Culinary Chronicles
By Yasmin Rahul Bakshi
Fall takes me to the hills where it is the most fascinating season. Good old memories! I miss the highlands during this part of the year, rather, when don’t I?
Born and bred in the mountains, my little life was nothing less than that of the English author Enid Blyton’s penned world. Eating sweet chestnuts, collecting pinecones, watching the mushrooms bloom below the tree trunks near the Camel’s Back Road cemetery but never ever found a red one with white polka dots as shown in the illustrations.
The rains would bid adieu by now in the past. After the autumn equinox with the tilt of the sun, subtle sun beams penetrated throughout the day with a nip in the air during dusk and dawn.
There was the aroma of the resin sweating out from the sky kissing deodars, melodious notes played by the dry foliage with the beats of footsteps and ambient music of the horse trots. Shedded horse chestnuts and acorns along the boulevards for the children to fill their pockets with, like in “The Enchanted Wood” of the British writer.
Lingering smoke with the scent of burning wood along the slopes of the Mussoorie Mall Road from the little bonfires bordered by the assemblage of men for warmth and title-tattle. Arresting winterline running above the Shivaliks, emitting the hues of crimson and amber. Sheer nostalgia!
Many foods native to this region are cherished and sweet chestnuts fall in this category. Along with fire roasted ones, I like to toss them in onions and finish with truffle oil for a nutty, woody and wee sweet savour.
Ingredients:
- Sweet chestnuts – ½ kilo
- Onions – 2 medium
- Green chilies – 2
- Salt
- Olive oil – 2 Tbsp
- Black pepper powder – ¼ tsp
- Truffle oil – 1 Tbsp
- Worcestershire sauce – 2 Tbsp
Steps:
- Wash the chestnuts and make an “X” cut on the flat side of each of them.
- Bring to boil a litre of water in a pot with little salt. Add in the chestnuts and boil on low flame for 20 to 25 minutes or until the pulp is tender and easily separates from the shell.
- Strain and peel off the shells from each piece.
- Peel and cut the onions into roundels, slit the green chilies into two.
- Heat the olive oil in a pan, add in the onion roundels and the green chilies.
- Saute for two minutes and add in the chestnuts.
- Toss for a minute, add the salt, black pepper powder and Worcestershire sauce.
- Cook for half a minute. Switch off the flame.
- Drizzle the truffle oil on top and serve.
(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.)
