No one says " Rain Rain Go Away" when the first monsoon showers arrive. Not only is the parched earth rejuvenated, but there is the unmistakable and delicious smell of mouth-watering pakoras being fried. Recently, even before the sky darkened, a friend treated us to Japanese tempura. These are fritters that come draped in delicate, translucent attire with not a speck of spice as adornment, thereby letting you savour the original taste of the ingredients.
To keep the rice flour batter exceptionally crisp, ice-cold water is used. There are other foreign fritters no less tempting such as green spinach leaf which refuses to wilt despite deep-frying. But, why travel abroad to relish such fritters when one can taste bliss right here in India in a pakora made with screaming scarlet rhododendron blossoms, kamal kakari or pumpkin flowers?
Pakora is masculine and pakori (used commonly in UP and Bihar) is feminine. There is also the plebian bread pakora, a lifesaver for countless Indians who must grab a filling bite while on the run. Here, a sandwich packed with a spicy potato filling is dunked into a batter of thick gram flour before being deep-fried. The more pretentious version may include a few tidbits of paneer.
Then there is the mirchi bada (chilly pakora) of Jodhpur, which is as much a part of city lore as breeches, jackets and the majestic Mehrangarh fort. Bengal boasts of a great variety of bhaja, which is deep-fried. Some, like beguni, are indistinguishable from brinjal pakora elsewhere. Arum leaves, filled with urad dal paste, yield patode in Banaras, which treats it like a side dish rather than a snack. All along the west coast and southern India, bhajjis and bhajia prepared with onions, potatoes and brinjals are relished. In Tamil Nadu, raw banana fritters are preferred. But as the poet said, what is in a name? A pakora is a pakora, is a pakora.
One can also savour anda (boiled egg) pakora near liquor shops. In winter, murg and fish pakoras give tough competition to tikkas and tandoori fare. Mixed pakora platters are one of the most popular accompaniments of tea in the roadside dhaba. Potatoes, cauliflower, onion and green chillies contribute the bulk; a few batons of cottage cheese add a touch of opulence. In season, one can also seek delight in a green (spinach) pakora — a small flat emerald-hued offering.
Dhabas have long been associated with special pakoras. Garam Pani, en route to Almora, made its reputation from tiny alu-pyaaz-mirchi pakori served with a pungent mustard-laced raita that could put any wasabi to shame. The trick is to refry the fare for extra crispness. Some vendors take great pride in their trade secret and scorn to use a readymade chaat masala. Tucked away between Regal Cinema and Allahabad Bank in Delhi is Malik's, which for generations has been synonymous with mouth-watering pakora, especially gobi and paneer.
But perhaps all that was before transfats struck terror in our weak hearts?
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Lazizaan, the delight of Akbar's palace
Raja Birbal, the legendary wit with rapier sharp repartee, one of Akbar's priceless nine gems, is also known as the 'father' of extremely slow cooking khichadi. He may have had his reasons for adopting weird culinary means to communicate with his sovereign but the fact of the matter is that in the Mughal period, khichadi was considered a delicacy and vied with pulav and biryani.
Akbar had it served to Prince Salim when he returned victorious from a campaign in Gujarat. Of course, in the Imperial dastarkhwan, it was given a name to match the occasion: lazizaan (the delicious). It became Jehangir's favourite. Many Mughal miniatures depict cooks at work in the royal kitchens and it is reasonable to assume that one of the pots is dedicated to laziza.
How the mighty khichadi has fallen. Once meriting mention in court chronicles of Al-Baruni and Abul Fazal, it is now synonymous with an insipid gruel, to be prescribed for an upset stomach. Don't despair, there is much more to the khichadi than the runny rice-husked moong daal mixture.
Makar Sankranti in the Ganga-Jamuna delta is ritually celebrated with maash (un-husked whole urad lentils) ki khichadi. Arhar ki khichadi is enjoyed all the year round, at times with haldi gosht in thin gravy.
In Hyderabad, khichadi paired with keema is a popular traditional breakfast and in Bengal, it is a spicy delight during Kali Puja. In Rajathan and Gujarat, khichadi prepared with bajra (millets) is considered a delicacy. And, what is pongal in Tamil Nadu if not a flavourful version of kshirika mentioned in ancient ayurvedic texts?
