India on My Platter (10 page)

Ingredients

Method

1.  In a wok, heat the
ghee.

2.  Add the wheat flour and fry over medium flame till the flour gives out a nice aroma.

3.  Add water and keep stirring to avoid lump formation. Cook for seven to eight minutes on low flame.

4.  Add
mishri,
almond flakes and stir well.

5.  After the flour is nicely cooked and the
ghee
starts leaving the sides, add the
elaichi
powder and switch off the gas.

6.  Top with some more almond flakes and serve hot. Ensure not all
mishri
has melted away as it adds to the texture of the dish when you bite into it.

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After almost four weeks of bumpy rides, my entire back and body, head to toe, was sore and this Limousine ride was what I surely deserved. It was my first time in such a super luxury car and the first thought that crossed my mind on seeing it was that it was big enough for three people to comfortably sleep inside. The bar in the Limo was open for me but I preferred the good old Punjabi
lassi
to keep me company on my two-hour drive to Chandigarh. God bless Mr. Prabhjot for arranging that luxurious Limo for me!

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31 August / Chandigarh

Chandigarh was the dream city of India’s first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, and was planned by the famous French architect Le Corbusier. Picturesquely located at the foothills of the Shivaliks, it is one of the best experiments in urban planning and modern architecture in twentieth century India. Chandigarh derives its name from the temple of Chandi Mandir, dedicated to the deity Chandi, which is located close to the city.

Apart from the love I have for the city for being extremely spacious and beautiful, I have another close connection with it; it is my best friend from college, Kanwardeep Singh Ahluwalia’s home town. Unfortunately, when I was there, he was busy working in Bangalore. However, his father is famous in Chandigarh for his superb pickles and had graciously agreed to have me over and give me a lesson or two in making them. When we had had
paranthas
at Gulshan Dhaba in Murthal and at Panditji’s in Ludhiana, we realised that a
parantha
is incomplete without a pickle. So we were all eager to have a go at it at uncle’s house.

Kanwardeep’s father, Mr. Rupinder Jeet Singh, was a man of many passions. He loved cooking, travelling and flowers. He had already travelled most of India by car and his knowledge about the country was extensive. After having a long chat with him about India and his experiences on the road, it was time to enter the kitchen. He had already displayed 10 different types of pickles, in front of me, that he had prepared for the summer. It was fascinating to see pickles made out of chickpeas, mango, yam, chicken, bitter gourd
(karela),
glue berry
(lasoda),
turnips, radish, carrots, and drumsticks
(sehjan ki phali).
In a good year, uncle would prepare at least 50 varieties of pickles.

When I asked him where he learnt this art from, he replied, ‘No one has really taught me, I loved pickles and I followed my instinct to develop all these recipes.’ To increase the longevity of most pickles, he sun-dried the vegetables with salt and lemon and then fried them before pickling, especially in the case of yams and bitter gourd. As promised, uncle was now ready to teach me one of his favourite recipes, the
Bitter Gourd
(Karela)
Pickle.
It was very interesting to observe how organically the ingredients were treated and pickled and also how the blend of spices varied for each pickle. After this visit, I surely had new secrets in my ‘chef’s arsenal’ to pickle my food. I touched uncle’s feet, asked for his blessings, and headed for the second leg of my journey to the western part of India.

B
ITTER
G
OURD
(K
ARELA)
P
ICKLE

(Pickled and spiced bitter gourd.)

Ingredients

Method

1.  Clean the bitter gourds. Remove stems and chop them in half.

2.  Rub these pieces of bitter gourds with salt and keep aside for an hour in a utensil. They release the bitter water; strain these gourds. Now pat dry them or let them sun dry for two to three hours. Deep fry these bitter gourds for seven to eight minutes.

3.  On the side, in another vessel, dry roast the asafoetida, cumin, fenugreek and fennel till they slightly change colour. Grind these spices to a coarse powder (do not make a fine powder).

4.  Now add these coarsely ground spices, the dried mango powder, turmeric, chilli powder, and black salt to the fried bitter gourds. Mix well.

5.  Add smoked mustard oil (not warm) to this mixture. Do a final stir. Check salt.

6.  Fill a glass or plastic container with the bitter gourd and mustard oil mix. Stir the pickle every day for the next two to three days. It has a long shelf life if you add enough mustard oil to cover the pickle.

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It was time to leave the well-planned urban setting of Chandigarh. I left for the Pink City, Jaipur.

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2 September / Jaipur

Monsoon had struck and it was time for some rains in this dry part of the country. For some, rains were a thing of beauty, while for others, it just meant traffic and inconvenience. We experienced the rains in Rajasthan and Gujarat. It was an absolute pleasure to drive on the highways through these states. I requested the driver to park our car, Tamatar, beneath the orange sky, plugged in my iPod and watched the sunset. The pleasure of experiencing nature’s bounty, sometimes, cannot be described in words.

