Kewa Datshi

From the Kingdom of Bhutan...

The love for Bhutanese cuisine started in me five years ago, there were more than a couple of Bhutanese students in each cooking session, unlike the local students, the Bhutanese, knew their foods and they are good in cooking, I have seen some students from Tamilnadu in the cooking session, wondering about the ingredients for Idli’s.

In a cooking session every student has to prepare a minimum of five dishes from any specific cuisine, but some table will have an extra Kewa Datshi, with boiled rice. That’s the time when my tongue experienced the spicy delight from the Kingdom of Bhutan.

Once we had Bhutanese cuisine as a section in our annual food fest, thanks to Sherabz, Tashi, Chumo, Norbu, Sonam, Pefo and Phuntsho for teaching me those wonderful dishes. They not only have a beautiful handwriting, their fingers can do magical shapes with Khabzey. The menu for the food fest was a real treat with Ba thup, Desi, Chum marp, Josha, Nosha, Nya Kam, Shamu Ema Datshi, Kewa Datshi, Hogay and those Magical Khabzey.

I still remember the purchase of dry fish for Nya Kam and leafy mushrooms for Shamu Ema Datshi. Guys you are specific with the ingredients, perhaps that’s the reason for your awesome dishes. But still, I didn’t know what went wrong with the beef for Nosha. How long we tried… How long we dried… in the end, all the five kilos were buried in the sand.

My indent always had a packet of Amul Cheese, which goes in Pefo’s and Sonam’s Kewa Datshi. The Amul Cheese indent may end this year, as there are no Bhutanese after Penjour and Dechen. Tough I know by heart how to prepare Kewa Datshi, I’m sure that I’ll miss Kewa Datshi from a Bhutanese hand.

And. More…to come …………….

Ba Thup: - A starter with flour, oil, salt, chili powder, stock, leeks and tasting powder?
Desi: - A sweet with rice, butter, sugar, saffron, cashews, raisins and coconut.
Jasha: - Chicken preparation
Nosha: - Dry beef Preparation
Nya Kam: - Dry fish preparation
Sha Mu Ema Datshi: - Mushroom and Capsicum Preparation
Hogay: - Cucumber, carrots and onion mixed with Chili, salt and pepper
Khabzey: - Flour, sugar, dalda, egg dough made into different shapes and deep fried
Kewa Datshi: - Potato and Cheese Preparation.

A nice cup of Tea

If you are cold, tea will warm you. If you are heated, it will cool you. If you are depressed, it will cheer you. If you are excited, it will calm you". - William Gladstone


Ootacamund is known for many things, Dodabetta the highest peak in South India, countless tourist spots, my all time favorite Chinese restaurant, the momos at Tibetan market and the delicious tea. Whenever I go home, I carry a list of things to purchase; among them are the homemade chocolates, Ooty Varkies, etc, etc and Ooty Tea.

I have been drinking tea all my life, and at home, in our monthly purchase, two to three kilos of Tea were always present. I enjoy drinking coffee, but my father say’s Tea is better than coffee. And our guests are always welcomed by a cup of Tea.
During my school days, I remember my grannies, green tea, where she boils the fresh tealeaves in water with palm jaggery, and serves us without straining, the flavor, aroma, stays in our tongue for long, long time. Tough I have worked in tea estates and plucked tealeaves and seen the manufacturing process in our neighbor tea factory, I still do not know the different tea grades, because there are as many grades as possible. But whenever a debate comes, I argued that our Tea (Ooty Tea) is the best.
Comparing is not at all good, my mom compares me with my cousin who is good in academics,( and me VERY GOOD in academics) and I hate comparison. The same thing, I applied to our Tea also, without comparing I argued that our tea is the best. And Arguments are not aliens to us.
Years later, the place is Gujarat and me on my way to morning chai, lazy to walk long; we ended at roadside teashop. The tea was thick and hot, refreshing and flavorful, and my tongue surrendered to that morning tea. (The best tea I ever had, yes or no?) Am I comparing it to our Ooty Tea? No, Not at all, every tea is unique and good in its own way. It’s all in the ratio and the hands, which prepares it. And I will never compare. To end with, a good tea is best suited for all occasions and for every mood.


