A TASTE OF TRADITION
IF YOU THINK GUJARATI FOOD IS ABOUT DEEP-FRIED, SWEET OFFERINGS, THINK AGAIN. SURATI CUISINE PROMISES TO BE A SURPRISE
While Surat is famous for its diamond business, its food is a gem waiting to be explored. Since the region receives a decent amount of rainfall, the cuisine uses a lot of local ingredients — fruits and green vegetables. As you may have guessed by now, Surati food is mostly vegetarian. So for instance, the Surti Sev Khamni makes use of pomegranate as a topping. Although Surat was a trade hub, I would say that the cuisine hasn’t really been influenced by other cultures. In fact, the fare has left its mark on various other cultures. For instance, dishes like Salli Boti or Patra ni Macchi, from Parsi cuisine, has a tinge of sweetness to it. This is because a lot of Parsis migrated to Surat and other parts of Southern Gujarat like Valsad, Udwada where they set up their businesses. Surat has given us some delicious farsans like khaman, khandvi, patra, etc. It also has some delicious sweets on offer like the ghaari, a sweet loaded with dry fruits and ghee. Dishes like dhokla, thepla and khakra have become common in most household preparations. If there is one thing that community is popular for, it is the undhiyu. Typically, a winter special preparation, most ingredients that go into making an undhiyu comprises seasonal vegetables. Although Surati cuisine is believed to always tilt towards the sweeter side, for example, dal, farsans and even undhiyu, there is a lot more to it. You will require a glass of water every time you dig into the umbadiyu, a famous dish made with wild black papdi, which is prepared in the villages of south Gujarat. Typically unique to the region, umbadiyu is a distant cousin of the traditional Surti undhiyu. Layers of roughly chopped green and root vegetables are chopped up and cooked in an earthen pot with a lot of spices. The pot’s opening is covered and is inverted — the mouth facing the flame. It is then slow-cooked over wood or twigs until done.
Another myth is that Surati cuisine is an all-vegetarian cuisine. The gotala, kheema with egg, a delicious combination if you ask me, is another famous egg preparation. The innovative egg preparations by the street vendors tell us that every egg dish should not necessarily be a bhurjee, an omelette or an egg curry. The streets of Surat also serve dishes like egg dosa and egg pizza!
Unfortunately, the Gujarati thali represents Gujarati food. I believe that the thali doesn’t do justice to what the region has to offer. There is ponkh, fresh, green, recently harvested sorghum. A winter specialty, not many have heard of this grain. Of late, Mumbai has started setting up ponkh festivals but we need more such festivals across the country.