The Hindu Business Line : From unhurried kitchens

Pedatha's cookbook of vegetarian Andhra recipes promises to revive a fast-receding world of unhurried and labour-intensive kitchens. Yes, that has to be said. In today's world of convenience cooking egged on by a slew of readymade masalas and mixes, there's lots to be ground, much to be powdered, roasted and fried, and slowly, at that. If you are one of those who enjoy cooking even though it takes time, you'll find that the final results are worth the grind.

Take, for instance, the pindimiriyam, a pepper-flavoured dal with vegetables — there are at least six different vegetables to be chopped and boiled, five items to be roasted and ground into paste, red gram to be boiled, tamarind pulp to be extracted, the tempering to be done, all these to be mixed and simmered and then simmered again. The upshot is a gravy with layers of flavours both fiery and mellow. Not to say that some of the ingredients cannot be organised beforehand, but it's definitely not for a day when you're hurrying to fit in as much as you can at home and work.

The book also reflects the Andhra penchant to convert nearly every conceivable edible item into a pachchadi (chutney). You can take your pick of spinach, brinjal, dosakai, the round yellow cucumber, yellow pumpkin, ginger, coconut, onion and of course, mango and chilli and the famous gongura.

Try the karivepaku pachchadi — it gets its speckled-green-and-red good looks from green curry leaves, tang from tamarind and a bit of crunch from the fried black gram, not to mention its ferocity from the red chillies. Or the pungent carrot chutney, which is easy to make — just dice the carrots, grind soaked mustard and red chilli, mix everything into the tempering. Pedatha (Subhadra Parigi, the eldest daughter of former President V.V. Giri) reinforces the most widely known belief about Andhra cuisine — that it's hot! The carrot chutney, for instance, calls for 25 red chillies for three carrots; some call for a mix of a handful each of green and red. But there is a clutch of recipes featuring yoghurt with which you can cool off.

Other sections include pappus (dal with greens and vegetables), podis/kaarams (powders meant to be used with rice and ghee, or as accompaniments to various snacks), rice and some sweets. There is hardly any onion or garlic featured in the recipes; and there are some recipes that are not quite Andhra in nature, like the Bisi Bele Huli or the Badam Payasam. But then, this book is described as a collection of recipes from Pedatha's home, which was not restricted to Andhra but extended across the country. Incidentally, Pedatha (short for Pedda Atthayya), is a term used to address a senior paternal aunt.

A very useful feature that other cookbooks rarely mention is the order in which ingredients for the tempering have to be used. Contrary to popular impression, it's not always the mustard seeds that go in first, and the others higgledy-piggledy later; very often, the former has to wait its turn till the split black gram attains its crunch.

For today's generation, particularly, there are some useful tips on how to use asafoetida (how DO you roll the asafoetida block into marbles?), how to identify when the gongura is done, the right kind of oil that suits a dish, variations on the recipe and how to powder sesame seed to just the extent that it doesn't become oily. Those were too few, though — how do you cook rice to the right consistency, soft or grainy, as you want it? How do you grind fried ingredients to a fine paste without water — continuously whizzing them in the mixer doesn't seem to help. There is also no mention of pickles, which Andhra Pradesh is famous for.

But all in all, there is a lot of attention to detail. Good photography, pleasant graphics and pastel design culminate in a steep price of Rs 450. Considering that mention of Andhra cuisine is often sloppily represented by and restricted to the Hyderabadi biriyanis and ubiquitous aavakais in the South sections of cookbooks, this book is a welcome accomplishment.

Top picture by S. Thanthoni

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