Pradnya Gaonkar Rane
Like most mothers, Smita Uday Kamat used to regularly pass down recipes to her daughters and share tips on how to create tasty dishes. Little did she know that her daughter were saving these and putting them together in a special way. Kamat was thus in for a surprise on her 60th birthday when her three daughters Sonali Amonkar, Soania Suctancar and Meghana Sawardekar gifted her a book consisting of all her recipes. While copies of this book were only distributed among relatives and friends, the positive feedback she received, encouraged her to put out a recipe book on a bigger scale.
“I rewrote all my recipes, tried some more and added them to the book. The names of the recipes might be common like the dragon chicken etc but I came up with by own set of ingredients and the measurements which gives an original flavour of the dish. The recipes are very simple and anyone can try them,” says Kamat.
Mom’s recipes “ from our kitchen to yours is all set to be launched on June 6 at the hands of Chef Urbano do Rego and Chef Ruta Kahate. The book is published by Printer’s Devil. The book doesn’t belong to any particular culinary genre but is a delectable mix of dishes, local and global, that are popular in most modern households.
Married at a very early age, Kamat admits that she did not know to cook at first. In fact, she once tried making an egg curry which ended up becoming an absolute disaster. But Kamat always wanted to learn and her grandmother in particular was her biggest inspiration behind her culinary journey. An exceptional cook, her grandmother was always up for trying out all kinds of cuisines and taught her some of the very rarely known traditional dishes which she has included in her cookbook. The finer details about her grandmother’s cooking were very useful to understand the basics. “I first started making breakfast and slowly picked up the pace. My husband used to like the food I used to make, whether good or bad. Even when I was not happy with the dish, he always appreciated it. I wanted the dish to upto the mark and well presented too,” says Kamat. As she slowly began to master the art of cooking, she recalls how her husband’s friends who visited them on weekends used to appreciate her dishes which only served to motivate her further.
The family also travelled a lot which gave Kamat further opportunity to explore the cuisines from various part of the world extensively. In fact, whenever she came across any interesting dish, her immediate reaction was to try it out at home and bring out the same flavours. Kamat also took a special liking towards baking cakes for close family celebrations. Although owing to family commitments she was unable to do continue this further, she has recently once again begun experimenting with baking all over again trying out various techniques and receiving great feedback from her grandchildren.
The main part about her cooking is that she prefers free hand measurements while cooking except baking, which she states, cannot come out perfect without the exact proportions. Even after 45 years of marriage, she can replicate the same dishes at any point. “When the photography session was organised of my dishes for the cookbook, I managed to dish out 10 dishes in an hours time. There were three one hour sessions, so in total there were 30 dishes and I managed to pull them off with some exotic ones includes in the menu,” smiles Kamat. Kamat also states that she has a special place for Bengali cuisines, thanks to two of her very close friends who hail from the state. During her visits to West Bengal, she brought down the finer ingredients and the style of Bengali cooking and the family relishes on it. She also posts her recipes on social media groups and runs a page Smita’s Oven Delights where she shares her bakes.
Her book, she says, has the simple ways of making any dish. Every recipe comes with a handy tip from the author Smita Kamat and the finer details involved in making the perfect dish for any occasion. She has also shared the recipes of some of the masalas, dips, sauces etc with the readily available ingredients which makes it easier for the readers.
