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

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: dried red cayenne, drip through the cooling rack, fry until the dal, Ammini Ramachandran, Grated Coconuts, South Indian (more...)

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

Product Description

Grains, Greens, and Grated Coconuts is a wonderful book: a moving glance into a world that I would never otherwise have encountered. Recipes that make me want to rush to the kitchen, intriguing techniques that could be used with other cuisines, fascinating personal stories about growing up in a big Kerala household, all embedded in a deep understanding of Kerala as a pivot of Asian history. It's a wonderful tribute to Kerala and a stunning gift for the rest of us."

Rachel Laudan
Culinary Historian and author of The Food of Paradise: Exploring Hawaii's Culinary Heritage

"Grains, Greens, and Grated Coconuts is a jewel of a cookbook---from its authentic recipes (many published here for the first time) to Ammini Ramachandran's evocative personal anecdotes of Kerala's culinary traditions. It is at once scholarly, yet accessible, and especially charming for its delicious recipes and intriguing stories from the royal kitchens of Kochi".

Grace Young
Author of The Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen and co- author of The Breath of a Wok

"In this passionate celebration of her ancestral cuisine, Ammini Ramachandran deftly interweaves history, religion, tradition, geography, and especially, intimate family memories to bring the delicious Keralan story to life. Familiar with the dosas and idlis of this cuisine, I was tantalized by the rich panoply of vegetarian recipes detailed here. Ammini makes it all very accessible, and she shares her discoveries: sensible substitutions, invaluable trucs and suggestions for integrating these traditional recipes into non-traditional menus. The world that Ammini chronicles may have vanished, but her food, enriched with memory and love, offers a very special taste for us all".

Jayne Cohen
Food Writer and author of Gefilte Variations: 200 Inspired Re-creations of Classics from the Jewish Kitchen, with Menus, Stories, and Traditions for the Holidays and Year-Round.

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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: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #646,355 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 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

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

7 of 7 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 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!!

9 of 10 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 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.