Taste
Savor the spice

By Matthew Gray
Advertiser Staff Writer

Kusuma Cooray, once a chef to tobacco heiress Doris Duke, has written a new book that highlights how to cook with spices. Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser

As part of the customary birth ritual in Sri Lanka where she was born, the infant who was to become a celebrated Hawai'i chef was presented to her father. In keeping with tradition, he grated a bit of a gold coin into a cup of her mother's milk, and with the tip of his finger, allowed a drop of this gold-spiked ambrosia to fall into his baby's mouth.

And Cooray, whose new book, "Burst of Flavor: The Fine Art of Cooking with Spices" (University of Hawai'i Press, paper, $24.95) has just been released, has been savoring flavors ever since.

After her initial schooling in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon), Cooray studied in London at the Cordon Bleu and the National Baking School. She knew early on that the culinary arts would be her ultimate calling. In 1975, she left England and headed straight to Hawai'i.

Almost immediately she met her future husband, the late Rangit George Cooray, then a graduate student studying botanical science.They married within three months, and celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary in June 2000.He died in April, but loving reminders of him are all over the downtown Honolulu home they shared.

Cooray once was personal chef to heiress Doris Duke, and later executive chef at The Willows restaurant.Longtime Honolulu residents recall making special trips to The Willows just for her curry. The Coorays' love affair took them all over the world, as Kusuma's cooking was the key to dignitaries and celebrities, including Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Prince Charles, Rudolph Nureyev and the president of Sri Lanka, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga.

As associate professor and chef instructor for the Culinary Institute of the Pacific at Kapi'olani Community College, Cooray imparts her food knowledge and wisdom to home-grown aspiring chefs.She develops curriculum for the program, as well, keeping her quite busy. "At its core, our program is based in French styles and techniques," Cooray said.

In the book, Cooray combines the spice-enhanced foods of her childhood in Sri Lanka with the European influences of her food education. Together, this flavorful marriage results in more than 200 spicy, saucy and zesty recipes.Readers will also find useful information on how to outfit a kitchen to best utilize and treat spices, a brief overview on the spice trade (a fascinating segment of world history), medicinal and culinary properties, and advice on buying, blending and storing spices.

Although similar to the cuisines of nearby India, the food of Sri Lanka falls somewhere between Indian and Thai in its flavorings. "Fresh fish, shellfish and vegetables were quite plentiful while I was growing up — not many meats, though," Cooray said."We also ate a lot of curd (a homemade milk cheese), yogurt and treacle (a sweet syrup adopted from the British).We never went out to eat at restaurants."

Were her parents great cooks?Cooray laughed and said that her father was a businessman involved in import and export, and her mother was a good but simple cook. For the most part, in her household, staff cooks prepared the food.She recalled, "My favorite food as a child was always curried tomatoes."

The reliance on coconut milk and oils in these regional cuisines has given way to other, more healthy fats such as olive oil, which is the primary oil Cooray uses in now, with butter in small amounts.During a visit with a reporter, she moved around her kitchen, unhurried and confident, soaking saffron in a bit of heavy cream, creating two dishes from her book, stuffed baked tomatoes and creamy saffron spinach.

Her shelves are stocked with small jars of spice blends displaying enticing aromas. She speaks about the sweet taste of fennel, similar to anise; the lemony character of coriander and the pungent bite of cumin.There are spices most of us are somewhat familiar with: black peppercorns, the sweet warmth of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and mace (the outer husk of the nutmeg).Others we don't use very often: curry leaf, which has nothing to do with curry powder. It's actually an ingredient used in Sri Lankan, Indian, Malaysian and Fijian cooking. Cooray lights up when discussing fenugreek, a brownish-yellow seed with a bittersweet flavor. "It's a mystical kind of thing, like it came from heaven," she said.

Cooray said it was difficult to get used to the blander foods of the West when she first came here. But she soon learned how to enhance dishes with spice blends. She named Julia Child, James Beard, Jacques Pepin and Diana Kennedy as influences.There's a photograph in her kitchen in which she smiles alongside the inimitable Child.

Cooray says a lot of our local, young and talented chefs deserve to be showcased, but are often overshadowed by the public relations machines and business concerns of well-known chefs and corporate interests.Continuing on that thread, she added, "The (food) business is always changing and evolving. It's challenging to stay creative."

On education, Cooray becomes very thoughtful. She stressed that a more well-rounded education would make better food professionals — particularly a better understanding of world history, geography and the traditions of other cultures.

As the interview came to a close, Cooray reflected on her career and the secrets of her success, summarizing with one, succinct statement: "One cooks to please others."

I was pleased, to be sure.As we talked, she fed me deviled shrimp — fiery and richly flavored, pork vindaloo, saffron rice and tomato-lemon chutney.When all the serving plates were emptied, my spoon continued searching for more.Spice, I thought, is the variety of life.