Long, long ago when Hinglish hadn't yet vanquished the Rashtrabhasha, one frequently heard the rhymed wisdom, 'Khichadi ke chaar yaar – dahi, papad, ghee, achaar.' (Khichadi has four bum-chums – yoghurt, papad, ghee and pickles). Sometimes, papad was replaced with muli (horse radish). Those of us who don't belong to the post-globalization generation still pine for a well-made khichadi when served a pretentious but indifferently made biryani and pulav.
The Hobson-Jobson dictionary documents Kedgree, a pish-pash of left-overs served for breakfast. In Hindi, a motley crowd is bemel khichadi, hence a coalition government is called khichadi sarkar!
Akbar had it served to Prince Salim when he returned victorious from a campaign in Gujarat. Of course, in the Imperial dastarkhwan, it was given a name to match the occasion: lazizaan (the delicious). It became Jehangir's favourite. Many Mughal miniatures depict cooks at work in the royal kitchens and it is reasonable to assume that one of the pots is dedicated to laziza.
How the mighty khichadi has fallen. Once meriting mention in court chronicles of Al-Baruni and Abul Fazal, it is now synonymous with an insipid gruel, to be prescribed for an upset stomach. Don't despair, there is much more to the khichadi than the runny rice-husked moong daal mixture.
Makar Sankranti in the Ganga-Jamuna delta is ritually celebrated with maash (un-husked whole urad lentils) ki khichadi. Arhar ki khichadi is enjoyed all the year round, at times with haldi gosht in thin gravy.
In Hyderabad, khichadi paired with keema is a popular traditional breakfast and in Bengal, it is a spicy delight during Kali Puja. In Rajathan and Gujarat, khichadi prepared with bajra (millets) is considered a delicacy. And, what is pongal in Tamil Nadu if not a flavourful version of kshirika mentioned in ancient ayurvedic texts?
Long, long ago when Hinglish hadn't yet vanquished the Rashtrabhasha, one frequently heard the rhymed wisdom, 'Khichadi ke chaar yaar – dahi, papad, ghee, achaar.' (Khichadi has four bum-chums – yoghurt, papad, ghee and pickles). Sometimes, papad was replaced with muli (horse radish). Those of us who don't belong to the post-globalization generation still pine for a well-made khichadi when served a pretentious but indifferently made biryani and pulav.
The Hobson-Jobson dictionary documents Kedgree, a pish-pash of left-overs served for breakfast. In Hindi, a motley crowd is bemel khichadi, hence a coalition government is called khichadi sarkar!
A snack fit for Akbar..
The samosa has long ceased to be a dainty dish fit to be put before the king,but it is arguably the most popular,plebian snack available,at least in northern India.From college canteens to railway platforms and yes,airport lounges to food courts the samosa is omnipresent.Each city has a halwai shop that claims to serve the tastiest samosa in town.Some streetcorners and crossroads have become f a m o u s merely because a samosa sellers kiosk is located there.
One encounters the samosa in many different avatars from humongous fill your belly with just one to the miniscule cocktail variety.The filling usually is boiled and spicy mashed potato (in West Bengal,where it is called shinghada,the potatoes are cut fine and not boiled but cooked),at times mixed with peas,shreds of paneer,the occasional raisin or the odd cashew nut.Fresh coriander and green chillies with diced ginger and pomegranate seeds pep it up.Other popular fillings include mincemeat or green peas on their own.You can grab a samosa on the run or enjoy it in leisurely manner paired with spicy chole,dahi and green chutney or sweet-and-sour sonth.
The joy of eating a samosa comes from the crispy-crunch of the casing and the contrasting texture and taste of the filling.Like a great dimsum,the pastry shouldnt be thick but very thin and the frying has to be just right light golden with maybe a few specks of brown.Some like the exterior to be laced with ajwain (caraway seeds).
Hari Namkeen Bhandar in Allahabads Lokenath has an enviable,well-deserved reputation for tiny samosas filled with piquant lentil paste.These are prepared in desi ghee and have a shelf life of many weeks.Interestingly,the much-praised Japani samosa in Chandni Chowk is no more than a disappointing patty.
Then there are those who like their samosas sweet.Labonglatika (a Bengali sweet) is a mawa-packed samosa.
But the samosa,too,has had to keep up with the times and now,there is the baked variety for the health-conscious and those watching their weight.
This article is penned down by Mr. Pushpesh Pant on 29th August issue of Culinary Culture in the TOI.
NB: The purpose of giving too many images of the samosa was to fill my stomach as i was trying to relish the taste of the samosa just by seeing and downloading the images.Any competitors, eh????
