“Y ethana molaga ?” ask the eager students as Mountbatten Mani Iyer artfully throws in a bunch of red chillies into a simmering pan of gingelly oil. Before he can answer, there’s another barrage of questions. At the workshop conducted by Puliyogare Travels at Vidya Bharathi Kalyana Mandapam, the 85-year-old legendary cook shares five of his favourite recipes with a group of 30 students. This feels like a throwback to my Math class, where I often felt clueless as first-benchers asked the teacher a hundred questions. As everybody around feverishly takes down notes, Iyer stands there, quite like a rockstar, manning four burners.
He starts off with chocolate fudge, followed by udacha molaga pachadi , puli itta keerai, elaneer rasam and Tirunelveli kal dosai. The masalas are freshly ground and come out of mixers, and the other ingredients tumble out of steel buckets that he nonchalantly lifts with one hand. In between, he cracks a few jokes and then pauses for effect. But it’s a little hard to hear him over the ragas of the singers from the neighbouring hall. So, a lot of things have to be repeated, but he does so with patience. “It’s not my nature, but the profession demands patience,” says Iyer.
“This is the first time he’s conducting a workshop. I requested him to do it. The kind of recipes he knows are getting lost. So last year, I got him on my television show Sutralaam Suvaikkalaam , and this year, we did this session because a lot of people want to know about traditional food,” says Rakesh Raghunathan of Puliyogare Travels.
Meanwhile, Iyer lays the batter for the dosa and they come out in perfect circles. “See, that’s how you get perfectly-shaped dosa,” a young mother points out to her toddler, who seems more interested in chewing on her thumb. Cameras and iPads pop up and numerous photographs are clicked. Once the session is done, Iyer is engulfed in a wave of fans who want selfies with him. His wife stands by his side, looking on adoringly. “I am here to see how he cooks and teaches,” she laughs.
Iyer has been cooking for 65 years now. “I was 20 when I started. I was destined to cook. I had to take care of my parents and two sisters,” says Iyer. Of all the recipes he taught, the fudge and molaga pachadi are close to his heart because his mother used to make them for him. “After she passed away, nobody cooked those dishes for me. I prepared them for myself,” he says.
After moving to Madras from Harikesanallur, he learnt cooking from D.S. Appaswami Iyer. “I watched him and learnt, because he wouldn’t teach you how it’s done,” he says. Soon, the city got a whiff of Iyer’s culinary skills and catering orders poured in. He recalls his journey to Orissa in 1963, where he cooked a meal for 10,000 people at a feast thrown by a minister. “I can’t recall his name, but I remember Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Kamaraj being there. Two hundred and forty of us, including cooks, servers and helpers, went from here by train. We occupied three bogies. The menu comprised dosa, sambar, rasam and poriyal,” he adds. As he talks, a big gold ring glints on his left hand. It has the alphabet G engraved on it. “Gemini Ganesan got it made for me because he was thrilled with the food I made at his daughter’s wedding,” says Iyer, sounding pleased.
He’s lost count of how many occasions he’s catered for. People from VIPs to regulars book him for their feasts. Now, his son Mount Sreenivasan handles the catering services. As the session winds up, there is the usual question of how he got named Mountbatten Mani Iyer. “In 1948, Mountbatten, the last Viceroy in India, visited the Governor’s house for a meal. I delivered 25 dishes for him. I saw him and was enamoured by his personality, looks and style,” he smiles. “So is that how you got this hairstyle? It’s similar to Mountbatten’s,” points out one of the attendees. “Is it?” he grins, delighted at the comparison and then gently pats his hair in place, folds his veshti and heads back to the sabha kitchen, beaming all the while.
