When I took leave of Patiala and my first job as an LKG teacher, I was given two Tarla Dalal books by my colleagues to accompany me to my new life in Bengaluru. This was in 1994 and Ms Dalal was possibly the only known name in the Indian publishing industry. The recipe booklet that came with Hawkins pressure cooker was another keeper and inspired the nascent cook in me to duplicate steamed Bhapa Doi and peas with grated coconut. And ofcourse, there was the little recipe pull-out with the Milkmaid tins that helped me make malpuas and paneer gulabjamuns for Diwali, many years back. I really don’t know how and when the passion to collect cookbooks was kindled but maybe it began when a neighbour gifted me a fantastic little booklet, 200 South Indian Vegetarian Classic Lunch Recipes by Mallika Badrinath. I preserved the book for almost 20 years and then lost it during the last house shift.
Or maybe it began when over 10 years ago, another friend gifted me a Time Life book called, Mrs Fields’ I Love Chocolate Cookbook!
This had 100 recipes ranging from pies and cakes to cookies and showstoppers and its luscious pictures were such a hit with my son that they possibly sparked off the love for baking in him and he assures me that one day, he will reproduce all the recipes he grew up drooling over. What this book gave me was a perfect chocolate cake recipe that I simplified according to my convenience and a banana bread that I often baked with some muesli on top.Covered with the pencilled observations of my son, when he was a toddler, this is one of my most prized possessions.
A Bengali friend I first met when we covered the Miss World pageant together in 1995-1996, recently left Bengaluru to set up home in Kolkata. Her daughter is now an independent working woman and the need to cook and nurture her has been quenched so before leaving, she passed on to me, some of her beloved culinary tomes including Betty Crocker’s Good and Easy Cookbook, Chinese Cooking by Kenneth Lo, Better Homes and Gardens’ Old-fashioned Home Baking, Madhur Jaffri’s Food For Family and Friends.
As my son’s interest in cooking grew, I gifted him The World Encyclopedia of Cooking Ingredients by Christine Ingram and books by Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver.
Jamie Oliver’s brownies are a big hit in the family and my son can bake them with his eyes closed now.
With time, my interest has deepened in simple, home cooking in different regions of the country and I am very fond of a little treasure called Banaras Ki Rasoi which has nostalgia inducing recipes like Shaheen Lauki and Kachnar ki Kali ki Tarkari which I haven’t tried yet but would like to someday. The Udupi Kitchen by Malati Srinivasan and Geetha Rao has been lying around and one of these days I will try out Suttid Badanekai Raita (yogurt with roasted aubergine) and some refreshing kosambaris and chutneys.
Nita Mehta like Sanjeev Kapoor and Tarla Dalal is a ubiquitous presence on book shelves and I have enjoyed cooking her simple Thai recipes like pineapple chunks tossed in an orange juice sauce and an aromatic red curry. Her Hyderabadi Khaana is another favourite and my first attempt at vegetable Biriyani and Baghaare Baingan came out pretty well. Tarla Dalal’s The Complete Gujarati Cookbook is a comforting space because its pure vegetarian sensibility offers simple flavours and the goodness of fresh vegetables cooked in multiple ways. My go-to recipe on days when there is not much time to cook, is jaggery flavoured Bhinda Ni Karhi.
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I know in these times of food portals and world cuisine at your fingertips, cookbooks are kind of obsolete. I do sometimes watch videos of stuff one cannot learn just by reading a recipe. So watching how a bhatura is made and how simple it is to fry onion rings is indeed much simpler but I love my collection too much now to discredit it. And that is why when I ran out of book shelves in my new rented home, I arranged all my cookbooks in in-buillt nooks meant for curios. Someday, my son will inherit this modest legacy and perhaps laugh at his mother’s old-fashioned taste in food or perhaps, turn to a turmeric stained page and remember the taste of achari aloo, wistfully.
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Reema Moudgil works for The New Indian Express, is the author of Perfect Eight, the editor of Chicken Soup for the Soul-Indian Women, a translator who recently interpreted Dominican poet Josefina Baez’s book Comrade Bliss Ain’t Playing in Hindi, an artist, a former Urdu RJ and a mother. She won an award for her writing/book from the Public Relations Council of India in association with Bangalore University, has written for a host of national and international magazines since 1994 on cinema, theatre, music, art, architecture and more, has exhibited her art in India and the US…and hopes to travel more and to grow more dimensions as a person. And to be restful, and alive in equal measure.