Grains, Greens, and Grated Coconuts: Recipes and Remembrances of a Vegetarian Legacy [Paperback]

Ammini Ramachandran (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

The purpose of this modest no-frills book is to place a region, its history, and its family and cultural heritages into a coherent context for understanding food. -- By Anne Mendelson in The New York Times, July 18, 2007

"Ammini guides you through Kerala's history and heritage, seasonal festivals, and irresistible varieties of precious recipes handed down from one generation to the next". -- My Workshop, March 26, 2007

"Grains, Greens, and Grated Coconuts is the perfect kind of book to curl up with and experience Kerala cooking at its best." -- Indian Food Rocks, March 14, 2007

"Ramachandran has preserved the originality of her traditional family recipes, and made them accessible to those outside the tradition, without overwhelming the readers". -- Mahanandi, March 19, 2007

"This cookbook do justice to a very unique and sophisticated culinary tradition emerging from what was once considered the spice capital of the world". -- Jugalbandi, April 12, 2007

As experience shows, anything one makes following a recipe from this book is bound to turn out delicious - be it a deceptively simple potato stew or a medley of vegetables in the classic dish, aviyal. -- By Vidya Heble in India SE, Singapore, August 7, 2007

From the Back Cover

"Grains, Greens, and Grated Coconuts is more than a cookbook-it is a collection of treasured memories and delicious family recipes presented against a backdrop of Indian culinary and cultural history. Augmented with an extensive bibliography, the book is also a wonderful guide to cooking with herbs and spices. A comprehensive glossary provides the origins and history of each grain and spice. Familiar with Western cooking methods, Ramachandran shows how to integrate these recipes into a Western-style menu and suggests ways for home cooks to expand their repertoire without having to create an entire menu of dishes. Culinary historians and home cooks alike will enjoy Ramachandran's treasured stories and recipes in Grains, Greens, and Grated Coconuts."
-Monica Bhide, Writer and Author of The Spice is Right & Everything Indian Cookbook

"Grains, Greens, and Grated Coconuts is a labor of love . offering both mouth-watering recipes and a personal account of an ancient matrilineal culture. Highly educational yet approachable, this is a must-have for anyone interested in the food and customs of the Indian subcontinent."
-Suneeta Vaswani, Cooking School Teacher and Author of Easy Indian Cooking

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Product Details

• Paperback: 364 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse, Inc. (March 4, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595409768
• ISBN-13: 978-0595409761
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #311,005 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ammini Ramachandran is the author of Grains, Greens, and Grated Coconuts: Recipes and Remembrances of a Vegetarian Legacy published by iUniverse in March 2007. The book was upgraded and re-launched as a Star Edition by iUniverse in November 2008.

Grains, Greens, and Grated Coconuts received a very favorable review in the New York Times. In her article Translating India, Sometimes Fluently, Anne Mendelson wrote - "The purpose of this modest no-frills book is to place a region, its history, and its family and cultural heritages into a coherent context for understanding food. Other books have ably explored India's far southern territory, but Ms. Ramachandran reveals amazing range and depth in Kerala's Hindu vegetarian traditions".

Grains, Greens, and Grated Coconuts was among the four self published cookbooks that ranked #76 in Saveur's Tenth Annual 100 List in 2008.

In the San Francisco Examiner Patricia Unterman wrote "Few cookbooks in English have covered Kerala Vegetarian cooking, with much depth or authenticity. Last year Ammini Ramachandran came out with a book that fully explains the magic behind this seductive cooking". In The Art of Eating, Winnie Yang cited "I Like this book not just for Ramachandran's practical-minded approach but for her enthusiasm, which translates into thoughtful, encouraging instructions".

Ammini was a presenter at the tenth annual Worlds of Flavor International Conference & Festival - Rise of Asia - presented by The Culinary Institute of America in November 2007. She was a featured presenter for The New York Women's Culinary Alliance, American Institute of Wine and Food, Dallas and the Houston Culinary Guild. She was a presenter at the Celebration of our members held by Culinary Historians of New York. Ammini's recipes appear in The Flavors of Asia published by the Culinary Institute of America. Her recipes have also appeared in the Providence Journal and the James Beard award winning food web site www.leitesculinaria.com. She has written a column on spices along with recipes for www.Sallys-place.com, the premier Web site for food, beverages, and travel.

