Customer Reviews

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

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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

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!!

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.

I had the manuscript in my hands way before the book ever went into production. And that was a thrill of a lifetime.

And today, I have bought a copy of the book for my sister. And now I have to think of others I can send it to. And I know there shall be many.

Congratulations Ammini!!!

Below is the foreword I wrote for the book... that should sum up everything in my words.

Suvir

Foreword

In this richly flavored book on the household cooking of Kerala and its many vegetarian marvels, Ammini Ramachandran takes us into a journey that even tour guides driving you through Kerala's many vistas would be unable to share. How fortunate and blessed I feel to be able to introduce and perpetuate this brilliance. These are recipes gathered over a long, heartfelt, and celebrated lifetime. That Ammini calls Dallas, Texas, her home should be no surprise; hers is a passion and respect for the native land that only someone living outside of it can have. Lucky for us!

I first met Ammini through online chat forums that I moderated and that she contributed to. Always generous, never one to take credit, she posted meticulous and detailed missives on the magic of her region's culinary traditions. I was smitten at reading her first post. The rest is history. Her works soon became the stuff of midnight yearning. When hungry for good food, and being lazy to cook or eat, I found myself sating my hunger with the aromas that wafted through the computer screen as I read her writing. How exciting it is to finally see her passion in print, enabling us to cook like her, live her history, and celebrate her Kerala.

Having aristocratic blood from her father--yes, he was the son of the maharaja of Kochi (Cochin)--she found herself living in her mother's matrilineal family home at the age of eight. Her father had sadly passed away in a plane crash en route to New Delhi. Living in a joint family gave Ammini a new abundance that one can find peppered through the head notes that come with each recipe. A household of twenty-one family members made for great conversations, diverse tastes and palates, and, to the advantage of us readers, a cookbook that finds itself richer for it. Even a favorite recipe from her favorite chef at the family home finds itself into the curry section (Varutharacha Sambar).

Having grown up vegetarian, Ammini was disappointed by the lack of vegetarian options shared in books of Kerala's cuisine. She was challenged by her husband, while waiting in a traffic jam over the Williamsburg Bridge in New York, to stop complaining and write her own book of favorite recipes. Fortunately for us, she has never been lazy, and here, after years of reflection, introspection, testing, and cooking, she has spilled her vast knowledge onto the pages of this book. And all of us, Malayali (people of Kerala) or not, Indian or not, shall be forever filled with great vegetarian options that not only give us healthful dishes to bring to our table, but flavorful foods, prepared in our modern kitchens, with respect for the past, true to authentic flavors, and never compromised.

Having grown up in New Delhi, I was delighted to see so many of our traditions find common practice across the different regions. The kitchen was the sanctum sanctorum in Ammini's home, just as it was in mine. And it was here that she found love, respect, intrigue, and a lifelong fascination with food. Daily fare, festival dishes, and puddings all enthralled her, as did the picking of sea salt from the uppumarava (wooden salt box), which kept the salt moisture free, even in the humid environs of Kerala. Homesick in the United States, having become a member of a cooking club, finding success in recipe development and creating, she submitted a recipe for her mother's coconut rice in a contest held by Woman's Day magazine. It should be no surprise that she won first place and found herself, a few weeks later, cooking coconut pancakes with the food editor of The Providence Journal, who then featured her recipes and story in an article in the food section the following week. Soon, recipes that came along with letters sent weekly by her mother in India found their way into a journal, and now these pages. Her two decades in the world of finance (and its exacting standards) have found their way into her recipes. The recipes from her mom, which had pinches and fistfuls and other not-so-precise adjectives, have been replaced with streamlined measurements and clear instructions. Even the clumsy amongst us can follow these recipes to roaring success.

If you crave coconut milk but want it to be healthy and flavorful at once, try the recipe for Oolan. Vegetables easily found in your supermarket will acquire a nod of sophistication, guided by Ammini. Okra will not be slimy again if you make the Okra Kichadi (fried okra in a coconut and mustard sauce); even you who love slime in okra will enjoy this for the aromatics that only add to the overall enjoyment. Could onion soup ever take on new heirs and flavors? Yes, and in the recipe for Mulaku Varutha Puli, Ammini empowers it with the fire of green chilies, the sourness of tamarind, and the comfort of savory shallots. That mustard seeds and curry leaves are in the recipe only adds to the overall decadence of this simple-to-prepare soup that shall replace any cravings you have for the most mundane, classic rendering of an onion soup. Any table, any time of the year will do well to have the recipe for Mottakoozu Thoran placed atop it. A great side dish, cabbage has never ever tasted the same in any other version. Indians are masters of treating cabbage well, and this recipe is a great specimen of their prowess. Fans of rice pudding will find a wonderful Kerala version of this comforting dessert in the recipe for Neypaayasam. With brown sugar in it, it is still wonderfully rich and different; if you use the jaggery Ammini suggests, you will have yourself holding a bowl of deeply flavored rice pudding that has texture and flavor, and that leaves a lasting, scintillating taste on your tongue that shall bring you back to flirt with these pages in your kitchen.

Foods that celebrate the gods, foods that celebrate mere mortals, and foods that celebrate mortal ancestors--all find a place in the pages Ammini has shared with us. Traditional dishes prepared for the days of the dead, dishes prepared to celebrate festivals in different seasons and regions, recipes from temples--all find places of pride in her repertoire and now in yours. You only need to cook from these pages, and you shall find yourself living traditions and cultures that you wish could have been yours in tender years. Evocative introductions, brilliant descriptions of flavors, and rich interplays of spices and aromatics never cease to excite the mind and coax you into trying these recipes, most of which, even to this Indian, are foreign and exotic. You will find yourself cooking these recipes in no time; and tasting these flavors, you will find yourself hooked on classics of Kerala, favorites of Ammini and tastes of an era that is dying and would be lost forever if it were not for this tome.

