Finest Recipes of “Kerala’s leading cookbook author”

 I was fortunate to be the recipient, today, of a new cookbook from Kerala.

Cover of late Mrs. K. M. Mathew’s 

“Finest Recipes” 

The late Mrs. K. M Mathew’s eldest daughter-in-law, Prema, has curated a book of the finest recipes produced by my aunt in her lifetime. 

I have been fortunate in my life to have tasted many of them produced by Mrs. Mathew and then, by what I think is the the only cook in India that I know, her protege Vasu, who received an EU 9000 certificate for  his cooking skills!

In a recent blog entry about a Gujarthi evening I had enumerated the publications of late Mrs. K. M Mathew.

I have been brought up on enjoying the variety of good food from all over the world. 

I love most types of food, various Indian cusines, Chinese, Thai, Fusion, Continental, cordon blue, and "even British” as Roast Beef with Yorkshire pudding and Welsh rarebit. 

I am, however, not a fan of fastfoods as the Macburger!

I was introduced to Finnish cuisine by Annikki starting with meatballs and meat loaf and many other exotic dishes, especially various preparations of fish. 

But Annikki became a master cook with her own versions of Indian cooking as Massla Dosai made in a Finnish style with Finnish ingredients.

Annikki ran the first cooking class of Indian recipes in Ylivieska polytechnic, and introduced the first Chinese cooking class in Oulu when she was the Chairperson of the English Club of Oulu!

I was introduced to cooking by Mrs. K. M. Mathew when I left India to study in London when she scribbled some great recipes for me and taught me the basics of cooking.

However, when Annikki married me in 1967, she quickly threw me out of the kitchen, despite my very good skills as producing Roast Lamb, as she found I was not to good at keeping the kitchen clean.

I have been through the new book and I give here the detailed Contents and the items contained in each of the Sub-Sections.

All the best recipes from my experience of Kerala cooking are in the book, especially my very favourite, Karimeen, the masala fried White Fish!

One anecdote tells the story of the hospitality of Mrs. K. M. Mathew.

We were on a trip through Kerala and Mrs. Mathew asked us to stopover at her home in Kottayam. When we arrived she had been called out for some work but she had organised lunch for us with her husband as our host.

The tablespread was fantastic as anything one could hope for was on the table. 

Our eldest son was having a problem and called one of the staff and whispered something in his ear.

This caused a great concern as the staff member went to speak with our host.

My uncle appeared greatly disturbed as he apologised to Jaakko that they had prepared chicken, beef, lamb, and an array of vegetarian dishes but was sorry that he had not included "pork".

We all split our sides laughing as, we as a family do not eat pork as it is forbidden by Annikki's religious belief. 

So we asked Jaakko what he meant to which he replied that all he wanted was a "FORK"!

We used to tease Mrs. Mathew's husband that the enormous circulation of the Malayala Manorama newspaper was because every Keralite housewife bought  the newspaper so as to produce the food which her husband would appreciate! 

A Keralite woman (and Annikki) knows that a way to a man’s heart is through his stomach !

I am yet to meet a lady from Kerala who does not know the contribution of Mrs. Mathew to her day to day life, not only with the daily recipes she produced for the newspaper but also for the best selling ladies magazine in India, VANITHA, which is now also published in Hindi.

Annikki and Thangam (Cochin 2014)

Here is a picture of my dear cousin, Thangam, at her boutique “The Weavers” in Cochin and Annikki when we visited her in 2014, our very last visit to India.

The front cover of the new book describes Mrs. K. M. Mathew's standing in the eyes of the New York Times. 

The back cover has a short note expressed from the very heart by the daughter of Mrs. K. M. Mathew, Thangam.

Thank you Prema and Thangam for sending us 

this wonderful gift.

Indian Arabica Coffee comes to Finland

 

Balehonnur (Balanoor), Karnataka (Photo by KZ Kuriyan)

This news report appeared on Newsmeter.in.

Photo from the Newsmeter.in article

I have been for years been  telling our family  in India that the Finns would love the coffee we produce in our estates as in Badra Coffee Estates, in which I am a tiny shareholder.

Finns are the real  coffee connoisseurs in the world. 

They appreciate a good reaonably priced coffee. 

