Culinary Chronicles
By Yasmin Rahul Bakshi
More than adventurous to get sidetracked and trespass into a foreign land. Perilous indeed!
An eight-hour drive from Bongaigaon in Assam to Gangtok in Sikkim transcended to fourteen with an intrepid and involuntary international trip enroute.
Till we reached Hasimara, the journey was smooth and enjoyable as we sliced the highways, listening to the Bollywood melodies and nibbling munchies off and on. In spite of traversing the militancy hit districts, fear did not persist. All thanks to the Indian Army for making us dread resistant.
The mobile network vanished and so did the internet connection leaving us without the “Global Positioning System” to navigate in the middle of a jungle with literally no roads.
With considerable trouble, came out of the woods into the wilderness where a few imported cars with unusual registration plates could be sighted. Text in script similar to that of Tibetan.
The alarm bells rang! We had intruded into Bhutan with no Indian passports or permits. Manoeuvred to return back to the Indian lands by asking the route manually.
Dusk was falling and miles ahead to go. All of us were famished and no eatery was visible around until Oodlabari.
Located a small eating joint on the side that offered local cuisine. Three hungry people devoured “Gundruk ko jhol” as a starter. Hot and spicy yet more than delish. Something to write home about!
A soup seethed with dehydrated fermented greens with detectable tangy, umami and pungent flavours.
Followed by the main course that included “Sisnu ko sag” (nettle greens) with rice.
A satisfying meal good enough to keep us going for another three to four hours.
Gundruk is high in fibre with probiotic attributes and vitamin C, good for the gut and palate. I started cooking this soup since then with a wee reduction in spice level.
Ingredients:
- Gundruk – 4 Tbsp
- Onions – 2 medium sized
- Garlic cloves – 15
- Tomatoes – 3 medium sized
- Ginger – 2 inch
- Green chilies – 2
- Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
- Salt – according to taste
- Red chili powder – ½ tsp or according to taste
- Sichuan pepper (timur) powder – ¼ tsp
- Coriander leaves – to garnish
- Mustard oil – 3 to 4 Tbsp
- Hog plum (lapsi) powder – ½ tsp (you can substitute it with lemon juice)
(Gundruk, Timur & Lapsi are available at local Nepalese stores and online)
Method:
- Soak gundruk leaves in hot water for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile finely chop onions, ginger, garlic, tomatoes, green chilies and coriander leaves.
- Take out the gundruk leaves from the water and squeeze out the excess water.
- Coarsely chop the gundruk leaves into bite size pieces.
- Heat the mustard oil in a deep pan.
- Add the chopped onion in the hot oil and fry until light golden brown.
- Now add the chopped garlic and ginger. Fry for 2 minutes.
- Add the turmeric powder, red chili powder and salt.
- Fold in the gundruk leaves and chopped green chilies.
- Add the chopped tomatoes and cook until soft.
- Pour a litre of water in this and bring it to boil.
- Reduce the flame and cook for 10 minutes.
- Add the timur and lapsi powders.
- Switch off the flame.
- Serve hot as soup.
(Yasmin Rahul Bakshi is a food historian and an accomplished consultant Chef. A widely travelled Army wife from the Mussoorie hills with exposure to international cuisines & preserving recipes with the medium of food photography and digital content creation in the form of stories.)
