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Journalism of Courage
CHEF Jacob wears a toque but he doesn8217;t cook, not commercially. Professor Jacob takes classes but that isn8217;t where he does most of his teaching. And though he works Monday through Friday, Saturdays and Sundays are what Jacob Sahaya Khumar really lives for.
8216;8216;Through the weekends of the academic year, I can be found with four or five of my students sitting at the feet of wizened old ladies. Sometimes, there8217;ll be a videographer present as well. As they dredge out recipes from their memories, each of my students notes down one ingredient in turn. And if it8217;s convenient, she could direct the actual cooking of the recipe,8217;8217; says Khumar.
Oral history, an academic bent of mind, gastronomic skills and a passion for the underrated local cuisines of south India, combine to create Khumar8217;s unique brand of culinary dynamics. At 31, he has spurned the sushi-sauerkraut-salmon multitudes to focus on what8217;s deeply indigenous8212;and deep in danger of fading out.
In Delhi last fortnight, Khumar and his five students8212;the hands-on chefs8212;floored the cognoscenti with authentic replications of the little-known Nadar cuisine of Tamil Nadu at Dakshin, Marriott WelcomHotel. In the line-up: Nalli Essence a lamb curry inspired by the British, Gramathu Kozhi Kolumbu a village-style chicken curry with ridge-gourd and Vazhaipoovam Yeralum a prawn curry with banana flowers.
Nadar cuisine is meat-heavy, admits Khumar. 8216;8216;But I8217;ve toned down the non-vegetarian content. Traditionally, even the vegetarian dishes are tempered with mutton or fish fat. On the other hand, every non-vegetarian dish includes a vegetable, like ridge-gourd with the chicken curry and bhindi with the seer fish.8217;8217;
| 8216;8216;One of the Nadar recipes I8217;m very proud of, from a bedridden 72-year-old in Madurai, Vimalakka. It8217;s a thick prawn and banana flower curry.8217;8217;
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It might be the food ma would approve of, but Khumar is certain his mum can still top it all. 8216;8216;Typically, Nadar life centres around food. Till recently, men always came back home to lunch and women didn8217;t go out to work, so all their creative energies were devoted to the next meal. And though my mother is the principal of a nursing college in Madurai, the extensive repertoire of Nadar cuisine helps her ensure not a single dish is repeated through the month,8217;8217; says Khumar.
If individual roasting of spice powders, slow cooking of everyday dishes and whimsical combinations of regular ingredients were hallmarks of the food Khumar grew up on and quickly mastered8212;he hosted his first dinner party at the age of 108212;it also piqued his interest in local foods of neighbouring regions. But it was only after three failed attempts to crack the medical entrance tests meanwhile he acquired a BSc in physics that Khumar joined catering college.
8216;8216;I wasn8217;t accepted into the Institute of Hotel Management,8217;8217; he says. 8216;8216;But I think that worked to my advantage. I studied in a small college in Madurai, it allowed me to think small.8217;8217;
Sundry diplomas later, Khumar joined the faculty of Cherran8217;s Arts Science College in Kangayam, Ezhode district, and one of the first research projects he took up was on Kongunad cuisine. For 18 months he travelled through western Tamil Nadu, talking to local sabhas and sussing out the secrets of the cooks of the Gounder and Naicker communities.
8216;8216;My best sources are the elderly women,8217;8217; says Khumar. 8216;8216;All the recipes are in their heads. That8217;s why I take along at least four or five students8212;the women get flustered if we interrupt and ask them to repeat an ingredient or cooking step.8217;8217;
Next on the list was Nadar cuisine, the foods of the ancient kingdoms of Tamil Nadu, and coastal cuisines from Goa to Thiruvananthapuram.
Of all these, the ancient royal food was the most abstruse since the only reference points were historians. 8216;8216;So we collected approximations of the recipes, cooked them and invited historians for a tasting. One gem we unearthed was Camphor Chicken, which is at least 1,000 years old. We have an idea of the ingredients available then and the reactions to the dish8212;court historians would record the king8217;s feedback8212;are our principal guide.8217;8217;
While Khumar is big on authenticity, he8217;s only too aware that research is expensive. So, from his findings, he culls together a menu that can be replicated in hotel kitchens. And gives us a sensual lesson in history.