Right and Wrong
Why praise jugaad? It's bleeding us
Even the most passionate upholders of 'national pride' don't deny that the arrangements for October's Commonwealth Games are in a mess. Some feel that the chaos will persist till the closing ceremony and puncture India's pretensions of being perceived as a rising power. The optimists have a different take. Yes, they agree, the authorities entrusted with the responsibility of showcasing India have underperformed. But there is a nagging faith that at the end of the day, Indian jugaad will salvage national honour. Using the imagery of sports minister M S Gill, they pray that this "Punjabi wedding" will also have a celebratory ending.
Gill may well be right. Delhi is witnessing a last-minute Botox treatment to conceal all its ugly creases. Mountains of debris are being relocated to places foreigners don't venture; makeshift drains are being bored into newly built roads and flyovers; and traffic planning now includes the suggestion that car owners should consider a fortnight's leave from the capital.
If Swaminathan Aiyar's gushing praise of jugaad on this page is to be believed, it is this ingenuity that marks India out from monochromatic civilizations. It is an attribute that saw Indians through the bad old days of socialist austerity and mismanagement. From the humble housewife who recycled the metal foil on milk bottles for scrubbing utensils to the businessman who applied creative accountancy to skirt punitive taxation, the mind space of India was hogged by jugaad. Where the creativity of developed countries was spent on improving the system, Indian energy was expended on trying to beat a cruel and uncaring world. That is what jugaad was all about — attempts to reinvent the wheel without the help of carpentry tools and, in some cases, either metal or wood. It was all about being compelled to study from 'guide books' and 'notes' because more worthwhile study material wasn't available in the bookshops and libraries.
That India came out of the nightmare of socialism with body and soul broadly intact and hungry for new opportunities had a lot to do with jugaad. As with Robinson Crusoe, jugaad helped us tide over the bad times.
Unfortunately, there was a flip side to our ability to inveigle our way through adversity. Jugaad has also scarred India. It has prompted a celebration of expediency, shortcuts and shoddiness. It has created a penchant for taking a winding course where a straight road should suffice. Once the escape route from hell, jugaad has now become an obstacle to India realizing its true potential.
Take an everyday example. Go to a shop looking for a piece of equipment or a spare. The shopkeeper invariably asks: "Company made or local?" Ideally we should opt for the sturdy and the enduring but if the purchase is left to a contractor, he will buy the 'local' (which could well be 'Made in China') and charge for the 'company made'. It's a patchwork solution and leads to the long-term problem of inefficiency, not to mention opportunity costs.
This is precisely what has happened to many CWG projects. A road is upgraded only for the authorities to discover that there is no provision for drainage pipes or underground cables. It is then re-dug, the missing features installed and a new, makeshift road built that will endure till the last plane load of visitors to the games leaves Delhi. This is what jugaad has come to mean in today's cash-rich India: a patchwork arrangement for the very short-term, a grey market of deceit. It is no longer frugal technology at work; the shoddiness is akin to what the inimitable Duke of Edinburgh once decried as "installed by an Indian electrician". The handiwork of jugaad is both mocking and bleeding India.
We can no longer afford to be beguiled merely by the cute and the exotic: the washing machine being used as milk churner and the old tyres that end up as shoe soles. Jugaad has come to symbolize not merely improvisation but the irregular and the slapdash. The proverbial 'chalta hai' attitude is dangerously close to becoming the national philosophy. Merely laughing it off because "we are like this only" won't help India's quest to be taken seriously.
This is an article written by Mr. Swapan Dasgupta on 29th August, 2010 in the TOI.
The saying goes"To err is human but to repent divine". Now, it is apparent that we have erred seriously as a nation & it does not matter who did it. What could easily happen that some human life may be lost in this utter mess. Even it is a single one, it would be one too many and avoidable and country's P.M. as Head would be responsible. It would be much better to call it a day and appologise to the world. We have allowed corruption all round over too long a period AND we will have to pay a price for it. It is humiliating but honest and better than any alternative. We must remember that we can buy anything in the world with money except TIME. The fact is there is NO time left for remedial work.
Ofcourse having faced this failure, we must sit down with honest intention of analysing the project since inception and learn proper lesson out of this tragedy so that it NEVER happens to us.If we can do that we will ensure truly great future for us.
After all Failures are the PILLARS of success.
Out of Turn
Crown Prince Rahul cannily turns Left
Has Rahul Gandhi launched a campaign against Congress? More precisely, has the heir presumptive, affectionately dubbed a modern Lord Krishna by his more fervent fans, begun to undermine the Congress establishment, at the pinnacle of which sits Manmohan Singh and his home minister P Chidambaram?
