Venba Recipe Guide - Screen Hype

The highly-anticipated indie game Venba has finally released, and it’s every bit as emotional as I’d hoped. I remember when it was first announced, and I heard the developer talking about their inspiration behind the game. I’m not usually that interested in games that focus on other cultures, but the developer’s passion convinced me to give it a chance… I’m so glad I did.

Venba expertly tells a powerful story through the medium of food. We see the lives of an Indian immigrant family living in Canada and how food connects them to their culture. I was surprised by how moving something as simple as a meal could be. Each recipe played an important part in portraying the growing disconnect between the parents and their son Kavin.

The recipes in this game form almost a puzzle. Although there’s a recipe book available most of the time, certain parts are omitted. You have to use clues to figure out the order to add the ingredients. If you’re struggling, I’ve created this handy Venba recipe guide to help you!

Jump to...

Chapter 1 – Idlis

The first recipe you come across in Venba is ‘idlis’. These can be made by following these steps:

Add the water into the pot.
Put a towel on a plate, then pour the batter in.
Place the plate in the pot, then rotate it 90 degrees.
Repeat steps 2 and 3 twice until all the plates are in the pot.
Put the pot lid on, and turn the cooker on.

Chapter 2 – Puttu

This is made in 2 stages. First, you have to prepare the puttu flour:

Add the rice to the blender.
Turn the blender on.
Put the rice in the sieve, and shake it over the towel.
Add the remaining rice chunks from the sieve into the blender.
Repeat steps 2 – 4 until there are no more chunks of rice left in the sieve.
Add the towel full of rice into the bowl of water.

For the next stage, you’ll be assembling the puttu in layers.

Add water to the putta kettle, this is the base part that look like a small pot.
To the mold, add 1 tablespoon of coconut flour, then 2 tablespoons of puttu flour, 1 tablespoon of coconut flour, 2 more tablespoons of puttu flour, then finally top with 1 tablespoon of coconut flour.
Put the lid on top, then place the filled puttu mold on top of the puttu kettle base.
Place the entire thing on top of the cooker, and turn on the heat.

Chapter 3 – No Recipes

Chapter 3 doesn’t contain any recipes for you to make. Instead, you just have to click through the dialogue options whilst Kavin and Venba walk through the park. Despite the lack of gameplay, this is a poignant chapter and worth reading through properly.

Chapter 4 – Biryani

This is also made in 2 stages. The first stage is to make the biryani gravy by doing the following:

Add your whole ingredients first – Bay leaves, cardamom, cloves, and fennel. You can add them in any order.
Then add your raw ingredients in the following order – Onions, chillies, garlic paste, tomatoes.
Add all 4 of your spices in any order.
Finally, add the beef followed by the water.

For stage 2, you’ll be assembling it all together in the pot.

Use the red pot to scoop out some of the biryani gravy.
Add rice to the pot.
Add the red pot of biryani gravy back into the pot, then add the remainder of the rice.
Add all of the remaining ingredients onto the top layer in any order.
Place the lid on top, and the game will automatically cook the dish for you.

Chapter 5 – Arambikalama/ The Dinner Spread

This one comes in 6 stages, but they’re all very simple and self-explanatory. However, I’ve provided instructions just in case.

Stage 1

Here’s stage 1:

Rotate the left analog stick clockwise until you have formed 3 spirals. These will automatically be added to a frying pan.
Wait till the spirals turn golden brown and are highlighted in a white outline, then click on them to remove them from the frying pan.

Stage 2

For the next stage, do the following:

Add oil to the pan one spoon at a time until all the divots are filled.
Spoon in the batter until all the divots are filled.
When you see a white outline around the batter, click it to flip it over. The white outlines will appear in a random order, not the order you added them, so pay close attention.
Click them again when the white outline reappears. This step happens quickly, so you’ll need to be fast so they don’t burn.

Stage 3

This next stage is also very simple:

Press A when the knife is highlighted to slice the fish. You’ll do this 3 times on each side, and the game flips the fish automatically.
Add the spices on to the fish by dragging the spoon on top. Once again, the game will flip the fish, and you’ll need to do this on both sides.
The fish is automatically added to a pan full of oil. Click the fish when it’s highlighted and you’ll flip it over.

