the lineage of women whorsquove passed down recipes like gastronomical memories generation after generation ldquoIrsquove learned a lot about cooking from my grandmother my mother my kaki my motherinlaw and my husbandrsquos grandmotherrdquoIllish PaturiIn her grandmarsquos native place in Aversa a small village in north Karnataka was a beautiful rustic kitchen and Deorsquos fondest memory is plucking tender breadfruit with a sickle from the neighbourrsquos house to shallowfry on a pan with turmeric rava and chilli powder to make palapansa phodi Another favourite was sweet spicy and khuskhusheet crispy rava bhakri a pancake made of grated cucumber coconut ginger and green chillies which her grandmother would make for Monday fastsFood from north Karnataka is innately sattvicmdashthere is very little use of garlic onions and spices and most of these recipes have found their way to Deorsquos cookbook From Karwar to Kolhapur Via Mumbai Rs 1000 Spenta Multimedia It blends food heritages from Karwar from where she hails from and Kolhapur the native place of the family she married into ldquoInitially I was surprised that Kolhapuri food did not have the exaggerated spicy character everyone talks aboutmdashjust that the flavours were robust more masaledarrdquo she says ldquoAlso they use dry coconut in abundance compared to the fresh coconut we use back in KarnatakardquoBamboo Shoot CurryDeo learnt to make kheemyache gole in pandhra rassa from her motherinlaw who inherited the recipe from her mother Mutton mince is seasoned with Kolhapuri masala gingergarlic paste and chilli powder shaped into lemonsized balls and deepfried in a wok Coconut milk is added to the meatballs and the dish is served with brown bhaat a special rice grain from the regionChef Smrutisree Singh a MasterChef season 6 finalist from Odisha remembers her grandmother waking up at 4 AM and taking a bath before making kakhra pithas and monda pithas which are fried or steamed rice flour balls containing a rich sweet filling of coconut much like modaks and which date back to 1200 BC according to Singh ldquoThe first meal of the day had to be an offering to Godrdquo she says ldquoand it used to be cooked on a wooden chulha Women wore a white sari with a red border during the month of Lakshmi Puja and made monda pithas to offer to the goddess Only people from the household can eat it married daughters or guests from another household were forbiddenrdquo Singh received acclaim when she made them during her MasterChef roundsDal KharAnother dish imbued with the aroma of memory is ambil or bamboo shoot curry In Odia cuisine several vegetables and curries are cooked using bamboo shoots found abundantly in the state Sharp and pungent it brings together flavours of dried red chillies curry leaves ladyfingers brinjal and turmeric and tastes earthyAssamese chef and documentary filmmaker Tahin Ojah recalls her kitchen garden in Guwahati which was overrun with wild herbs coriander curry leaf plants and fish mint Her job was to pluck them for her grandmother or motherIt was only when she moved away from Guwahati as a student that she realised how dear traditional Assamese foodmdasha rarity in other parts of Indiamdashwas to her heart ldquoAssamese cuisine uses a lot of herbs and leafy vegetables such as manimuni Indian pennywort a medicinal herbrdquo she says ldquoSome people also eat it as a salad or chutney We wash the green leaves with curled up stems thoroughly and make a paste Then we press the juice out from the grounded paste strain it and drink it raw as a cure for upset stomachs It is also used to make a curry in a garliconiongreen chilli base Rohu or katla fish is fried separately and added Thick slices of potato or brinjal are added toordquoHome chef Aanchal Khannarsquos family has a repertoire of family recipes like lotus stem koftas passed down from her nani and dadiEvery meal starts with khar a palate cleanser made of raw papaya It is sometimes made with jackfruit seeds or cucumber too The peel of the banana a special type called the athiya kol is sundried and then burned until it turns into ash These ashes are immersed in water which is then strained to become kharldquoKhar is a dark brown liquid that is added to a vegetable or sometimes even parts of fish and meat is cooked in itrdquo says Ojah ldquoOnce you add this dark brown liquid to any of the above ingredients the dish is called khar We eat it with rice and end our meal