CHENNAI: Smart kitchens might have made cooking an easy chore. But 81-year-old Vasantha Venkatasubramanyam thinks otherwise. “I find it hard to cook now with new technology. It was so easy when all I had to do was plan my dish one night prior. I used to clean, chop and keep all the ingredients ready the previous night. The next morning, I used to wake up early and add everything together to make the dish. Now, it takes time to dismantle all the appliances and reassemble them after washing them. Cleaning the utensils takes longer than the cooking process itself,” she says.
Wielding the ladle
Being the eldest among seven children, the task of cooking fell on Vasantha at the age of 16. She was trained by both her mother and mother-in-law, who explained the nutrient values of each dish to her. “I was married into a joint family and was nervous if I could cook sufficiently for everyone. The first dish I learned to cook was sambhar, which was also the toughest dish that took me months to master. It never came out well for me and I didn’t understand what quantity of spices to add. My mother-in-law guided me, but was steadfast in making me learn from my mistakes by myself. After nearly two to three months, I made the perfect sambhar. Another dish I struggled to make was padhir peni, which requires a special rava called chiroti rava. I failed when I initially tried to make it with regular rava, but once I learned, it became a favourite among my grandchildren. This is the best part of learning to cook; a lot more people become happier than you,” she says.
She passed these values down to her children and grandchildren, who follow her advice. She is still the official cook of the family, despite her joint pains and arthritis. “This is because I love eating good food. I improved my cooking based on feedback as well as what I like eating. I don’t like it when rice and rasam exist as two separate entities in rasam sadham, so I perfected the consistency of my rasam rice. I took it up as my duty to ensure that anyone who came to my house left with a full stomach. This personal interest coupled with consistent encouragement is what fuelled my passion,” she says.
Working with the basics
Reminiscing the methods she followed when facilities were limited to the basics, Vasantha says, “I love baking and wanted to bake biscuits even when we didn’t have ovens. I used to flatten sand and press it to the insides of my vessels and cook them on my stove. Over this, I could bake biscuits which took a bit longer to heat up, but tasted as good as biscuits made with ovens. In the case of veragu adupu (stoves with wood arranged around them to cook food), I always had a problem with the bottoms of my vessels getting blackened. To overcome this, I began to apply a mixture of salt and rice flour on the vessels. After cooking, you just rinse it with water and the vessel starts shining like it’s brand new. I often give people such tips without even meaning to and they approach me for new recipes.”
Home remedies
Apart from cooking unique delicacies such as nellika thokku and ginger pakodas, she also concocts a variety of pickles, medicines and thailams for her family. “I prepare oils with spinach for excessive hair fall. These days, everyone wants instant results. If they have the patience to wait, such home remedies are ideal cures for any ailment. Once, when I had severe vomiting, I made omam kashayam. It had the purgative power to pull out a small bindi I had swallowed and I was instantly cured. I sent my recipe for ginger pakodas to Mangayar Malar, a Tamil magazine that appreciated me. I always have pudina sherbet ready for guests; it is ideal to beat the heat,” she says.
Vasantha believes that a good chef is someone who can come up with healthy dishes while retaining the taste, colour and presentation. She can even make ice-creams healthy. “My grandchildren love my homemade ice-cream, which is packed with herbs and fruits. I add rose essence to give it a vibrant pink colour that attracts children,” she says.