Local
food, according to me is not just food, but a glimpse into the culture,
tradition and lifestyle of a community. During this trip to Himachal Pradesh where I volunteered for apple harvesting, I
was fortunate to get a taste of traditional Pahari/Himachali food. I stayed in
two different homes and gorged on finger licking food in both and overate each time!! In some cases
after gobbling up on half the food on my plate, it occurred to me that I should
have taken a picture. So here are some of the dishes I ate. Please make sure you
eat something before reading this post or keep something ready to eat immediately
after, for the pictures may set your gastric juices flowing!!
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| Aloo Paratha served with curd, butter and pickle. |
I had
visited Kharapathar and Ruhil Dhar, at an altitude of 8000 and 6500 feet above
sea level respectively. The cold climate there makes ghee and butter a very
important food item. I saw that ghee is liberally poured over most dishes like
dal, parathas, puris, rice, and kheer and butter is served with parathas and
puris. All homes in the villages own cows so milk and milk products are fresh
and home made.
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| Delicious Puris and chole |
Other
high protein food items that are commonly made is Chole, Rajma, chana dal and
paneer dishes.
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| This kettle is used for serving ghee, not tea!! |
Parathas
are the most common breakfast item. The varieties that I got to taste were ajwain
paratha, aloo and paneer paratha, all served with curd, and dollops of butter.
Eating those parathas served hot and fresh with the butter melting on them, and
with the view of the mountains was an enhanced sensory experience.
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| Sweet siddu served with ghee and butter |
One of
the dishes I relished the most was siddu. It’s a steamed dish in which the
outer covering is of wheat dough which is allowed to rise after adding yeast and
the stuffing is of roasted banjeera/banjeeri powder.
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| Siddus ready for being steamed |
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| Banjeera/Banjeeri plant |
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| Banjeera seeds |
It tasted a bit like flaxseeds. I had both the savory siddu as well as
the sweet siddu where banjira powder is mixed with jaggery to make the
stuffing. I liked the sweet version better.
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| Pakore and chai on a rainy day with the view of the mountains |
One of
the days I was there, a festival dedicated to the Nature Gods was celebrated, as
a token of thanksgiving for an abundant crop produce. A 'chira', a structure of wood and earth on which
dry grass and flowers are offered, is worshipped in the belief that it will
destroy pests that come after the Monsoon. This is followed by ‘Jagra’ where
people in a cluster of villages gather to sing, dance and feast. A few special
dishes are made during this period.
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| Sooji ka halwa |
After worshipping the
chira, halwa puri is distributed amongst family members. The halwa was made of made
of sooji/semolina with a generous amount of ghee and it was absolutely
delectable. As soon as I was served this, I gobbled up one portion and didn’t
have the space in my stomach for another puri, so check the picture of
the halwa.
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| One of the days lunch was rajma, chawal, dhindhe, karela fry and buttermilk. |
Another dish was Pathroru
or dhindhe, in which colocasia leaves are coated with gram flour, rolled,
steamed and then fried. The same dish is also made in Maharashtra and Gujarat
and is called aloowadi or patra. Sometimes instead of gram flour , the paste of
soaked and ground black gram, called 'maash', is used and both were equally tasty.
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| Nashasta in the bowl, maash ke vade, dhindhe and tea |
Nashashta, was another
halwa made of wheat flour, sugar and ghee. It’s a long process where the wheat
is soaked for several days in water till it becomes very soft. It is then
crushed and strained to remove impurities. The semi-liquid is then cooked with
sugar and ghee to make this lovely dish. I ate it with puris to balance the
sweetness.
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| Babru, maash ke vade served with ghee, butter and pickle |
An interesting
variation of the stuffed puri was Babru, in which is stuffing is of maash. This
was served with butter, ghee and pickle and one puri was enough to fill my
stomach. ‘Maash’ is used in a variety of other dishes too. One such was the
mash ke vade, in which the paste is made into small flat circles and deep
fried. This too is served with butter and ghee.
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| Ghainda served with ghee |
On the last day before
I left from Kharapathar, I was served another kind of halwa called ‘ghainda’. It's usually made for auspicious occasions like a birth in the family, where every visitor who comes to see the new born baby is served this. It’s made of roasted wheat flour and ghee. It was also served in an interesting
manner. A dollop of the halwa is served of a plate and then a depression is
made in the centre and ghee is poured into the well and you eat it by scooping
out the outer portion, dipping it in ghee and then proceed towards the centre. I
don’t remember the last time I must have consumed so much butter and ghee over
a period of 10 days.
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| Maas ki kadhi, rice, and aloo gobi sunbi |
While kadhi chawal and
rajma chawal is quite common, I found that the Pahari rajma is much bigger in
size than what one gets in the cities. Also one variation of the kadhi was made
with maash rather than besan. I don’t know if it was the location or the way it was prepared but wherever I ate rajma chawal in Himachal, it was out of the
world. And last but not the least, my special gratitude to the lovely, adorable
granny in Ruhil-dhar, who prepared these delectable dishes with so
much love and made sure I ate well..:-)
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| Even the kheer was served with ghee! |
