I recently came across one of those 100 Foods to Eat Before You Die lists. (What do you call that kind of a list? A bucket list? An edible bucket list? Just an edible bucket?)
Anyway, these lists are clearly arbitrary, but I decided to make a list of 10 Things to Eat in India. Here are the criteria: 1) I've eaten them. 2) They were delicious. Or at least memorable. 3) I haven't had them in the United States, and don't even know if they're available.
1. Pomfret. How to describe this vicious beastie? I was introduced to pomfret at a fancy dinner, or at least a dinner where it probably wasn't a good idea to spend twenty minutes subtly picking tiny tiny fish bones out of my gums, although that is what I ended up doing. Pomfret is not for the inexperienced seafood eater. Although I guess that could be said of any fished served whole. The word "carnivore" comes from "carne," which means flesh, although it's unclear whether there's any of that to be found on this particular animal. Nonetheless, it's a delicacy in Mumbai, where I lived for three months when I first moved to India.
2. Solkadi. To describe this particular Konkani dish in bare words is to do it an injustice: a sour, purple, cold soup made from the juice left over after boiling kokum (mangosteen) fruit peels for a long time. It doesn't sound appetizing, and yet it is.
3. Sabudana Papad. Technically, I have eaten this at home in the United States, and it's one of my favorite things. These are fried wafers made from pearl tapioca, typically served (although I'm not sure why) during the Hindu festival of Navratra. (Tapioca is the same ingredient used to make the bubbles in bubble tea.) Fun fact: Tapioca comes from cassava, which I didn't know until I wrote this blog entry.
4. Appam. These are amazing, amazing things. I freely admit I am not what we in India refer to as a "foodie," but to me an appam can most accurately be compared to puberty: until I experienced it, I didn't understand why it was such a big deal. (Let's not take this comparison any further.) Appams are unevenly shaped frisbees made from fermented rice flour. (Notice how I'm starting to enjoy the description part of this? English is inadequate. Deal with it.)
5. Mishti doi. If you are lucky, they will serve this to you in a tiny earthenware pot. It's a Bengali dessert made from hung curd (dear God, I love the way we describe things in India. I mean, hung curd? It's yogurt that's been wrapped in a cheesecloth and hung from a hook for a while. The whey drains out, and all that's left is the thick part of the yogurt). Sweetened with jaggery, which brings me to...
6. Jaggery. This is unrefined whole cane sugar. At a popular chain of historical theme parks, women in traditional Rajasthani garb will serve you rotis made from bajra (pearl millet) with flakes of golden jaggery and a dollop of ghee (clarified butter) in the middle. One of my well-meaning relatives said, "the women of our family used to serve rotis like this to their menfolk generations ago." To which I replied, "didn't they also practice mass ritual suicide?" To which she replied, "Can we focus on the food, please?"
7. Khandwi. I did once have this at a relative's house in Chicago. Khandwi is a Gujarati snack. Literally, it's a rolled up dough made from gram flour mixed with yogurt. A picture is worth a thousand words, so if you really want to know what this is, try a Google Image Search. My first week in India, a cousin took me to a Gujarati snack shop. We bought a pound of Khandwi to serve to guests later that night. By the time the guests arrived four hours later, the Khandwi was gone, and the only evidence was my stomachache, which lasted for 6 days. It was that good.
8. Dhan sag. A Parsi dish, this is lentil soup with kebabs in it. (Kebabs: tiny fried balls of spiced, ground meat) I have this at my aunt's parents' house all the time, but haven't really had it anywhere else. It's a well-known dish in the community, but not sure about outside of that.
9. Sweet potato chaat. Made from Indian sweet potatoes, which are soft and kinda purple rather than yeasty and orange, this dish crops up on every Delhi street corner during winter. Vendors smoke the potatoes over hot coals, slice them, and rub the pieces with spices. When I first tried to get my Mom to try this dish, she took one look at the vendor's crusted and likely unwashed hands and refused. I coaxed her to take just one bite; suffice it to say, ten minutes later she was ready to order another plate. Like all street food, it's a bit risky. I once fed this to a friend who was visiting from the United States and afterwards I was so violently ill that I think I ruptured blood vessels in my face. It was probably still worth it, though.
