I have a thick, hard-covered exercise book of recipes that is almost 50 years old. With virtually all its pages used up, the book is stuffed with scraps of paper with recipes that are yet to be copied. Splattered with oil stains and tearing at the seams, it looks disgusting. But there is no book I value more. This is not just an ordinary recipe book: it is a magic carpet that leaves me awash with nostalgia.
I acquired this book shortly after marriage ? while I was still attempting to hide my poor culinary skills from my husband. Today, all the birds have left the nest, and with our own appetites shrinking each year, we are down to ultra simple meal-in-a-dish productions. But those were the days when I wanted to dazzle and impress and please, and every time I ate something that tasted good, I demanded the recipe.
The collection of recipes include items such as saag gosht (Marie) or Swiss roll (Mohanlal) that take me right back in time. I see Mohanlal, my mother’s cook, painstakingly trying to teach me the finer points of cooking. The recipe for saag gosht transports me instantly to a large flower-filled garden in Saharanpur where I can almost smell the sweet-peas. There, Marie, also newly-wed but nevertheless proficient in cooking, served lunch one winter’s day. Then there is Dhun’s kathi kabab which never tasted quite as good as hers, grist for much ribbing that she had left out an essential ingredient! There are baghara began (Zehra ? very rich), palak bada (Mummy ? delicious), Susie’s coffee icecream (scrumptious), raan (Gita’s mother-in-law ? bound to be good), Dutch almond cake (Nala ? superb). There are recipes that bring back the memory of friends who have passed on ? mokanti ( Asha ? lovely snack) and brownies (Sheila, dead easy).
My husband never touches pickles or papads but his concept of the ideal housewife was one who made both! Clearly, in those young and foolish days, I tried to reach these Olympian heights of perfection. I must admit that I have no recollection of making either, but my book reveals raw mango pickle (Sushila) and lime and chilly pickle (Vinita).
The sukiyaki recipe has been in my book for over 40 years but it instantly evokes memories of a starkly beautiful room in Tokyo with my friend Sakiko doing the honours with a sizzling pan. Sadly, we have lost touch with her, but her recipe reminds me of her warmth and hospitality ? as do recipes from other faraway friends ? Italian bread, kawkswe, lemon and honey chicken, plum souffle and so on.
The truth is that what started as a cookbook nearly 50 years ago is no longer a bunch of recipes but a fragrant memory of happy times and old friends.
