Romaa Sharad By Express News Service CHENNAI: Give me one ingredient and I can make 10 different dishes with it,” says Chetna Sudhirkumar Shah. Called Chetna ben lovingly by friends and family, her love affair with food began when she was just nine years old. “My mother told me to go out of the kitchen every time I wanted to cook, but I never listened to her,” she says. The first dish she made was bhakri no ladvo, laddoos made with bhakri, a thick roti made of wheat, which is a Gujarati staple. The 58-year-old prepares it every Monday to remind herself of when her journey began. Her skills came in handy when her mother fell sick. “There were 20 people in my family so the pre-preparation like chopping vegetables and soaking dal would already be done, after which I used to cook for all of them,” adds the cook, who has been in the business of preparing traditional Gujarati food for almost 20 years now. However, she likes to take things up a notch. From tomato-flavoured dhoklas to chutneys made of kairi (raw mango) and doodhi (bottle gourd) peels, Chetna loves creating new dishes. “I look at the ingredients I have and think of how I can combine all of them to create a new dish. I may not be educated, but I am very innovative when it comes to cooking,” says the self-taught cook, who has the ability to create varieties of the same dish by changing a few core ingredients. In her take on the classic puran poli, a flatbread that is made with a dal, sugar and cardamom stuffing, Chetna stuffs the dough with a sweet potato masala or a mixture of peanuts and coconuts. She also prepares different varieties of buttermilk that include orange buttermilk, lemon buttermilk and onion buttermilk. “Depending on the type of buttermilk you are making, add a small piece of orange, lemon or onion to the curd with other masalas and blend it before adding water. It is that simple,” she shares. However, her not-so-simple twist on the traditional Gujarati snack, bhakarwadi, is one that makes jaws drop. “I use hariboot (green garbanzo beans) to fill the bhakarwadis instead of a mixture of coconut, sesame seeds and poppy seeds,” she says. When asked if she uses any secret ingredient in her recipes, she shakes her head furiously saying, “I do not see what one could possibly do by keeping the ingredients a secret. If one possesses knowledge that can help another person grow, why not share it?” Chetna keeps good thoughts in mind while cooking. “Agar bhagwan nu naam laine rasoi kare, toh badi vastu sari bane (When you chant god’s name while cooking, everything will turn out well),” she says.

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