10. Buff fry. You can substitute mutton/fish/beef here. "Fry" is a traditional Keralite way of preparing meat: by spicing it up with coconut and chili and then deep frying it. I had the best fish fry of my life at a friend's house in Thiruvananthapuram. He made a point of telling me how he'd gone down to the market that morning to procure truly fresh fish. Best with toddy, but not for the faint of heart.
Wow. I thought I'd have trouble populating this list, but it turns out I had trouble narrowing it down. There are actually a lot of things I've left off: raj kachori, chicken manchurian, etc. But because making it was so much fun, I've decided to make a little bonus list: 5 Things to Drink in India. Here we go.
5 Things to Drink in India
1. Sula wine. For a long time Sula was India's answer to every international wine. A Maharashtran brand, they have a few decent vintages although it might take a while to find one. Sula has roughly the same reputation as Franzia, although Sula doesn't come in a box and people besides college students drink it.
2. Jaljeera. I love this particular beverage, which is basically water mixed with mint, lemon, black salt, and other awesome things. A little bit spicy, a little bit sour.
3. Feni. No list of Indian beverages would be complete with this famous Goan liquor, made either from coconut or cashew. I've had the coconut variety, served in a mixed drink called a "Goan sunrise." I don't know if anyone drinks it straight.
4. Toddy. After a few servings of Keralite palm wine, a 50-year-old Mallu man (friend and colleague!) infamously told me: "Anika, I'm sure men in the North think you're pretty. But in Kerala, we prefer plumper brides." Drink with caution.
5. Lassi. Finally, the king. I honestly cannot believe that I went 23 years of my life without drinking lassi. Nowadays, I can down three glasses of salty lassi on a summer day. Lassi is basically a drink made from thinned yogurt. It's served sweet or salty (I drink the salty version exclusively, but the sweet one is actually more famous).
I'm sure I've forgotten things. Enjoy!
Anyway, these lists are clearly arbitrary, but I decided to make a list of 10 Things to Eat in India. Here are the criteria: 1) I've eaten them. 2) They were delicious. Or at least memorable. 3) I haven't had them in the United States, and don't even know if they're available.
1. Pomfret. How to describe this vicious beastie? I was introduced to pomfret at a fancy dinner, or at least a dinner where it probably wasn't a good idea to spend twenty minutes subtly picking tiny tiny fish bones out of my gums, although that is what I ended up doing. Pomfret is not for the inexperienced seafood eater. Although I guess that could be said of any fished served whole. The word "carnivore" comes from "carne," which means flesh, although it's unclear whether there's any of that to be found on this particular animal. Nonetheless, it's a delicacy in Mumbai, where I lived for three months when I first moved to India.
2. Solkadi. To describe this particular Konkani dish in bare words is to do it an injustice: a sour, purple, cold soup made from the juice left over after boiling kokum (mangosteen) fruit peels for a long time. It doesn't sound appetizing, and yet it is.
3. Sabudana Papad. Technically, I have eaten this at home in the United States, and it's one of my favorite things. These are fried wafers made from pearl tapioca, typically served (although I'm not sure why) during the Hindu festival of Navratra. (Tapioca is the same ingredient used to make the bubbles in bubble tea.) Fun fact: Tapioca comes from cassava, which I didn't know until I wrote this blog entry.
4. Appam. These are amazing, amazing things. I freely admit I am not what we in India refer to as a "foodie," but to me an appam can most accurately be compared to puberty: until I experienced it, I didn't understand why it was such a big deal. (Let's not take this comparison any further.) Appams are unevenly shaped frisbees made from fermented rice flour. (Notice how I'm starting to enjoy the description part of this? English is inadequate. Deal with it.)
5. Mishti doi. If you are lucky, they will serve this to you in a tiny earthenware pot. It's a Bengali dessert made from hung curd (dear God, I love the way we describe things in India. I mean, hung curd? It's yogurt that's been wrapped in a cheesecloth and hung from a hook for a while. The whey drains out, and all that's left is the thick part of the yogurt). Sweetened with jaggery, which brings me to...
6. Jaggery. This is unrefined whole cane sugar. At a popular chain of historical theme parks, women in traditional Rajasthani garb will serve you rotis made from bajra (pearl millet) with flakes of golden jaggery and a dollop of ghee (clarified butter) in the middle. One of my well-meaning relatives said, "the women of our family used to serve rotis like this to their menfolk generations ago." To which I replied, "didn't they also practice mass ritual suicide?" To which she replied, "Can we focus on the food, please?"
