If you think about India, you might envision a large country with a diverse population. You might think of historic sites, like the Taj Mahal or Hindu temples. If you’re lucky, you imagine the tastes and aromas of delicious regional food that comes from that vast country. Local Zimmer Inc. engineer Vishaka Rajaram not only remembers those tastes and aromas, she cooks them. When not working in the biomedical field, she might be found at home in Warsaw stirring up some channa masala or a snack of bhelpuri – chickpeas or puffed rice and vegetables. Rajaram was born in Chennai, a city in southern India on the Bay of Bengal, part of the Indian Ocean. She lived next door to her grandmother, who made many of the dishes of her childhood. “The first meal I remember eating,” said Rajaram, “was lentils and rice. This, combined with the whole wheat roti, the simplest of Indian breads, is the fuel that India runs on.” She said dinner usually consisted of sambar, a stew of lentils and vegetables, rice, a vegetable side dish, yogurt and urgai, a condiment of vegetable or fruit pickled in oil, chile, mustard and salt. “The vegetables differed from meal to meal,” she added, “and sometimes the lentils used were different. Rice, however, was the staple. Breakfast on Sunday was sometimes a more special affair, with omelets, toast and marmalade.” That food would remain with her as she left her native country to continue her studies in the United States. Rajaram started school when she was 3, not unlike pre-schoolers in this country. She continued on with elementary, middle and high school - most of it in the same building. After finishing 12th grade, she wanted to study medicine, but because of limited availability of schools, among other hindrances, she went to an engineering college where she studied electronics and communication technology. Her interest in medicine, though, stayed with her. With a bachelor’s degree in engineering in hand, and an interest in biomedical engineering, she headed off to the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. That was about 10 years ago. In just a couple years she graduated with a master’s degree and a new friend, Keith, who would eventually become her husband. She moved to Kalamazoo for a few years for a job at Stryker Corp., and then to Warsaw in 2008. All along the way, Rajaram searched out ingredients to make her native dishes. She described the regions of India: the north, where wheat and millet are grown, and which is known for its naan, or bread, and where the dishes are heavy with sauce. This is the style served at many Indian restaurants here in the U.S. The eastern coast makes the most of fishing so fish dishes are common; and the west is the site of Goa, a Portugese settlement, that still features cooking styles from that country. Vindaloo, which uses vinegar and spicy rubs, comes from Goa. The south is hotter than the rest of the country, so meat is not as abundant as storing it in the heat is difficult, and that could cause problems. “It’s easier to eat vegetarian,” she said. Southern Indians use vegetables and spices more readily available – and use just about every part. An example is the banana tree. “Everything is used,” said Rajaram, “the fruit, of course, the leaves, the flower, too, which tastes like cabbage and is used to make a stir-fried side dish to eat with the hands.” Food is seasoned with local spices like mustard, coriander, ginger and cumin, but not heavily spiced. She said she grew up with the maxim, “Cumin helps you digest better. Same with ginger.” The food is sauteed dry, meaning that pickled vegetables and chutneys are used to flavor the food instead of sauces. The best times, she said, were the festivals, when she helped her mother and grandmother prepare special food for those occasions. Diwali, the biggest and brightest with its fireworks, lasts a few days and would find the family eating special sweet treats made with clarified butter, or ghee, and sugar cane, which is prevalant in that part of the country. “Sugar cane is huge,” said Rajaram, remembering her favorite treat, kaju katle, made with cashew paste, sugar and ghee. “It’s like a cashew fudge.” Rajaram offered recipes that anyone can make. The food is easy to prepare and ingredients can be found without too much searching. There are international groceries in Fort Wayne, she advised, and a store right next to the Taj Mahal Indian restaurant in that city. But local stores also have a lot of what’s needed for her recipes. “They have actually made a lot of these ingredients available year round,” she said, adding that “yard-long beans, sold as Chinese long beans, tindora, a small melon not unlike a small cucumber, bitter melon and tumeric rhizomes are here in Warsaw!” She continued, “You can get fresh okra, kohlrabi, hot peppers of varying hues and heat levels, and what I can’t get I try to grow.” She has a garden at home, and in the summer she relies almost entirely on its produce or what she picks up at the Farmers Market. Items like nopales, galangal or curry leaves she finds at ethnic grocery stores. For those who don’t want to cook, here’s a little treat. Spread ghee on bread and sprinkle it with sugar, she suggested. For those who do want to cook, she offered a tip. “Don’t forget,” she said, “toast the spices to make them pop.”
