India on My Platter (21 page)

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After taking a halfway stop at Raipur, I headed to Nagpur.

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9 October/ Nagpur

I could proudly say that I had clocked in 2000 km over the last four days from Hyderabad to the geographical centre of India, Nagpur. It was a proud moment for me to realise that I had travelled by road and covered approximately 12,000 km to get there. The centre was marked by a ‘0’ milestone and a sandstone pillar built by the British; a sculpture of four horses were near as well. The pillar was inscribed with distances (in miles) to various other Indian cities. Though Nagpur was not supposed to be on my travel map, I still found a way to make a small stop in this city, to taste the food and its famous oranges. Nagpur is the largest city in central India and you would be surprised to know that it has been deemed as one of the most successful cities of the future. High literacy rate, excellent health care, and lush greenery are the adjectives that describe the city that is Nagpur. As I drove through, these facts became evident to me.

Nagpur, being in the Vidarbha region, the cuisine and the food culture had the latter’s influence. The cuisine was also famous as the Saoji cuisine of Maharashtra. I couldn’t believe that being a vegetarian, I would put all my money down to catch a flight back here to eat that Saoji Mutton again. Saoji is actually a small Hindu community from Central India, specially the Malwa region. Saojis are known for their special blend of spices and the meat dishes that are prepared using them. This community is mostly non-vegetarian, which is quite unheard of for most Hindus. It is very typical of Maharashtra to have small hotels with boards saying ‘Nagpur Hotel’ or ‘Saoji Hotel,’ meaning you will definitely find some excellent mutton dishes on their menu. I ran into a local family who had invited me to try their version of the mutton. I got the invitation through Facebook, where I am quite active (comes with the job profile)! I visited the family in Nagpur, who were part of the Saoji clan.

The family had set up a small arrangement in their garden, where I had a chance to taste their mutton and the traditional
Iambi roti
(literally meaning a long flatbread, this is a crisp glutinous bread which is a speciality of the Dalit community of Vidarbha). The dough was very slack, and it was beaten and kneaded to make the texture like wet clay. The grandmother of the family was making this
roti,
sitting next to an upturned earthenware pot, placed atop a wood-fire. The pot was quite large and the
roti
was quickly cooked on the rounded surface of the pot, much like the popular
roomali roti
(extremely thin flatbread and usually served folded like a handkerchief). It is extremely thin and flaky and is used to dip in the mutton curry. When it came to the taste, it surpassed any other Indian bread I had had! Speaking of the mutton, I had a chance to see the whole spices separately to be able to relate the taste components. A fair warning, the curry is very spicy! The good part is that the spices are bursting with flavours and it makes you want to challenge your appetite and eat more! The spices were a blend of coriander seeds, cloves, peppercorn, cumin, and cinnamon. The three special ingredients in the mix are poppy seeds, powdered coconut and sorghum flour. These three define the uniqueness of the spice mix. The spices are used for the
Saoji Curry
, which can be made with mutton or chicken. For the vegetarians, the curry is served with chickpea cutlets. I made this curry into a meal by cooking the curry with rice as a part of it. You can choose to cook the same recipe with mutton and without rice, just reduce the water.

S
AOJI
C
URRY

(Spicy curry made from whole spices and dry coconut.)

Ingredients

Method

1.  Heat the oil in a pan. Make the Saoji masala by frying poppy seeds, powdered coconut, coriander seeds, caraway, cloves, peppercorns, black and green cardamom, cinnamon, bay leaf, dried red chillies, star anise or stone flower, and sorghum flour together. Fry until all spices release their aroma and the sorghum flour is cooked. Reserve the leftover oil and make a paste of this fried masala by grinding it with a bit of water.

2.  Now heat the coconut oil in a pan and fry the onions in it until golden brown. Strain the oil and make a brown onion paste by grinding these fried onions.

3.  Heat the leftover oils together and add the gingergarlic paste to it. Now add the chicken on high flame and let it sear. Add the fried onion paste and the Saoji masala paste to this chicken. Add the soaked and drained rice. Sauté for two minutes. Add chicken stock and season with salt. Once it comes to a boil, let it all simmer together for 15 minutes. Serve the meal hot!

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The combination of Saoji mutton and
lambi roti
is worth a trip to Nagpur, a must try before you die!

Nagpur is called the Orange City because of the oranges that grow here. It is also a major trade centre for oranges that travel to many parts of the country. The orange farm that I visited was about 20 km outside Nagpur, in a village called Hatla. Here I paid a visit to the owner, Manoj. He was an ‘Udyan Pandit,’ which basically meant that he was a master of horticulture, a title that he had worked hard to earn. Under his care were 250 small plants and 2500 big trees. These trees were of the Nagpur Mandarin variety. The Nagpur Mandarin is a table fruit and the skin comes off clean and the pulp can be eaten easily. It is very popular for this reason and for the sweet tangy flavour of the pulp. Another fact that Manoj told me was that the smaller the orange, the more concentrated the taste. Good things come in small packages, right?

