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... !!