"There is no trouble so great or grave that cannot be much diminished by a nice cup of tea" ~ Bernard-Paul Heroux

Ghevar... Where is the Quantity?

HAPPY SWEET!

The journey was a long one, the details of the journey was green even after two years. Me touring north India for the first time was over excited. Mumbai, Gujarat, Agra ,Rajastan… a long way. The only sad part is, all the peoples in our group were above forty, but when it comes to food age doesn’t matter.
I carried the cuisines of all the states, back to south, But only Rajastani cuisine made its way to our school annual food fest. With recipes in hand it’s easy to cook, but will you get the authenticity? Rather experimenting we got some rajastani cooks for the fest. The meat was excluded from the menu, because its Marwari cuisine – Vegetarianism.
I remember that day at Pink City, where my stomach was full and my walk was slow. My purchase of two identical sarees, a yellow handbag; some hand made dolls, a large turban. A delicious smell pulled me around the corner to find a small stall filled with Ghevar (a Rajastani Sweet), my mouth munched till my whole body turned sweet. How do you prepare it?
I got the answer after three months in our school fest, those yellow Ghewar prepared, fried in ghee with that beating technique, a hole in the centre. The ingredients may look simple but a real skill is required to prepare it, and just the recipe wont help, observation and practice will lead to perfection. How can one forget the other Marwari foods, and when will I taste the Rajastani Meat cooking?
Recipe for Ghevar
Ingredients THE QUANTITY?
Plain flour,
Solidified ghee
Ice cubes
Water
Milk
Yellow food color
Ghee
Sweet syrup
Sugar and Water

For Garnishing
Powdered cardamom ,Chopped almonds & pistachios ,Saffron milk ,Silver foil.

Method
Take the solidified ghee and beat it hard with beater using ice . When the ghee turns white, add milk, flour and water. Mix well so that a smooth batter is ready. To this add colored water. Next, in another pan, heat ghee. When it is smoky hot, very slowly and carefully pour the batter in the center of the ghee. Allow the foam toform and settle, add one more batch of batter in hole formed in center. Again, after the foam relatively settles, using an iron skewer remove the ghevar and dip in the sugar syrup. Allow it to stand for sometime on mesh so that it rains excess syrup.

Jackfruit weds Bayleaves

On 14th of April

The marriage between the flavors of Jackfruit and Bay leaves is wonderful. To know the magical taste of those flavors, try Jackfruit Ada from God’s own country. I have always used dry bay leaf as a tempering ingredient in many dishes, but here those fresh one’s induces our palate to grab some, and not very often we get a chance to taste something like ‘Jackfruit Ada’ (Chekka Ada – Steamed Jackfruit dumplings), when a chance arise never miss anything, enjoy eating to the fullest.

The Rice is large, the sambar is thin, and coconuts in different forms are used from first to last course, (please give a break to the coconuts) these were the words I heard about the kerala cuisine from SAT’s mouth. Is that a complaint? But tell me which regional cuisine in India is perfect? And which one is not perfect? Every regional cuisine is unique and to me, no one knows all the dishes from a single region, tough you may be from the same region, finding faults and filing complaints with respect to cuisine and food is the easiest thing, but don’t forget that every one cannot have a bourdain’s palate.

Coming back to Jackfruit Ada, my sincere thanks to Radha Amma’s recipe, where the cooking is long and the result is impressive. Grind the jackfruit and sauté it with jaggery, cardamom powder, rice flour, coconuts and ghee. Keep stirring till the mixture becomes thick, divide into small portions and wrap in fresh bay leaf in the shape of small triangle. (How long this will take?) Then comes the interesting part, the marriage between the flavors, which is achieved by steaming the wrapped jackfruit dumplings for twenty minutes.

