Press Coverage - Indian Express

The New Indian Express today profiled the Cooking Solo for 500 event.

Cooking Solo for 500 - Collage 2...

Another collage of the Cooking Solo for 500 event...

Cooking Solo for 500 - The Story

Hiya fellow bloggers, friends, Couchsurfers, Chennai Food guide members and critics, 

First of all, a big thanks. Thanks for your blogs and good wishes. Thanks for spurring me on. The cooking Solo for 500 really exceeded expectations. 

The event stemmed from an argument with a few professional chefs who claimed One page cookbooks were over simplified and are not practical. I know one page cookbooks work flawlessly on a small scale - I've been cooking with them for years and my friends swear by it. But I was not sure if they would work on a large scale. On impulse, I challenged them that I'll follow the One page cookbook recipes exactly, to cook up something never attempted before - cook solo a 10 course marriage feast for  500 people in under 3 hours. By then I was worked up and also added that there will be dishes from all four South Indian states - Tamilnadu, Andhra, Kerala and 

Karnataka. The bragging felt so good that I got carried away and bet that I'll start from scratch - which means cutting up vegetables, blending chilies, pureeing tomatoes etc. The only help I would take would be to remove the huge cooked pots from the fire. So the challenge was on – start from scratch and cook solo a 10 course marriage feast for 500 people in under three hours. I have cooked for people from over 25 countries and wanted to use this event to dispel the myth that South Indian cuisine was too spicy for foreigners.

My main concern was that I have never cooked for a party larger than 20 and have never handled the huge vessels and other equipment used for large scale cooking. But I was convinced that my simple recipes would work. So the challenge was on.

I then compiled 10 simple recipes , from all four southern states, which are relatively fool proof and can be cooked fast. The next big challenge was to raise the huge amount of money to book a respectable marriage hall, hire equipment, invite people and do the thousand odd things you need to do to assemble 500 people, media and invite friends from across the world.

I badly wanted to do a dry run, but it meant another large outlay of funds and so it never hapened.

So finally, on Jan 17, the show was on. With the media and a crowd of volunteers inspecting the kitchen and verifying that nothing was prepared, I started cooking at 3.15 PM. Handling the heavy 40 Kg vessels and the 6 foot long ladles was much tougher than I thought. It took me over two hours to get comfortable with the equipment. But things started easing up and I got my rhythm back. By then the kitchen was packed with people and media. Finally, after 2 hours, thirty seven minutes and forty seconds, I lifted the last cauldron of Semiya payasam ( vermicelli  milk pudding ) off the fire and wild cheering broke out.  Yes, One page cookbooks work !

A short bragging session,  photo shoot and a couple of interviews later, it was feeding time and I held my breath. Over the next two hours, the stack of 500 plates shrunk and vanished. This was the only way we were keeping track of the number of people. A small pile of around 100 plates was washed and stacked again. After 523 plates, there was still enough food for around 100 people, which was distributed locally.  I was thrilled that people from across the country had traveled huge distances to attend and that people from 10 different countries tasted South Indian marriage cuisine. Feeding so many people gave me such a big rush !. 

Here’s the event in pictures.

BTW, I now am cocky enough to bet that I can repeat this for twice the people in  half the time . I'm convinced that One Page Cookbooks are so simple to follow and are so fail proof , that I'm betting I can teach a novice cook to repeat this, with just a one day training session - any takers ?  

Here's the proposed menu

1. Ash gourd Olan 

2. Majjiga pulusu

3. Jeeragae Tambli

4. Shallot Sambar

5. Pepper Rasam

6. Garlic Kulambu 

7. Cabbage Kootu

8. Potato Podimas

9. Tomato pappu

10. Sago payasam

Cooking solo for 500 - Game plan & Insider's tips

Click the image on the left to view the cookbook

Cooking for 500 - The game plan

This cookbook lists 10 recipes that I’m cooking for the Cooking Solo for 500 event. The event showcases the unity of South Indian cuisine and promotes One page cookbooks. The following recipes would be served in the Jan 17 cookout in Chennai.  All are invited ! 

1.: Cabbage Kootu (Cabbage – coconut – lentil curry) ( Palghat Iyer recipe)

2.: Drumstick Sambar (Tamarind – lentil stew) (Tamilnadu)

3.: Mysore Rasam (Lentil stock- tamarind thin curry)  (Karnataka)

4.: Dali Thove (Flavoured lentils) (Karnataka).

5.: Tomato Pappu (Tomato – lentil stew) (Andhra).

6.: Shunti Tambli ( Coconut - ginger - yogurt blended curry) (Konkani).