This makes some political sense. Having milked the right-of-centre to the point of exhaustion, the Rahul Congress is steering towards left-of-centre. Meanings, of course, have changed. As the centre has shifted in the last two decades, 'right' and 'left' have moved along with it. 'Left' now represents populism, rather than ideology. Marx died in the 1990s and even his ghost cannot escape from the effective burial given by comrades Mikhail Gorbachev and Deng Xiaoping.
The sabotage of big-ticket investment in order to fence the tribal vote in Orissa is only part of the developing story. The official catechism describes Naxalites as the biggest threat to India. If Chidambaram had his way, the air force would be bombing them. He must be a bit deflated at the sight of Lado Sikoka, a Naxal, preceding Rahul Gandhi at an Orissa public meeting around the same time that Manmohan Singh was urging, from a dais in Delhi, police chiefs to fight the good fight against Maoists. Sikoka had been arrested by this police on August 9 and beaten up, before being released so that he could welcome Rahul Gandhi with a garland at Niyamgiri.
It has always been clear to Delhi insiders that Digvijay Singh opened a front against Chidambaram with Rahul Gandhi's permission. Outsiders now have confirmation. Since politics has very marginal room for sentiment, Chidambaram could become the first casualty in a Rahul Gandhi cabinet. It would be a sad end to a fizzing career were Chidambaram to end up as governor of Chhattisgarh, the better to counsel his supporters in the BJP on how to tackle Naxalites without help from the air force. Indeed, it cannot have been very helpful to our ambitious home minister that the most laudatory references now come from BJP leaders. Perhaps he raised the issue of "saffron terror" to pick up some long overdue brownie points from his own side.
No prizes for guessing who would become home minister in a Rahul Gandhi government.
The ultimate success for a ruling party is that delicious bipolar ability to occupy both government and opposition space. The British in India perfected the art of functioning through a loyal opposition. The Muslim League was so loyal that not a single League leader went to jail during the three decades of our independence movement. The Congress tended to be less loyal, but always recognized limits, until Mahatma Gandhi liberated the Congress and enough Indians from either fear or temptation. One cannot think of a Congress leader who did not go to jail.
Democracy, but naturally, induced a variant. Jawaharlal Nehru ignored the feeble right and absorbed the non-communist left into the Congress in periodic stages. His own leftist credentials were impeccable, which helped.
Indira Gandhi artfully split the left and right, until the Emergency united the rest against Congress. Their common antipathy lasted, more or less, until the NDA gave Congress and the left common cause. The new element is the sudden implosion of the Left in Bengal, which threatens to convert vacant space into a vacuum. Even as Congress and Mamata Banerjee seek to destroy the CPM, they know the value of Marxist sentiment in the country's polity.
It is axiomatic that a largely impoverished nation needs a political party that the poor can identify with. The Congress has set out to be the party of the poor in daytime, and of the rich at night. Its sunlight politics will fetch votes, its twilight policies will enable it to govern. This is an extremely clever act whose opening scenes are being played out for a new generation that is vague about Indira Gandhi and amnesiac about Nehru. The hero of this drama must have the charisma to dazzle the poor and the flexibility to keep the rich onside. That is the challenge before Rahul Gandhi. His avowed role is to be the guardian of the poor in Delhi, which means that the poor need protection from Delhi. He is at home with the elite in the evening and is now making the effort to capture the sunshine hours.
However, regional parties have been there, done that. They continue to do so. Naveen Patnaik understands the trap of governance. He has been forced to take a position on one side or the other of the day-night constituencies; and he does not have a Manmohan Singh to play the foil. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee could not manage this contradiction, but others have learnt. Patnaik, Nitish Kumar, Mayawati or Chandrababu Naidu will not be pushovers.
Paradox and problem intersect in any country; India's size and potential make the challenge more complex. We will see whether Congress has the agility to use power to transfer power to yet another generation.
This is an article written down by Mr. M.J.Akbar on 29th August, 2010 in the page All That Matters - TOI.
Is Rahul planning to leave his bastion and slip over to the Left as he sees a new light in the Leftist policies and heading the way the Leftists are. Will it be the spill-over of the dynasty leaving behind him the disaster of a political legion. Is it the siege within ?
Has Rahul Gandhi launched a campaign against Congress? More precisely, has the heir presumptive, affectionately dubbed a modern Lord Krishna by his more fervent fans, begun to undermine the Congress establishment, at the pinnacle of which sits Manmohan Singh and his home minister P Chidambaram?