I ate three to four pieces and I couldn’t stop my fingers from picking another, when the numbers increased eight, I had to stop because my stomach needs some space for those large rice, thin sambar, wheat payasam and many. I didn’t forget to pack some Ada and on the way back home I dreamt of my next journey to gods own country.

I lost my memory card with all the photos ,waiting for another chance to carry those huge jackfruit with a bunch of bayleaf and smiling in front of the camera....not to forget the plate full of dumplings.

Mari Habba

Mari Habba at Manjitha happened as planned, a four-day festival once a year is a real treat for those who love food, music and dance. (Not to forget our holy lord’s blessings), I have not missed this fest in my entire life, when its Mari Habba in any badugas village it is mandatory to cook chicken but here in Manjitha we never cook meat on any of the four days. With all the booze, music and dance we all are happy without meat for four days.
I have seen a lot of changes in the dishes we prepare for Mari Habba, tough there are not many changes in the udhaka we prepare, in few houses I missed the potatoes in udhaka, a badugas proverb comes to my mind “GHANDA (GHANDU) ILLADHA MANE HOLLA, GAASU ILLADHA UDAKKA HOLLA” the meaning “without a man (husband), house is bad; without potato, curry is bad”. But what happened to those potatoes? Mushroom and vegetable pulaos substituting Rice and udhaka and lot many new sweets taken place of Enne Hittu and other traditional sweets.
Years ago every house in our village will prepare enne hittu and diamond cuts ( off cuts of sweet dough deep fried in oil) for all the festivals, but last Sunday I hardly found any diamond cuts , and enne hittu is prepared to pack and send it to neighbour villagers and relatives. For the peoples who comes on the festival day, there are plates full of semolina ladoos, mysore pak, coconut burfies and many. My neighbour prepared hulwa with cornflour… What you call it? Karachi Hulwa…. for Mari Habba, my aunt says that preparing diamond cuts and ennehittu is a long and tiring process, and she has been preparing the same for so many festivals , and want to try something new that’s why all these ladoos, mysore pak,,and so and soo… and she has to wait for my grand mother to come and prepare the batter for Enne Hitttu. Is my aunt really tired? or she dosen’t knew the technique of making the batter for Enne Hittu?
Once upon a time ghee was abundant in any badugas village, which they used for deep frying, the result is “Thupatha Hittu” today oil replaces ghee and we call it “Enne Hittu” hope nothing replaces oil in the future and the recipe remains standard. My grandmother remembers adding equal amount of wheat flour and refined flour for Enne Hittu batter, today its just refined flour in our authentic dish. Last Sunday I saw two containers of Enne Hitttu batter, one with oil and another without oil, my aunt say’s that one with oil will raise and taste better, then why she prepared another without oil? In case, if something goes wrong, the batter without oil will be the back up, in the end both the batter gave wonderful Enne Hittu. Hope no one will experiment any fusion with our traditional food and I’m sure that Enne Hittu will exist as long as our culture exist.

Vishy's dal Al dente

NO one can better this.

What do you call it? Elastic batter made from flour, sugar, poppy seeds, cardamom and cooking soda, flattened on an inverted round mould with a damp cloth and deep-fried in oil. The sugar in the batter makes us to put it under Entrements (Sweet’s), yes of course its sweet, but it can also be served for breakfast - Thanks you Amaravishy.
We the badugas call it Enne Hittu, almost all the badugar knows what Enne Hittu is all about and I’ll call it a dish to represent our culture, a real gastronomy, the uniqueness of this dish lies in converting the sticky batter into a near circle shape with wet hands on an inverted round bowl, The badugas make it more perfect than anyone else. Enne is Oil and Hittu is food, so does,Enne Hittu means Oil food? – I do not know. Here is another one, Enne is Oil and Hittu is, to throw, so throwing the sticky batter in oil? – still I do not know, and I do not want to know the etymology of Enne Hittu, I want your taste buds to explore the tasty Enne Hittu, served in as many courses as possible.
Any badugar village will have more than a couple of festivals in a year, and in all the festivals the common, unavoidable food is Enne Hittu, I have tasted it all through my life, in various occasions, either with tea/coffee, or plain or sometimes with vermicelli payasam , not bad, it goes with any combination. But last Sunday my palate sensed the real taste, it’s seven seventeen in the morning and I’m in Amaravishy house, and for the breakfast. Its vishy’s favorite Dal cooked Al- dente with potatoes and Enne Hittu, I couldn’t resist the taste and the numbers multiplied, when its food at Amara’s place, I’m always filled with food in stomach and happiness in heart.
The day continued with a long drive up and down, a wedding, a good meal, a couple of juices and etc and Etcetera, but still the tasty Enne Hittu and vishys dal al dente lingers in my mouth/ mind, and my heart awaits for next Sunday, because its festival (mari habba) in Manjitha. but sure i'll miss Vishy's Dal al dente

