Culinary Chronicles
By Yasmin Rahul Bakshi
Years ago, while driving to Kathmandu, Butwal was the first major town where the initial halt was, across the Indian periphery via the Sunauli axis. A long treacherous drive on rugged highways developed an enormous craving for food.
A roadside lunchroom with no frills caught the fancy of our eyes. A modest eatery with picture frames hooked on the walls of the ruling Monarch with his Queen of those years and basic furniture adorning the floor to accommodate the guests.
Those were the decades when the world had no hunch of what cyberspace was, the digital maps did not perform and there was nothing as online booking. What one haughtily possessed was a hard copy of a travel guide with mention of tourist destinations, road maps, hotels and inns with a few telephone numbers for reference.
All that was accessible at an odd hour was a humble platter of “kali maas ko dal, rayo ko sag and dhaniya – timur ko achaar with bhat”.
The brown lentil curry, sautéed mustard greens, coriander chutney blended with sichuan peppers and small grain sweet tasting rice was an extraordinarily contenting meal. The flavours of which till date saunter on my taste buds.
Back in India, the adjacent variety to the Nepalese short grain sweet rice that I could discover was “Gobind Bhog”. The rice from West Bengal has a pleasing aroma and sweet flavours in each grain. A similar genre of dal is available here, yet the savours differ due to the variation in culinary style with inclusion of Himalayan condiments. Rudimentary ingredients that generate gastronomic delights!
Though it is challenging to clone that memorable meal, my endeavour does not go futile when it comes to replicating it.
Kali Maas ko Dal
Ingredients:
- Split black lentils (with skin) – 1 cup
- Ginger – 1 Tbsp (chopped)
- Ghee – 3 Tbsp
- Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
- Salt – according to taste
- Jimbu (wild onion) – ½ tsp
- Lapsi (hog plum powder) – ½ tsp
- Asafoetida – ¼ tsp
- Cumin seeds – ½ tsp
- Timur (sichuan pepper powder) – ¼ tsp
- Red chili powder – ¼ tsp
- Water – 4 cups
Method:
- Wash the dal and pressure cook along with water, salt, red chili powder, ginger and a tablespoon of ghee. After a whistle, cook on slow flame for 30 minutes.
- Switch off the flame and let the steam remain inside the pressure cooker.
- Once it cools down, open the lid and stir the dal. Mix in lapsi and timur powder.
- Heat the rest of the ghee in a tempering pan, Add cumin seeds, asafoetida, and jimbu. Let the jimbu turn a little brown.
- Immediately pour this tempering over the dal and mix well.
- Serve hot with steamed rice.
(Note – Jimbu, Lapsi and Timur are available in stores vending products from Uttarakhand and can also be obtained through web shops. Or, else, Jimbu can be substituted with garlic and lapsi with lemon juice though the overall taste shall vary.)
(Yasmin Rahul Bakshi is a food historian and an accomplished 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 to reach the readers.)
