Welcome to my kitchen!

Jacques: All the world's a stage,And all the men and women merely players;They have their exits and their entrances,And one man in his time plays many parts…..

This is an extract from a famous passage written by Shakespeare….which when I think of is so true. My name is Aarthi and I live in Santa Clara, California with my husband.

I decided to write this blog as I wanted to share with all the rich culture of South India…the place where I come. I grew up in Chennai (used to be Madras….nalla madras!!!).I come from a big family. Growing up was fun and no pain…..great family, rich culture, wonderful grandparents and best of all…..awesome food.

I love cooking and I guess I got the gene from my grandmother….Jayalakshmi. Jayam as she was called by loved ones was a lovely lady. She got married to my grandfather at the age of 12 (her childhood stories need a separate blog). She was a good student and a self thought singer. She could not pursue her school as she was married at an early age. She has 5 children (my mother, aunt and 3 uncles). My grandmother had this passion for cooking….she would make thick filter coffee (so much better than starbucks coffee)
at 3 am….so that the big family could drink coffee at 6 am. She would sit on a stool and make delicious dosas with molagapodi in the evenings(I think atleast 50 dosas) so patiently….as we kids (me, my sister and cousins) would grab hungrily after playing. I remember her favorite snack was Medhu Vadai …..She loved any food that was deep fried and loved sweets. She was diabetic and would still give way to her cravings. She loved Onions….and my grandfather would’t let us cook onions everyday as we come from an orthodox Brahmin family from south India where cooking onions and garlic is unorthodox. We make pearl onion sambhar and Potato curry the day before Diwali every year for some special reason and my grandmother would be so happy.

Jayam was fat and cute….she was typical tamil Brahmin woman and always wore a nine yard saree. She was so beautiful and gentle and I have never seen her raise her voice. She would blindly do what was told and never went out of the house. She would cook what my grandfather bought and all that we kids loved. Sunday’s were special…..like kalyana sapadu. My tongue still remembers taste of Pal Payasam, vadai, thayir pachadi, sambar, rasam, vendaikkai curry, parupusulli, moar kuzhambu and the list continues….Her pickles were a hit. The practice of making pickles at home still continues in our family. Mavadu, avakkai, mahali, moar mulagai, narthangai, tomato thokku…..yummy yummy!!! The house would smell divine. The appalam and vadam time….my favorite time of the year, usually during annual holidays….summer time. We would scare away the crows with stick in the roof where the vadams were laid to dry in the sun. We had to take turns to guard the vadams….and they still would be gone (in our stomach….ha ha). I love mango’s and there was 3 mango tree….malgova mampazham. We kids would play climbing the trees. We are 9 cousins from my mothers side and I love them all dearly. I am sure this blog would bring back the happy growing memories for all in my family.

This blog is a tribute to my grandparents who I am sure would have been so happy to read if they were alive....

Hope the recipes published in this blog would be tried by one and all and would revive the rich culture of south India....

Enjoy...happy cooking!!!