India on My Platter

by Saransh Goila

  50 gm radish (mooli)

  2 green chillies

  4 tsp ginger-garlic (adrak-lasun) paste

  2 tsp chilli powder

  2 tsp coriander (dhania) powder

  A pinch of turmeric (haldi) powder

  4 cup spinach, chopped

  ¾ cup country sorrel (khatta palak), chopped

  1 tsp raw mango (amchoor) powder

  1 tsp garam masala

  2 tsp garlic (lasun), finely chopped

  2 dry red chillies, for tempering

  Salt to taste

  Method

  1. Combine the split Bengal gram with a cup of water and pressure cook for one whistle. Drain the excess water and keep aside.

  2. Heat oil in a pressure cooker and add cumin seeds.

  3. When the seeds crackle, add onions, potatoes, colocasia root, okra, cauliflower, radish, green chillies and gingergarlic paste and sauté for five minutes.

  4. Add chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, salt and sauté.

  5. Add spinach, country sorrel and cooked split Bengal gram and pressure cook for 15 minutes.

  6. Allow it to cool and whisk the mixture well. Mash all the vegetables inside. Season it with raw mango powder and garam masala.

  7. For the tempering, heat oil and once it is hot, add the garlic and red chillies. Let the chillies crackle and the garlic soften for a minute or two and then add this tempering to the dish.

  8. Serve hot with brown onion rice!

  ∼

  This dish is well suited for old people; it is nutritious and is mild when it comes to the use of spices.

  DAY 55

  29 September / Bengaluru

  Since this part of my trip had been a bit off-beat, bordering on the spiritual side, I realised that after travelling so many kilometres, I needed a quiet place to meditate and truly understand the difference between spirituality and religion. For the same, I went to the Art of Living International Centre, located on the outskirts of Bangalore, a place where many people from different walks of like, and different parts of the world, came together. Founded by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the foundation’s centres are located in more than 150 countries around the world. They offer a variety of personal development and trauma relief programmes. Majority of the staff here comprises volunteers. The basis of these programmes is meditation, yoga and breathing exercises. Thousands of people have overcome complex issues of depression and aggression with the help of the many programmes the foundation offers. The Art of Living is engaged in a lot of social-service activities globally; they offer their services in the areas of conflict resolution, disaster and trauma relief, poverty alleviation, empowerment of women, education for all, and environment sustainability. The foundation focuses on inner growth, so I felt it was the right place for me to stop and rejuvenate before moving on.

  I met Swami Param Dev, who gave me a walking tour of the ashram. Greenery, water bodies, and birds surround it, making it perfect for long, peaceful solitary walks. He explained that the mission of the foundation is to bring an unshakeable smile to every face in the world. I attended the Sudarshan Kriya programme, which is a yoga discipline focussing on breathing techniques that has a positive effect on the mental and physical well-being. In scientific terms, it improves the antioxidant levels, reduces DNA damage and cell aging. Also, every emotion is connected with a breathing pattern, hence, emotions can be influenced by selective breathing techniques, leading you to become the master of your mind and body rather than being a slave to them. I learnt all this in one session here at the ashram, truly impressed. Swamiji also informed me that the Art of Living has an Ayurveda centre that serves food for the soul. I made through the wilderness to the Panchkarma centre. Panchkarma refers to the five elements that make up our body. I met Dr. Nisha here who explained how important detoxification is for the body, and how Ayurveda helps revitalise, rejuvenate and refresh it. Food plays a vital role in the process of detoxification and healing of our beings. She quoted a line from a spiritual text that said, ‘Pattiya sadi gada tasya kimo sadani sevame' meaning, ‘If there is a proper diet, there is no need for medicine.’

  Diets are a subjective matter. What makes this science so specific and effective is that each diet is specific to the person’s body type. Applying a process called the ‘pith’ which involved an examination of my veins, my body type was identified. My pith turned out to be ‘fire’ which meant I was able to eat a lot and still feel hungry sooner rather than later. I was asked to stop eating so much spice, because it was adding to the fire. I needed to change my diet to light, spice free and full of dairy products. A very unique experience indeed; I walked around, visiting their kitchens and tasting the food they prepared for their patrons and staff. Everything was organic and meant to heal one’s body. This trip definitely gave me a new perspective about our cuisine and style of cooking.

