Grand lessons, with love

Even the most seasoned chefs in the country will admit that their turning point was the realisation of one of the many tricks and tips learnt from their grandmas, writes Madhulika Dash

Grandmas are our very first teachers, mentors, storytellers, doctor, and culinary whiz who not only build our understanding of food but taste too. In fact, the very idea of ‘authentic’ for many of us is the dish that our grandmother cooked in the kitchens — dishes so aromatic that it could jog up an appetite no matter where you are or what time it is. ‘Nostalgia’ is a term created for her food and the way she served it to us. In short, they are the very personification of everything that flows between love and good food. Agrees North Frontier food specialist Chef Ravi Tokas, who dedicates most of the dishes he innovated on the little things that he learnt in his “beeji’s kitchen”, especially when it came to repurposing old dishes to create unique treats. “The popular Mutton Chawal we created for one of our brands is, in fact, a dish she taught me when she used the leftover curry to create these one-pot meals that could be served as a filling dish on its own,” recalls Chef Tokas, who found that digging into such little tricks not only made the kitchen more efficient, and cut on the food wastage, but also helped him reinvent fusion food.

He is not the only one to have reaped the fruits of a certain nuskha or lesson that has come from the grandmother’s kitchen, Sindhi food specialist Pradeep Tejwani swears by his grandma’s recipe of the seyal maani (stale rotis in garam masala) and sanna pakoda (Sindhi special fritters) as the two dishes haven’t just taught him a thing or two of how to make the most of the little things in life, but has been the “canvas where I work most of my innovative dishes that score on taste and love.” For progressive food expert Chef Nimish Bhatia, one of the finest lessons he now thinks that his grandma taught him well was that of “translating love in food.” Think about it, he says, “only our dadi or nani would be able to feed us things we otherwise don’t like by putting it together with something we love. With her, we could even start loving things like karela and bottle gourd.”

A fact that Chef Bhatia used extensively while creating masterpieces like Trio Galore of Dals in his now-closed aspect cuisine-based restaurant, Nimisserie. Multi-culinary expert Chef Yogendra Pal endorses it wholeheartedly. “As an aspiring chef, my first training was of course in my dadi’s (Atri Devi) kitchen where she gave me some of the finest life lessons through food when she taught me how to extract flavours from a chilli other than the spiciness by adding it differently to a dish, also how to use the roots (an obvious kitchen waste) to create a richer base for lamb curries. It was only later that I realised how much of a difference these little details could bring to our creation. It was in fact my turning point as a chef.” It is an emotion that Mangalurean food specialist Chef Praveen Shetty knows a tad too well, and today often credits his nani (Padmavati) for giving him his ‘niche’ as a chef. “I still remember every family vacation to our hometown in summers when we would be treated to this simple lunch of ganji with pickle and dry fish chutney that my nani would lovingly (and insistingly) cook for us. And not once would I complain of this delicious meal that soon became my anchor of comfort. In fact, I learnt it purely because it reminded me of her and would be my antidote when homesick,” recalls Chef Shetty, who admits that the “realisation came only as a retrospect when I began looking for a new direction in my culinary journey as a chef. But it wasn’t till the time I began putting my legacy forth that I learnt the finest lesson from that bowl of ganji — that food is best when kept simple and tasty.” It was a lesson that Dogra food specialist Chef Balpreet Singh Chadha too, confesses to have learnt from his “beeji (Varinder Sawhney), albeit after years of being a chef. “While she taught us how to change with the new tide, there were some things that were sacrosanct in her kitchen. Like the use of mustard oil and ghee, and all spices, pickles to be made in-house. Which back then appeared cumbersome to my “mixer lured mind” but was the big game changer later in life.”