Krishnan Ambrose - Madam Krishnans South Indian Recipes

MY LATE MOTHER, AMBROSE KRISHNAN, was my greatest mentor, and a woman of many talents. An expert at all household chores, she could sew clothes, curtains and cushion covers, grew vegetables and fruits in our front yard, and could even assist midwives in childbirth for fellow womenfolk in our kampong. She was also a self-made cook who learnt fast and was able to recreate dishes just by tasting the dish, even if that dish was new to her. It has always been intriguing for me to think how she mastered all those recipes without recording them in any formjust by memory.

My mum grew up in a French convent in the early 1930s, where she learnt to cook western food as well as local delights from the Hainanese chef who worked there. Her family hailed from Pondicherry, a French colony in South India, which was why most of her dishes had some French influence. My maternal great-grandmother was from Mauritius, and so Mum had some Creole dishes in her repertoire as well. My fathers family was from Kerala, and when they got married, my mum had to learn Keralite cooking fast to please her husbands and her in-laws palates. Since young, my siblings and I had the best of both worlds, enjoying choice cuisine from both Kerala and Pondicherry.

I grew up in a family of eight children, and we lived in a pre-war house in Singapore shared by many families from different ethnic backgrounds who rented rooms there. Growing up, I remember many occasions where neighbours, friends and relatives would gather at our home just to savour Mums cooking. This was so even after we grew up. My mum was a gregarious person who was always welcoming and happily shared food with relatives and neighbourseven if it meant that she had to buy more ingredients and spend more time whipping up dishes in the kitchen.

When I was young, my family celebrated Onam, a festival celebrated by the Malayalees (people from Kerala) sometime in late August or early September. This was a day where my dad would cook 16 different vegetarian dishes, and the feast would end with the traditional payasam dish called prathaman. At that time, my siblings and I could not appreciate the rich coconut based dishes. But the adults who gathered at our house all seemed to immensely enjoy every morsel of the food on their banana leaves.

Christmas was another memorable occasion where all our neighbours would spend their day at our home. Mum would cook up a storm for them and streams of guests would visit our house on that day. She would spend the day mostly in the kitchen cooking away, but still managed to find time in between her cooking and washing to come out and entertain our guests with such joy and warmth. Mum never grumbled or complained of the endless work she had to do. At the end of the day, our neighbours would help in washing and cleaning up. To thank them for their help, my parents would make the second day of Christmas a ladies get-together day. Mum would make sheep liver curry for the adults and minced meat stew for the children while the ladies had beer and enjoyed the day chatting and cracking jokes. These memories still linger in my mind even though it happened more than half a century ago.

Later when we grew up, my elder siblings started to work and one by one we all left the kampong and moved to our own place. I looked forward to weekends when my siblings and their families would gather at Mums place. The house would be filled with so much joy and laughter as we took turns to perform or sing the latest hits before tucking in to a sumptuous meal prepared by mum. Those dayswith love and delicious home-cooked food to bond uswere truly a taste of heaven.

I got married to Jacob Sagaram in 1973, and we have since been happily married for over 38 years. He used to work as an Environmental Health o?cer in the then Ministry of the Environment, where he had to inspect restaurants and hawker centres. As such, Jacob never favoured eating out, knowing the possible danger and uncertainty of hawker food. As a result, I had to cook our meals every day, which helped improve my cooking skills tremendously. In our early years of marriage, Jacob never complained once when the dishes I cooked did not turn out as it should. Even when it was obvious that I fumbled the dish, he would tell me that he enjoyed them all. I knew that his intention was to show me support and to encourage me to do better, and this made me strive to work hard on my cooking skills.

I retired as a Deputy Controller to help take care of my first grandson, Mitchell, when he was born. During my free time, I used to conduct cooking classes for domestic helpers through a church organisation. I also conducted cooking demonstrations for various charity functions in schools. However, after a major spinal surgery, I had to take a break from taking care of the grandchildren and conducting cooking lessons. This was when I decided to take up a diploma course in helping children with special needs. Upon completing the course, I volunteered my services at the Margaret Drive Rainbow Centre for half a year, before moving on to my current job as a Shadow Support specialist in a special needs consulting firm.

My passion for cooking started from a very young age, and all these years, Ive collected Mums recipes in my scrapbook by observing and jotting down her verbal instructions while she cooked. Through trial and error and the experience gained over the years, I have tweaked some of her recipes to suit my children and grandchildrens taste. Now my children and grandchildren gather for dinner at my home every weekend, just as how I used to when my parents were still around.

The dishes in this book are mainly from my mums repertoire of recipes. I have also included some very traditional recipes from my husbands side of the family, as these are unique dishes that not many are familiar with. Most of these recipes were kindly given verbally to me by my late sister-in-law who knew her brother would otherwise miss it all so much.

For me, cooking is an activity that is therapeutic and brings joy and satisfaction. I especially enjoy treating guests who seldom get to eat home-cooked meals. A piece of advice for those attempting the dishesplease do not be intimidated by the viii ix detailed recipesthey may seem tedious, but I am confident that you will not regret the results of your labour.

My mum has been a model to me in her generosity with sharing food and her knowledge on how to prepare them with anyone who has an interest. The ideals that my mum strived to impart to me were humility and her belief of service to oth ers before self. The small kind gestures and hospitality practised by my parents has also taught me how to show appreciation to friends and family around me.

The most important ingredient my mum always had in her cooking was the great love she put in each time she cooked. This was what my mum always preached, and I remember it to this day: Never cook when you are angry or grudging because the dishes will be bitter. Put in lots of love and say a prayer before you cook for your family and friends so your food will bring them nourishment both in body and spirit.

Before I cook a meal, I remember these words from my Lord: Do you love me?... Then feed my sheep.