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Gran’s Spice: The whimsical world of a grandmother’s cooking
Grandparents are the best storytellers. Not because they can weave fantastical worlds that keep you gripped, but because the decades of their life before we were even born have taught them lessons that they now share with pride and devotion.
As someone who grew up with working parents, I was in the devoted company of my maternal grandparents from a very young age. Every language I speak, action I take, prayer I make – my mannerisms, habits, unconscious actions – somehow arise from spending time with a woman in her 80s who was my entire world.
On a recent morning, I met 32-year-old Jay Singh. Much like me, his grandmother was the centre of his universe. 84-year-old, Krishna, aka Grudial Kaur, Jay’s dadi (grandmother), hails from a village in Punjab in India. ‘Dadi’, as we will refer to her, came to the UK in 1957. Soon, she was a married 16-year-old, preparing to begin a new life with her in-laws in Bristol.
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A perfect, round pinni (ladoo) made in minutes by Dadi – photo: Karen Johnson
The biggest prowess for any married woman in an Indian household, in those days, was cooking. But as Dadi recalls: “I was a little girl and I couldn’t cook.”
She did have the skills to make steaming hot jalebis and gulab jamun, but her knowledge of savoury dishes was rather limited. But Dadi, who then struggled to string a single English sentence together, was determined to change this.
Soon, Dadi’s keen observation of everything with her “computer mind” started. After a year, she was proficient in cooking, travelling around Bristol and conversing in English; a confident young woman with a newfound love for cooking.
“My kids, grandkids and everyone in the family adore my cooking”, Dadi told me as she expressed her love for cooking in a mix of Hindi and English.
“During the period leading up to Christmas, it’s almost become a tradition now that I cook British dishes for half of the month and Indian dishes the other half. All of my kids, their children, everyone travels only to be here to taste these dishes. The joy I get from seeing them relish my cooking… that’s unbelievable.”
Dadi proudly poses with her box of masalas – photo: Karen Johnson
A musician by profession, Jay moved in with his grandmother a few years ago. Ever since, her inspiring stories, childlike laughter, words of wisdom and delicious meals paved the way for his new album, Gran’s House.
Jay adds: “A big part of the story is that essentially I was living here, and I was producing an album here that eventually got recognition from Peter Gabriel’s record label. Due to the success of the record, BBC Good Food discovered us and they wanted to know what was happening; the way we were cooking and living together. That’s where the book came from.”
Thus, Gran’s Spice was born: an ode to ancient family recipes, homemade spice blends and love-filled cooking.
For decades now, Dadi has not only cooked every meal for her family but she has also done it in the most authentic and real way.
Decades ago, she used to travel to a shop in Birmingham to to get the raw ingredients to make her masala. “When we used to travel from Bristol to Birmingham, people used to give us their own list for things they wanted us to buy,” she recalled fondly.
While she finds most spices here in Bristol now, back then it was about travelling hours only to secure the precious whole spices that could then be ground into spice blends at home.
Jay wants his grandmother’s cooking legacy to live on forever – photo: Karen Johnson
Urging Jay to fetch her circular masala box, she uncapped it to proudly show me her collection. In the centre of the six-compartment box is a fragrant mix of whole spices: cinnamon sticks, carom seeds, whole cumin and mustard seeds. She was quick to point out that there are no bay leaves in here – another integral whole spice for Indian cooking.
Tucked around these whole spices are powdered masalas like turmeric, cumin powder, salt and other ground blends. The aroma of the box was enchanting, and instantly reminded me of my grandmother’s masala box and the masala boxes neatly stored in kitchens of every Indian household.
Shortly after the release of his album and with the cookbook in the pipeline, Jay took to Instagram to write a heartfelt note: “I’m making this book for my Grandma because I’ve already accepted that one day, I’ll have to say goodbye—but through this project, I’ll make sure she lives forever.
“To everyone who’s messaged me with their own memories of their elders: thank you. That’s the greatest gift you could give me. If my story encourages even one person to stop by their grandparents’ or elders’ home for a quick chat or a cup of tea, then I know this work has done something good.”
From entering her in-laws’ house as a novice with no knowledge in cooking, to making her first ever dish – semolina halwa – to now inventing her own dishes, Dadi’s story is that of unconditional, no-strings attached love for family and cooking.
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While Jay’s favourite dish is her salmon fry, he was proud to add that this was an original recipe, invented in his grandmother’s kitchen, a few feet away from where he sat talking to me.
“Sometimes we get a whole salmon, clean it, wash it, cut into pieces and smother it with turmeric and a long-list of masalas before leaving it to marinate,” Dadi said. “If we marinate it overnight, it becomes much more flavourful when cooked in the morning. “I tend to throw some carom seeds, minced garlic and chopped onions in mustard oil which becomes the tempering for the fried fish.”
As we sat in the kitchen discussing mouth-watering dishes and Dadi’s love for cooking, she rolled out round ladoos and packed piping hot pork curry with soft rotis for me, so I didn’t leave empty handed, much like I know my late grandmother would have done. It stirred a volcano of emotions in my heart, making me miss home, my grandmother and her infinite flavours of cooking.
Main photo: Jay Singh / @indianmanmusic
This story first appeared in the seventh edition of Bristol24/7’s annual food and drink guide, EatDrink24/7. You can read the guide here digitally or pick a free copy from various venues in Bristol.
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