The story of India through food by Ramakrishnan B [EPUB: B081JZTMCV]

• Title: The story of India through food: OPOS Cookbook
• Author: Ramakrishnan B
• Pages:885
• Publisher (Publication Date): November 14, 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: B081JZTMCV
• Download File Format: EPUB

The first OPOS cookbook 5 Minute Magic, demystified and deskilled cooking. It completely changed the way thousands cook.
This book, the second major work by the OPOS community, hopes to do to world cuisine what OPOS has done to Indian cuisine.
The story of India is a story of its people. This book traces the story of its people through their Thalis. The Thali or the Indian plated meal is India’s gift to the world. It is a simple, flexible, elegant solution to meal planning; not just for Indian cuisine, but for any cuisine across the world.
From preparation to plating, a thali optimises everything to create whatever you like — a simple meal or an elaborate royal feast.

A thali is history on a plate. A time capsule. The dishes on the plate, the order in which they are served, the portion sizes, their placement, the rituals followed while serving and eating, capture the values and beliefs of different clans. Every ingredient and ritual has a story. This book records them all. It is as much a storybook as a cookbook.

These thalis have been extensively time tested. They have remained virtually unchanged for generations. Millions still cook and eat the very same thalis you will encounter in the following pages.

This the second major work by the OPOS community after the first book ‘5 minute Magic’ became an international bestseller, a year ago. Since then, over half a dozen OPOStars have written their own bestselling OPOS Cookbooks.

15 years ago, I laid the skeletal framework for documenting each Thali. Four years ago, the 200,000 strong OPOS community embarked on a massive project of fine tuning and validating thalis of each clan. We traced the evolution of each Thali, standardised the core recipes, got them cooked and validated by those who have grown up on them. This exercise was repeated multiple times, involving countless families, mainly mothers and grandmothers, till we were satisfied we got it right.

To an outsider, a thali can be very confusing. Each clan has its own set of do’s and don’ts that have been religiously adhered to for centuries. So I first created a basic framework, which was then filled by people who have grown up with these thalis. Creation of this framework took over a decade. Then thousands came together, filling details big and small, and each thali slowly took shape. Once the recipes were finalised, thousands more stepped in to validate them. They cooked it exactly as listed here, with the very same equipment, the very same heat settings and had it validated by their family members. By the toughest critics— husbands, mothers, mothers in law, babies. These validations happened multiple times, in Indian homes across the world. Each recipe was revised, repeatedly, based on the feedbacks and comments.

What you hold in your hands is the result of over 15 years of work put in by thousands. This will remain a work in progress. All we have now is a framework by which we can standardise and unlock any cuisine. Most popular Indian thalis have now been documented, demystified and deskilled. They will work for you exactly the same way they work for us, as long as you use standard equipment and follow the recipe.
We have also taken baby steps in documenting International cuisines using the same format. We hope people from across the world step up and do to their cuisines what we have done to Indian cuisines.

India is the land of Annadhaanam. We take great pride in feeding others. We believe there is nothing nobler than feeding a hungry person. This book is another step in this direction. We see this book as a gift of virtual food, a way of sharing our food with you.
We promise you will be able to recreate every single recipe the way it was created in our kitchens. We promise you will be able to cook your cuisines as effortlessly as we cook ours.