Food: Batter & better

Fish malai curry the way mum made it? Not if one has to start from scratch. Sanjari Chatterjee is certain she'd never cook the dish if the key ingredient - coconut milk - weren't available as a ready-to-use sachet. "Coconut milk was traditionally made at home. It was a cumbersome, time-consuming process and I used to dread making the dish. But thanks to packaged coconut milk, it's become a three-minute affair. And it doesn't taste any different," says the Kolkata housewife. Now, by all accounts, even mum has switched to the packaged version. Ready-to-use, ready-to-cook or ready-to-eat. Canned, polypacked, bottled or bagged. Whatever the packaging, we are ready to buy. Now, it's a matter of keeping tradition conveniently available in tetrapack. Pune-based chartered accountant Anuradha Iyer can't imagine life without readymade dosa-idli batter. "I don't have enough time to make the paste the traditional way - soaking the rice and lentils, leaving it overnight and then grinding it. The neighbourhood store not only stocks freshly made paste but also has readymade chutney to go with it. For a family like mine, which needs their idlis and dosas often, it is a godsend," she says. In Bangalore, software professional Meena Sivashanmugam relies on packaged food when she's travelling. "I take along MTR's ready-to-cook food whenever I have to travel. Even at home, I use packaged vadas and uthapams. It saves time." The only mix Sivashanmugam doesn't buy is gunpowder because "it doesn't taste the same when packaged. I get it freshly made." Hectic lifestyles have contributed to the growing market for packaged products. Paul Thachil, a senior Mother Dairy executive, says, "We have been growing at 30% per annum in traditional beverages and food categories." Many of his company's products, including lassi, chaach, dahi and mishti doi are extremely popular among people with traditional tastes. Initially, though, it was not easy to change mindsets accustomed to homemade food. But, as K K Chutani, marketing head at Dabur's Food Division, says, "Over a period of time, with regular use and acceptance, mental barriers have come down." Chutani argues that seasonal variations in the price of raw ingredients means it makes better economic sense to opt for readymade cooking pastes, such as ginger-garlic. "It could suffice as a cheaper option," he says.Add to this the desire to experiment and an increasingly adventurous Indian palate. Popular TV chef Sanjeev Kapoor believes that not everybody can cook everything but the 21st century Indian wants to try his/her hand at different regional cuisines. "Now it's possible for a south Indian to try out Peshawari chhole while a person from east India gets to cook dosas." Ruchika Bannerjee, a Bengali housewife settled in Chennai, couldn't agree more. "My husband loves dosas and idlis, but I cannot make it the traditional way. So, the ready-to-use paste solves my problem." But the purist still swears by freshly ground masalas and pastes. "Nothing can replicate the taste and flavour one gets from spices or mixes which are fresh. Only very few packaged foods taste like the original," says Kapoor. But who wants to break a coconut?