I met Santhi Balaraman at her aesthetically decorated home which radiated warmth just as her recipes would for the taste buds. She explained “I enjoyed food always, but never entered the kitchen till I got married. My mother included a cooking book with all the things she gave during my wedding to help me survive in the kitchen.  It was after marriage, living in a very big joint family that I took an interest in cooking. Not only three courses, but three different types of food also had to be placed on the table for every meal to cater to the preferences of three generations and hence I learnt many varieties. In the process, I understood that our traditional South Indian food was very healthy if it was prepared and consumed in the right and balanced way. So I ventured into doing a number of cookery shows in the satellite television channels and there was very good feedback for the same.

Two realizations led me to write books. Once after a show, I was recognized by a college girl who told me she had prepared ‘keera masiyal’ the way I had explained in my show and she expressed to me that it was ‘yummy’. This revealed to me that youngsters liked even common simple food when it was presented well. Secondly, my sisters and I sat together and tried recollecting and deciphering the ingredients of some of my great grand mother’s dishes, we tried it out and realized that we could not get the proper ingredients and so could not get the exact taste also. The importance of documenting what I knew, hit upon me. I started putting on ink the ones that I demonstrated in my shows. Then I wrote a few books which had both traditional and modern food and there was great response and appreciation.”

Over a period of time, Santhi started working only on traditional South Indian palate and released her book ‘Dakshin bhog’. She has maintained all the recipes very short and crisp. These can be prepared quickly in keeping with today’s trend of a fast life. Measurements are also given in a very clear manner.  The ingredients used are the ones that are readily available at home.

She shared some of the very interesting insights she has about traditional food and the practices in olden days. “Traditional food is not necessarily time consuming to prepare. Those days, women spent most of their waking hours in the kitchen and there were no electrical gadgets to ease their work. Today it can be prepared much faster. A wholesome meal had the combination of the six different tastes (Arusuvai) and each had a role to play in proper digestion. There are innumerable varieties of vegetarian dishes eaten in our country because we can innovate by trying several permutations and combinations.”

She is an expert in several cuisines as she has picked it up from her travel around the world. She has a firm conviction that when we understand the way our dishes were prepared in the actual manner, we will realize that they were not only tasty, but healthy and balanced. She is constantly thinking and working on ways where she could present old recipes in a manner that kindles the desire of the present day youth to enjoy them. She is working with the objective of spreading as many of these recipes as possible. Documenting them satiates her hunger for the preservation of the cooking methods and hospitable nature of people born in this great country. 

Contact Details
Telephone  +91 44 2445 4357
Email    chaturmukhi@rediffmail.com

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