Traditional Cuisines of India
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
TRADITIONAL CUISINES OF INDIA An ITRHD Publication May for me prosper, through the sacrifice, milk, sap, ghee, honey, eating and drinking at the common table, ploughing, rains, conquest, victory, wealth, riches. May for me prosper, through the sacrifice, low-grade food, freedom from hunger, rice, barley sesame, kidney beans, vetches, wheat, lentils, millets, panicum grains and wild rice. May for me prosper, through the sacrifice, trees, plants, which grows in ploughed land and which grows in unploughed land. - Sanjeev Kapur Indian Trust for Rural Heritage and Development Registered Office: C-56 (G.F.) Nizamuddin East New Delhi 110 013 Tel: 91-11-2435 4190/91-11-2435 4070 E-mail: [email protected], Website: www.itrhd.com Traditional Cuisines of India 1 Editorial Text will come h Indian Trust for Rural Heritage and Development Published by: The Indian Trust for Rural Heritage and Development (ITRHD) Registered Office: C-56, Nizamuddin East, New Delhi - 110013. e-mail: [email protected] Website: www.itrhd.com Explore Rural India © 2014 Indian Trust for Rural Heritage and Development (ITRHD) Photographs © owners and sources CHAIRMAN: S K MISRA EDITOR: SANGYA CHAUDHARY DESIGNER: VIKRAM KALRA Book design and typeset by V.K. Communications B-6/36, Ist Floor, Safdarjung Enclave New Delhi- 110 029 Printed in New Delhi by Modest Graphics Private Limited, Okhla Industrial Estate C-53, DSIDC Sheds Okhla Industrial Estate, Delhi -110020 Best wishes, All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by Sangya Chaudhary any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior written permission of Editor and Project Coordinator the Publisher. The Indian Trust for Rural Heritage and Development (ITRHD) 2 Traditional Cuisines of India Traditional Cuisines of India 3 Contents Food in Vedic Times 7 Sanjeev Kapur Festivals and Feast of India 10 Salma Hussain Kashmir Cuisine - A Treasure Trove 20 Saleem Beg Some Pathare Prabhu Recepies 25 Chitkala Kirtikar The Big, Fat Gujju Thali! 32 Sandhya Bordewekar Gajjar Sadya - The Kerala Feast for Body, Mind & Spirit 39 Chef Narayanankutty, Kalari Rasayana, Kollam Saraswat Cuisine 42 Tara. N. Chandarvarkar The Allure of Rich Punjabi Cuisine 47 Davinder Kumar Hyderabadi Cuisine 50 Salma Hussain Mapillah Cuisine 54 Faiza Moosa Bhojohori Manna- The Saga of Rural Cuisine 57 Siddhartha Chatterjee 4 Traditional Cuisines of India Traditional Cuisines of India 5 Bihari Cuisine 61 Deepak Gupta Food in Vedic Times Where Food is Loved and Shared - Punjabi Cuisine 66 Sanjeev Kapur Geetika Kalha What did ancient India eat? the other hand, there are listed evidences of food eaten by Traditional Cuisines of Tamil Nadu 71 A prayer from the Yajurveda: the Aryans, in the Rig Veda and other books. Barley was M.G. Devasahayam, HART Ambassador, Tamil Nadu fried in ghee and fashioned into cakes or fried and then “May for me prosper, through the sacrifice, milk, sap, ghee, dipped in honey. Bengali sweets could trace its lineage to Heritage Cuisine Utensils and Styles of Cooking 78 honey, eating and drinking at the common table, ploughing, this technique. Rice came in later, but went on to dominate Anil Bhandari rains, conquest, victory, wealth, riches. May for me prosper, the food scene. Common accompaniments with rice were ghee, curds, pulses or meat. Wheat though not mentioned A Brief Glimpse of the Mathur’s and their Cuisine 84 through the sacrifice, low-grade food, freedom from hunger, rice, barley sesame, kidney beans, vetches, wheat, lentils, millets, in the Rig Vedas, finds a mention in the Yajurveda and the Preeta Mathur panicum grains and wild rice. May for me prosper, through the Brahmans. Indian Pickles and Palate 90 sacrifice, trees, plants, which grows in ploughed land and which grows in unploughed land.” Amongst pulses the three prominent ones were urad, mung Rattan Capoor and masur. Rajma too makes an appearance and meat was This prayer, composed around 800 BC, gives us a pretty commonly eaten. Ox, goats, birds; buffalo, humped bull The Cuisine of Malwa 93 good indication of the food of that period. It is quoted and sheep were slaughtered for food. Animals were killed Pallavi Mishra from the eminent food historian K.T. Achaya’s book on at ritualistic sacrifices and the meat would then be eaten. Dogs, village cock, boar and carnivorous animals were Maratha Cuisine goes Green at Deo Bagh, Gwalior 98 Indian food. K.T. Achaya’s books on the history of Indian food are nothing less than a treasure house. He gives us a considered diet taboos. The taboo was relented only for Uma Jadhav rare glimpse into the history and development of Indian times of distress. However, it should be noted that meat Sikkimese Cuisine A Melting Pot of Different Influences 102 cuisine. eating was encouraged only when there were