  Coming back to my initial question, I realised that I couldn’t really pick sides between spirituality and religion. There was a fine line dividing the two and sometimes, they meshed. I guess it was enough to say that I felt at peace. So, I gathered my peaceful thoughts and headed out for a lovely dinner.

  I wanted to relive my food memories from my earlier days in Bangalore. So I first went to Anand Adyar Bhavan (popularly known as A2B), famous for their Mysore pak. The restaurant began its journey two and a half decades ago in Chennai, now spread across Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. I tried three different flavours of Mysore pak this time around: cashew nut, extra ghee, and low ghee. The way it dissolved on your tongue reminded me of butter. The nomenclature traced its origins back to the time when this dessert was made for kings (pak means royal). Apart from the Mysore pak, the standard Udupi items were also not to be missed. While looking around, I noticed the special kara appam maker with which I tried to make my very own domed appam (a type of pancake made with fermented rice batter and coconut milk). These appams are served with three types of chutney, all coconut based, but with added flavours and ingredients. While one is served plain and simple, the others have tomato and coriander added to them, respectively.

  After dinner, I called up an old friend; she and I frequented Corner House to feed our dessert fetish. Unassuming in its set-up, Corner House caters to a very large audience. The owner, Mr. Narayan Rao, met me and told me that the dessert death by chocolate—made from a generous helping of chocolate cake, three scoops of ice cream of your choice, whipped cream, cherries, and hot chocolate sauce—should be, in fact, renamed ‘Life by Chocolate.’ Corner House, as you would have guessed by now, was made up of many such desserts that combined all our different sweet cravings garnished with their special chocolate sauce. My favourite from the menu was the malt chocolate shake. Made with vanilla ice cream, dark chocolate sauce, the salty-malt flavour was because of the malt extract in it. What better way to end my Bangalore trip, than to smooth out my spiritual creases, with a sinful shake! These sins aren’t really sins, wouldn’t you agree?

  DAY 56

  I was now headed to the land of Nizams and of course, biryani; Hyderabad.

  DAY 57

  1 October / Hyderabad

  My journey went north to Andhra Pradesh. After 550 km, in the late afternoon, I entered the City of Nizams, Hyderabad. Established in 1591, the only way to describe the city is with the vocabulary of its architecture. In nineteenth century, when the Mughals took over, Hyderabad became the cultural hub. The Persian influence differentiates this city from the rest; it maintains the old Islamic glory in the patchwork of chaotic urbanisation.

  Each Indian city has its defining monument; ‘monuments’ actually, but there is always that special one. Like Delhi boasts of India Gate, Hyderabad prides in the Char Minar. It is a monument, a minaret and a mosque. Getting to the top, via the dark winding staircase, was like walking through the film set of a horror movie. I was definitely spooked, until I got to the top. I climbed 149 stairs; I read, I re-read and I crosschecked. Each minar, minaret in English, had its own staircase. On what is ca
lled the ‘upper floor’ (another word for balcony), is the view of Laad Bazaar, famous for its pearl necklaces and all sorts of shiny imitation jewellery. I recollected that a famous chocolatier once made an impression of Char Minar out of 50 kg of chocolate; even the dessert world loves it!

  After I spotted Laad Bazaar, I started my hunt for the famous Irani chai. Traditionally, it is a milky, sweet tea rather thick in consistency. What makes it unique is that the milk is boiled separate from the tea. The tea is brewed separately. They are then mixed by pouring the tea into the milk. I enjoy this tea more because of my love for sweet tea, unlike the strong tea that many Indians prefer. So, whenever you visit Char Minar, a small tea break with assorted local biscuits should be on your to-do list.