Ammini's articles have appeared in Flavor & Fortune, a quarterly journal dedicated to the art and science of Chinese cuisine. She contributed to Sacred Waters, Food History Primer published by International Association of Culinary Professionals, Entertaining from Ancient Rome to the Super Bowl-an Encyclopedia, Storied Dishes and the Cultural Encyclopedia of Vegetarianism. For the past ten years Ammini has devoted her time to researching and writing about the ancient Indian Ocean spice trade and its influence on her home state Kerala's (India) cuisine and culture on her website www.peppertrail.com. She is a contributor to www.zesterdaily.com.

She has taught Indian cooking classes at Central Market Cooking Schools in Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio and Houston, Texas and the Institute of Culinary Education, New York.

Her next project focuses on the ancient recipes of south India.

She is a member of Slow Food USA, and Culinary Historians of New York. She holds a diploma in article writing from the School of Careers, Berkshire, UK; a BSc in chemistry from Kerala University; and an MBA from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.Before becoming a freelance food writer, Ammini was a financial analyst in international banking.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A "taste" of the past, April 6, 2007

By 

K.R. Chandran - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grains, Greens, and Grated Coconuts: Recipes and Remembrances of a Vegetarian Legacy (Paperback)

I just finished reading the book, "Grains, Greens and Grated Coconuts".

What a fantastic treatise! Congratulations to the author on a superb job!!

This is not just a cookbook but a review of the transition of a way of living from the past to the present.

There is something fascinating about Kerala. They seem to maintain their traditions for a long time. Some activities (Harvesting the coconuts for example) are the same today as they were in year 1342 as described by Ibn Battuta. I always felt that if we want to go back and live few centuries back, one of the best ways we can do is to go to Kerala and stay in a remote village.

But for many in Kerala, the past few decades have brought the biggest change in their way of living. A society that lived a matrilineal way of life is changing to patriarchical. Joint families of 50 to 100 members living together have disappeared. Individual kingdoms are no more and their special kitchens are gone. Families have become global rather than local.

So we may feel a need to look at the past and review the shift in culture from the past to the present.

This book fulfils such a need. What a "delicious" way to "taste" the past through a cookbook from a person who has experienced the change, first hand. Author has done a magnificent job. Not only has she given us descriptions of festivals throughout the year, family functions, the typical food served at each occasion and their recipes but also the history behind some of the ingredients. What a treat!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book. Congratulations to the author.

K.R.Chandran

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simple and delicious dishes from the South of India, April 16, 2007

By 

Uma - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grains, Greens, and Grated Coconuts: Recipes and Remembrances of a Vegetarian Legacy (Paperback)

This book is a great introduction to the myraid flavors of Southern Indian cuisine - which are simple and sublime.

The book focusses on Kerala and the author provides a fascinating background into the culture and customs of that state, immensely helpful to anyone new to its cuisine. I am from the South of India myself and can vouch for the authenticity and reliability of the recipes.

Ammini's voice is reassuring - introducing vegetables like telinga potatoes, ripe and unripe plaintains and breadfruit or teaching the basics of pillowy appams.

I have tried many of the recipes from the book and they are all keepers.

If you are interested in the culinary history of food of kerala, treat yourself to this book!!

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Authentic and amazing, March 7, 2008

By 

H. Wood "cooking doctor" (NM, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Grains, Greens, and Grated Coconuts: Recipes and Remembrances of a Vegetarian Legacy (Paperback)

This is a really remarkable book, self-published and free of hype. There are no glitzy photographs of the food, which is a shame because I'll bet it's beautiful, but there is a pithy history of Kerala and then there are the recipes. They are exquisite, and the vibrant flavors of the food are conveyed by the author's enthusiastic descriptions. I'm not a vegetarian, but could live meatlessly and lusciously for weeks on these recipes. For vegetarians, this is a bonanza. The recipes range from relatively simple to complex, but none of them seem undoable in an American kitchen. The author has lived in America for a while, so she is familiar with the equipment and ingredients available here, and makes this cuisine approachable for us. Her notes are thorough and engaging, and well worth a read even if you don't plan to make that particular dish. If you have any interest in Indian cooking, or even if you don't want to cook it but enjoy reading about it, this is the best book on Indian cuisine that I've seen in a long time.