About
I was born and brought up in Chennai(formerly Madras) in the state of TamilNadu in southern India. I have since moved oceans away to Massachusetts in the US but luckily have a lot of family around here. My family was always (still are!) intensely involved with cooking, eating, and everything related to food. My mom and one of her brothers are the best cooks I’ve known in my life and are the major influences in my cooking. They are the reason why food is such a dominant part of my life.
I am a vegetarian. I love disproving many myths about vegetarian food.
Some that really turn me off :
- vegetarian is boring and monotonous
- vegetarian food can never be made without tofu , imitation meat or soy products
- vegetarian food implies health food, raw food or green food.
- When vegetarian food is made to imitate or look like a typical meat filled meal. Like “vegetarian” sausage meatball and spaghetti or “vegetarian” gravy over mashed potatoes with “vegetarian” ribs or something outrageous like that!
Vegetarian food is what it is. It doesn’t need to be made to look like a traditional meat meal. It’s can taste, smell and look better than any meat you have ever had!
I enjoy and respect food from all countries and cultures. Every one of them has it’s own charm, wonder, character and history. I try to learn as much as I can about authentic international cuisine. Also experiment with it’s fusion with Indian flavors.
Food is my soul, passion, love and life. The smell, the sight, the texture, that taste and the sound of food simply invigorates me and inspires me. The warmth of a kitchen is comforting to me. I get a certain excitement when I am there creating dishes. I spend any free time thinking about spices, herbs, fresh produce and how they would work with each other. It gives me my zen moments amidst my otherwise fast mechanical life.
South Indian food is my comfort. Living in a country outside India I realize how little exposure south Indian food has here. India has 28 states and each state has its own cuisine..well almost. It is one of the very few cuisines with such diversity in taste and ingredients. Such intricate, understated, subtle yet great differences when it comes to the method of cooking, the ingredients and finally the taste, smell and texture of the food. There is a whole world of East Indian food and West Indian food thats unrecognized, a variety of North Indian food thats underexplored and a world of South Indian cuisine that’s not only unrecognized but totally unheard of.
My other passion is music, especially Illaiyaraaja’s compositions. I Enjoy all other great music irrespective of language, composer or genre. I spend extensive number of hours researching and analyzing songs, singers, tunes, beats and tracks.
I also enjoy reading. Particularly biographies,memoirs, philosophy and political satires.
“Too many” is mathematical impossibility when it comes to shoes and jewelry.
I love animals. Here is our baby Sushi(aka Sushila). She brings so much joy to our daily routine bound lives !
I speak my mind . I call a spade, a spade. I abhor hypocricy and have zero tolerance to personal judgement. I am all about logic, reality and science. I also enjoy my share of philosophy once in a while.
I also write a truth blog at http://mylifemantra.wordpress.com
Write me at rsupriya@gmail.com.
-Supriya
gautam said
hi
Do you know anything about Ilayarajas bassist?..Do you have a photo of his?..All i know is he is called one Mr Sasi.
Supriya Raman said
Hi Gautam,
It is Sasi on the bass 90%, but these days I guess people like sada(his guitatist) and even guitar prasanna play for him on and off. I hear of a lot of new talents being on his team too,I dont have a picture sorry, I will keep you posted if I do get one.
gabrielle said
If you want to see something amazing….check out the guy that Dan Dunn learned everything he knows from. Dan Dunn wrote Michael Israel about 3 yrs ago telling him that Michael was a true inspiration to him. SO, if you want to see the ORIGINAL…check out Michael Israel.com
Supriya Raman said
Thanks Gabrielle for this informative comment. Michael Israel sure is a genius and a master of his class.
Richard said
Found your site from the wordpress forum and wow, you have a lot of great recipes here. I’ve bookmarked your site and I can see I’m going to experimenting a lot.
Supriya said
Thank you Richard! Do experiment and give me feeback !
Richard said
Supriya, I’ve been tagged in one of the blogging games, and have now tagged you. You can see the details on my blog.
By the way, I tried your spicy black bean soup recipe and it’s fabulous.
Supriya Raman said
Huh! I just figured out what this ‘tagging’ is about.I’ve always heard about it, but I guess I’m sucked in now!
Mahesh said
Hi Supriya…
Nice to c ur recipes..keep rocking..
Rgds
Mahesh
ravi said
sapda varalamo? nan nanna veg sapduven
Denis in chelmsford said
I just discovered this blog – what a find! I’m neither Indian nor vegetarian, but my wife and I love this cuisine. One reason is that my daughter was a vegetarian for a few years, and when I looked through my cookbooks for inspiration, it was Julie Sarni’s classic book that saved us from my dreary misconceptions. I never dreamed that cauliflower and chick peas could be so delicious.
More recently, we(in the Boston area) have been blessed with a flowering of regional Indian restaurants. There was even briefly a Jain restaurant where Udupi Bhavan is now. I confess, we go all the time to Mysore Veggie, which you panned recently. That’s okay, I appreciate your thoughtful and informed opinions – it helps to know what to look for.
Most of all, I can’t wait to try some of the recipes you’ve so generously posted. Thanks!
Supriya Raman said
Denis In Chelmsford,
Thank you very much for your kind words. I really appreciate you taking the time to write me. Comments and insights like yours are the reward for my efforts.
I hope you will try out these recipes and please feel free to write me anytime about questions on my recipes or any clarifications you may need.
Also feel free to write me about your opinions on any restaurants you’ve been to.
Aparna Gonibeed said
DAV -> St.Johns -> Vidya Mandir…
Ramasamy Sundaramahalingam said
Hi Supriya,
Saw your profile in Orkut. I too love Ilayaraja’s songs and have a huge collection. I am not able to order his songs to my satisfaction. I tried to arrange his songs in many different ways (one example is – Duets that have treble based music arranged from slow to fast beat) but could not finish it to my satisfaction. My goal is to have top 200 songs of Ilayaraja arranged in few groups (like duets, solo, sad) and in some “sweet” order within each group. Any thoughts?
Cheers,
Ram.
philramble said
There’s a cute cat. A huge veggie foodie here (and music aficionado), learning to cook since I came to the US. Nice blog you have here.
srilekha said
nice to know about u!
join in the sweet event going in my blog!
Supriya Raman said
Very nice knowing you as well Srilekha!
Soma said
I agree with u. Vegetarian food is far from boring!
Sushi is cute, tho’ I am not fond of cats… (if they are near me):-(
We used to live in the North East till about 2.5 years back. I miss the snow now here in Texas… very very much.
Supriya Raman said
Spend a day with my adorable cat and I assure you she will change your heart : ) She’s so gentle and actually a dog in a cat’s body
North east to texas is a big move!! I love the winter despite the slipping on black ice and all the shoveling! Especially around the holidays, I want to see white outside the window!
R.Chandrasekhar said
I am proud of you Supriya.Whenever I find time I am immersed in your site.Visit http://www.stringtemple.com to know about the ragasaga release of V.S.Narasimhan available is U.S.It is mixed and mastered by me.
Supriya Raman said
For everyone else, this is the uncle who I have mentioned in this page. He (my mother’s brother) along with my mom are the source of my passion for food.
Supriya Raman said
Dear Sekar Maama,
Thank you for your message here, that was a surprise! Thank you for your encouragement and I will be sure to check the website for your new music. I am sure it as great as always.
mattabar said
keep up the good work, some interesting recipes.
Supriya Raman said
Thank you!