Helly Raichura is a self-taught chef and the founder of Enter Via Laundry restaurant. Her professional background is human resources, but a few years ago she decided to start serving regional Indian cuisine incorporating Australian native and seasonal produce from her home kitchen, and hasn’t looked back since. She opened the doors of her dining room to Melburnians and, soon after the pandemic, started running pop-ups around Victoria to widespread acclaim.
Enter Via Laundry found a permanent address and a legion of fans as a fully fledged restaurant in Carlton North in 2022. Ahead of the release of her stunning cookbook The Food of Bharat, here’s Raichura with how the book came to be, and how to get the most out of cooking from it.
The inspiration for The Food of Bharat was… Just before I opened Enter Via Laundry, Hardie Grant approached me to write a book. I pitched the concept of writing a book on Indian food according to a timeline of major events and eras in Indian history that impacted the food, and that’s how the it came about. It’s pretty much a workbook of my ongoing research – of how I understand my food based on my background.
This book is also an attempt to showcase my heritage and share a little history and culture about India with the children in my family and everyone who is interested in India as a country.
When I started the book, I was excited to present it to my baa, who was an excellent cook. Living away from her for so many years, it would’ve made for a perfect present: if she couldn’t eat my work, she could at least read it and see what I’ve learnt from her. But she passed away before the book was finished.
If you’ve never cooked from the Vedic era, for example, The Food of Bharat will give you recipes dating back to 1500 to 500 BCE, which are still found in Indian kitchens in the 21st century. The first recipe in the book is for ghee, which has been sacred since Vedic era, and it’s still just as important a part of Indian cooking. There’s a malpua recipe in the book, which is a decadent dessert of reduced milk deep-fried in ghee and then soaked in sugar syrup. It was on EVL’s Bengali menu in 2022. You’ll also find a recipe for spicy pumpkin sambar, which is served in temples, but could be enjoyed as a delicious new ritual anywhere in the world.
The single most useful thing I can tell you about Indian food is… Evolution is the only constant when it comes to Indian food. If you’re interested in Indian cooking, try and find the core of the recipe you’e cooking, keep that intact, and then don’t be afraid to create your own iteration of it. Ill be honest, it used to make me very uncomfortable when people cooked anything other than purely authentic recipes, but after writing this book and researching and understanding my food better, I have found that Indian food would have not been what it is now if cooks and chefs across generations didn’t adapt to new ingredients, techniques and cultures, as well as people from different countries, communities cultures that came to India and called India their home. It all has contributed substantially to the depth of Indian food; our food wouldn’t have been as delicious as it is now if not for those influences.
If you’ve made a lot of Indian food, you’ll have 23 recipes that give you a template for how to evolve your Indian cooking, plus how to use a recipe framework and introduce seasonal and native ingredients to it and make it your own. In the book I have Australian native ingredients and seasonal Victorian produce as that is what my Indian food in Australia is, but readers can decide how their Indian food adapts and evolves. As long as the basis and meaning of the recipe is given the respect it deserves.
The easiest recipe in the book is takra: a probiotic drink made using yoghurt, water and cumin seeds. Chaas, lassi, takra, they’re all considered amrit in ayurveda, meaning the divine nectar that claims to aid digestion and prevent the recurrence of diseases. For people who like a bit of a challenge, the recipe also gives you instructions on how to make your own yoghurt.
And if you like to challenge yourself some more, you might try making khandvi. Otherwise known as Pasta Not Pasta, a dish which became very popular after it was a challenge on MasterChef in 2020. The khandvi itself is just a handful of ingredients, but it’s all about the technique – be it continuously sitting it so it doesn’t form lumps, keeping the temperature constant, making sure it doesn’t stick to the pan, or knowing when the batter is silky and ready to spread on the bench nice and thin.
Nothing says “let’s celebrate” like making kali gajjar halwa. It’s the purple carrot halwa eaten from Eid to Diwali and all the celebrations in between, and is easy enough to put together.
And when it’s time to commiserate, maybe go for the humble baingan sabji. It’s an eggplant braid with spices which happens to have been found in ancient archaeological excavations. The preparation has been comforting the Subcontinent from a very long time. Pair it with a hearty gluten-free bread made with a grain called bajra and some ghee poured over the bread.
And if you’re into, say, broths, you might just buy the book for marron-head rassam, which is an almost medicinal broth of black pepper, tomato, fenugreek, garlic, coriander seed and more. The depth comes from the marron head, which is optional, and it’s finished with a curry leaf and mustard tadka. Eat this with some rice or idli – a recipe for which you can also find it in the book – or just enjoy it on its own.
Parindey shorba is your bone broth with kashmiri spices that will warm you up to the core. Bones and spices are roasted before water gets added; it slowly turns to broth cooking at a low temperature for long hours. You’ll cherish this in winter.
Then there’s the tomato and lemon gum broth, which is served with abalone. It’s fresh, zingy with lemon gum and green chilli, and everything is rounded out with fresh coconut water.
If you could take one thing away from The Food of Bharat, I hope it is that Indian food has ancient origins with layers of influences from history influenced by trade and migration, invitations and colonisation. Some recipes have evolved and some have been introduced, and as we speak, our food is changing according to who is cooking Indian food, and when and where in the world they’re cooking it.
Also, that I sometimes miss home so much that I go on researching, romancing, writing and dreaming about my motherland so I can share it with you. I am sad with its losses and joyful with its wins and am constantly trying to create a home away from home.
The Food of Bharat (Hardie Grant Books, RRP $60) is out on 4 March and is available to pre-order, among other places, at excellent independent Victorian bookstores such as Readings and Hill of Content.