Aroona Reejhsinghani - The Art of South Indian Cooking

Aroona Reejhsinghani

Published by Jaico Publishing House
A-2 Jash Chambers, 7-A Sir Phirozshah Mehta Road
Fort, Mumbai - 400 001
www.jaicobooks.com

Aroona Reejhsinghani

THE ART OF SOUTH INDIAN COOKING
ISBN 81-7224-057-0

First Jaico Impression: 1973
Seventeenth Jaico Impression: 2009

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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

South India is a rich and a fertile region. It has mountain scenes of great beauty, great water-ways with peaceful lagoons and palm-fringed shores. South India besides having great visual beauty is also famous throughout India as the region of temple-towns, for nowhere in India are there as many temples of exquisite beauty as in South India. It is also famous for its dances Bharatnatyam and Kathakali which are pure forms of classical dances which have been in vogue for several centuries and unspoilt by passage of time and lastly it is famous for its distinctive and unique cuisine.

Who in India has not heard of idli sambhar, dosa, avial and uppama? Besides these dishes which have acquired national fame there are the world famous madrasi curries which are very hot and spicy and very delicious. South Indians like their food hot and a true South Indian can eat a number of chillies at a time without batting an eyelid. Besides chillies they are also very fond of rice and dals. At every meal they want rice in one form or the other, therefore one finds rice as the base of almost all their eat-ables from snacks right upto sweets and desserts. Dal is a natural accompaniment to every meal, it is also used for seasoning almost all types of dishes.

South Indian food is unique, colourful and satisfying. If you try it just once, you will want to try it over and over again because in spite of being very hot and spicy, it is a delight of every gourmet's heart. South Indians from Tamil Nadu and other places use sesame seed oil for cooking their food, whereas Keralites make use of coconut oil, but you can substitute any oil for them and you will get equally good results. I am grateful to Mrs. Saraswati Srinivasan and Mrs. Lalitha Bekal for lending me some of their recipes to include in this book. All the recipes in this book are tried, tested and authentic, and exclusively from South India. I hope you will love preparing these recipes as much as I have loved writing them down for you.

A ROONA R EEJHSINGHANI