(many a times i have felt the meaning of Half empty stomach, but in Amara's place, the way the food is served, the quality, quantity, the kindness - no one can better this, i wont call this hospitality because The word hospitality derives from the Latin hospes, which is formed from hostis, which originally meant a 'stranger' and....oh no more history of words. if not hospitality, what to call... it means more that words could ever say.)

Al dente- cooked enough to be firm but not soft.

Enne Hittu is also called thupathittu - and here thuppa is - ghee, & Hittu - Food. I do not know

Recipe

Maida-½ kg
Sugar-¼ kg
Water-3-4 cups (very hot)
Salt to taste
Poppy seeds 150 gm
Oil for frying.
Method
Mix sugar, poppy seeds and cardamom powder in hot water, sieve together flour and salt add to the sugar mixture, mix with your hands to make a elastic batter, The batter should extend when pulled. Now take about a ladle of the batter in your left palm and pat it with your right fingers and deep fry in oil. Use water to pat, as the batter could be sticky.

Overcooked

Method of Cooking??

Amidst all the methods of cooking, I am very much fond of roasting. Apparently I have a pleasing palate for the roasted foods, tough the foundation is same, I have seen too many methods of handling the foods to be roasted, the right source of heat and the handling method means more to the final result/taste of the dishes.
When I was twelve, I along with my village mates, roam around the dry empty fields in search of dry woods and leaves for our cooking/roasting session, a small pit is made in the hard ground and filled with tiny twigs and leaves, on top goes the potatoes covered with more and more woods, which is then set on fire, those humble potatoes inside those blue fire for two hours is a real treat for our hungry mouths, we never worried about those black skin and muddy flavor, its smoky smell is an elaborate appetizer.
Unlike corn and other meat products, wherein, it is pierced with an iron skewer while roasting, our potatoes were left undisturbed. Small markings on potatoes were made with pebbles for identification (we don’t like fights, when it comes to food/eating) , how much ever long you roast, the carbohydrates in the potatoes gets soft, soft and softer. All this love for roasting started when I was twelve.
Twelve years later, in a school food fest, we had choices of meats for roasting, many suggested oven and pot roasting, but I want it to be spit roasted ( in open fire) , because cooking is not just making it edible, forget not the flavor. After a couple of words here and there, everyone mutually agreed to spit roasting, but they want the meat to be oven roasted before keeping it on the fire (BBQ). My angry mouths WHY? Got an answer that meat are hard and tough to cook, so cook the meat in oven and present it on BBQ (fire), but what happens to the taste, its cooked twice, its not those humble potatoes to cook as long as you wish.
The agreed minds and meats were oven roasted and the meats were placed on BBQ, (literally on fire, how much heat and time is required to cook a meat – they are overcooking it) but sometimes the roasts turn out to be a dirty work if not handled properly.
The guest’s started flowing in. Wow! what a BBQ – Thanks for the compliment. Oh! the meat is raw – It’s a complaint, for this grand food fest few pay three hundred and many pay thirty hundred, what for? Is it for the raw BBQ? All the brown fingers covered with complaints pointed towards me.
Yes, I do hurried the oven roasting process. Yes, I do want to cook it traditionally (with fire touching the meat) . Yes, I do want the authentic flavor. How long, any meat needs to be cooked? Why pointing me?
Then those words in my mind confirmed that the meat is tough/overcooked not raw, and none of those complained fingers knew that the meat gets harder and harder the longer and longer you cook, its protein guys,it hardens when heat is applied, never overcook. I smiled timidly and turned to see humble George trying to cook the overcooked meat with a new cooking/handling method. What’s on the menu George “Hand roasted leg of lamb”?

