Cricketer Mithali Raj Reminisces About The Food She Grew Up Eating

Mithali Raj is the first woman cricketer to be honoured with the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award. This is an excerpt from "Recipes for Life" (2021) by Pune-based writer Sudha Menon. The book is part memoir, part celebration of food and mothers.

I was in New Zealand for the Women's World Cup in 2002, when I was diagnosed with typhoid and hospitalized. I was just nineteen years old then. I still remember how traumatic it was to be in isolation in an alien country, without my family around. I was lonely and lost, because even my coach and manager were not around and it was terrifying.

I remember waves of homesickness overwhelming me, especially at night, and I would weep, thinking about my family and how wonderful it would be to just go home. One night, I went to bed feeling miserable and dreamt I was at home, with Mummy making my favourite fish fry. The dream felt so real that I could actually smell the fish frying and taste it in my mouth. But, like all good things, it came to an end. I woke up and realised I was still in the hospital, and the fish fry had only been a dream.

I was never too fond of food. Since childhood, my attitude was that you eat to stay healthy, and it’s simply a task you must do every day. However, over the last two decades, as I travelled around the world for cricket tournaments, spending long periods away from home, I came to realise that the familiar food you eat at home is all about comfort and the love with which it is prepared. While travelling to different countries, I often find myself craving the spicy food from home, but it’s not always easy to find abroad.

The first thing I do when the team packs up is call Mummy and ask her to have my fish fry or mutton curry ready by the time I get home. The amazing thing is that Mummy is a vegetarian who has never eaten meat, yet she makes the tastiest non-vegetarian dishes. In fact, she learned to cook non-vegetarian food when I started playing cricket as a little girl, after the coach told her I needed to eat fish and chicken for protein to build my stamina.

Gradually, my brother and father also started enjoying non-vegetarian dishes, though my brother recently became a vegetarian again. The family joke now is that my father has to wait for me to return to get a non-vegetarian meal, as Mummy simply won’t cook it just for him!

Among my top favourites from her vast repertoire of dishes is a fiery red chilli and coconut chutney that she makes to accompany dosa and idli. I’ve tried the same chutney in numerous South Indian tiffin places, but nothing compares to the taste of what Mummy makes. My friends and teammates love it and often request her to prepare it when they visit. In fact, some of them who live in Delhi and Lucknow have even taken the recipe from Mummy. She herself learnt it from my paternal grandmother.

Before she got married, Mummy belonged to a family where the women didn’t spend much time in the kitchen but focused on their education and other interests. Later, she became part of my father’s Mudaliar joint family, where everyone contributed to the kitchen, so she never really learnt how to cook. It was only when my parents moved out to set up our home that she started learning. It was difficult for her, especially the part where she had to prepare non-vegetarian food for me, as being a vegetarian, she couldn’t even taste it herself. However, she mastered it and soon became adept at making three to four variations of each vegetarian and non-vegetarian dish so that her children wouldn’t get bored of the food.

When it comes to great food, there are two festivals I particularly look forward to—Ganesh Chaturthi and Krishna Janmashtami—because Mummy makes sweets that I truly enjoy, even though she reduces the sugar to keep my diet on track. In fact, I often argue with her about this, saying a sweet dish isn’t a sweet dish without sugar. Mummy’s puran poli is something I could easily overdose on. These aren’t the kind of polis you find in Maharashtra and Gujarat; they are much thicker and stuffed with a preparation of jaggery. Mummy always packs her puran polis for me when I have to travel by train for tournaments. I eat them for dinner while I’m away, missing home and her food. In fact, I consider her puran polis my lucky charm and never leave home without a stash in my bag. I also adore the sweet puris she makes for us—she fries the puris and sprinkles powdered sugar on them as soon as they come out of the kadhai. They are heavenly!

For Krishna Janmashtami, she prepares five to six dishes, some sweet and some savoury, and after the pooja is completed in the evening, we get to enjoy all of them. My favourite is her semiya payasam.

When it comes to everyday food, my favourite is her dal palak, which is both tasty and nutritious. I appreciate that the palak isn’t mashed and pasty like it is in restaurants. I also enjoy her preparation of palak paneer because I prefer some crunch in my food. My idea of a great meal is a portion of rice, dal palak, and a drizzle of ghee on top.

I now look forward to the familiarity of Mummy’s food. When we toured the West Indies last year, I found the food very bland, even when we ordered from an Indian restaurant. It would really depress me to see the food; this is normal because we are away from home for long periods and miss the familiar taste of home-cooked meals. On the way back, I called Mummy from the UK, where we had a stopover, and requested her to prepare something that would be soothing to both the eyes and the taste buds. She understood exactly what I meant, and when I walked into the house, I was welcomed by the aromas of my favourite fish fry and mutton curry.

Thank God for mothers and the food they cook for us.

Fish Fry

Ingredients

• 1 kg fish (murrel), cut into approximately 16 pieces

• 3 tsp chilli powder

• 3 tsp ginger-garlic paste

• 1 ½ tsp turmeric powder

• Salt to taste

• Oil for frying the fish, as required

Ingredients for marinade (ground into a paste):

• 2 small tomatoes, sliced

• 1 small onion, sliced

• 1 bunch coriander leaves

• A few sprigs of curry leaves

• 1 tsp coriander seeds

• 2 green chillies

• 2 tsp tamarind pulp or white vinegar

Method

1. Thoroughly wash the fish pieces in salt and turmeric water.

2. Grind the ingredients for the marinade into a fine paste.

3. Add chilli powder, ginger-garlic paste, salt, and turmeric powder to this paste.

4. Mix well and marinate the fish in the mixture, ensuring that the pieces are thoroughly coated. Set aside for an hour.

5. Fry the fish in batches of 2–3 pieces in a pan, adding oil as required.

Coconut Chutney

Ingredients

• 200 gm fresh coconut pieces

• 9 red chillies

• 9 cloves of garlic

• 3 tsp of oil of your choice to pour over the chutney

• Salt to taste

Method

Grind all the ingredients to a coarse paste in a mixer. Take it out in a small bowl and pour the oil. Mix well before serving.

Sea Crab Curry

Ingredients

• 6 crabs, chopped in halves with legs separated

• 1-inch piece of ginger

• 6–8 cloves of garlic

• Half a lemon

• Coriander leaves for garnishing

• 50–60 ml oil of choice for sautéing the masala

• Milk from one coconut, extracted

Ingredients to be roasted and ground to a paste

• 1 small onion

• 12 green chillies

• 2 tsp coriander seeds

• 2 tsp cumin seeds

• Salt to taste

Method

1. Wash the crab pieces and legs in salt water and set them aside.

2. Heat the oil in a pan, add the onion slices, and fry for a couple of minutes.

3. Add the ginger and garlic paste and sauté for 3 minutes until it turns brown.

4. Now add the crab pieces and legs, and sauté for a couple of minutes.

5. Add the prepared masala paste along with salt to taste and a cup of water.

6. Let it simmer for 8–10 minutes.

7. Add the coconut milk and cook on a low flame for a few more minutes.

8. Turn off the heat when the curry becomes aromatic.

9. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon and garnish with coriander leaves.

Note: This excerpt is from the book "Recipes For Life" and is used with permission from Penguin Random House India. It has been republished.