Interruption...

There’s a small interruption in my journey on to hills of Kumaon. The vehicle was zooming on the highway of life, at a speed of thought; all of a sudden there came a ‘rumble strip’. Rumble strip on a highway?? Yes, an unexpectedly, long rumble strip. The vehicle rattled on it badly, and I had to toe it aside. I had to take help of my friend to toe it although. In a casual discussion he said, I was actually thinking this, you know, and that such a strip may come. Till then I considered myself as a great driver, but what he had foreseen was beyond the normal eye-sight of a driver like me. I still continued to drive, carelessly, recklessly.

The culinary journey has to take a halt here, the vehicle is being mended. It should be on road soon.

The vehicle is toed and parked on sidewalk, I am hopeful for a solution.

In case I find the vehicle is non-mendable, I plan to change it and walk the remaining distance on foot !! Alone !!

A Unique Soup & An Equally Unique Dal Tadka...

..i wanted to take you all on a culinary journey of Kumaon region, but before that, I just remembered two unique preparations, again from North, worth mentioning. I was in Delhi a few years back to pick up my niece flying in from Denver. The fight was delayed by 2 hours. It was December mid, and winter was near peak, as there was fresh snow fall up in Himalayas.

Instead of paying INR 200 for the parking, we decided to roll on towards Gurgaon on Delhi-Haryana border. We just wanted to have a light and quick munch, which made us land at a local 'Dhaba'.

He was offering 'Maggie Soup'. We thought, the same pack soup which we make at home should be a good idea to order, as it was not an ideal time for any other drink!! "Please make it 2." I said.

The best part of these Dhabas' is that they offer you a full view of kitchen and the cook. The cook gets more involved in his preparation when he sees a customer watching over (hoshiyaari maarne lagte hain, is more precise). That's his way of advertising & showing off his skills, and that's so right also, as that's why I still remember him :)

Getting back to my 'Maggie Soup', the guy picked up two usual yellow Maggie noodle packets, crushed them real hard. He then emptied this into a vessel and crushed it further to make it into literal powder. This was poured into a bowl of boiling hot water. The water was pre-spiced up with boiled peas, corn, thin slices of tomato, ginger julienne, couple of garlic cloves, crushed to let loose the aroma, pepper, salt. He let it boil for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. It was ready, he poured it in two bowls.

The garnishing was another spectacular sight to watch. Thin slices of onions were crisp fried, a shade more that golden brown. These were crushed by hand and sprinkled over the soup. Freshly cut green coriander, a blob of white butter created the perfect fragrance. An innovative way to make soup indeed.

The taste, as always, mind-blowing!!! I tried it a couple of times at home. It tasted different each time though !!

You can be adventurous to give it your personalized flavor...

As we were sipping and chatting to the inventor of this delicacy, an order from a table poured in. The guests ordered this special 'dal angaara'. The preparation offered us another unique sight, though we were in no mood and short on time to taste it.

Normal yellow (toor) dal is placed in a deep vessel. A cast iron spoon, with a surprisingly long handle, goes into the tandoor; it stays there for a good 5 minutes. When removed out, it was glowing red hot (like we see the one in a cast iron foundry), he instantly puts oil, mustard, jeera, green chillies, thinly diced tomato and spices in it. A blistering sound echos and the noisy, spattering, red hot iron spoon is dipped into the vessel containing yellow toor dal. A huge volcanic activity happened in the dal; I could see that. Within a few seconds, the red spicy 'tadka' was floating on dal; the dal turned yellow to red in seconds. What a visual delight for a foodie like me!! Wow, I had never imagined or seen anything like this before.

They guy said this was his granny's invention, who said, it supplies necessary iron to the body, and is widely used in rural areas, as a iron supplement; what a thought! But I think you need to have 'coal fire' to get a near perfect taste. My trials on the gas stove smelled like Mercaptane (the chemical added in LPG to give that typical smell) :)...

Go ahead.. try out these unheard preparations !!

Next time, it will be Kumaon Hills for sure... !!

Mind Blowing Street Food I Ever Tasted..

My new line of writing will feature some of India most unique cuisines, they are not found on the À la carte menus in any restaurant. These are primarily street side delicacies; adopting and evolving all the time.

I have been a self certified connoisseur of food and my stay and wide travel across many states, & interaction with people of varied gastronomic background gave me this rare opportunity to relish food items of diverse cultures. I have tried to recollect the moment and the rough recipes as close as possible.

Bhurji Paratha, that is what it is called. Discovered by a great pal, Bobby. Looks like a common dish when you read the name, but absolutely rare when you see it being prepared. On backside of Cannaught Place, this guy prepares the omelet mix as we do, beaten eggs, diced onions, tomatoes, green chillies, masala etc. and puts a triangular parantha to bake, after a few seconds the parantha, still not fully baked, is slitted open from one side and omelet mix is poured in, with the slit boarder sealed with a little dough.

The beauty is that, as the parantha bakes from outside, the omelet simultaneously takes shape inside. Me and Bobby were so impressed that we wished to see a few more being prepared, before we ordered 2 for us.

The taste? Heavenly is the word. My mouth waters as I write this !! The art is to slit the parantha open on right time, pour the mix, seal it and you are done. We tried it, and let me tell you, the mix poured out bursting open the parantha each time.. :)

A friend in Delhi, hailing from Bihar, made me taste a 'niboo ka achaar'. I thought, what great stuff this would be, my mom makes it too!! But I tasted was one if it kinds, just fantastic. Niboos' have thin outer skin, it is removed by scraping the skin on a rough stone (like we use pumice stone on our heels). The roughly scrapped lemons are then put in a small 'kali matki', spices like lahori namak (a pink color salt), kali mirch, red chilly powder, some methi, roughly ground yellow mustard, kalonji etc. are added. With its mouth sealed, the matki stays in sunlight for a fortnight.

In these 2 weeks, niboo tends to dry out, its juice oozes to mix with the exotic spices. The spices, on their part, travel deep within each fake. The result, an astonishingly aromatic, oil free achaar, the aroma of mitti (from the pot) gives a rural flavour, the unique method gives it a finger licking taste!! Try it with garma-garam 'aloo' or 'mooli' ka parantha, with a blob of makhhan :) Trust me people, you will never forget the experience.

Next I will take you on a culinary journey in Kumaon region, where my parents stayed for 13 long years, and I visited very often.

Until then.. try these at home.

Happy eating !!