This makes some political sense. Having milked the right-of-centre to the point of exhaustion, the Rahul Congress is steering towards left-of-centre. Meanings, of course, have changed. As the centre has shifted in the last two decades, 'right' and 'left' have moved along with it. 'Left' now represents populism, rather than ideology. Marx died in the 1990s and even his ghost cannot escape from the effective burial given by comrades Mikhail Gorbachev and Deng Xiaoping.
The sabotage of big-ticket investment in order to fence the tribal vote in Orissa is only part of the developing story. The official catechism describes Naxalites as the biggest threat to India. If Chidambaram had his way, the air force would be bombing them. He must be a bit deflated at the sight of Lado Sikoka, a Naxal, preceding Rahul Gandhi at an Orissa public meeting around the same time that Manmohan Singh was urging, from a dais in Delhi, police chiefs to fight the good fight against Maoists. Sikoka had been arrested by this police on August 9 and beaten up, before being released so that he could welcome Rahul Gandhi with a garland at Niyamgiri.
It has always been clear to Delhi insiders that Digvijay Singh opened a front against Chidambaram with Rahul Gandhi's permission. Outsiders now have confirmation. Since politics has very marginal room for sentiment, Chidambaram could become the first casualty in a Rahul Gandhi cabinet. It would be a sad end to a fizzing career were Chidambaram to end up as governor of Chhattisgarh, the better to counsel his supporters in the BJP on how to tackle Naxalites without help from the air force. Indeed, it cannot have been very helpful to our ambitious home minister that the most laudatory references now come from BJP leaders. Perhaps he raised the issue of "saffron terror" to pick up some long overdue brownie points from his own side.
No prizes for guessing who would become home minister in a Rahul Gandhi government.
The ultimate success for a ruling party is that delicious bipolar ability to occupy both government and opposition space. The British in India perfected the art of functioning through a loyal opposition. The Muslim League was so loyal that not a single League leader went to jail during the three decades of our independence movement. The Congress tended to be less loyal, but always recognized limits, until Mahatma Gandhi liberated the Congress and enough Indians from either fear or temptation. One cannot think of a Congress leader who did not go to jail.
Democracy, but naturally, induced a variant. Jawaharlal Nehru ignored the feeble right and absorbed the non-communist left into the Congress in periodic stages. His own leftist credentials were impeccable, which helped.
Indira Gandhi artfully split the left and right, until the Emergency united the rest against Congress. Their common antipathy lasted, more or less, until the NDA gave Congress and the left common cause. The new element is the sudden implosion of the Left in Bengal, which threatens to convert vacant space into a vacuum. Even as Congress and Mamata Banerjee seek to destroy the CPM, they know the value of Marxist sentiment in the country's polity.
It is axiomatic that a largely impoverished nation needs a political party that the poor can identify with. The Congress has set out to be the party of the poor in daytime, and of the rich at night. Its sunlight politics will fetch votes, its twilight policies will enable it to govern. This is an extremely clever act whose opening scenes are being played out for a new generation that is vague about Indira Gandhi and amnesiac about Nehru. The hero of this drama must have the charisma to dazzle the poor and the flexibility to keep the rich onside. That is the challenge before Rahul Gandhi. His avowed role is to be the guardian of the poor in Delhi, which means that the poor need protection from Delhi. He is at home with the elite in the evening and is now making the effort to capture the sunshine hours.
However, regional parties have been there, done that. They continue to do so. Naveen Patnaik understands the trap of governance. He has been forced to take a position on one side or the other of the day-night constituencies; and he does not have a Manmohan Singh to play the foil. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee could not manage this contradiction, but others have learnt. Patnaik, Nitish Kumar, Mayawati or Chandrababu Naidu will not be pushovers.
Paradox and problem intersect in any country; India's size and potential make the challenge more complex. We will see whether Congress has the agility to use power to transfer power to yet another generation.
This is an article written down by Mr. M.J.Akbar on 29th August, 2010 in the page All That Matters - TOI.
Is Rahul planning to leave his bastion and slip over to the Left as he sees a new light in the Leftist policies and heading the way the Leftists are. Will it be the spill-over of the dynasty leaving behind him the disaster of a political legion. Is it the siege within ?
All that matters
Please don't cheer the 2010 loot fest !!
The above article is an excerpt from the column All That Matters penned by Chetan Bhagat dated 29th August, 2010.
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