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Introduction
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"Cooking At Home With Pedatha", Pratibha Jain and Jigyasa Giri's book is about pure vegetarian recipes from a traditional Andhra kitchen
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What follows is not a book review, simply because the latest cookbook in town in not a mere cookbook. It is much more. It is the collection of years of wisdom and experience. An invaluable mix of practical and useful information; it is a painstaking work of love and gusto, and it shows!
"Cooking At Home With Pedatha" has been put together by a doctor of philosophy of language and a kathak dancer, choreographer and teacher. This is Pratibha Jain and Jigyasa Giri's first book together and it is all about pure vegetarian recipes from a traditional Andhra kitchen.
Of course it's all about cooking with Pedatha (short for "Peddha Atthyya" which means father's oldest sister in Telugu). Our charming and lovable 85-year-young Pedatha here is Subhadra Rau Parigi, the oldest offspring of former Indian President Dr. V. V. Giri. Jigyasa, married to one of Subhadra's nephews, and Pratibha have done a brilliant job of distilling these timeless recipes and providing practical tips and guidelines.
In the large format 86-page book, they have managed to pack in an amazing amount of information, photographs and glossaries and also include quotes, anecdotes and poems. It knits together several happy memories of Pedatha's life. Brilliantly structured in chapters such as "Chutneys", "Powders", "Rice", "Vegetables", "Dals", "Yogurt", "Sweets" and "Crispies". Each recipe also carries a box "Pedatha says" that offers a useful tip. This covers everything from buying and choosing the ingredients to storing and cooking them. I also find the introductions to each chapter lucidly informative. The interesting part is that the duo manages to make the book relevant to the novice as well as the gourmet. For instance, the intro to the Dals section points out that "Unlike in North India where the dal preparation is named after the lentil with which it is cooked, the Andhra pappu is usually named after the greens or vegetable it is cooked along with." Now this is the kind of information that a novice will be happy to know. Extreme care is taken to ensure that the correct quantities are used and wherever necessary it is pointed out what consequences overdoing can lead to. For instance "camphor in payasam is an acquired taste and it's important to use a very miniscule amount or it can make the payasam bitter." An additional chapter "Special touch" gives the low down on tempering, chillies and so on. Not only is a typical Andhra meal described, serving suggestions and menu guidelines are also given. Glossary of ingredients with accompanying pictures is a bonus. The last poem of love dedicated to pedatha quite rightly points out that cooking "is not ingredients precise, not merely a technique, it is an intuition, a flavour, a whiff... much more, the hand that feeds, the smile that twinkles, the wisdom of years and years of wisdom, how do we capture those?"
All I can say is Jigyasa and Pratibha you have not only captured all this but presented it beautifully too.
Am just back from Goa, after trying out a dozen new restaurants. So should you be planning a trip there, do let me know. I can send you the details.
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RASHMI UDAY SINGH
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