  Speaking of sweet things in Hyderabad, I would like to mention the badam ki jaali; badam means almonds and jaali means an ornamental lattice net. The design of the almond paste dough resembles the carved stone windows of the Nizam’s old palaces. These almond burfis, with old Mughal designs, were being made by two very dynamic ladies. The older of the two, Nafees, was carrying forward an old recipe, given to her many years ago, by her mother-in-law. Now, she was working with her daughter-in-law, Nasreen, and carrying on the tradition. They had been in this business for 45 years, and they revealed that this way of preparing almond burfis went back to the Nawaiti people, when they migrated from Madras to Central India. Back in the days, cashew nuts and almonds were ground with the mortar and pestle as there were no machines or electric ovens to bake these desserts. They relied on kerosene to cook. They now had bulk ovens and grinders; but judging by the popularity, the taste has not changed much. The workspace was not much larger than an average living room, but it had the capacity to make over a lakh jaalis in a day.

  As the first step, the dough is made using almond paste, and then, given a diamond-like shape. A sheet of silver varq was then laid on it and set aside. Another diamondshaped dough was made to match. This one had the lattice design cut out of it, and pasted on top of the varq covered dough. That gave it the effect of an ornamental jaali. It was then baked and served. The fact that there was no additives in it, and that it was 100 per cent almond and sugar preparation, gave it a long shelf life. I tried my hand at this noble sweet; I made a chocolate badaam ki jaali by coating the jaali with melted chocolate and setting it.

  What I am about to tell you next shows how Pakistan and India are still one when it comes to food. I am talking about a Sindhi migrant who came across in 1952, from Pakistan to Hyderabad with his fruit biscuits. I went to the Banjara Hills branch of a store, where I figured out that Osmania biscuits are a household name. These are the biscuits that the Hyderabadis love to enjoy their tea with. These are different from the regular fruit biscuits, and are a part of the wide range of other sweets available at the Karachi Bakery store. They still follow the old recipe and preparation methods, where everything is done by hand. The importance of being handmade is what makes this business special and successful. The fruit biscuits, which I would like to call tutti frutti biscuits, as clichéd as that might sound, tasted of cashew nuts and smelt like they had a whiff of ittar perfume. The flavour was elevated with a slight show of salt. This made the sweetness even more special.

  A close second was the Osmania biscuit, which is the perfect accompaniment to that Irani chai I mentioned, much like the rusk and chai combination of the north. It is a soft tea biscuit that melts in your mouth and gets its name from the last ruler of Hyderabad, Osman Ali Khan. These biscuits don’t crumble easily when dipped, have a hint of cardamom and saffron flavour and are unlike any other biscuit you would have tasted. Apart from this, Karachi Bakery is very famous for their plum cakes and a variety of other desserts, along with their badam milk. Pure full-cream milk, with saffron and ground almonds, broke the myth for me that good badam milk was only available in the North. I packed a kilogram of assorted biscuits to take home to my family.

  I spent the whole evening eating sweets, and thinking of going easy on my tummy the next day. However, it was not meant to be as I was about to discover the history of the famous Hyderabadi biryani, with the master himself.

  DAY 58

  2 October / Hyderabad

  Today, I decided to abstain from any sort of food, all in anticipation of the biryani I was about to taste. biryani literally means fried or roasted. The meaning of the word definitely doesn’t describe the complex make-up of this dish, which is the pride of the Muslim community. If I had to pick a place from where I would like to have biryani, Lucknow and Hyderabad would share the number one spot. To distinguish the two, Hyderabadi biryani is popular for being ‘kacchi’ implying that the meat is raw, and is set as the first/bottom-most layer in the pot. In the tradition of Lucknow, biryani is made by cooking the rice and meat partially in separate containers and then layered together, for a final dum, which literally means to breathe in and conveys a slow cooking method for elaborate preparations like biryani where the lid of the cooking pot is sealed shut by wrapping dough around the circumference of the lid. The pot is then put on a slow flame. The trapped steam allows the cooking of meat and retaining of flavours.

