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Gran's book cooks up a storm

A Kardinya grandmother is still pinching herself after the success of her self-published cookbook at prestigious international awards ceremonies this week.

Sarogini Kamalanathan's book Sarogini's Sri Lanka Food has taken out a Best in the World prize at the Gourmand World Cookbook awards in Beijing and a silver medal at the Independent Publisher Book Awards in New York.

The prizes are icing on the cake for Mrs Kamalanathan, whose book was published last year with friends - journalist Norman Burns, photographer Craig Kinder and designer Cally Browning - after being rejected by about five publishers.

"No one wanted to publish it because I'm an unknown quantity, so they were not prepared to take it on," the 75-year-old said.

Mrs Kamalanathan said she was not bitter about the knockbacks because the friends' love of food ensured the book was available to people who wanted to learn more about little-known Sri Lankan cuisine.

"This book was an act of love based only on the fact that we knew this book had to be out," she said.

"The whole book is full of passion. We never thought of money or that it would sell well."

Mrs Kamalanathan dedicated the book and awards to her parents.

Although many of the recipes in Sarogini's Sri Lanka Food are based on meals prepared by family members, they are not identical because "in those days they never wrote recipes down".

These days she is busy in the kitchen with her cooking classes, which she has run since 1996, and preparing meals for her 79-year-old vegetarian husband Kamal.

Sarogini's Sri Lanka Food is available at selected book stores or online at srilankafood.net