I have always believed the soul of any regional cuisine lies in the spice mixes and pickles that are made there and in order to learn something about that cuisine, the masalas and pickles are where one should start from. But once you get past the foreword, the contents cover everything from spice mixes (in Phodnis and Masalas) to a variety of authentic vegetarian amtis, bhajis and sides. “Ruchira: Selected Maharashtrian vegetarian recipes” gives the first impression of a shy volume which may be overlooked easily. But for food enthusiasts, who cannot understand Marathi, this compact, simple volume has been equally sacred, passable or not. The English Version of Ruchira, a passable version of the original, left a lot to be desired. The third homage to Mrs Ogale came in 2013, when due to public demand and the rise of popularity in regional cuisines led into the translation and publishing of the English version of the book in the same name, by Ms Usha Jategaonkar.
Though it didn’t reach the heights of popularity as the first part, by then a brand had been established. The part 2 came out in 1985, fifteen years after the first, in a better format and featured more desserts, tips and a few popular continental recipes with a Maharashtrian twist. Ruchira imparts immense wisdom from Mrs Ogale and contains a variety of traditional Maharashtrian Brahmin-style recipes which are mostly pure vegetarian except for the occasional appearance of egg in some recipes. Their daughters and daughter-in-laws have received another copy of the same book at their weddings, which goes on to say a lot about how valued this cookbook is, among its followers. I have known gushing neighbours who received a copy of this book, as a wedding gift and even after 30-40 years, still go back to the same book to check on a recipe. In the 20 years that followed, it has sold over 1,50,000 copies, which is phenomenal for any cookbook, that too in a regional language. The original Ruchira is in Marathi and the part one of two was published in 1970. Ruchira: Selected Maharashtrian Vegetarian Recipes. As a collector of regional cookbooks, and as a die-hard fan of Maharashtrian cuisine, I absolutely had to get my hands on the fabled masterpiece Ruchira by Smt. But there is that one cookbook in every section that will be the go-to book, the encyclopedia, the bible for that genre of cookbooks. There are restaurant cookbooks for the loyal patrons, there are celebrity cookbooks for the ones whose eyes light up when they see their favourite celebrity chef, there are scientific cookbooks for the nerdy cook (ahem!) and there are regional cookbooks for the ones who get a little squeaky in their voice when they argue which regional cuisine reigns the supreme. When it comes to cookbooks, there is always a category that caters to every personality in the planet.