  Usually, foodies seem to have varied opinions and stories about biryani. As much as I love eating it, I have never claimed to be an expert. Today, I was to meet a man who while walking down the street, can catch a whiff of biryani being cooked and tell you if it is good or not. This biryani king’s throne was located at Café Bahar at Basheer Bagh in Hyderabad. His name was Sayyed Hussain, who started his career at the age of seven as an assistant cook. Now, above 60, he still makes the biryani with his own hands, despite having a fleet of cooks who work for him. He revealed that he wanted to be a cook from the beginning and had to do the odd jobs around the kitchen to gain some respect. Even I believe that the best chefs are the ones who learn it the hard way. He told me that his guru was a man called Noor Mohammad. The way Sayyed explained about the kitchens, cooking, food, and especially biryani, it made me feel like his whole life has been about perfecting the art of making the best recipe. Biryani, it seems isn’t about how much or how little, it is about each ingredient, right from buying the rice to the weight of the raw mutton. The weight of the goat has to be 9.5 kg, not a gram more, not a gram less. Even his saffron is sourced from Iran, something that could not be compromised, to him.

  After he shared his stories with me, I met his son, Ali Asgar, who took me to the kitchen where 300 kg of biryani was being prepared. I stood next to a boiler that was cooking 40 kg of rice at the time, equipped with a specific rice temperature controller. Ali explained the practical aspect of putting together a biryani in such big lots. First, the rice should be washed until the water resembles clear drinking water. It is then drained and dried till there is no water left in the rice. Cooking the rice is another art form, a mix of science and art. When the rice is cooked, the grains at the bottom are cooked slightly longer than the grains at the top of the boiler. There is a difference of two minutes between the bottom and the top. This is done so that the rice that is layered at the bottom of the biryani comes from the top of the boiler. These grains would have cooked the least in the boiler and will cook the most in the biryani, because they will be covered with the water and juices of the meat that will go on top. The grains from the bottom of the boiler will be placed right on the top, because they have been cooked the most and will finish cooking at the top of the biryani with the help of steam. Therefore the rice at the bottom, with the meat, will be 20 per cent cooked and the rice on the top will be 80 per cent cooked. The meat is marinated for two hours with ginger and garlic, and then coated with ghee, yoghurt and spice for the final marination. I was lucky enough to witness the making of the famous Hyderabadi Gobhi Mussalam Biryani in this establishment, and I want to share the entire recipe with you, so that you can call yourself experts!

  HYDERABADI GOBHI Mussalam BIRYANI

  (A mixed rice dish cooked with whole marinated cauliflower.)

  Ingredients

 
; 3 small or 2 big cauliflower (gobhi)

  1 tbsp ginger-garlic (adrak-lasun) paste

  1 tbsp lemon juice

  2 cup basmati rice

  15 strands of saffron (kesar)

  ¼ cup warm milk

  4-5 green cardamom (choti elaichi), only the seeds

  1 inch stick cinnamon (dalchini)

  1 tsp black cumin (shahi jeera)

  6-8 cloves (laung)

  8-10 peppercorns (sabut kali mirch)

  ½ cup fried onions

  ¾ cup hung yoghurt (two hours is enough for hanging the yoghurt)

  2 tsp green chilli paste

  Salt to taste

  1½ tsp red chilli powder

  ½ tsp turmeric (haldi) powder

  2 tsp coriander (dhania) powder

  2 tbsp clarified butter (ghee)

  10-12 mint (pudina) leaves

  2 tbsp oil

  1 cup refined flour (maida)

  Water to knead the dough

  Method

  1. Remove the thick cauliflower stem. Don’t separate the florets; cut the stem just enough to hold all of them together. If the cauliflower is big, cut it into half.

  2. Marinate the cauliflower with ginger-garlic paste and lemon juice. Soak the rice in water for 30 minutes and keep changing the water, until it is not muddy and you can clearly see the rice. Also, soak the saffron strands in warm milk.

  3. Meanwhile, prepare the biryani masala by grinding the above-mentioned quantities of cardamom, cinnamon, black cumin, cloves and peppercorns together. (If the quantity is too small grind in a big batch but use quantity as per this recipe).

  4. To the marinated cauliflower add fried onions (save some for garnish), hung yoghurt, green chilli paste, salt, chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder and hot ghee.

  5. Mix this masala well and rub it over the cauliflower. Save the extra marinade in the same bowl, do not throw it away. Let the cauliflower rest for 10 minutes at least.