I recount an incident from 1992 when Annikki and I were visiting our daughteer, Susanna, who was studying in Exeter University in England.

As we walked down the High Street, Annikki smelt some coffee and was in the mood for a cup. There was s small kiosk on the walking street. We went in and asked the lady for the coffee which aroma Annikki had smelt.

After consuming it very slowly, she said that it was the most delicious cup of coffee that she had ever had. I told her that we could buy a kilo to take it to Finland.

I approached the lady and asked what was the price of the coffee. She told me that it was called Blue Mountain Coffee  and it came from Jamaica. 

The cost was  Blue Mountain Coffee was €100 per kilo. (Coffee in Finland at that time cost about €5 per kg.)

I was literally coffee-shocked and opted to buy 100 gm for Annikki. 

She drank it on special occasions for a year

On her 60th birthday in 2004 I found it in the Oulu Coffee shop in the Market Place and bought her 200 gms. 

Annikki drank it for the next 5 years on special occasions till her 75th birthday. 

(She now only drinks coffee very occasionally!)

I also recall sending a cousin of mine the tender papers for the Finnish Army as the soldiers would revolt if they did not get their four times a day quota of good coffee.

 I can imagine the Finnish soldiers stopping a war so that they could enjoy their brew! :-)

To enjoy a child, be a child!

 

Today, as I care for a person suffering from dementia, I see there is a childlike behaviour that takes place progressively.

The first reaction would have been to become impatient with this behaviour.

But when Annikki was studying for the Montessori course, she could not type, whereas I had a good typing speed. She would wait till I got home. During the day she would research and prepare her notes. After dinner, she would sit by my side and dictate her notes to me. 

That way I was fortunate to have a great teacher without any effort on my part as she got 98%, continuously for 3 years,  for her work.

But what is more important that God saw what lay ahead of me and taught me all that Montessori was all about, preparing me for what lay ahead.

The main thing I learnt from her thesis is that the Montessori philosophy is that the Child is the Fsther of Man,

Now as I care for my loved one, I believe She is the Father and I learn from her day by day, to laugh and be happy, happy just as the children she raised so lovingly over the last 56 years. 

She never even once got angry with them!

 

When today she repeats a story from her past, 20 or 100 times, I listen patiently. 

When she laughs, I ask her what makes her laugh and laugh with her.

I was an impatient person, always wanting to get ahead in life. Annikki has always been a meticulous person and every thing she did, she knew the purpose.

I have tried to become like her. I admire how she tackled my impetuousness and my desire to run before I could walk.

Today I am calm and collected and enjoying her beautiful childlike behaviour.

 When I am away from the room, she will call to ask where I am, just like a child calls for her father. I reply and she understands and is reassured that I am nearby. 

That is all I can do today, reassure her that love is nearby and at her service. 

It is a pleasure for me to know that I am not forgotten but always still in her thoughts!

Just today a friend sent me a note which I reproduce below. Remember, this is a two way street!

 Nagma Khan

To enjoy life like a child you need to have certain other traits of a child. Some of them are listed below: (Please feel free to add more)

• Do NOT hold grudges  - let go off anger and bitterness, they benefit no one and they will harm YOU the most.
• Find happiness in little things - you don't have to be a millionare or you don't have to be the successful person to be the most happiest. A happy person finds happiness even in the most simplest of things. Try and be happy with whatever you have.
• Do not be TOO content - well seemingly I am contradicting the previous point but actually I'm not. Just like a kid finds happiness in certain things but they are never too content, they are always on the move, venturing out to try new things. Similarly in one's life one should always strive to do better each day, learn new things,outperform themselves. As someone put it,

"Learn to be happy with what you have while you work hard towards what you want"

• Never give up - just like a kid, no matter how many times you fall down, no matter how much you get hurt, always have the courage to get up and the faith to go on.
• Learn to trust - one of the most remarkable things about kids I think is the way they can trust their parents, family, etc. That way they will have complete faith that no matter what happens, their loved ones will be there for them. If only all of us can trust our loved ones like that so many problems can be avoided.
•  
  Annikki and her childlike laughter
  
  
  
• Laugh a lot - yes, even at the most stupidest of jokes, even at your own miseries, with your friends or alone, just laugh away. Laughter is an awesome medicine!
• Think positive - look forward to each day just like a child looks forward to an ice-cream treat, accept life as it comes and have a positive outlook, this change of perception works wonders!
• Pray - do it everyday just like kids do, it will give you the scope to reflect on your life and sort out many issues. If you are an athiest then you may try meditation. Cleanse your soul, your mind automatically clears out.
•  

Thank you Nagma Khan for this lesson.

