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Bon apetite with a cordon bleu
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Sunitha Divakaran is a gourmet cook with a difference as she delves into history and retrieves recipes, which would have otherwise been lost to us. She has definitely won a place in our hearts via the stomach. PURNIMA NARAYAN profiles this cordon bleu.
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THE POPULAR saying `It's a man's world' no longer holds water in this context. It is a wrong notion that true professionals are men and men only. Everyday cooking is a woman's forte but in professional cooking men rule the roost. No longer! Women are coming to the forefront in this field. The Casino Group of Hotels has a woman at the helm of affairs to `man' their kitchen.
Sunitha Divakaran, is the Chef- in-charge at the `Brunton Boatyard' Hotel. For Sunitha, Hotel management was a well thought out decision though she was unsure of the hurdles in her way. Sunitha proudly recollects,"Out of the 120 people who qualified the entrance test only 17were girls. Many of them dropped out in course of time. The curriculum was tough and demanding". It was in the third year that they had to select the area of specialization. Sunitha opted for the kitchen. "I have never regretted that decision", smiles Sunitha, the first woman malayalee chef. Having graduated from IHM, Madras, she joined the Casino Group. She has been at the property as a member of the pre-opening team since its inception. After a brief stint as Junior sous-chef, she is now the Chef-in-Charge.
Young and highly professional Sunitha gets charged with enthusiasm when she talks about the property, especially about the restaurant. As a member of the pre-opening team, she spent the first year in research. "The entire team had split in to groups and researched on different styles of cooking like Arabic, Jewish, Dutch, Portuguese etc. We really looked forward to waking up the next morning so that we could get on with our work." They would go to various Gujarati and Jewish houses nearby to extract the private and treasured recipes. She feels that the rich history of Fort Cochin and nearby areas has helped her to develop a research-oriented approach to the profession.
Then came the more hectic work of adapting those recipes to attractive and palatable ends. Sunitha walked the tight rope of retaining the originality while making it appealing to all palates. The `Bharani soup', `Fernandes pork roast', `Panne koek', `Stella's chicken korma `, etc. are some of the resultant recipes.
The final outcome was the birth of the attractive, unique and multi-ethnic menu card - `The History'. This menu card which rolls out as a chronicle of old Cochin is a well researched piece of work and stands as a proof of Sunitha's commitment and interest in her profession. " I make it a point to interact with our guests so that we can prepare for them what they like best. I also exchange recipes with them so that we can adapt and thus improve our service". An incident she particularly remembers is when a Jewish lady who was a contributor to her original list of recipes brought an Israeli relative along to show the property.
The guest mentioned the recipe of `crumb fry chicken' which was purely continental. The very same recipe was earlier given to Sunitha by the Jewish lady and it was an Indianised version of the same with spices. "This proved the Indian influence while they successfully retained their individuality. That is what we learn in history."says the lady chef all in command.
Sunitha takes pride in her profession, which she considers as something inseparable from history. With such dedication and sincerity this professional from Ottappalam is all set to scale greater heights.
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