Mastannamma is 106 years old, still beautiful and very visible on YouTube with her own channel! Furrowed face and gnarled hands notwithstanding, this supercook with her twinkling eyes and amusing grin has a huge fan following.
With her agility and joie de vivre, this grand old dame from from Gudivada village in Andhra Pradesh's proves yet again that age is just a number. Her energy would put any youngster to shame as she actively goes about her hobbies, cooking, being her all-time favorite. To date, 2,48,000 fans have subscribed to her channel, Country Foods, and her live demos are making waves in cyberdom.
Mastannamma’s skills would put today’s TV cooks to shame. So innovative she is. She needs no sidekick to help her with the recipes, which have always turned up trumps. Her recipes are no ordinary run-of-the mill stuff. They are hot and yummy like her watermelon chicken, drumstick chicken, big fish fry and an array of omelets to name a few.
Mastannamma’s grandson, who grew up loving his grandma and her food, put her on cyberworld. And he shows off her skills on the channel with unfailing regularity to treat viewers to her offbeat recipes which turn out to be culinary treats. Her family would also vouch for her skills. Not one of her dishes has gone awry, they say.
Currently hotting up the channel is this “gramma’s” egg-dosa. Just a live demo is enough to send viewers drooling to their kitchens, fumbling for their frying pans, a bit of dosa batter and a few eggs in hand.
A big iron tawa is being warmed over an open-air fire-hearth. It soon gets hot and Mastannamma pours oil on it lavishly and spreads it all over with her spatula. She then pours the dosa batter on to the tawa, spreading it out evenly. The batters soon settles down and looks like a planet in the milky way. When the huge dosa is half done, she takes the eggs one by one and breaks them on to the dosa. The spread reminds one of a piece of white fabric with yellow polka dots.
Time to sprinkle salt and powdered chilly which Mastannamma does with expertise. She pats the dosa gently and waits for it to turn crisp. The old woman’s hand-crushed curry leaves spread all over gives the omelette a kaleidoscopic look. It’s now ready to be flipped over. It’s a tad too difficult, because the omelette is quite big. So she halves it and flips it over. Both the sides are done now. Mmmm! Yummy!
Mastannamma can’t remember when she started cooking. All she can think of is that it’s been close to 95 years. Always ready and happy to oblige, the awesome “gramma” is at her happiest when folks ask her to cook for them. As for her channel, fans are covering her with love, likes and a million wishes. A superb example of woman-power, Mastannamma still rocks at 106.
