In times of cookbooks that turn food into art and pursue culinary statements, comes a book that is in as many parts a recipe book, as it is an intimate portrait of a diverse extended family. The Sood Family Cookbook takes us back to those years of dog-eared and pencil-marked recipe books when these books were tucked away in drawers only to be retrieved when memories had to be recreated in the kitchen. Family heirlooms of a very private sort, these repositories of culinary secrets were shared only with those trusted. This was not a pre-ordained passing of tradition from one generation to the next in the way of family jewels, but instead, being the recipient of a culinary secret was a status granted only to those who had earned it.
A little bit of this cagey attitude was something that Aparna Jain, the author of the cookbook, had to face from some of her older family members when she set out on the audacious task of collecting family recipes from her extended family. But the path to completion lay in prying out the information she needed and when denied or ignored, Jain set off to meet the more reluctant members of her family, charming them into parting with their recipes. It worked, and we have this book that consists of family favourites that range from humble khichdis to quinola concoctions and the kundapur ghee roast, to a famous chocolate cake made on birthdays by an American aunt from New York. Jain tells me the cookbook accommodates various members of the extended family and their assimilated culinary heritage, which now reaches beyond traditional barriers of community, faith and country.
But Sood food does exist. In the Kangra valley of Himachal Pradesh, there is a community of Soods who have their own culinary practices and cuisine (Jain?s maternal home). Pahari food has its share of diversity and this mostly vegetarian cuisine?in which dahi and pulses play a major part, and cooking utensils like the bhaddu (a heavy brass pot) are used for cooking?has exercised its culinary influence on her. So has its inherent simplicity: the cuisine is not heavily dependent on ginger and garlic, and incorporates local ingredients. The book brings that simplicity to the fore despite boasting 101 recipes. There are 15 Sood dishes perfected over time and generations. The contributors range in age from 16 years to 93 years, and the recipes are shared with endearing anecdotes peppering the narrative. The measurements aren?t puritanical either; it is a mix of grams, cups and teaspoons?whatever is handy will do, just like at home. This is not a book that will have you rushing out to set up a kitchen, which is cookbook-ready!
Jain says this may be the Sood family?s anthology of recipes, but it could be anyone?s family. Every family has its own idiosyncrasies when it comes to food, a culinary birthmark if you will.
At the heart of the book are the pahari recipes, for example, the Pahari Madra, a staple dish found in most homes in Himachal Pradesh, although the recipe changes from home to home. Jain shares her family?s version (see box).
The Sood Family Cookbook may have the soul of a pahari home, but it is as international as it gets with family members from around the globe marrying into the large family and contributing their own family recipes. So there is Thai food and Vietnamese, a delicious swamp cake recipe so named after the imaginative childish utterance of a four-year-old cousin who delighted in its part-chocolate-cake and part-chocolate-pudding consistency. Told with intimate candour and illustrated beautifully by Ayesha Broacha and Priya Hegde, The Sood Family Cookbook is a family secret you want to be in on! The Sood Family Cookbook is available online at a 30% discount for pre-order.
Advaita Kala is a writer, most recently of the film Kahaani. She is also a former hotelier having worked in restaurants in India and abroad