KOCHI: It was the sudden and tragic death of a dear friend that brought Chef Soju Philip to Kuttanad in 2002. Growing up in Pathanamthitta, he had until then, only heard the tales and legends of the region known as the rice bowl of Kerala. Overwhelmed immediately by its enchanting charm which he thought was unlike any other, Chef Soju decided that if he would ever write a cookbook it would be about the visual and culinary delights of the land. Released last July, 'Recipes on Ripples: Kuttanadan Recipes from Kerala Coast' is a labour of love 15 years in the making. It was in the news recently when the book won the prestigious Gourmand World Cookbook Award in the local cuisine (Asia) category.
For any traveller coming from outside, the place is "superb, marvellous and mysterious"; every sight is a feast, reads the short introduction to the travelogue cookery book. "You can't neglect the beauty of the place while writing about Kuttanad, even if it's a recipe book.
The vast stretches of paddy fields, the coconut and palm lagoons, the crisscrossing canals surrounding the farms and the organic life of people who inhabit it all influence the food culture," says Soju, who is currently the executive chef at Ramada Resort by Wyndham Kochi. His brilliant attempt brings together a comprehensive repertoire of the agrarian lifestyle and backwater cuisine. 'Recipes on Ripples' is not just a cookbook, it is an extensive document of a culture that is rich in its ordinariness.
"I left my heart at Takazhi (a village in the Kuttanad region) when I first visited. I was working at a restaurant in the USA during that time so when I moved back to India in 2009, I decided to finally start writing. I took me seven years to pen the book," says Soju who travelled across the region frequently to chronicle the majority Syrian Christian community across seven villages.
With a corpus of over 100 recipes, the book gives an introduction to the joys of cooking with locally grown and bred produce. Chef Soju teaches his readers that while rice is a staple to the region, karimeen (pearl spot fish) and duck are sought-after delicacies. "The karimeen polichattu (pearl spot fish wrapped in banana leaf and pan fried) made in Kuttanad that I came across during my research was unlike any other I had tasted.
And there are the tharavu mappas (duck simmered in coriander-flavoured coconut gravy), these are my favourites," says chef Soju. But what would excite the uninitiated the most is irachi pidi (meat and rice dumplings cooked in mild fish gravy), a truly authentic preparation that brings together the most popular components of the region: duck, seafood and rice. With over 18 years of experience in the hospitality industry and having written multiple columns on food, the Gourmand award is another feather in his cap. "The awards are considered as Oscars in the F&B industry so I am really honoured and grateful," says the chef.