It took us an entire day to cover the distance of 450 km between Chandigarh and Jaipur. It was in Jaipur that I had the good fortune of meeting Gulabo Sapera known worldwide for her snake-charming dance form called Kalbeliya. She made me realise that life is all about doing bigger and better things. She was born and brought up in a family of snake charmers in a small village in Rajasthan, but today, she had her own dance school where Kalbeliya was taught. She also had a primary school on the anvil that educated girls who never got the opportunity earlier to see the world outside their homes. And as if that wasn’t enough, she was also one of the few people responsible for putting Kalbeliya dance on the world map. After having a long chat with her, it was my luck that I got to perform one dance sequence along with her team in their traditional black dress. Next time you visit Jaipur, make sure you attend one of her performances.

This meeting happened on a scenic setting in a temple that was located on a small hilltop overlooking a lush green valley. The temple had an open kitchen and Gulaboji had kept a
chullah
(wood-lit stove) ready for some food to be made. She surprised me by cooking
bajre ki roti
(flatbread made of pearl millet) and
Tomato Garlic Chutney
for me. To thank her, I requested her to allow me to cook for her as well. I quickly churned up a dish called
gulabo mirchi
(Rajasthani chillies stuffed with cottage cheese and garnished with rose petals).

T
OMATO
G
ARLIC
C
HUTNEY

(A local spicy dip made from tomatoes.)

Ingredients

Method

1.  Heat the
ghee
in a pan. Add cumin seeds and mustard seeds and when they begin to change colour, add asafoetida, green chillies and garlic and sauté for a minute.

2.  Add onions and sauté till they are translucent.

3.  Mix turmeric powder, coriander powder, red chilli powder and garam masala powder in one fourth cup of water and add. Sauté for two minutes.

4.  Add the tomatoes and salt. Mix well. Reduce heat to low once the mixture comes to a boil and cook for 10-15 minutes.

5.  Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

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Each bite into that
bajre ki roti
made me smell the flavours of Rajasthan. Technically, it is very difficult to make this
roti
as you cannot knead the dough too well because of the rough texture and the low gluten content that the grain has. It is almost impossible to roll out the dough into a round shape with the help of a rolling pin; you have to shape it with your own hands. It was very clear that Gulaboji was an expert at making these
rotis.
The tomato garlic chutney, made strictly in
ghee,
was an icing on the cake. After this unforgettable meal, and the lovely inspiring story of Gulabo Sapera, it was time to move on, to be back on the road and experience different sunsets through different eyes.

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3 September / Jaipur

Rajasthan has a unique relationship with its palaces. The Hawa Mahal or the Palace of Winds is made of pink sandstone. Built in 1799, the front elevation, as seen from the street, is like a honeycomb web of a beehive. The design takes the form of the crown of Lord Krishna, the Hindu God.

I made my way to Rawat Mishtaan Bhandaar near Sindhi Camp, a culinary hotspot in its own right. The famous
aloopyaaz kachori
(flaky, crisp deep-fried pastry filled with spiced potatoes and onions) was invented here, almost 150 years ago. I met the third generation of the Deora family, the owner of this famous eatery. He greeted me warmly and spoke passionately about his family’s culinary legacy. The
aloo-pyaaz kachori
was made of, what he called, ‘Jodhpuri spices’ that included chillies, garlic, coriander, nutmeg and mace. The vegetables and spices used were grown on a field owned by the family. The produce came straight to the famous sweet shop to be used to make fresh
kachoris.

I mingled with people eating there. Everyone was aware of how legendary the food was. They offered me food from their plates, things they thought I must try and some of which were their favourite food. Here, I came across the
mithi mawa kachori
(flaky, crisp deep-fried pastry filled with condensed milk). It was drenched in sugar syrup. I opened the
kachori
to reveal the soft crumbly filling made of
khoya
(dried whole milk solids). What I wasn’t expecting was the curious combination of crushed peanut and the onion seed
(kalonji),
a subtle twist to an ordinary plot. Interestingly enough, I also tasted my first sweet
samosa
(a triangular savoury fried pastry, usually with a filling inside)!

As always, I found my way to their kitchen. There, I met the men behind the magic. Three men sat crosslegged, together on a raised platform, shaping and filling the
kachoris,
preparing them to be fried into the crisp golden pastries. They too stressed on the fact that all the produce was grown by them and it was processed on the premises. They took a moment to show me how to fill and fold the
kachoris.
The rhythm with which their hands moved was definitely the key to the perfect shapes. Speaking of shapes, the
kachori
resembled a stuffed
parantha,
before it was rolled out into a flat plate-like shape.

I took my leave with yet another unique food memory. The afternoon was spent with a royal couple from the Bisau family. Eklavya and Natasha met me in the lawns of their palace and showed me how to make
dahi samosa maas
and dishes typical of Jaipur and the royal cuisine of their household. A very interesting preparation,
dahi samosa maas
was a complex mix of two very separate specialities of the region,
laal maas
and
keema samosa.
In case you are wondering,
laal maas
is a mutton curry, blood red in colour, because of the liberal use of red chillies. I also ate the
gatte ki sabzi,
a steamed chickpea dumpling coated in a light yoghurt-based curry. We dined in the Bisau family palace, which is now a full-fledged hotel, open to the public.

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From the Pink City, I made my way to Udaipur.

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