Jayalakshmi Ramadasan celebrates the cuisine of Palakkad in her book, ‘Palakkad Palate’

It took a pandemic for homemaker Jayalakshmi Ramadasan to turn author. That too at the age of 78, by writing about something that is close to her heart — cooking.

Jayalakshmi or Jayam, who has roots in Palakkad, has brought out Palakkad Palate, a compilation of 200 traditional recipes. Palakkad cuisine, largely vegetarian, is a mix of food prepared in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Currently settled in Gurgaon, Jayam was born into a Tamil family in Palakkad. “I have nine siblings and started cooking at a young age to help my mother, AV Meenakshiammal. My father was not at home due to his job (in the Indian Railways) and she had to manage the household. Eventually cooking became a passion,” says Jayam.

Mother of two girls, Pushpa and Priya, Jayam recalls, “I had nothing else to do other than cook for my husband and children. It has always been an enjoyable process. It was Pushpa who encouraged me to write the book during the lockdown. That was the time when many people started cooking for the first time since they had no other option. Once I sat down to write, memories just flowed and I wrote down whatever I learned from my mother in two notebooks. Pushpa felt that it should be brought out as a book. It took nearly a year to compile everything.”

Among those who got inspired by Jayam’s cooking was her first granddaughter Kaavya Bector, who edited the book. In her editor’s note, Kaavya writes, ‘I used to run away from cooking…It wasn’t until the pandemic when we were all forced to cook for ourselves did I discover Amma’s recipes…Her food has always been such a great source of comfort, and for the first time, I had to make some of those dishes myself…each dish had an interesting story from Amma’s childhood… The ritual of cooking with Amma in the lockdown made me realise how creative and empowering cooking really is… Amma often tells me, ‘Love is everything kanna’ and Amma’s way of showing love is by cooking for her loved ones and feeding them.’

Flavours of the region

Palakkad cuisine involves extensive use of lentils, pulses, coconut and chilli. The chapters cover recipes of different types of sambar, koottan (curries), poduthuval (a vegetable stir fry with or without a garnish of grated coconut) and rasam. Also, there are variants of pachadi, a curd-based dish with vegetables and coconut, rice preparations, payasam (over a dozen of them), sweets and snacks, vadam (sun-dried rice-based pappads), vathal (fermented dry snack), podi (spiced powders), pickles and chutneys.

“My favourite is the arachuvitta sambar prepared with roasted coconut,” she adds. Ubiquitous dishes from the region such as kathrikkai (brinjal) rasavangi, a dish similar to arachuvitta sambar, variations of vathakuzhambu (tamarind based tangy curry), and mulagoottal (spinach and lentil curry with coconut) are in the list of flavourful, spicy preparations.

Dishes and desserts prepared for festivals have been extensively covered by Jayam. Some of the festival specials are chadachathyam payasam prepared with coconut milk, Sivarathri parippu kanji, prepared with moong dal, milk and jaggery, and Thiruvathirai kali, a sweet dish made of roasted rice powder, jaggery and coconut, and Vella Ammini kozhukattai, a Ganesh Chathurthi special.

Jayam has dedicated a section to combinations and accompaniments since she believes that for a meal to be enjoyed there should be a correct combination of dishes. “Drumstick sambar is better with keera masiyal (mashed spinach) and poduthuval; or, have mulagoottal with pachadi and pulithogayal (thick version of chutney with dal, red chillies and tamarind),” she writes. Jayam has listed the best accompaniments as well including potato podimas and pappadam with hot onion sambar or the combination of aviyal, olan, poduthuval and pappadam. Three traditional Palakkad feasts or saddi combinations and descriptions of various festivals in Palakkad have been included.

Since she stayed in Bengaluru for over three decades, Jayam has also written about dishes specific to the region such as bisi bele bath, Mysore bonda, pulao etc.

“All my relatives have moved out of Palakkad. I want the current and future generations to be connected to our cuisine and this book is a way to preserve our favourite recipes,” concludes Jayam.

The book, published by Invincible Publications, is available on Amazon.