Friend, fellow gourmand and Tulane grad, Tilo, has been published in the Christian Science Monitor’s Home Forum! In A Spice Box And A Cookbook Got Her Started, Tilo explains how she discovered South Indian vegetarian cooking after moving to New Orleans from India.
The secrets of our cuisine have not been spilled yet because, as Tilo complained in a note to me, “the editor took the best parts out but [the article is still] a small success.” There are no small literary and culinary successes when it comes to this fine woman.
When I set off to graduate school in the US, the Internet had not yet taken over the world. I actually spoke to people to gather information about life in America in general and my destination, New Orleans, in particular … Tabasco sauce, a dash of which was supposed to perk up every meal, did nothing for us. We exhausted all the combinations of toppings in the nearby pizza place.
As I [finally] began to unpack – a pressure cooker and a year’s supply of spices materialized from my huge suitcase. So did a round stainless-steel box with seven circular cups within. It was a gleaming replica of my mother’s spice box. Instinctively, I began to fill the containers with turmeric, cumin, coriander, black pepper, Bengal gram, red chilies, and mustard seeds.
As I was about to take my suitcase down to the basement, I found a thin cookbook in its cavernous depths. Inside there was a simple inscription in my mother’s neat hand: “From Amma.”
How do some parents know what their kids require? Speaking of innate knowledge, my approach to preparing this food is instinctive as well, and makes me believe in learning by osmosis. This tomboy, who still sits at her Amma’s dining table with nose deep in a book, was paying attention after all.
Tilo goes on to describe thalichukottal, the careful art of tempering South Indian dishes with hot oil and dish-specific items from the spice box. Unfortunately, some of the quotes I gave Tilo for her review of Dakshin did not make it in here verbatim, but the gist of it has.
One of the hardest lessons I had to learn was that a secret to south Indian cooking, the technique called “tempering,” cannot be picked up from any book, no matter how well written. You lay out a spoonful or less of spices on a plate. It is tempting to blend them but you cannot do that. Popped, one by one, into a small quantity of hot oil, each spice yields its distinct flavor at a particular temperature. A tiny miscalculation and you’ll end up with a semi-charred mess. But done right, the redolent mix gives vegetable dishes a nutty, crunchy flavor.
Learning to temper spices efficiently in an American kitchen was tough, but the procedure paid gastronomical dividends and taught me the virtue of patience.
Combined with a low flame, this slow process has benefited many a stomach and home with an automatic sprinkler system. Remember, the low flame is your friend.
What a coincidence that Tilo shared this article with me when, tonight, I experiment with hot oil, jeera seeds, crushed red peppers and … patience to create a new okra dish. Thanks for the added inspiration, my lady!
P.S. Mass quantities of garlic pickle with dinner followed by Carnival of Souls makes for weird dreams and a great morning alarm.