7. Khandwi. I did once have this at a relative's house in Chicago. Khandwi is a Gujarati snack. Literally, it's a rolled up dough made from gram flour mixed with yogurt. A picture is worth a thousand words, so if you really want to know what this is, try a Google Image Search. My first week in India, a cousin took me to a Gujarati snack shop. We bought a pound of Khandwi to serve to guests later that night. By the time the guests arrived four hours later, the Khandwi was gone, and the only evidence was my stomachache, which lasted for 6 days. It was that good.
8. Dhan sag. A Parsi dish, this is lentil soup with kebabs in it. (Kebabs: tiny fried balls of spiced, ground meat) I have this at my aunt's parents' house all the time, but haven't really had it anywhere else. It's a well-known dish in the community, but not sure about outside of that.
9. Sweet potato chaat. Made from Indian sweet potatoes, which are soft and kinda purple rather than yeasty and orange, this dish crops up on every Delhi street corner during winter. Vendors smoke the potatoes over hot coals, slice them, and rub the pieces with spices. When I first tried to get my Mom to try this dish, she took one look at the vendor's crusted and likely unwashed hands and refused. I coaxed her to take just one bite; suffice it to say, ten minutes later she was ready to order another plate. Like all street food, it's a bit risky. I once fed this to a friend who was visiting from the United States and afterwards I was so violently ill that I think I ruptured blood vessels in my face. It was probably still worth it, though.
10. Buff fry. You can substitute mutton/fish/beef here. "Fry" is a traditional Keralite way of preparing meat: by spicing it up with coconut and chili and then deep frying it. I had the best fish fry of my life at a friend's house in Thiruvananthapuram. He made a point of telling me how he'd gone down to the market that morning to procure truly fresh fish. Best with toddy, but not for the faint of heart.
Wow. I thought I'd have trouble populating this list, but it turns out I had trouble narrowing it down. There are actually a lot of things I've left off: raj kachori, chicken manchurian, etc. But because making it was so much fun, I've decided to make a little bonus list: 5 Things to Drink in India. Here we go.
5 Things to Drink in India
1. Sula wine. For a long time Sula was India's answer to every international wine. A Maharashtran brand, they have a few decent vintages although it might take a while to find one. Sula has roughly the same reputation as Franzia, although Sula doesn't come in a box and people besides college students drink it.
2. Jaljeera. I love this particular beverage, which is basically water mixed with mint, lemon, black salt, and other awesome things. A little bit spicy, a little bit sour.
3. Feni. No list of Indian beverages would be complete with this famous Goan liquor, made either from coconut or cashew. I've had the coconut variety, served in a mixed drink called a "Goan sunrise." I don't know if anyone drinks it straight.
4. Toddy. After a few servings of Keralite palm wine, a 50-year-old Mallu man (friend and colleague!) infamously told me: "Anika, I'm sure men in the North think you're pretty. But in Kerala, we prefer plumper brides." Drink with caution.
5. Lassi. Finally, the king. I honestly cannot believe that I went 23 years of my life without drinking lassi. Nowadays, I can down three glasses of salty lassi on a summer day. Lassi is basically a drink made from thinned yogurt. It's served sweet or salty (I drink the salty version exclusively, but the sweet one is actually more famous).
I'm sure I've forgotten things. Enjoy!
I've always thought that an appam is shaped like a giant contact lens. BTW if you're lucky you can get great dhansaak at Delhi Parsi Anjuman, next to Maulana Azad Medical College, between ITO and Delhi Gate. Dull atmosphere but great and authentic Parsi food. No walk-ins, you have to call the previous day. 2323-8615 or 2323-1228. The lady who runs the place is called Mrs. Dhun Baagli.
ReplyDeleteI am totally going to try this. I wonder if she'll ship it to me in South Delhi...:)
DeleteThe Chaat was totally worth it...we probably wouldn't have been so sick if we didn't eat nothing but dessert for dinne.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, my friend. An entire dinner at Evergreen sweet shop may not have been the best idea. But it was so good.
DeleteAnika, I thought Toddy is actually Brandy based cocktail with warm water and sugar/honey in it. Ideal for a sore throat or a rainy cold wintery day. I drank it no of times last year.
ReplyDelete