Change the menu to potatoes next time.... how many loves carbohydrates?

Bourdain's Palate

Gas - Troh- Seks- Ew-Al..........

No one knows the food better than the locals, when you travel, stick on to what the locals eat, (to understand the real culture) because food and travel are inseparable, make the most of it, when the time and nature gives it's way.
This post is because of the comment, which I got for my previous post – NOT AGAIN – from my friend Malati, the comment is Disgusting (Is it the balut or. ………? Malati). To our south Indian culture the Korean ballut is disgusting, and we put balut under the category of ugly foods, but for the Koreans, the balut is their local delicacy, they are proud of the local foods, it’s the real and purest expressions of a culture. People eat differently around the world, one has to see, smell and hear to have a better understanding of the food & culture. So what palate gives a better understanding of food? Precisely I’ll tell one should have a Palate like Anthony Bourdain… & I’ll call it a Bourdain Palate.
Many knows what “No Reservations” is all about, but how many really knows for what people watch this show on Discovery - Travel & Living,(saturday night @ 10 pm) , in a web discussion many wonder how this fifty and odd old Anthony is so skinny. Yes he is damn skinny with all the food and booze, there are many who watches the show to justify the skinny secret of Tony (Is that because he does a lot of walking?….) to me a chef not necessarily needs to carry a few pounds of paunch, tough Anthony Bourdain a graduate from Culinary Institute of America and a French Chef of Brasserie Les Halles in New York, I would not prefer to call him a chef. ( What shall we call him?)
AB says food is the universal language, Yes, one hundred percent true, and nobody is better than anyone else ,this is one hundred and one percent true. On one of his shows ,AB is in the streets of Kolkatta, Mumbai, Rajastan and in Kashmir (Really he does a lot of walking) Some said, a French tongue tasting Indian food! But the sharp-tongued Tony is interested in whatever is good.
Unlike many foreign chefs (on TV Shows) teaching us how to make Indian food, Anthony explores the true taste from the local hands, that’s really authentic. In Kashmir a local cooks him ghostaba, tabak maas and dishes with lotus roots (how about lotus roots in French cuisine), during the cooking session, Anthony is doing nothing but baby sitting, two hours of baby sitting is all alll right , for the Kashmir delicacy.
Once a chain smoker, now no longer a chain smoker, Tony,drags BEEDI with the local chai (Tea) in Rajastan, walking the desert, he not only explores the foods, but also the people and its culture, I wonder why Anthony tries Astrology in Rajastan, the cities great astrologer revealing the hidden secrets of Anthony in front of the camera (his career, his weddings, his future and his, his animal/not humane like activities in the bed) didn’t any one thought of censor, but the Astrology in front of the camera is also all all alll right for the Rajastani vegetarian delicacy the astrologer serves Anthony later.
I read Anthony say, India is both beautiful and frustrating, because he missed the chance to visit south part of India (to explore the fish, fish and fishes), he can easily spend rest of his life making television in India (same with china also) he also adds India is the only place where he gets to eat a Vegetarian meal, and obviously he is all excited about eating the Bombay Burger (Vada Pav)
Tony says “Food is only the first glimpse of a wider view of how people live their lives in faraway lands and unfamiliar territories” He’s eaten almost everything, what the world cuisine offers and never ever hesitated to try something what the locals eat, from the fermented shark in iceland, to the live snakes in South Asia,to the fried tree worms , to what not… he is a real food lover and I’ll call him a (GAS – TROH – SEKS- EW- Al) Gastrosexual.