A FAMILY THAT COOKS TOGETHER STAYS TOGETHER

The author has dedicated her book to her Peggy maami and Raja Maamu

Sample your Mom’s amazing Sunday mutton curry or Grandma’s awesome chocolate cake. Every family has special recipes that give that instant feeling of nostalgia. When I was growing up, it was dinner with the family every night of the week. A lot happened at that dinner table! When I first heard of ‘The Sood Family Cook Book’, I wasn’t really sure about the idea of it. The theme of this book is eating together as a family. Initially I thought the author was trying too hard, but Aparna Jain has taken the pain to archive generations of kitchen secrets and create her own recipe book, not many of us would do that…right?! 

I would say hats off to Aparna for making such an effort. (And before you ask me how come a Jain wrote the Sood Family Cook Book?.....Aparna is Sood from her maternal side). When it comes to the recipes, they are well-written (with little stories about each family member), fairly simple, and approachable. And the recipes are anything but typical. 

The tongue in a twist 'Kim' (for those who donit know, kim is a lemon )

There are all sorts or interesting and unique ingredient combinations and that’s what I like about this book. Interestingly the recipes range the gamut from the more unusual ones from the kangra Valley of Himachal like Pahaadi Gudumba, khatta to the familiar ones like Comforting Apple Crumble to spicy drumstick sambar. Only thing I felt the book is missing are pictures, that said the illustrations are great and give a comfort home feel.

I loved the way Collins (the publisher) and Aparna Jain introduced the book…over a delicious Cook Book Sampler Sunday Brunch at their farm house with each of the members having actually cooked their own recipe. 

This was a great insight to actually sample the various generations of the family (read aunts and uncles to their nieces and nephews and the newer generations favourites too) cooking ‘real’ food. By real, I mean recipes used by them at home whether they were preparing an appetizer for a party, fixing Tuesday night’s dinner or baking a cake for a birthday.

Khaandani cutlery

All in all, it was an enjoyable afternoon and I would recommend the book as I feel the contribution of community cookbooks is not to be overlooked in our country’s rich food history.

FAST FACTS

The Sood Family Cookbook is priced at INR 899

First published in India in 2013 by Collins (An Imprint of Harper Collins Publishers India)

The Book will be available in the market by 25^th December

Author Aparna Jain has a post graduate degree in hospitality, moved on to technology and worked in the internet, tech and telecom space for ten years before moving on to Media. As marketing head for Cosmopolitan and Good Housekeeping, she was immersed in the life style space. She then joined Tehelka and was part of the core team that launched THINK.Currently she runs her own marketing and consulting and Integral –based coaching practice called Zebraa works. 

Author Aparna Jain and mois