All these points above are the lessons that Annikki taught me 3 decades ago when she was studying her Montessori course.  

Every evening, before we go to bed, Annikki, even in her childlike behaviour, will ask me to tune in on YouTube to a sermon from her church. 

She will listen for an hour to the pastor who talks the language of her heart. Every word is pure gold to her! 

Then I tune to an YouTube channel (a Canadian singer and violinist Rosemary Siemens) which plays soft hymns. There are hundreds of tunes, but even with dementia taking over her life, she can remember every tune, and she can silently aing thetunes she knows. (Music is one of the last traits that vanish in dementia. As a child, Annikki sang all the time, and even today she tells me that when she went to school, in the class breaks, she sang continuously. And she had a beautiful voice.)

As she drifts into sleep every, I slowly dial down the volume. When she enters her deep sleep, I close the singing, knowing that she is at peace with the world.

New Blog from today

 

Today we have launched our new blog called 

Collectibles By Annikki

We hope you enjoy this new blog and you find things that really suit you. We should have a new entry every day, so come back and look what we have to offer.

Life of Annikki - Another facet

 

In the past few weeks I have given you a glimpse of the success of the “Laughing Goddess” Annikki in a variety of fields. 

Cake designing - Edible Art 1

Other food designing - Edible Art 2

Drawing and painting

Interiors designing

Garden designing 

Crocheting

That is not the extent of the talents of this fascinating personality..

I give here her work as a researcher and an author in producing books on a variety  of subjects.

Her first book was about the last stages of her life in India. She faith in God was reinforced by this experience. So much so that when she returned tpo Finland she resigned from the Finnish church as she lived by her principles!

The second book was authored jointly with me on how to survive in Finland. This book was produced after 10 years of intensive research by both of us. There was no Google or AI those days so research meant physical research.

She then carried an intensive course of 4 years on Montessori Edication between 1991 and 1995 which she completed with distinction of 98%.

 

She then wrote her comprehensive book on raising a child the Montessori way applicable for children between 0 and 6 years.

She helped me design and prepare the Coffee Table  Book for the Golden Reunion of my school Class of 1959.

The next book she authored in two stages, first only in Finnish and the 2nd edition was in both Finnish and English on freedom of speech in Finland. In this she used her Finnish sarcasm tone fullest extent, butI was not competent to get the same effect with the English translation!

Then with me and Sriradhakrishnan Polsetti, she authored the book on Edible Art, both in English and Finnish. Here her photographic skills were also evident, a subject I have not touched upon in this series.

She jointly authored our book after our final visit to India.

Besides this she has authored many tens of articles on a variety of subjects published in many publications, especially our fortnightly newsletter, Findians Briefings, which had a circulation of about 80000 readers worldwide. 

I recently showed you in my previous blog, Face to Face - Kanha, one of her articles published in our Oulu newspaper, Kaleva

Because of many moves of residence in the last three years, I have lost many of her articles and also lost a lot of her research work on a variety of subjects such as music, religious intolerance, yoga, nutrition, and many more subjects covering all aspects of life.

Her hand written notes were all in shorthand Finnish so I was not able to understand most them, and she had lost the ability to decipher them. 

There is a saying that one whose TV size is bigger than one’s bookshelf needs to be listened to with great caution. 

In our case, Annikki’s bookshelf is 30 times mine on such a variety of subjects as religion, nutrition, gardens, recipes, interior designing, and filled with such great authors as R. K. Narayan and Jim Corbett. 

She has almost the entire collection of books by and about Maria Montessori and the Montessori system of education. 

She also has almost the entire collection of books by Ellen G. White and her prophetic works.

Like me, she grew up on the annual diet of the Manorama Year Book, so her general knowledge was vast. The difference between her and me was that I shouted  my "knowledge" from the mountain top but she used her knowledge in daily life to get things done!

