Five Morsels of Love - A Review

Before we proceed into the post, here is a spoiler - I absolutely loved the book, Five Morsels of Love, from all perspectives - as a book lover, food blogger, food lover and a cooking enthusiast.  

I loved how brilliant the book feels in my hand - the weight, the texture of the paper, the fine details in the book's styling, everything is brilliant. This book feels like a true book-lover's dream come true. Really.  

Five Morsels of Love

Five Morsels of Love by Archana Pidathala

The fabric cover of the book sets the tone of the book. It makes you feel right at home with what the book is about. The words from the first page, with the photographs of the author, the subject and a few other family photos make you feel this is a book about family, and food.  

The essays from various family members about the subject of the book, Ammamma (maternal grandmom) are endearing and show what a striking personality Nirmala garu must've been, and how much she was and is loved.  

And then it starts… the little essays for every recipe talking about the recipe itself, and a small anecdote, where possible, about Ammamma. This book is clearly a labor of love, from a grand-daughter to her much-loved grand-mom, a book that every grandchild will identify with.  

As I leafed through my author-signed copy of this book, I could feel myself grin with joy at a few recipes, as they were childhood favorites. Some were recipes I had forgotten all about, and some were stuff I always wanted to try. Few were daily staples that I would've otherwise needed to make a note of , somewhere, for fear of losing the recipe in my head, which I don't need to do anymore.  

Mom and I, together went through every recipe, compared notes between the methods of cooking, made mental notes on what to do next when we try. And we did it all in one evening, because we couldn’t put this book down, quite literally! And we even tried out a few recipes.

The dishes turned out just perfect, and I felt like Archana was instructing me how to make that dish, from within the book.  

The recipes are crisp, concise and to the point. They are mostly all based on dishes that are integral to a Telugu household, and are very accurate (based on what I know by my cooking :-) ). I loved how the names of the recipe are all based on the Telugu names for the vegetable.  

Oh, by the way, this book has few non-vegetarian recipes as well, all neatly filed in a separate section. I noticed that the no. of vegetarian recipes is far more than the others, so that made me mighty happy too! :-) 

Another thing both Mom and I appreciated is how these recipes have familiar vegetables cooked in a melange of spices which are unfamiliar to us (like, for example, the usage of peanuts for gravy isn’t common in my mother's kitchen, a thoroughly Mangalorean Brahmin kitchen). 

Pachchi Pulusu recipe in Five morsels of love

Pachchi Pulusu, made from the above recipe

Alugadda masala koora, made from a recipe in Five Morsels of Love

Mom ate the pachchi pulusu, made a pleasant face and announced - "Tell Archana, I loved the book! :-)" 

I savored the pachchi pulusu for more than 3 meals, by rationing it, that’s how much I loved it! :-) 

On the second evening after getting this book, I loudly wondered if I should have another copy of this book, for myself, because I was scared I'd spoil this one by using it in the kitchen. I would've placed an order for this second copy immediately, had it not been for the husband who gently reminded me that am overdoing my love for the book, and not be a hoarder and that I can still get this book when Archana is on her book tour in May, 2016.

All in all, this is one heck of a keeper book! I know this will sit on my kitchen shelf for years, and I know I'll refer to it at least once a week - either for a refresh of an old recipe, or to try something new or to try a new gravy with a familiar vegetable.  

Now, I think it is fair that I give the following disclaimers -  

1. I have met Archana's Ammamma, and loved her. Mom and Ammamma have known each other very well, and have spoken about a zillion things, cooking being one of them
2. Archana is a friend. I knew I'd like the book before I picked it up, coz I knew Archana believes in doing a great job at anything she does. But as a book reviewer, I tried to be as unbiased as possible :-) 
3. This book is a winner from first sight! :)