Product Description

Nominated as runner up for The Best Vegetarian Cookbook, 'Samayal - The Pleasures of South Indian Vegetarian Cooking' comes with a free ayurvedic booklet. This little treasure book contains inputs on the great science of healing with some gems of recipes handed down through generations from the sacred lands of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Ayurveda originally took roots in Kerala and the Kottakkal Arya Vaidya Sala pioneered ayurvedic treatment with medicinal herbs and a vegetarian diet that is most healthy and characterises a life without ailments. For Hindu vegetarians there is a strong moral belief that all life is sacred and killing amounts to violence and sin. Hence the choice of food determines their way of life. In ayurvedic language 'the body is the temple of a man's inner being' So that which we worship cannot be killed. Since quantities have been carefully measured and recorded - something traditional homecooks work with a'pinch of this' and a 'handful of that' just won't do - Viji's books are as useful to home cooks as they are to the many young students who carry them abroad, for their first independent stab at sambhar. Visit - vijisamayal.org

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #173406 in Books
• Published on: 2008-06-19
• Binding: Paperback
• 164 pages

Review
SO, WHY in the world would anyone want to spring clean their wallet for food that they get at home? The `Yellai Sappadu' at the Park's stylish Coffee Shop `601' abounds in rasam, paruppus and kootus, all very desi and very familiar, without the usual 601 twists - a dash of rosemary here and a swish of whipped cream there.

'Because this kind of food is served only to the family, usually at religious functions' says Viji Varadarajan, an authority on the quietly surviving vegetarian cuisine of Thanjavur and Palghat.

Quick note for all you burger-and-apple pie types out there: Kerala and Tamil Nadu are home to a number of ancient temples where priests both conduct rituals and keep time-honoured recipes alive, using traditional iron griddles, pots and pans for everyday cooking.

According to Viji, unless you have the good fortune of living in a family in which these recipes are still remembered, you're unlikely to ever get a chance to dip into the cuisine's delicious thakkali vengayam chutney

None of the South Indian restaurants serve this cuisine, and even in homes, when visitors arrive, the resident food whiz is more likely to whip out the instant paneer-butter masala packet than the sambar powder. The Park's Yellai Sappadu, however, sticks to the old formulas, with interesting results.

The food arrives on a tray covered with a leaf, and a colourful array of bowls, all brimming with a fascinating range of accompaniments. Don't even think of eating this kind of food with a fork. 'You have to use your fingers, because you have to feel the textures,' says Viji, 'How else do you know whether the rice is sufficiently saturated with rasam?'

There's a grainy 'paruppu usili' (steamed thuvar dal, cooked with beans and carrots), a semi-sweet pooshnikkai mor kootu (ash gourd simmered in spiced yoghurt and coconut) and a delicious steaming rasam to flood it all with.

'The rasam's made with raw dal. The dal from the paruppu usili is taken and put into it, and it gets cooked in the rasam' says Viji, to explain why it's so different from the usual peppery rasam served everywhere.

There's also a creamy green 'keerai masiyal' (south Indian spicy spinach) and semolina in two flavours - a fragrant coconut semolina and pale yellow lime semolina. The meal is accompanied by homemade vadams.

In spite of all the competition, however, the 'akkara vadisal' is what steals the show. A version of the well-loved chakkara pongal, this is made of rice, dal and jaggery, but stirred with thickened milk, instead of water. This is the kind of food your grandmother makes: homey, wholesome and totally unpretentious.

That could explain the slew of recipe books of Viji Varadarajan's that celebrate traditional food. Says Viji - 'If one recipe is four pages, I make it one page' she says, 'Paruppusili is supposed to be complicated. But if you flatten it in a microwave pan and zap it for two and a half minutes, it s quick.' Stating that it s only sensible to learn to work with microwaves and non-stick pans, she adds, 'If you cook rasam in the traditional lead pot, it has a fabulous taste. I don t deny that. But just change the order of adding the ingredients and you get the same result.' --The Hindu - 2006

South Indian recipes are now on a gastronomic journey to the Orient. Young Kurumi Arimoto balances carefully on her toes, and stirs the carrot mundhiri payasam. Maiko Shimizu fiddles with a nifty camera, capturing the moment. Meanwhile, Akemi Yoshii, ponders over translating 'araithu vitta thakaali vengaaya sambhar' into Japanese. In the middle of the kitchen, cookbook writers Padmini Natarajan and Viji Varadarajan simultaneously try explaining everything from ghee-making to how American frozen spinach cubes make for 'mulagu kootu' that s 'out of this world.'

Welcome to the new global culinary classroom. Kurumi, the daughter of Japanese cookbook writer Yoko Arimoto, has written one recipe book and is currently working on another. Her fascination for Tamil Brahmin cooking is what led her to Viji s kitchen and 'kadais'. Maiko is a professional writer, photographer and radio presenter. She runs the website and is working on recording and collating Kurumi s culinary adventures in Chennai for a travel-food story, for her website. The link that brought everyone together is Akemi, Japanese translator with a Chennai software company, she s also a freelance food writer with a Masters degree in Gastronomy from the University of Adelaide, Australia.

