Of Paatis and Pantries
Pranav makes us travel in time to his Paati’s kitchen and shares a story of his memories sealed in glass jars.
Illustrated by Sneha Gayen
It is a cold winter day in Canada and I have surrendered to sickness. Being the hall mark South Indian that I am, I get a pot of Rasam (tamarind soup for the uninitiated) started and reach for the rasam podi (powder) as lentils cook in a prestige pressure cooker blowing whistles away like sirens. They say smells have a stronger link to memory and emotion than any other sense , and hence with a fleeting whiff of Paati’s (grandma’s) podi, I am transported back to our little kitchen back in Madras.
Cumin crackles, curry leaves splutter and the house is engulfed in comforting aromas much like Paati’s kitchen. Paati was notoriously infamous for her pickles and podis in her family and executed everything she did with the due diligence of a hawk. Meticulous in her approach, my 80 something Paati clad in the most comfortable looking cotton sarees was often spotted measuring things and whirring the mixer to do society a service by whipping up her famed concoctions; Concoctions that I took for granted until I moved to frigid Canada, where she wasn’t around to hand me my evening pick me up filter coffee or surprise me with the most divine Mysore pak after a long day at college.
I’d complain my Sambhar tasted like beach water and that my upma was a pasty mess and she’d get on calls with me, the latent Miss Marple that she was, figure out what went wrong and transfer countless tips, beaming with pride that her grandson can do another thing that she can harp on about to her siblings. As proud as she was, she never let me cook at home. I always insinuated she was the kind of conservative that did not want a man cooking but she’d begrudgingly become my assistant and reiterate she never liked the mess I made on the countertops, I was neither seasoned nor mindful. All tiffs were settled with some dessert as we only had each other to normalize our sweet-tooths and validate that we were not filled with avarice for sugar.
We lost her in 2020, the podis she sent me back with outlasted her and some of it went into my meals as recent as last week. I vowed to never let her disappear from my pantry. So in a very poetic way to foster my attachment ,I thought and I diluted some new podis with the original stock from my grandma. I had no suspicion that my method of keeping her memory alive was nothing short of unique until my beloved aunt confirmed to me that she has been doing the exact same thing as me; I guess the apple really didn’t fall far from the tree!
A more adept cook now, I’m sure Paati would be immensely proud of me and her legacy will live on in my pantry as I bring her beloved dishes back to life for many years to come in a land 7000 miles away.
Pranav’s Ode to His Paati
Photograph by Pranav
|𝐓𝐚𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐲𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐮 𝐩𝐨𝐝𝐢 ( 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐝𝐞𝐫 )|
Ingredients
7 peppercorns
1/2 tsp mustard
8 - 9 curry leaves
4 red chillies
1/3 cup Toor dal
2 tbs Urad dal
2 tbs Moong dal
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp asafoetida
Method
On a pan, dry roast the peppercorns, mustard, curry leaves and red chillies on high flame for 2 mins. Add in the toor dal and roast till reddish and transfer to a blender jar.
Dry roast urad dal till reddish and add salt and asafoetida before transferring to a jar. Dry roast the moong dal till pink and add it as well. Blend smooth, strain well. Serve with hot rice and ghee !
Pranav likes to think of himself as Curd Rice; comforting, dependable and chill. He is a vegetarian foodie based in Canada sharing his adventures on instagram @dudevskitchen. Aspiring to own a cafe or be a food journalist someday, here’s few questions he answered for us on food.
1. What is the best thing about food according to you?
I love how it enables us to connect, with our roots, other people, the departed and how you can always be introduced to new dishes all your life - the never ending discovery phase is something that draws me closer to food so much.
2. Interesting fact about a global cuisine you recently came across?
I watched a YouTube video on MSG and found out it was naturally in one of the traditional miso soups which made it addicting and added a lot of je ne sais quoi umami factor to it. A man observed his wife’s soup making process and narrowed it down to the ingredient and was able to extract the MSG out of it! Cut to 2000 and we’re all just suckers for ajinomoto flavoured fried rice, aren’t we ?
3. How do you get inspired or learn about new recipes? Choosing from a) cookbooks b) cooking shows c) family d) food blogs/vlogs
My best teachers are the food blogs and vlogs I watch endlessly. One of the many I like is Lucy and Lentils.
4. Tell us about a kitchen object that holds a special value to you.
My South Indian coffee filter. I can’t live without it, I have a dependency.
Photograph by Pranav
Story by Pranav Iyer
Edited and Compiled by Julia Saha