with a sour tomato curry made either of fish or for vegetarians masoor dal vadasrdquoAmla dal she adds is another hyperlocal dish made by boiling masoor dal and amlas separately then adding a tadka of mustard seeds and a whole green chilli ldquoItrsquos a simple but wholesome dishrdquo Ojah says especially when eaten with aloo bhaji her favourite combinationRava bhakri reminds Chef Smita Deo of her grandmotherrsquos cooking back in Aversa north KarnatakaHome chef Aanchal Khanna who runs the food delivery service The Pickled Story shares a similar deep respect for culinary lineage and the women in her family ldquoThe love for food runs in our bloodrdquo says the Kanjurmarg resident ldquoMy grandfather who migrated from Lahore to Amritsar brought a love for food with him My nani Chanchal Soni and dadi Kamla Khanna viewed food as something that satisfies the soul and not just onersquos hunger pangs Dadirsquos Aamb di Mahani a sweetandsour curry made by blending raw mangoes with spices was our favourite Nani made the same curry with imli Nani also taught me her adrak ke sabzi and lsquostone dumplingsrsquo or Amritsari vadi which is made during summer Dumplings of urad dal are sundried to enhance flavours They can be stored roundtheyear and even used in curriesrdquoHer familyrsquos culinary speciality has been picklesmdashkachalu and baigan pickle a pungent flavourful pickle made of the taro root and brinjal and pickled with as many as 18 to 20 spices in mustard oil ldquoThe spices are a family secret and itrsquos a lost recipe which our family has retainedrdquo she says with justifiable pride ldquoRight from picking the right brinjal to getting a specific type of taro itrsquos a tedious process You only get taro in some markets in Chembur and Mulundrdquo Made with long brinjals the taro has to be cut in semicircles and boiled for a specific amount of time to achieve the perfect consistencymdashotherwise itrsquoll be either too firm or too mushy ldquoPickles if done right and stored well can last for a long timemdashone of them lasted six yearsrdquo she claimsAnother family tradition is lotus stem koftas which have a very nutty earthy taste The stems have to be so fresh that therersquos still mud clinging to them thatrsquos when they absorb spices bestmdasha mix of fennel dried coriander powder red chilli powder turmeric powder amchur powder ajwain and garam masala They are kept overnight in a bucket of water to soften and then boiled the next day ldquoTraditionally they were mashed on a grinding stone so that the fineness of the consistency could be controlled Then besan is added for binding balls are shaped and the koftas are deepfried before being added to a tomato and onion gravyrdquo she saysBethica Das Aanchal Khanna and Tahin OjahBethica Das a Sharjahbased home chef associates her motherrsquos cooking with aam shorshe chingri bhapa a Bengali dish made of raw mango and mustard paste ldquoIt is made by grinding mustard to a paste with curd turmeric powder coconut raw mango and green chilliesrdquo she tells us ldquoA few poppy seeds and a dash of mustard oil are added for good measure Prawns are marinated in this paste and steamed in a steel tiffin box It goes well with steamed ricerdquo says Das Ilish or hilsa fish can also be usedMost of the 1800 recipes on her blog stem from her experiences growing up in her Bengali household where the food tasted of the traditional panch phoran five spices Her childhood home in Hyderabad had bottle gourd trees and pumpkin vines in the courtyard and her mother would use the entire bottle gourd to create a flavourful pungent chutney called bata The dudhi and banana peels were ground with green chillies and garlic and sauteacuteed in oil and served with hot ricePakoras made out of vegetable peels were a hit too ldquoShe used to store them away in the fridge while cooking in the morningrdquo Das remembers ldquoand take them out in the evening mix them with besan onions green chillies and a few spices and deep fry them Or shersquod make a dish out of the bottle gourd or pumpkin leavesrdquoSmita Deo and Smrutisree SinghMemories comprise much of the conversation about food as these chefs attest and passing down culinary heritage is another way of preserving these memories ldquoI want to keep the essence of my childhood and Odia culture aliverdquo Singh says While for Khanna it is a mission to ldquotake her nanirsquos and dadirsquos recipes to the worldrdquo