Celebrating Passion for Food
Suran (aka Elephant’s foot yam in Queen’s language) originated in India and thereafter travelled eastwards and westwards as far as America. In its prime form and best of its health this tuber crop would weigh as much as 10 kg. This crop is widely cultivated in Hindi belt of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and eastern state of Orissa, Maharashtra and Gujarat in west. It is also known as Jimikand in Hindi belt of India.
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Indian mythology is replete with stories, some inspiring, some motivating and some that just tell you a tale of bravery, honesty, patience, dedication, intelligence and numerous other virtues. It is hard to tell whether these stories are based on element of truth or they are just figment of someone’s imagination but they have existed for years and years and would continue to do so because they help us learn these core values and improve as a human race.
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Lassi is a yogurt based drink that is more popular in north India and more specifically in Punjab. However, my first encounter with this drink happened in Mumbai, city where I was born. The street food in Mumbai reflects the cultural ethos of the city. The inhabitants of this city practice different faith, religion, have different food practices and often speak in different language that separates them in many ways but at the same time there are many common threads that keeps the city together and it reflects in its attitude and spirit also popularly known as Mumbaikar spirit. This feeling of oneness keeps the city together during times of peace and turbulence.
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He would come pretty early in morning, cycling laboriously, with his paraphernalia that would add to the weight on his bicycle. He carried a big kadhai (pan), no not just big, a gigantic one, a large iron ladle, a fuel stove and enough fuel to last him the day. He would start with simmering the milk in that pan. I would mostly be in my slumber and would wake up to the pleasant aroma of milk, the milk that would had simmered for some time and filled up the streets with the aroma emanating from the pan.
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Rajasthan is the land of Maharajas and warriors. The contribution of this arid and desert state to the food culture of our country is immense. Rajasthani cuisine boasts of some incredibly delicious vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. The dishes like Laal Maas, Hari mirch ka maas, safed maas and vegetarian dishes like Gatte ki sabzi, kadhi, Rajasthani Bhindi are some of the gems of this rich cuisine. It also has a handsome list of accompaniments that enriches its cuisine even further.
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Varan is Maharashtrian preparation of Dal that uses Tuvar and moong Dal. It is a unique dish which not only forms part of an everyday meal of Maharashtrian family, but also is an important dish to be served in weddings or even as an offering to deity.
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We all have grown up, listening to stories. There would be that one storyteller in the family, who would enthrall you with stories every night. I remember my Badi Maa (Father’s elder brother’s wife) was an avid story teller. We kids would play throughout the evening and when it would get darker, some elder would drag us back to home. At home, we would get restless and urge Badi Maa to finish off her chores, so she could spend more with us. More time would mean more stories.
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Cuisine is a testament to our evolution. It has gone through a continuous churning process wherein a new dish becomes part of a culture, an alteration has been made to some traditional recipes and some old recipes fade away from our memories. This fundamental point also applies to cuisines in India. If you must have observed, I have referred to “cuisines in India” and not “Indian cuisine”. Cuisine in India is a perfect example of the basic fabric that describes our country “unity in diversity”.
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At the onset let me admit that neither am I sure about the origins of this recipe, nor do I know much about the evolution of this recipe. What struck me, however, was the fact that I read in an article about Bhindi (Okra) and Rajasthan. Okra is one of the most famous and popular vegetable crop that is cultivated in Rajasthan. This article piqued my interest and I started reading more about the topic.
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Let me be honest, we decided to make this tomato chutney last week as a stop gap arrangement. Let me narrate my complete story. I had sensed, looking at my past week schedule and by the scale of work left at office that this week is not going to be any different, which meant going pretty early to office and by the time I would come back home, I would be so tired that I would have no time nor energy to do any prep work for my next day breakfast.
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