Lost food of the mountains SUNDAY 26 | MARCH 2017
IN SPITE OF BEING A POPULAR TOURIST DESTINATION, UTTARAKHAND IS NOT AS WELL KNOWN FOR ITS SIMPLE YET DELICIOUS CUISINE
Situated at the foothills of the Himalayas, Uttarakhand has been a popular holiday destination. However, its food has been relatively unexplored. Thankfully, it’s changing since travellers are getting curious about the local flavours. The local Garhwalis prefer their fare to be simple, home-style comfort food that is full of distinct flavours. Since the community works in a difficult climate, the diet is nutritious, filling and quick to rustle up.
Typically, the day may begin with mandua roti (made of finger fillet flour) or bhari rotis (rotis stuffed with dal). Garhwali cuisine employs methods such as cooking on spitfire, boiling and roasting. Also, they use a number of preservation methods including air drying and pickling. The food is cooked in a woodfire. Spices and herbs like jhakiya, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and asafoetida are used. Jhakiya seeds bring a warm and sweet punch for the palate. It is usually tempered and used with lentils, vegetables and rice. It gives out flavour when toasted or fried and blends well with the cuisine; hence it is used in every dish.
The community gets its proteins mainly from dals — toor, masoor, channa and urad. However, these dals are prepared with a huge number of variations, to ensure that the fare is interesting. While urad dal is roasted and ground for chainsoo, a type of dal, phanu includes soaking and grinding urad dal, with a helping of ghee.
With the variations that the vegetarian dishes have, it is no surprise that the cuisine hasn’t borrowed much from its neighbouring states. However, the preparations also depend on the location, which varies from one community in Garhwal to the other.
Each cuisine is native to its land. For instance, food on Garhwal uses a lot of freshwater fish (trout curry is a popular dish amongst the people). The locals of Garhwal do not make use of seawater. Also, the best quality of basmati rice comes from the region of Garhwal. It is about time we familiarise ourselves with this cuisine, and keep these forgotten cuisines alive. Vishal Atreya is an executive chef at JW Marriott Mumbai Sahar