With the addition of fifty new easy-to-prepare dishes, "Healthy South Indian Cooking" is back, now totalling 250 recipes. In the famous Chettinad Healthy cooking tradition of Southern India, these foods evoke South Indian forgotten by Chicken Tikka Masala enthusiasts. Mostly vegetarian, these recipes allow home cooks to create such esoteric: dishes as Potato-flled Dosas with Coconut Chutney; Pearl Onion and Tomato Sambhar; Chickpea and Bell Pepper per Poriyal; and Eggplant Masala Curry. Rasams, breads, legumes and payasams are all featured here, as is the exceptional Chettinad Chicken Kolambu, South lndia's version of the popular vindaloo. Each of these low-fat, low-caloric recipes come with a complete nutritional analysis. Also included are sample menus and innovative suggestions for integrating South Indian dishes into traditioilal Western meals. A section on the varieties and methods of preparation for dals (a lentil dish that is a staple of this cuisine), a multilingual glossary of spices and ingredients, and 16 pages of colour photographs make this book a clear and concise introduction to the healthy, delicious cooking of South India.
Alamelu Vairavan resides in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A native of South India, Alamelu has developed a deep interest in promoting healthful cooking to the public using spices, legumes and Indian cooking techniques.
Alamelu has co-authored three cook books with her friend Dr. Patricia Marquardt, including Healthy South Indian Cooking-Expanded Edition 2008. She has also published a book: Chettinad Kitchen- Food and Flavours from South India (Westland Publishers,New Delhi, 2011). A fifth book: Healing Spices by Bharat Aggarwal and Debora Yost (Sterling Pub. 2011) features some of Alameu's recipes.
Alamelu spreads her passion for healthful cooking through classes offered in a number of venues including community outreach programs at hospitals, universities and libraries. She also conducts private group cooking classes and corporate team building events for companies including GE Healthcare, Johnson Controls and Manpower International.
Alamelu has also been hosting a cooking TV series titled, " Healthful Indian Flavors with Alamelu", on Milwaukee Public Television. In this series she demonstrates some of the recipes found in her book: Healthful South Indian Cooking- Expanded Edition. Originally shown in Wisconsinin 2011, the series has been aired in many other parts of the US later. You can watch the videos of some episodes by visiting www.mptv.org. In the summer of 2011, Alamelu has recorded 13 more episodes in the series that are expected to be aired in 2012.
If you think kids have difficulty enjoying vegetables think again! Alamelu offers simple and easy to follow recipes that result in aromatic and flavorful foods. Kids will find the vegetable dishes irresistble. Even vegetable haters will be tranformed to vegetable lovers. In her book, she also presents deliclious non-vegetarian recipes and flavored rice dishes.
Besides her own recent TV series, Alamelu has also been featured on numerous national and regional TV shows, radio programs and print media inclhding PBS, Discovery Channel, CBS, NBC, FOX, The Los Angels Times, USA Today and the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. In 2009, she presented a workshop titled, Enticing Indian Flavors, at The James Beard Foundation in New York. She has also been featured as a celebrity chef in national Food and Wine events.
Additional information about Alamelu and her culinary activities can be found at www.curryonwheels.com . She also maintains a blog (spice of life) at a community web site: www.whitefishbaynow.com .
