A peek into the Kutchi Memon kitchen

Book: Spice Sorcery 
Author: Husna Rahaman
Publisher: Harper Collins
Pages: Rs 699/ 
Price: 174 pages

Husna Rahman spent her childhood sitting on her nani’s kitchen counter watching her cook. Rahman’s food journey began from there.

Her grandmother, Hajra Mohammed was known for her delicious Kutchi (Cutchi) food. In 2010, she published Hajra’s Recipes of Life for Life, a recipe book considered to be the first book in English on Kutchi Memon cooking. This year, Rahman followed in her grandmother’s footsteps and turned author with her debut book Spice Sorcery. “My book is a visually modern, artsy and contemporary version of the first. A new age look at the vintage cookbook. My nani’s book is an emotional journey, mine is a humorous look at a community who are ridiculously food-absorbed,” she says.

Rahman is the head of Fulcrum Designs, an architecture and design company in Bangalore. Getting into publishing was ‘serendipity’. “I spent half a year assisting my grandmother realise her dream of having a book on the food that she so enjoyed cooking and serving all her life. I remember the incredible number of hours I spent on that endeavour. Once that was done, it wasn’t long before I had a book deal in place.”  

Spice Sorcery is a whimsical look at the Kutchi Memon community as told through the protagonist Razia. Food plays a major role in her life. Razia has dhang, which among the community, means she has the requisite domestic skills. “Razia is THE stereotypical Kutchi Memon girl. I see some shades of myself in her. It's about being a sorceress. She does it her way and lets the world show her their loving. Razia is 'trained' to woo her way into lives and yet is smart and spunky. She is a poet and knows more about the world than anybody imagines,” says Rahman. Razia’s skills combined with her beauty means she has no dearth of proposals. She rejects them all before settling for the American-educated Hashim. 
Every event in her life thereafter is dominated with food. The alliance between the two is followed by a culinary campaign, with both sides eager to show their cooking prowess borne from secret recipes and not-so-secret cooks. Razia and Hashim’s nikaah is redolent with the aroma of the biryani. Their first engagement as a couple features an elaborate lunch with her uncle. Razia proves life saver for her mother-in-law Shakira’s charity luncheon by making Kutchi Memon food sound French. Even her departure to London is filled with extravagant daavats (meals) at relatives’ homes, and her luggage includes that staple Memon Survival Kit – a jar of zeera methi, bags of golden fried onions and Memon achar. 

All the characters in the book have a heavy relationship with food. It is synonymous with a community that loves their meat and spends much time and attention on preparing every dish. “A lot of the characters are inspired by real life people. I say this at the risk of being ostracized if they are reading this,” says Rahman. “Kutchi Memon food is food that is heavy on meat, light on grease, robust with flavor, delicate on the aromas and seductive enough to have you begging for more,” says Rahman. Her favourite is the one dish wonder, biryani. 
The book is filled with non-vegetarian recipes for tawa chops, khatti dal gosht, moong dal ki kachchi biryani, sara masala ka roast, and murg kheema anday; sweets like khubani ka meetha (apricot pudding), chor puecy (a baked coconut dessert) and mutanjan (rice and milk kheer), and vegetarian dishes like tamatar ka kut, bagare baingan and meethi dal. The recipes are accompanied by caricatures of the food and the people around it. “The caricatures are meant to take you on a journey. I saw the characters distinctly and needed to share that. There is no room for your imagination, just mine,” she says.   

Spice Sorcery is a light read, filled with lovable characters and delicious looking food. While Razia and her family have a charm of their own, there is little to nothing mentioned about the community’s food traditions and cultures. Why does the community love food so much? What are their culinary traditions? How has their food adapted to changing times? These questions are all left unanswered. 

The book’s biggest selling point is that it introduces you to a new cuisine but it’s just a peek into the Kutchi Memon community and their food idiosyncrasies.