Go pickling with the Vahrevah Chef

Hyderabad-based Sanjay Thumma popularly known are Vahrevah Chef will be touring India to document many traditional cuisines in association with Tata Salt. As a part of the promotions, Chef shared his love for Indian pickles.

“In India, also in Hyderabad, people make pickles round the year. Except when it is rains, when we can’t make pickle as it goes bad, in our country pickling is done throughout the year and we use a lot of vegetables and also meat for pickling. However, most of the people make mango pickle during this season.

“Mango pickling season starts right from January with those small and little mangoes and the pickling continues until June and the pickle lasts for a year.” “When I was a kid, I was somehow drawn to cooking; in my neighbourhood, in the village, 4-5 ladies would sit in a small compound and make pickles. And I was popular as I used to make ariselu, muruku, etc, and very actively I used to help ladies in pickling and they would call me the ‘Pickle Boy’,” he recalls.

Chef Thumma states that pickles are really very good for the health when taken in right quantity. “We have a lot of pickle traditions. Let me tell you about one tradition, which is called ‘Kalayana pickle’ and in north India, they call it ‘Laganu acchar’. Whenever there is a marriage agreement in a family. They start the celebration with making pickle and the first thing they buy is salt. And only after this ritual, they begin to buy jewellery, clothes, etc. Pickle holds an important part in our tradition,” he says.

Sanjay Thumma is especially popular among the Indian expatriate communities in mainland Europe, Australia and North America. He became known for his online recipe channel on YouTube, which he started in 2007, with over 100 million hits. Later he launched his food website, vahrehvah.com.

Sharing about his stint as a chef, he says, “My journey has been beautiful so far. Right from my childhood, I was a very curious cook. I used to help my mother in the kitchen because I was a naughty child among the three kids and I was always told to do some chores in the kitchen to keep me in control (laughs).

There I developed a passion for cooking. About 20-30 years ago when I was in marriageable age, people were not willing to give girl to me as I was in this profession (laughs) but now where ever I go people tell me that their son or daughter wants to become a chef like me and that is a great feeling,” he signs off.