7.: Boondi Thayir Pachadi ( Fried gram flour droplets in yougrt) ( Tamilnadu)

8.: Semia Payasam ( Vermicelli pudding) ( Tamilnadu)

9.:  More Milagai (Fried, sun dried chilies) ( Tamilnadu) 

10.: Paruppu (Mashed lentils)  

Industrial strength cooking

I enjoyed having a long chat with a master cook, who specialises in cooking for hundreds of people. His frankness and willingness to share tips he has gained over tens of years enchanted me.
Here they are
1. For cooking south Indian wedding feasts for a large crowd, always start with the dal. It takes longest to cook and unless the dal is cooked, other dishes like sambars/ rasams cannot be cooked. After the dal is put to boil, vegetables for poriyals are boiled. Sambars / rasams/ morekulambu / pulikulambu are cooked next.

Rice is cooked just two hours before the feast starts , so that it is hot the time it is served.

If dal does not cook to a mush as demanded in many south Indian recipes, addition of coconut shells , grated raw papaya, crushed ginger or baking powder would help.

When too much salt has been added by mistake, a dry brick or a couple of sheets of newspaper are dunked in the curry and removed after a couple of minutes. They act as giant sponges and suck up some of the salt out. Though very unhygienic and not advisable, this technique is frequently used in many large kitchens. A more hygienic alternative might be to dunk in a loaf of sliced bread or a bunch of fresh tissues and remove them in a few seconds.

Padi- (a cylinder covered at one end) is a commonly used measure in Tamilnadu. One padi holds 600 gms of rice and can feed 6 people. 'Padikku Pudi' is the amount of salt that is sufficient for a padi of rice - that is, a fistful of salt is sufficient for 600 gms of rice.

One kg of rice can feed 10 people.

Cooking rice :
Large aluminum vessels which cook over huge wood fires can hold up to 25 kgs of rice. The rice is first soaked for half an hour and is washed a couple of times.

Meanwhile a in a huge vat, water is boiled ( 5 parts of water for 1 part of rice). When water starts boiling, the soaked and washed rice is dumped in, stirred a couple of times, covered and let to cook. It is stirred every 5-8 minutes. Raw rice gets cooked in 10-15 minutes and boiled rice takes around 25 minutes. when the rice is almost cooked, it is scooped out with huge buckets and dumped into large wicker baskets lined with gunny sacks. The water filters away and the rice continues cooking.

When rice has been overcooked, cold water is added so that any further cooking is stopped. Addition of some salt helps keep the grains separate.

I've been invited today to observe a cooking session for 450 people. It'll be interesting to watch large scale cooking.

Cook On Demand - Cooking for a crowd with no prior preparation.

The painful part in throwing a party is the hours spent in initial preparation and the heartburn when some of dishes go waste / untasted. So I have been working on a format which minimises the hassle - Cookout on Demand.

Absolutely nothing is prepared beforehand. The idea is to ask guests what they want, shop for only what's needed, cook it and give each guest what they'd asked for - all in under an hour.

The first COD was for Hagen and Inga from Germany, Brian from Canada and 3 other Madras Couchsurfers. It was a blast. Hagen had just discovered coconut chutney and had it with everything I cooked.

Yesterday we had our second COD. I had an interesting crowd - the budding author Kavitha, Morgane - a student from Paris, Vicki Milburn from Newcastle upon Tyne, the angelic Avery from Seattle, and the regulars - Rosh, Rajan and Kamal.

The only preparation I'd done was to boil a Kg of potatoes and buy a kg of wheat flour.

Kavitha and Morgane walk in and see me sharpening a wicked looking knife. The girls had a start ! After convincing Morgane I'm no Hannibal, we got on to the regular topics - on her couchsurfing experiences, favourite music and scams she'd been through. Soon, it was time for Cook on demand to start. Kavitha 'demands' stuffed parathas, Vicki and Morgane having never tried it, want the same. I enter the kitchen and get to work.

1. Knead a kg of flour - 7 minutes. Let it rest for 10 more minutes.
2. Peel and grate a cucumber, mix it with some yogurt and salt to make cucumber raita - 5 minutes
3. Mash up the boiled potatoes, mix in some salt, chili powder and garam masala and shape it into lemon sized balls - 5 minutes. By now the dough has rested enough.
4. Pinch off dough, shape into into a cup, add stuffing, seal it and roll it to a disc. - 2 minutes.
5. Cook on a hot skillet - 3 minutes.

So piping hot Aloo parathas from scratch in 20 minutes - the girls seemed to love it !

While they were eating, I blended some watermelon with a pinch of salt, a couple of spoons of sugar and a dash of lime juice. Strain and delicious watermelon juice was ready in under 2 mniutes.

Rosh walks in with some provisions - penne, frozen shrimps, frozen fish & chips, some cocktail sausages and a bottle of vodka. He asks for his favourite cocktail - Rosh Collins, which is a Tom collins with a long, slit - green chili serving as a swizzle stick. A round of cocktails later, it was cooking time again.

