Product Description

This work offers step by step guidelines in tempering and cooking, with special tips running thoroughout the book. Also a transliteration scheme for the pronunciation of Telegu terms adds a distinctive touch.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #324370 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-16
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 96 pages

Review
"A family monument to mother love... A dazzling array of dishes that will surprise even the most ardent fan of South Indian cuisine." India Today "A pinch of magic." Femina

Synopsis
This work offers step by step guidelines in tempering and cooking, with special tips running thoroughout the book. Also a transliteration scheme for the pronunciation of Telegu terms adds a distinctive touch.

Excerpted from Cooking at Home With Pedatha: Vegetarian Recipes from a Traditional Andhra Kitchen by Jigyasa Giri, Pratibha Jain. Copyright © 2007. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
A TRYST WITH TRADITION

A full-spirited claim by one of Subhadra Rau's nephews, "My Pedatha is the best cook in the world," became the inspiration for this book and its title. The nickname `Pedatha' was a simpler, child's version of `Peddha Atthayyâ' which means oldest aunt (father's sister) in Telugu.

We have grown up believing that cooking is all about being quick, clever, and creative. Readymade powders, instant purees, and our freezers are now our salvation. It is remarkable; it is practical. Every generation must and does `contemporarize'. Nevertheless, as we interacted with Pedatha, we realized that although ease has been gained in the kitchen, a certain unhurriedness as a way of life has been lost. For us, it was a peek into another time, another world, a unique kind of `patience'.
Two years ago...After indulging in another soul-satisfying meal at Pedatha's home in Bangalore, we re-crowned her the world's best cook. The `Vângi bâth' was exceptional. She smiled indulgently and simply said, "Anybody can cook that, it is so easy to make".

We didn't quite believe her until she gave us the recipe which, despite being exotic, was amazingly clear and precise. On an impulse, we switched on our laptop, and keyed in the recipe. Pedatha was amused, and happily gave us some more. Back home in Chennai, we were excited at the accuracy of her recipes every time we tried them out. After that, whenever we visited her in Bangalore, her cooking became an integral part of our conversations. And somewhere along the way what would have remained a personal collection of recipes evolved into this book.

Pedatha's culinary treasures are well-known among family and friends. This book is only the tip of the iceberg, not just of Andhra cuisine, but also of Pedatha's knowledge of it.

When it came to sharing recipes, she was always more excited about pachchadi, podi and pappu rather than idli, dosai, pesarattu or vadai. Accordingly, the contents of this book reflect her joy for sharing some of her favourite lunch and dinner-time recipes.

Giving us exact measures like cups and tablespoons, she never took for granted that we would understand a general quantity. An embodiment of patience, she would answer our barrage of questions, always ending with "Amaloo (darling), did you get that right?"

Of course, one thing we never questioned her about was how much time any recipe would take. We already knew her answer to that - "As long as it takes for a good dish to be ready." Though approximate timings during the various steps of the recipes have been given, preparation and cooking time have not been mentioned. "Don't look at the time, look at the pan", she once remarked.

As she spoke, we wrote, attempting to absorb her experience and her knowledge. To capture her years of wisdom in limited words of print was indeed an exciting and enriching process, albeit, no easy task. As Raimon Panikkar, the cross-cultural thinker, has aptly remarked, "Wisdom resides in the spoken rather than in the written word."

Customer Reviews

Truely an award winner
This book consists of a concoction of 70 vegetarian Andhra (South India) recipes. It has set right the popular notion that Andhra cuisine is primarily meat based. Here is a delicious and attractive spread which is purely vegetarian.
The book has been immaculately designed and everything has been aesthetically placed; and yet portrays the simplicity of home cooking at its best. It seems as if Pedatha's passion for cooking got translated into this wonderful book without losing its old world charm. The snippets in each recipe "Pedatha says. . . " adds a personal touch with this grandmothers own little tips and secrets - her pearls of wisdom.
Having tasted a lot of dishes from this wonderful book, I am truly convinced that it is brilliant in text, design, photography - one of the best vegetarian cookbooks in the world I have ever seen.

Truly an Award Winning Book
I read this lovely review on http://www.tigersandstrawberries.com/2007/05/16/book-review-cooking-at-home-with-pedatha/ . The eloquent reviewer, Barbara perfectly echoes my own thoughts about the book, so I have posted it here. I could not have said it better.

" 'From food all creatures are produced. And all creatures that dwell on earth, by food they live, and into food they finally pass. Food is the chief among beings. Verily he obtains all good who worships the Divine as food.' - Taittiriya Upanishad. This quote is the text chosen as the opening to Jigyasa Giri and Pratibha Jain's absolutely gorgeous, award-winning book, and it sets the tone for the entire work, which is the exploration of the soul of a cuisine through the memories and orally-transmitted recipes of one amazing woman.

"Who is Pedatha? Her name is Subhadra Krishna Rau Parigi, and she is the eighty-five year old eldest child of a former president of India.

"She is known fondly among friends and family, however, by the nickname, Pedatha, which loosely translates as "eldest auntie," and she is a font of culinary wisdom rooted deeply in her home state of Andhra Pradesh in the south of India. She also is a woman who understands innately that cooking is a deeply spiritual act which is intimate and intensely personal, yet which is so often treated as something to be taken for granted as simply impersonal "fuel" for immediate consumption and gratification without any reflection upon the holiness of the acts of cooking and eating. She is an embodiment of the philosophy of "Slow Food;" when asked by the authors how long it would take to cook a certain dish ... she would say, "Do not look at the time, look at the pan."

"...The way...the recipes...are written, and the way the book is put together, with lovely photographs of ingredients and finished dishes, along with evocative portraits of Pedatha's mobile and ever-changing face-I swear, it seems as if I can hear her voice on every page. It is like having her in the kitchen with me, telling me how to temper spices, or how to tell when curry leaves are cooked enough, or what these pickles will smell like when they are done."

Winner of 5 awards at the Gourmand world cookbook awards!
I saw this book had won the title of "best vegetarian cookbook in the world for 2006", from the prestigious Gormand world cookbook awards in Beijing in April 2007, So I searched it out !
After buying, reading,trying and digesting this unique variety of recipies I have to enthusiasticaly recommend it to anyone interested in food and Indian food in particular. As a vegetarian for over 33 years, I am always looking for new and interesting things to try, from the endless variety of vegetables,grains,spices,fruits,and dairy products that make Indian cooking soooooooo interesting.