guests or as offering to the gods. Jashoda Chettri Food Barley is one of the oldest grains. Rice came in much later, Food for the Soul 104 It is believed, that the Aryans set the agricultural patterns of but it quickly found a place of prominence. Meat eating Arun Budhiraja food production that still prevails in India. The cultivation was common, but killing of animals other than for eating of rice, pulses, beans, peas, wheat, linseed and even hemp or religious sacrifices, was not encouraged. The Gastronomical Trail of the Tribal North East India 107 is mentioned in the Yajurveda, but the Rig Veda does not Ashish Chopra mention rice or wheat, only barley (yava). Thus making Spices and Condiments barley one of the earliest grains known to India. Khata Meetha - A Descriptive Account of Parsi Food 116 Salt was not common in the early Vedic times. Not only Shernaz Cama & Vanshika Singh One is curious to know about the food eaten by the was it a rarity but also students and widows were not Aryans. Deductions about the food of the Harappans permitted to consume it. Newly weds had to abstain Rajasthani Cuisine 125 are made from the archaeological artifacts but there is from salt for the first three days after their marriage. Salt Gayatri Singh however, little or no evidence of their cooking habits. On was obtained from lakes, rivers, sea, swamps and mines, 6 Traditional Cuisines of India Traditional Cuisines of India 7 and was expensive. The earliest spice was mustard, sour slightly or not modified. In preparations related to dairy was mixed with milk, curd or flour and consumed. Interesting trivia citrus, turmeric and long pepper. Later came in pepper products there is a mention of payasya (not payasa), which However there are no clear leads on what exactly was the • The Kashyapa Samhiti (200 BC) has detailed accounts and asafoetida. The spice list isn’t too exhaustive, as the was the solid part of curd mixed with boiled milk, crystal Soma plant. While drinking Soma was commended, Sura of every aspect of rice cultivation: sowing, irrigation, Aryans did not favour the use of spices. sugar and herbs. Shirkarini, the ancestor of present day was condemned. Sura, was an intoxicating liquor made seed transplanting, weeding, watering, protection from shrikhand was made out of strained curd, crystal sugar from fermented barley or wild paddy and was consumed birds (using scarecrows), defense against vermin and One of the words for black pepper was kari. It was a and spices. more by the Kshatriyas, but there were kings like Asvapati, finally threshing. Even conditions for second round of vital ingredient in meat dishes; over the centuries kari got who proudly declared that there were no drunkards in crops are elaborated. Methods that are followed to this Anglicized and became curry, applying to wide range of Interestingly the Rig Veda cites honey from smaller bees his kingdom. Parisruta was prepared from flowers or by seasoned dishes. day. better than the one from bigger bees. fermenting certain grasses and Kilala was a sweet drink made of cereals. Masara, another drink was made of rice • Vegetarianism was predominant in India because of Fruits and vegetables Beverages and spices, allowed to ferment for three days. Water was the sheer abundance of food available, even before the Fruits were an integral part of the Aryan diet. Three Milk was one of the main ingredients in the cuisines of the rightly called amrta or nectar. Vedic times. Cereals, pulses, oilseeds, vegetables, fruits varieties of jujubes, udumbura fruit (Indian fig) and Vedic period. Though cow’s milk was preferred, buffalo and milk flowed freely. Nowhere else in the world one The Aryans consumed fruit juices from a very early stage. Saphaka (trapabispinosa) were commonly eaten, so and goat milk was also used. Grains were cooked in milk saw this kind of abundance. Indeed the land of milk Juice of the mango, jamun, banana, grapes, coconut and was the rose apple and mango. Radish and ginger were to prepare dishes. Other by products of milk like cream and honey! munched on after meals to help in digestion. As it is in and ghee were also used extensively. Curd was very edible water lily were common. some communities even today garlic, onion and leek were popular and the churning method was used to derive • Clay, wood, metal and stone were materials commonly According to the Sutras, hospitality is one of the five duties looked down upon. The Rig Veda mentions the lotus stem, butter. Two varieties of cheeses, porous and non-porous used in making utensils. Leather vessels were used for of the householder. Eating before offering to the gods, cucumber and later lotus roots, bottle gourd, singhada, find a mention in the texts. Adults consumed solidified storing liquids. aquatic plants, bitter gourd, a variety of methi for brahmans and guests was considered improper.