This book will portend the coming of age of Malayali cuisine. With the same ceremony that was attached to Ammini's Thirandu Kalyaanam (as you will read about in great detail in Chapter 12), Ammini has ensured that the passage of time has not deprived any of us of the magic that takes place around every moment of Kerala life. The dishes that marked the four-day celebration of her coming of age shall become yours and mine, just by our reading the intricacies shared here. She was bathed and jeweled in celebration, and for us, she has cleansed age-old recipes of bygone terminology but bedecked them with prose and instruction that at once relate them to the past and yet keep them fresh and meaningful to lives today. Ceremonies of the past have lost their social significance, as she tells us in this chapter and across the many other stories shared; but through these pages, you will find yourself reliving history, cooking delicious meals, and most of all, living Kerala without drama, right in your own kitchen and home.

May there always be Nagaswaram (drums and wind instruments) bands and men holding valum parichayum (swords and shields) for every young girl that comes of age in Kerala--and, even better, all over the world. I also wish every man could learn a lesson or two. The world then would be even better for it. We would be poorer if more Amminis are not able to share their magic with us. And to Ammini Ramachandran I give salutations for a book well written and long overdue, and for being a modest but powerful voice in the world of food and culture. I certainly cannot resist having this book perched on my kitchen counter, cooking and eating my way through the vegetarian jewels of Kerala.

Suvir Saran

Author of Indian Home Cooking (Clarkson Potter, Summer 2004) and

American Masala (Clarkson Potter, October 2007)

www.indianhomecooking.com

www.americanmasala.com

This is a book you can either settle into an armchair with, or prop on the kitchen counter ... but either way, you'll be enthralled both by the very evocative writing and the very well explained recipes.

In the armchair this brought forth pictures of an idyllic time in Kerala, while following the recipes produced yummy food that had my friend from Kerala go "Mmm, mmm, mmm..." from the very first mouthful.

The writing is lyrical without being pretentious or flowery, and I suggest the reader start in the armchair and move on to the kitchen!

This book is worth its price for the introduction alone. The author recounts political history of India's Kerala state through the many waves of European trade and reveals a larger historical context for European history that is invariably missing from all so-called World History classes taught at U.S. universities. The auther is herself a descendant of the players in the history she recounts.

A worthwhile investment for any Indian American under the age of 45.

This book would have been a best selling memoir had it been written by a high end celebrity chef from Food Network but the stories told by this author about her childhood in Kerala are no less in terms of captivating the imagination.

In the first 1/3rd of the book, Ms. Ramachandran talks about her idyllic childhood growing up in Kerala as a member of the Kochi royal family. Contrary to the fairytale princess stories that one would associate with such a privileged background, she focuses on the elegant simplicity that remains a hallmark of Keralans to this day irrespective of their social background. Their food is not embellished with silver leaves, nor is it served on gold platters, just because they are royalty, a point she brings out so well in talking about her grandfathers fondness for the humble 'kanji' (p. 90), and yet it clearly is food fit for the most royal of kings.

History in school would have been so fascinating had it been explained the way Ammini skillfully weaves the rich threads of Kerala's spice trade alliances with Europe and the Middle East. The cross pollination of Malabar spices and new world produce such as chili peppers, potatoes & tomatoes have culminated in a culinary legacy unique to South India.

For those readers who may be daunted by the ingredients, relax, Ms. Ramachandran devotes a generous section of the book to detailed yet succinct descriptions of all the ingredients found in a typical South Indian pantry

The third dimension so well expressed in this book is the intrinsic association of food & religious/social festivals and occasions. If we were to look back at what constitutes pleasant memories from times gone by, The probability that food is somehow part of it is high. (on the contrary, how many of us have enrapturing flashbacks of food from the local McDonalds?). She stirs up memories of intimate ceremonies that many South Indians perform at home that outsiders are not privy to.

The recipes are the classic dishes that you would find in traditional South Indian families that adhere to a vegetarian diet. A refreshing aspect is that she does not make it sound orthodox and stodgy, but instead she makes valuable recommendations of pairings with beer & margaritas. There are sections devoted to breakfast dishes, main courses ( if there is such a thing in traditional southie cuisine), desserts, dishes associated with festivals, religious & social.

In conclusion, this is one book that would make a lot of us pick up the phone & call our mommies, mentally making a decision to pay more attention to what she's been telling you all along... or mentally accept selling your soul to the Devil if it bought you some more time with her..

When passion and diligence combine, perfection becomes a natural boon...it is then that great works are created. "Grains, Greens and Grated coconuts" by our good friend Ammini Ramachandran, is one such boon to the world of cookbooks. It is much more than a cookbook, its pages filled with knowledge of history, festivals and traditions, food ingredients and wisdom handed down through generations. It is a book replete with recipes that remain true to traditional home-style cooking, capturing tastes that satiate the palate and senses too.

I have this book and truly enjoy cooking from it. I read a review of this book on [...]blog. I was impressed that Pratibha had taken the trouble to cook an entire meal from Ammini's book. It inspired me and I tried many recipes too. I must say that the results are awesome. Ammini is a good writer and a good cook, so I enjoy reading the book as well as cooking from it.

I've enjoyed this book so much that I signed up and went to her cooking class when it was in my area. The book is detailed and fun to read. It's not just recipes, it's the story of her life and how she learned to cook. When she describes her kitchen in India you feel like you're there.