Southern Comfort
Most of the new generation Syrian Christians live out of Kerala,and they take with them the food.
Lathika George’s book The Suriani Kitchen demystifies Syrian Christian cuisine for the uninitiated
“Most of the new generation Syrian Christians live out of Kerala,and they take with them the food. It is only natural that the further you go,the more you yearn for the familiar taste of home,” said Lathika George,author of the book The Suriani Kitchen (Westland,Rs 450),which was launched at Delhi’s The Park hotel on Thursday.
Pachakari Ishtew (vegetable stew),Pacha Paparaka Thoran (raw papaya with curry leaves,mustard and grated coconut),Meen Pappas (fish curry with cocum,coriander and coconut milk),Chemmeen Pulao (Prawn pulao),Tharavu Roast (traditional duck roast) — even the best of food connoisseurs outside Kerala are often not familiar with the treasures that Syrian Christian cuisine or Suriani cuisine has to offer.
George’s book brings together about 150 recipes,interspersed with interesting anecdotes and tales of her extended family in Kerala,often reading more like a memoir than a typical cookbook. There are reminiscences about her ferry trip to her paternal grandmother’s house in Kanjirapally,tales of cooking in the ancestral kitchen or savouring a aama erachi (turtle-meat sauté) and mashed tapioca at a toddy shop. In between recipes of pickles and preserves she talks about the ritual baths a young mother has to take and the diet of mutton broth that she is put on,in the days following childbirth. Mother to three daughters,George,a Mumbai-born Syrian Christian,is now based in Kodaikanal,and works as a landscape designer,specialising in hill station gardens. Incidentally,the book was released in the United States by Hippocrene as The Kerala Kitchen in 2009.
The launch in India also saw a discussion on Syrian culture and cuisine by William Dalrymple,Delhi socialite Dilip Cherian,professor Susan Vishvanathan from the Jawaharlal Nehru University,Delhi,former RAW chief Hormis Tharakan and the author. “Suriani food has a distinct style,though it has taken a lot from other cultures of Kerala. We have more of steamed breads like puttu and appam as compared to the Malabar side that has parotta. The cuisine has a lot of non vegetarian dishes too,mostly beef,pork,poultry and seafood. We can also thank the Nair community for many vegetarian dishes that have become a part of Suriani households. So,while it is distinct,there are a lot of common flavours,” said the 51-year old author who started writing the book two years ago.
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