Mrs.Shanti Ramachandran (My Inspiration Series)

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I started following Shanti Aunty in Instagram over a year ago and am truly impressed by her instagram feed since then. A Banker by profession,loves gardening, takes great care of her family,passionate about food and in spite of her busy schedule she manages to share her day to day preparations in various social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram without fail. She doesn’t stop at just uploading the pictures but painstakingly write down the recipes then and there along with the pictures. In an era where even if someone asks a recipe for a simple coconut chutney people will redirect to their blog links(sometimes as a blogger, even am guilty of doing that), aunty shares her knowledge without hesitation and the way she interacts,encourages others inspired me a lot.

When our generation is forgetting the roots and going behind carb free diets,quinoa,kale ,smoothie based fads , she sticks to the traditional Tamil Brahmin style of cooking and gives more importance to our Indian cuisine. From using millets to organically grown vegetables her food emphasizes that healthy eating doesn’t mean starving.

Being a hardcore tamil movie buff somehow i can relate Aunty to that perfect daughter-in-law Lakshmi’s character in Visu movie “Samsaram Adhu Minsaram”

Apart from all the above reasons her cooking reminds me of my Amma’s 😉 😉 Hence an extra affinity towards her preparations (am not being partial but just stating the fact 🙂 :-)) Read below the Q&A session with the dearest Shanti Aunty.

1.When did you start sharing your recipes on Facebook? How passionate are you about food?

The first and foremost reason for my passion for food is my family who enjoy food!
My son is a foodie and we used to discuss about food very often.he only asked me to join in food groups like CFG .I used to share recipes with my friends during lunch time when they ask. started posting in facebook as suggested by one of such friends ,I think in 2014.For me happiness is nothing but my people enjoying & relishing the food I cook.I love my passion as much as I enjoy my profession.

2.How did Instagram happened? Is it becoz of Madhu ? If yes, am so glad she did or else we would have missed your awesomeness

Ha-ha..ofcourse Instagram happened only because of Madhu.in Jan 2015 when I went to Abudhabi I used to have lot of spare time .Madhu used to post in instagram then and one day when I made pickles with sour green apple she suggested me posting that in ig by opening an ID for me.I was not knowing anything about ig then but followed her instructions like a obedient student.

3.How do you manage to cook so many food items and at the same time get ready for work too? Do you chop veggies the previous night? Share some tips aunty for working women.

I used to cut & keep vegetables when Madhu & Ram were in school.but nowadays not doing that but I plan my cooking the previous night and also keep my dress ready with their matching accessories I am a lazy woman and very rarely only see the dawn.I take care of only kitchen in the morning & other things like pooja & all will be taken care of by my husband.my amma stays upstairs and she makes my bf of idlis & dosas mostly.I use small pressure cookers & rice cooker instead if using big ones.My husband jokingly says i spin like a top in kitchen once I enter into it.( pambarama sutharaye).The truth is execution takes less time when there is proper planning & experience makes the execution easier I should say.

4.How long have you been maintaing the terrace garden? Its such a refreshing change to see those home grown beauties in our Singara Chennai. Any special tips & tricks for those who are interested in terrace gardening.

My husband started with 5-6 flower plants for pooja 6 years back. The only plant nithyamalli was planted on ground but started blooming on the terrace.The present garden is with 60-65 pots & bags and more than 3 years old.After madhus marriage when my husband too was transferred to Mumbai I started taking care of them & developed interest on seeing their growth everyday.I had time to devote then but the full credit of maintenance now goes to my husband after he came back to Chennai.Ofcourse growing vegetables was my idea and we are very happy about that.

“where there is will there is a way”

Plants like methi,mint,sorrel greens,karpooravalli,aloevera,chillies can be grown very easily without much space & effort

5. If someone asks for a recipe without any hesitation you type it and add that in instagram caption. Don’t you find it difficult to type lengthy recipes there?

I have seen many people highly knowledgeable but very rarely see them imparting their knowledge both in home & office front.for me l love to share whatever I know in both the places and I feel happy if my little knowledge about something is helpful at least to a few.hence I love to give recipes when I have time ( using only index finger to type as my laptop is only my mobile 🙂

6.Any plans for starting a youtube channel or a website aunty? I would be more than happy if you start a channel

Let me think it over after some time about starting my website /you tube- may be after my retirement when I have more time rekhs

7. Who is your inspiration when it comes to cooking?

Ofcourse my amma & my akkas. I can say with pride that all of us cook nicely in our family which includes my in-laws family too. my native is tirunelveli but I am married to a pure Tanjore family hence now I know the cooking of both the sides.I should thank Facebook because I could get few good friends thru food groups and one of them is my most favourite banumathi Balasubramanian who cooks & presents like a chef & who has become a very close friend of mine.not an exaggeration if I say that you youngsters in ig & fb inspire me a lot more than anybody else.

8.What is your favorite comfort food

Though I like to try all North Indian items my comfort food is only South Indian and to be frank I am trying to find out whay my favourite is, really I don’t know..

9. What is your family’s fav dish that they ask you prepare often?

Yes..my family ,my son in particular loves the vegetable biriyani & rajma & my husband likes whatever I make(true..not joking)& Madhu loves my bagara baingan and son in law likes my ven pongal. My mamiyar used to say I make the best “kootu”

10.You have grown up watching your mom’s cooking and now when you see Madhu’s preparation? what do you feel?

Yes I was used to my amma’s cooking but trying to learn & do what she didn’t do.I like to try North Indian dishes and like to try the traditional recipes by using different ingredients .I am very proud of my daughter Madhu now because she not only does my cooking but tries international cuisine too,frankly speaking I do not even know most of the names of ingredients & dishes she makes

P.S : To those who are not in Instagram, Madhumitha is Shanti aunty’s daughter who is a foodie too. Will talk more about her in this series soon.

Thank you for letting me writing about you & to use your pictures.Loved all the answers aunty.Hoping to taste your awesome vethakuzhambu & keerai masiyal someday.Lets see 🙂 Keep inspiring and keep posting yummy recipes on the social media platforms.

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