She has been my friend, guide and counsellor on almost every important event in our lives. She has never been politically oriented but she stood for human rights and dignity of the human being.

When we had the recent spat with the O-India Ry, she very quickly advised me to terminate links as this association did not fit with our Guiding Principles. 

I had no hesitation in following her advice as she has never been wrong!

Unraveling the Craft: A Journey through Annikki's Crocheting Art - Part 4

Annikki has another skill which surfaced publicly rather late in life. I only realised it when I saw my lungis slowly disappearing. 

Annikki's evening relaxation, crocheting

Annikki crocheting art phase with -  a flower.

I had brought many lungis with me when we moved from India to Finland. It is my most comfortable nightwear.

The best lungis I had were all 110 count made by a Rotarian friend’s company (Mohamed Aboobacker) from Madurai in Tamilnadu called ”Chank Brand”.

Chunk Brand lungi from Tamilnadu.

The crocheting process is described in this Wikipedia entry.

A crochet needle.

Every visit to India I used to bring back a couple of lungis, although they are long lasting. Periodically, there were mishaps and they could get torn. But I preserved them as the fabric was supersoft and I was emotionally attached to them.

After my heart failure, Annikki kept a watchful eye over me. She restricted her outdoor activities, as gardening, and even her  cake making days had been done and dusted. 

She needed another creative art form. She  discovered crocheting.

Like a small child, she started with simple shapes as discs. She cut up torn clothes into strips and using a single crochet needle, she crocheted small items.

A crocheted sofa seat cover 

A crocheted table piece.

A crocheted basket and flowers.

Then, using different colours, she started to do patterned designs.

The next phase was to bring shapes into play. Small baskets were made, first cylindrical and then tapered. She started to mix the colours.

Introduction of colour.

A multi-coloured crochet basket.

Colours make crocheted baskets alive.

A tapered crocheted basket container.

.

Shapes crochet experimentation.

Crocheted basket.

Crocheted basket with eggs.

Crocheted baskets.

Different crocheted shapes.

Cocheted cups and saucers set.

One this was done Annikki created flowers and leaves to give variety to her crocheting.

Not satisfied with that she started different shapes as mice, dogs, cats, birds and arranged them in humorous sets.

Tomatoes in crocheted bowl and a crocheted turtle.

Crocheted duck with eggs.

Crocheted duck holding pears.

Crocheted Christmas tree.

Crocheted dead bird.

Crocheted mouse.

Crocheted cat drinking milk.

A crocheted mouse.

Crocheted cat, dog, mouse and dead bird.

Crocheted cat drinking milk with a dead bird lying next to it.

Crocheted cat drinking milk

A crocheted bonnet.

Crocheted elephant's foot

Crocheted butterfly.

Crocheted flower basket.

Gift-wrapped crocheted floral gift.

Crocheted flowers 

She decided that she would use a new material

for crocheting. Annikki found waste plastics film

was a good possibility.  

Dragonfly crocheted from waste plastics.

When she  decided she would have some fun. 

She knew my nickname in school was “dead chicken” as I had drowned during a school picnic. The teacher who pulled me out, took me to the shore hanging me upside down by my feet. My good friend, Viney Sethi, gave me this nickname.

Crocheted dead chickens!!

Annikki produced two dead chickens as Mr. & Mrs. Dead Chicken. These adorn our living room to this day.

To Annikki, crocheting was a form of art where she could take some rags and make them into useful useful objects. 

Finns have specialised in using rags for making rough carpets, but forAnnikki it became a fun art project. 

I tried to persuade her into converting her hobby into a business, but she would have none of it.

After I saw her amazing versatility of crocheting, one year I sent a Christmas gift to my friends around the world which showcased Annikki’s crocheting ability.

Finally, I came down to one solitary lungi. 

When a young student was travelling to Oulu to

join Oulu Univrrdity, I asked his father to send me a couple of Chank Brand lungis.

I never thought in Punjab he would find something which is so SoNuth Indian and especially the Muslims of north Kerala.

To my surprise, Amit Arora's son Aloukik,  turned up with two great 110 count Chank Brand lungis.

I use these as my nightwear. 

These days, I am extra careful as I sleep with my extra lungis under my pillow! You an never trust Annikki if she finds she has new material, my lungis, for her hobby! :-)