CHENNAI : Rich ghee glistens in the well I have made in my dinner of rice and poondu paruppu podi, a rare home-cooked — rather, home-assembled — meal. I salivate as I scoop on a portion of gongura chutney with an aroma that has carried itself from Jayasree Desu’s apartment across town. It has only been a few hours since I stood in her kitchen and watched as she added fresh gongura leaves and red chilli powder to a kadhai; sour and spicy smoke splitting the air.
This is the kitchen out of which the 63-year-old runs her business of homemade podis and pickles in Guntur style. “It has been five years since I have been making these. My sister-in-law nudged me towards it and my sister Rama and other sisters-in-laws encouraged me to keep at it,” she said.
Memories of home
The Andhra-native grew up in Chennai amid the food and culture of her hometown. When she got married, she moved to Guntur into a large family of 20. A few years ago, her nuclear family moved back to Chennai for her two sons’ post graduation. Her business, however, found a way to carry the memories of both these families. “We would all sit together in Guntur to make pickles during summer. Initially, it was my mother-in-law’s mother-in-law who would start the entire process and we would help, seeing nothing of the preparation. But as they grew older, they wanted us to learn how to make the same. Our family would by 200 mangoes to prepare avakkai oorgai.
So, my co-sisters and I would sit together and work — cutting and cleaning mangoes, peeling garlic and getting things ready. It was a fun time, where we all did our tasks while happily talking to each other. Every co-sister had to learn how to make one variety of pickle. I was incharge of avakkai, the others made tomato, gongura and red chilli. The podis were taught by my mother. When I returned to Chennai, I wanted to learn to cook them myself for my family. So my mother taught me to make paruppu podi, karagapillai podi, gasa gasa powder, sesame powder and more. I loved my mother’s food. On festival days, she would make fresh ariselu, payasam, bobattlu, storage items (dry snacks), and so many other things.” I receive the evidence as Jayasree sprinkles her podi onto a helping of rice with some ghee for me to taste.
Andhra food is different from Tamil food, maintains Jayasree, and the secret to the former cuisine is in its red chilli. “Guntur red chilli is tasty; the one in Chennai is not the same. So I get my red chilli for the podis and pickles from Andhra,” she said.
Success and support
While it has been five years, the business was initially slow-moving. Her orders were limited to the ones Rama, an entrepreneur as well, brought in and largely, friends and family. However, this changed a few months ago when she met Anirudh Rao, the owner of Teru, an eatery, through her brother. Now her podis and pickles stand in shelves of the joint, creating significant growth for her business. But when Jayasree looks back, what she recalls most, it seems, is the support she got from her sisters-in-law, sisters and other family members who supported and encouraged her to move out of her shell and explore the business proposition.
Her sons too lend a hand when she is on business. A business day in her household often goes like this: “In the morning, I cook, do my puja, make tiffin and finish all my house work. It is finally in the afternoon when I cook all the podis and pickles and pack them in the evening. My elder son helps me with the packaging and even brings all the ingredients I need. My younger one helps by suggesting how to pack, organise and do things easier,” she said.
So far, Jayasree has only explored limited orders and buys ingredients as she receives requests. Over the course of five years, she has also couriered orders to Guntur, Kavali, and Hyderabad and is waiting for an opportunity to be able to service different cities.
That her business has reached several households, even beyond Chennai, through only word-of-mouth marketing is validation enough for the taste. I can attest too but I’m a little busy devouring the paruppu podi and gongura chutney.