From the Konkan kitchen, with love

Taking a leaf from Narayani Nayak's recipe book on Konkani Cuisine published in 1966, a filmmaker writes a cookbook to appeal to the modern Indian home cook

In the days when the Internet was still a dream no one had seen and 'Googling' recipes was many decades away, most women relied on magazines and cookbooks for new recipes to try at home. Through happenstance, Pune-based filmmaker Jyotsna Shahane came across many an unsung publication from small-town publishers while researching on the art of cookbook writing for her blog, The Cook's Cottage. "I found a book by Udupi-based homemaker-author Narayani Nayak in a Konkani friend's home, and was immediately fascinated by the details that she listed and the precision of her recipes. They were published in women's magazines like Eve's Weekly (1947) and Femina (1958), however, they presumed the knowledge of cooking skills which several young women did not have," says Shahane, who has released her latest book, The Classic Konkan Cookbook: Based on the original recipes of Narayani Nayak.

Fascinated by the food from the Konkan, from Maharashtra to the northern tip of Kerala, Shahane finds many indigenous vegetables here, different from the rest of India. "Fed up of the ubiquitous butter chicken and gobi aloo, I felt that these simple Konkan preparations, which make the best of fresh and local ingredients, needed more attention," says Shahane, who rather than reinvent the wheel, decided to republish Nayak's book, albeit in a new form.

Narayani Nayak

The book took seven years to release after Shahane acquired the copyright of the original. Since there were 500 recipes, her first task was choosing which ones to highlight. She had to rework the weights and measure from seers to kilos, from katoras to cups, and therefore cook each dish several times over to make sure that the final taste was authentic. "I also had to add more steps to the method to make the process clear. Alternative ingredients had to be found for indigenous vegetables. I also added non-vegetarian recipes from the region to give the cookbook a wider appeal," adds Shahane.

Her love for "doing everything from scratch" took her to Goa, where she stayed in a place with cashew trees. Every day, a few fruit ripened, fell from the tree and were immediately collected with a view to making the incomparable tender cashew nut upkari. "To prepare it for cooking, I removed the fleshy pedicle and receptacle, and then soaked the nuts to remove the seed coat. I then hammered the nut to get rid of the coat, which did not go as planned. Lacking skill, I managed to pulverize the cashew nuts, making them unusable, and also gave a whack to my left thumb. I eventually realised that the tender nuts available in the local markets are prepared by people far more skilled than I, many of them from tribal areas where they pick the fruit from wild trees," says Shahane.

The photographs in the book are shot by her, and it's her background in advertising films that came handy. We ask Shahane, why a book like this beats the now crazy fad of cooking videos. "Cookbooks have a special place in my world. My favourite books are used over and over. They are now quite shabby, like The Velveteen Rabbit in a way, worn, blotched and made real by use and love. You can make notes in them and they are at your side in a jiffy, something tough to do with a video. And they can be passed down the generations."

Kulitha Idli (Horse Gram Idli)

Ingredients
1/4 cup horse gram dal /Kulithu
1/4 cup husked black gram dal /Udidu
1 cup water
1 cup rice semolina
10 cups water
1/2 tsp grated ginger
2 nos green chillies minced
Salt to taste

Method
Wash the dals and soak together in the water for 4-5 hours. Drain and reserve the water, refrigerating it for use later. Pour the semolina into 10 cups of water and stir for a minute. Let it settle. Decant and discard the water from the top.

Grind the soaked gram and dal together without any water. Slowly add a bit of the reserved ice cold water and pulse for a few seconds at a time. Continue adding a part of the reserved water and pulsing for a few seconds till the paste is very smooth and fluffy. Do not grind continuously as this heats the batter and prevents it from rising properly after. Do not add too much water or make the batter runny. Drop this dal paste over the rice semolina and mix well. Leave to stand overnight for eight hours or more. Add the ginger, minced chillies and salt. Mix well.

Spoon into greased idli cups till two thirds full. Now steam till cooked, for about 15 minutes, till done. Steaming can be done in a pressure cooker without the weight on. When the pressure has built up and steam comes through the spout, cover it with an inverted steel cup. Time 15 minutes after reaching full pressure. Test for doneness by inserting a fork into an idli. If it comes out clean the idlies are done.

Serve with ghee, chutney or fresh pickle.

Red, hot, chilli peppers

In Konkan cuisine, roasted red chillies are used frequently. A good idea would be to smear them first with a bit of oil and sprinkle some salt on them. Stir well and then roast in batches. This method prevents the extreme pungent odour that remains long after the roasting is done. About half teaspoon of oil and a pinch of salt is enough for 20 Byadgi chillies.

When roasting chillies in batches, combine Kashmiri chillies and Byadgi chillies in equal amounts. The former is for colour and the latter is for flavour. Chillies are to be roasted until they change colour and become brittle.

Khubbe Sukke (Clams in a Dry Hot Coconut Masala)

Ingredients
1 kg clams (about 100)
2 tbsp coconut oil
2 large onions, chopped fine
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp coriander powder
10 peppercorns, ground
10 byadgi chillies, roasted
1 tsp garam Masala powder
1 cup coconut , grated
1 tsp tamarind paste
1/2 cup fresh coriander, chopped
1/2 tsp sea salt

Pics/Jyotsna Shahane

Method
Soak the clams in a large pan of water till all the outer sand is removed. Discard any clams that have opened. Make a paste of all the powdered spices, the coconut and tamarind.
Heat the oil, pop the mustard seeds and fry the curry leaves. Add the onions and fry till pale brown. Add the ground masala paste and fry well for 10 to 15 minutes till any raw spice taste goes.
Add clams and mix well till coated with the masala. Cover and cook for ten minutes. Water will exude from the clams and they will open up. Again, discard any that have not opened. Cook till most of the water has dried up. Add the chopped coriander and mix well. Check for salt before adding any more. Serve with rice and dalithoi.

Note
When buying clams check that they are tightly shut. Remove any that are damaged or cracked. If any clams remain unopened after cooking, discard them.

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