This is their first introduction to home made Indian food. Yet, all three state that while Viji s cooking is exotic, it isn t unfamiliar. As Kurumi deftly makes 'kuzhakattais' stuffed with moist coconut and crumbly jaggery, they talk of how similar these are to Japanese wantons, and those ever-popular dimsums found in every chinatown in the world.

Kurumi plans to work on popularising this kind of fresh, easy South Indian home cooking in Japan once she s back, because she feels it fits in well with Japanese traditions. 'Our staple diet is rice and our food taste is also mild and fresh.' Despite Indian food s reputation for being high on spice and chillies, Tamil Brahmin food relies more on the taste of individual vegetables, cooked gently with carefully matched seasonings, which fits in comfortably with the Japanese culinary ethos. As recipes and kitchen tips are swapped, Kurumi and Viji cook their way through an elaborate lunch. Eventually everyone s tucking enthusiastically into the 'sutta kathirikkai gotsu', made with carefully smoked brinjal and twanging with the distinctive flavour of 'hing' paired with fragrant 'venn pongal'.

'We don t eat Japanese food everyday,' says Akemi, talking of the various kinds of cuisine available in Tokyo. 'Indian food is our favourite and we even have our own curry!' However, South Indian restaurants are rare in Japan. The few Indian restaurants that move beyond the flaming red curry '.

Although chicken tikka and greasy curry tend to represent India in places like London and New York, these cities are also cosmopolitan enough to nurture change. In many of the world capitals, Indian food is ceasing to be defined by the curries, naans and kebabs of North India. Regional food is getting popular, as Indian chefs introduce the world to the likes of Kerala beef fry, Goan prawn balchao and Chettinad chicken.

However, the fact that Kurumi s in Viji s kitchen, learning how to make a perfect 'semiya upma' is indicative of the fact that we are poised at the beginning of a new wave: foodies travelling the world to learn cooking from individual households, recipe hunters leaving no page unturned in their quest for something new, cooks tracking down each other to swap techniques. Thanks to the Internet, with blogs, You Tube and websites, all this knowledge is quickly available to everyone. Who ever thought a 'vendaikkai thayir pachadi'travel so far, so fast, so flamboyantly?

Viji Varadarajan and Padmini Natarajan recently won the Gourmand Jury award for their book

'Classic Tamil Brahmin Cuisine'. --Shonali Muthalaly for The Hindu - April 2009

About the Author
Besides writing cookbooks for which she has won World Gourmand awards, the author is extremely fitness conscious. She has learnt 3 classical dance forms of India, reads historical fiction and has a love for languages. She also loves listening to classical Indian music. Visit - vijisamayal.org

Customer Reviews

A Great Book On Keralan Recipes!
In all the 10 years that I have been cooking I have not found another book that has vegetarian recipes interpreted the Palghat (Kerala)way! 'Samayal' gives these recipes and much more in a very easy way. The calorie chart after each recipe makes it more interesting.
My mom who is an excellent cook jotted down a few of the recipes that she thought I would try and learn. But this book has made it so simple for me that I need not them learn anywhere else. These days my husband loves what I make and the photographs make it more tantalising.
I would highly recommend this book to a novice interested in learning these cuisines (Palghat and Tanjore)!

Rare recipes a must buy!
Just got this book last month and am frequently trying out the dishes. Being a bachelor in the US necessity has made me a decent cook. What I like about 'Samayal' is that the dishes are simple and uncomplicated to prepare. Feel really good about it!
Indian recipes in the US restaurants are only mostly North Indian dishes that are greasy and quite often unhealthy for the palate. The rare Udipi restaurants in CA and Houston do not sustain quality which is pretty sad.
Which is why I recommend this book to all and sundry and even those who are unfamiliar with this cuisine. These recipes were not invented a few years back like the paneer for instance. My maternal aunt was married to a tamilian from Tanjore and she is a great cook! Tho' we have a good number of healthy dishes in the Maharastrian repetoire nothing seems to beat the variety in this Kerala and Tamil cooking. I do not find any flaws in this book at all!

A tribute to the Tamil Motherland
At last, we have a detailed, well-researched cookbook that reflects the author's passion for this fine art and is a tribute to the Tamil Motherland, Her people and culture. The range and diversity of South Indian cooking is showcased in this magnificent collection of authentic recipes from South India. The tantalizing array of curries and delicious dishes are very beautifully presented in a book that is visually stunning.

Coffee table looks apart, every recipe that I have tried so far has been an instant hit with family and friends. This book is great for both the novice as well as the accomplished cook. I find myself reaching for this book again and again. The delightful aromas from the various spices used in the recipes will titillate your taste buds and make each meal a pleasurable experience.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in healthy South Indian vegetarian cooking.