Stage 4

This stage takes a tiny bit longer, but is really easy.

Add the oil to the heat.
Add the spices into the oil as and when they appear on screen. It’ll then automatically be added to a larger pot.

Stage 5

Carrying on from the last stage, do the following:

Take the lid off the pressure cooker when the knob flashes white. You’ll need to first remove the knob, then the lid.
Add the ingredients to the pressure cooker as and when they appear. You’ll see a white outline which will tell you where you need to click for certain ingredients.

Stage 6

Finally, finish this last stage to complete the dinner spread:

You’ll be presented with a frying pan full of ingredients. Click the chicken drumsticks to flip them when they’re highlighted white.

Chapter 6 – Chicken Rasam

This is the first recipe we make that’s prepared by Kavin. It’s made in 4 stages, following translated instructions from Tamil rather than directly following a recipe book.

Here’s the first stage:

Pour the water into one of the bowls, then add the tamarind.
Stir the water and tamarind together by clicking and then rotating clockwise with the left analog stick.
Put the sieve on top of the other bowl, then pour in the mixed water.
Pour more water from the kettle into the empty bowl, then take the sieve with the tamarind chunks and add them back into the bowl.
Repeat steps 2 – 4 until there’s no water left in the kettle.

For stage 2, you’ll be creating the aromatic base for your chicken rasam:

Add the mustard seeds and cumin. These are the ‘grains’ (mistranslated from seeds).
Then add the bay leaves and whole chillies.
Next, add the shallots and the mixed garlic and ginger.
Now add the tomatoes and the tamarind water.
Finally, add the salt and the rasam powder.

Stage 3 is nice and easy:

Add all 4 ingredients into the pressure cooker.
Put on the lid and the knob, and turn on the heat.
When the knob is highlighted white, remove the knob then the lid.

Finally, stage 4 will combine what we’ve already made:

Pour the chicken stock from the pressure cooker into the pot we used in stage 2.
Top with coriander leaves.

Chapter 7 – Dosas

The final section of this Venba recipe guide will teach you how to finish the last chapter of the game. You’ll be making 3 different types of dosas. I’ve put them all below in the order that you make them. Instead of a recipe book, your mum tells you the recipe in one go before you start making the dosas. If your memory isn’t great, I’ve broken it up into a step-by-step process.

Dosa

The first one you make is just a plain dosa, and the recipe is as follows:

Pour water on the hot plate, then turn the heat down to low.
Pour on batter, and spread it around by rotating the left analog stick clockwise.
Add oil by dragging it over, it will be poured around the edges.
Turn the heat back up to high.
Wait until the dosa is golden-brown on top, then drag the flipper over to it.
Wait a few more seconds whilst the underside cooks, then drag the flipper over to it again to remove it from the plate.

Oothappam

This is a similar recipe to the first one, except it has toppings rather than just being plain. To make it, do the following:

Perform the first 2 steps of the plain dosa recipe.
Add the ghee (yellow oil) when the toppings appear on screen.
Add whichever toppings you fancy, you don’t need to add all of them. (You’ll get an achievement if you skip the green chillies).
Perform the last 3 steps of the plain dosa recipe.

Kari Dosa

The last type of dosa you’ll make used to be your dad’s favourite. It’s very similar to the first 2 dosa recipes, and can be made like this:

Perform the first 2 steps of the plain dosa recipe.
Add ghee, which will be poured around the edges.
Pour on the beaten egg.
Follow that up by adding the minced beef and then topping it with coriander.
Perform the last 3 steps of the plain dosa recipe.

Conclusion

Hopefully you’ve found this Venba recipe guide useful. I really enjoyed playing this game and I wanted others to be able to enjoy it too. I really appreciate the developer sharing their culture like this.

If you’re looking for other fun indie games to play, why not check out some of the reviews I’ve written? If you fancy a fast-paced arcade style game, you might enjoy Steel Defier. Or if you enjoy slow-paced story-driven games, then Wayward Strand might suit you better.

What did you think of Venba? Join the discussion over in our Facebook community, or let me know by tweeting me on Twitter!