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.
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
Hi Ramki,
ReplyDeleteThis is just so wonderful. Hats off to you.
Hi ramki,
ReplyDeleteFor all your great work there is a little present for you, check the awards page on my blog.
All the very best for your future endeavours... your cookbooks or pages, should i say, are really interesting, inspiring, and very helpful. Keep going..... - Umaraams
ReplyDeleteHi Ramki.What a feat!!!Congrats and best wishes for the future endeavours...
ReplyDeleteDear Ramki Sir,
ReplyDeleteI am amazed on seeing your passion to research on food recipes and commitment towards the challenge. I am really proud that you have done this big task very easily. Hats off to you!
Wish you all the best!
Awesome work Ramki ... no amount of cheers or commendation can come close to your amazing feat. I'll check if there are any records and lets try to get his formally registered. Though I know you didnt do this for any records but if we can get it in the books ... whats the harm ?
ReplyDeleteCheers
Mukesh
www.humanecstasy.in
Hi Ramki,
ReplyDeleteyou really did it!!! There seem to be no limits to your revolutionary "one-page cookbook" way.
And it's all about sharing. Great food, lot's of laughter and interesting talks and connections to people all over the world. Awesome!
Best wishes from cold rainy Germany
Hagen
Excellent Ramki . Came to know about this event from Anu's Blog .
ReplyDeleteI missed the event , but relish the achievement that is put in ur blog
Great work
Laks , Chennai
This is awesome...wish we were there to see the event. Are you now in the Guiness book? You should be! Congrats!
ReplyDeleteI seriously regret not being able to make it for this. But then you mention that there's going to be a bigger fest in the future. So count me in for that. :)
ReplyDeleteWish you all the best and looking forward for the one page cokbooks to change the paradigm of cooking altogether.
Sameer
This is the best thing i've ever heard of.Hats of to u Ramki,great Job!
ReplyDeleteCongrats sir...this is truly wonderful
ReplyDeletehi ramki...
ReplyDeletecame to knw abt ur site frm magazines...though i hav missd ur site all these days,i am happy i found the one,which i was really in search of...
hats off to u....
gr8 work n ur one-page cookbook rocks..makes cookin easy for beginners like me...
thank u...
Hi Ramki....Congrats on winning that challenge. Truly a great achievement.
ReplyDeleteJust out of curiosity, did you make it to Guiness? If you haven't take up that challenge you have posed and make it. Best wishes:)
ReplyDeleteThat's really a ginormous achievement! Congrats and all the very best wishes for future endeavors.
ReplyDeleteBravo!! Bravo!!
ReplyDeleteVeena(veenank) from twitter.
Thanks for the detailed description. We wish we were in Madras to eat your feast.
Wow!
ReplyDeleteHi Ramki
ReplyDeleteSounds incredible.
I definitely want to be around the next time you repeat this.
Vikram
Hi Ramki
ReplyDeleteSounds incredible.
I definitely want to be around the next time you repeat this.
Vikram