Of course, I tasted a lot of orange juice. It was refreshing, sweet and very tasty. The skin had such concentrated aromas that my mind was buzzing with ideas of dishes that could be flavoured with the peel. I took the opportunity to pluck my own oranges, and prepared an
Orange Pesto Salad
for Manoj, right there on the field. People speak of wine tours in France and Scotch tours in Scotland…I had an orange tour in Nagpur. Why not! With this visit, my time in Nagpur came to an end. I was now getting ready to make my way to Madhya Pradesh on an overnight journey.

O
RANGE
P
ESTO
S
ALAD

(Orange segments and greens tossed with basil pesto.)

Ingredients
(For the Orange Pesto)

Ingredients
(For the salad)

200 gm penne pasta, boiled
1 orange segment, skin removed (you can shape them like butterflies if you slit them half from the back side)
1 bunch lettuce leaves
1 tbsp melon seeds

Method

1.  Combine all Orange Pesto ingredients in a processor. Blend until it becomes a coarse paste, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally. Season pesto with salt.

2.  In a large bowl, toss together the boiled cold penne pasta, torn lettuce leaves, orange segments, melon seeds and orange pesto dressing.

3.  Present in a white salad platter, garnish with shaved Parmesan and orange segments, that are made to look like butterflies, or melon seeds. Serve chilled.

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10 October/ Bhopal

Our day started late; with all the travelling, we needed to catch up on our sleep. The previous night I had reached Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh. Known as the City of Lakes, it is also popular for having the largest artificial lake in Asia. Bhopal was the second largest princely state ruled by the Mughals, which of course made a great impact on the food of the city. As a state Madhya Pradesh is fast developing for its agro food industries. As a chef it is very interesting for me to understand where a lot of these products come from and how they are grown. The state has a very fertile belt, with sufficient amount of rainfall and ample sunshine. The top quality wheat that gets circulated across the country is called
sharbati
wheat, also called grains of gold, which is one of the best produced in India. The soya bean industry in Madhya Pradesh is one of its biggest economies and accounts for over 5000 crores or 65 per cent of the country’s yield. I decided to visit a new factory, run by a friend of my father’s, where soya milk powder was produced and processed into different products. Since soya bean is very rich in protein, and is an excellent source of digestible protein, especially for those who are lactose intolerant, the company concept was a health-based project with which milk, tofu and soya
paneer
was made.

I took a small tour around the factory and saw how the tofu was being manufactured. I tasted interesting flavours of the tofu which were being prepared, as well as learnt how to make soya milk. I wanted to use the products and make a dish of my own, something that belonged to the state and yet also fitted in with the profile of the products I was going to use. Therefore, I decided to make
Tofu
Kofta.
Indians are not accustomed to the taste of tofu, and I kept their preferences in mind while making this product. The
koftas
(savoury ball made with minced meat,
paneer,
or vegetables) were delicious and the tofu was very easy to work with as an alternate for
paneer.

T
OFU
K
OFTA

(Small cheese-stuffed tofu balls served in a thick gravy.)

Ingredients (For the Kofta)

Method (For the Kofta)

1.  Mix all the ingredients, (except the oil and cheese) to make a tofu
kofta
mix. Heat the oil for frying.

2. Divide the mixture into even pieces to make lemonsized balls. Flatten this ball. Add a small cube of cheese in the centre and roll into a round shape again. Repeat this for all the
koftas.

3. Deep-fry all the
koftas,
until each
kofta
turns goldenbrown. Drain and set aside.

4.  The cheese inside should have melted by now and you can pop in one before you can make the curry.

Ingredients (For the gravy)

Method (For the gravy)

1.  Heat the
ghee
in a deep pan. Add boiled onion paste and ginger-garlic paste. sauté for three to four minutes.

2.  Add cumin, coriander, red chilli and turmeric powder.

3.  Add cashew nut paste to this and sauté for a minute more. Add tomato purée and cook until the oil surfaces.

4.  Add one cup of water, bring to a boil, then simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes or until you have fairly thick gravy.

5.  Add salt and garam masala. Finish off with
malai
or cream. Switch off the gas. You can additionally add half a teaspoon of powdered dry fenugreek leaves
(kasoori methi)
as well.

6. Toss the tofu
koftas
in this curry. Garnish with coriander and serve hot.

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After leaving the factory, I set out to discover the cuisine of Bhopal. This was one of those rare cities where the Muslim and Hindu cultural mix was heavily reflected in the food. Hindu side of the cuisine was heavy on vegetarian food with
chaats
being the most popular.
Poha jalebi
was one breakfast that one should not miss when in this part of the world. Most popular dishes from the Muslim side are meat based. Traditional dishes like
korma, sheekh
kebab and
rizala
till date are a hit. Most of the Muslim eateries are found in busy alleyways of small markets; the same story exists in Bhopal, where the best
kormas,
kebabs and curries are found in the busy heart of the city. So, it is interesting that how two entirely different cuisines coexist in the same city and you’ll meet many people who enjoy both with the same passion.