The easiest to cook were the sausages, which I cut up and stir fried with some oil, salt and chili powder. - 5 minutes

Defrost the shrimp, fish 'n' chips under running water

I then started on the marinara sauce - Add oil, sautee garlic, onions, tomatoes and red chilies and blend them to a paste. - 8 minutes

Boil water, and cook the pasta - 10 minutes

Heat a wok, add the sauce, add in the shrimp and cook for 4 minutes. One of the problems being a vegetarian is that I have to cook blind, never being able to taste or adjust seasonings when I'm cooking meat. So I had to have Kamal by my side to know when it is done. Once shrimp was done, I added in the pasta and thickened the sauce with corn starch - 8 minutes.

Meanwhile I heated up my super hot electric tandoor and baked the potato chips after drizzling them with oil. I then heated some oil and deep fried the defrosted fish. Fish and chips were ready in 5 minutes.

That fed Vicki, Kamal, Rosh and Avery but left Rajan who's allergic to shrimp.

Rajan wanted some Aloo paratha and I rolled one out for him, with cucumber raita - 3 minutes.

So there you go - Cooking on demand for 7 people, starting from scratch, takes less than a hour and a half, while having fun. I'm on a steep learning curve now and hope to reduce this time significantly.

So if you are in Madras on a sat, look at the Couchcurfing posts and walk in for the COD.

Cook for a crowd

Cooking for a crowd

Following a few simple steps you can create a meal for may people in under 10 minutes

Step 1: Keep the base cooked and ready.( Rice, pasta, bread or noodles).

Step 2 : For all south Indian dishes, have the boiled tamarind water and boiled tuvaram paruppu ready .

Step 3 : Keep some milk and fresh fruits ready. In a crunch you can atleast serve milkshakes / fresh fruits.

Step 1 :

The base is rice, pasta, noodles or bread. Have it cooked and ready. These can be refrigerated for up to a week. If you are particular about steaming hot rice, just sprinkle some water on rice and microwave it for a minute.

Keep cooked pasta / Noodles ready. You can cook them to a south Indian taste by the following steps.

1. Heat oil. Add some kadugu, ulutham paruppu, vara milagai, perungauam, karuveppilai, onions. Stir fry for a while and mix with pasta or noodles to get a pasta uppuma. Tastes great.

Or if you want them served with a sauce, cook any of the sauces below

1. Add a handful of coconut , seerakam and green chilies. Grind to a paste. Add curd and mix. Add this to pasta.

2. Take any of the readymade soup powders. Mix with water and make a thick soup. Just add to pasta and serve.

Once the base is ready, most of your work is done. Whether it is for 5 people or for 50, just keep the base ready and you are safe. in a crunch, you can serve raw pasta or rice and yogurt.

Step 2 : Cooking Sambar / Rasam /Kulambu

For all south Indian dishes, have the following ready

1. Boiled Tamarind water.

Make a large batch of tamarind water, boil it for 10-15 minutes. refrigerate. Will last for a month.

2. Boiled Tuvaram paruppu

Take a cup or two of Tuvaram paruppu, pressure cook it for 2 whistles with a bit of turmeric and refrigerate. Will last for a week.

Once these are ready in your fridge, you can create dozens of kulambus, sambars or rasams in under five minutes.

Take 6 cups. Put one chopped vegetable into each cup - say Mullangi, Vendakkai, Kudai milagai, Small onions, Brinjal, Pavakkai. Sprinkle some water and microwave everything together for 4 minutes.

Take six more cups.

In cup 1 add some tamarind water, mix a bit of vellam and sambar podi. Add the cooked onions. Microwave for 4 minutes. Venkaya puli kulambu is ready.

In cup 2 add some tamarind water, mix a bit of vellam and sambar podi. Add the cooked kudai milagai. Microwave for 4 minutes. Kudai milagai puli kulambu is ready.

In cup 3 add some tamarind water, add some boiled tuvaram paruppu and sambar podi. Add the cooked brinjal. Microwave for 4 minutes. Brinjal puli sambar is ready.

In cup 4 add add some boiled tuvaram paruppu and sambar podi. Add the cooked brinjal. Microwave for 4 minutes. Brinjal paruppu sambar is ready.

In cup 5 add some boiled tuvaram paruppu and mix it with water to get a thin paruppu thanir. Add a pinch of sambar podi. Add a handful of chopped tomatoes and Microwave for 4 minutes. Add the juice of half a lemon. Lemon rasam is ready.

In cup 6 add some tamarind water, add some boiled tuvaram paruppu and mix with water to get the consistency of rasam. Add a pinch of sambar powder and a pinch of pepper. Microwave for 4 minutes. Milagu rasam is ready.

You can first make six cups and microwave all these together. So in just 5 minutes you have two kulambus, two sambars and two rasams ready. For all these you can use the same garnish. Heat a spoon of oil, add a pinch of kadugu, perungayam, red chillies and karuveppilai. Add to all six cups. Add some fresh kothamalli to all cups and serve.

There you go - 6 dishes in under 10 minutes. Easy ain't it ?