A thin, watery chutney at a roadside stall in Almora was my first introduction to food of Uttarakhand. It was served along with roti and radish batons as part of a quick meal on the go. Fiery, minty and a bit sour — it was delicious and quite frankly addictive.
The zing in the chutney came from bhaang seeds (hemp seeds). Thankfully, the seeds do not carry any psychoactive properties like the leaves of the plant! Bhaang seeds are, in fact, a common pantry ingredient in the mountains. “In Uttarakhand, bhaang ki chutney is eaten as a condiment with main meal. Sometimes, when there is no sabzi, we just spread it over mandua (ragi or finger millet) roti, roll it up and eat it. It’s also highly nutritious,” says Chef Arjun Adhikari at Barefoot Bungalow, a quaint homestay in the hills of Mussoorie. Bhaang ki chutney is not the only dish that creates a spell on the taste buds. Even the humble cucumber raita here is unique and is spiked with mustard and tempered with jhakhiya, a type of wild mustard that adds a nutty crunch to the dip.
Most people know Uttarakhand as the land of mountains, mythology, exhilarating adventure and yoga. But the food of Dev Bhoomi (called thus because it houses the Char Dham pilgrimage sites: Gangotri, Yamunotri, Badrinath and Kedarnath) is no less exciting. Take the swala, for instance. A thick pancake stuffed with spiced lentils and deep-fried to a delicious golden brown. The puri is dunked in ghee (or green chutney if you are wary of the calories) for a carb-loaded indulgence. Swala is usually made during special occasions like weddings and festivals like Diwali and Makar Sankranti.
“What differentiates Uttarakhandi food from the cuisine of rest of India is its simplicity. There are not too many masalas. A simple meal of mandua roti with kandele ka saag is what locals eat for breakfast and it sees them through the day,” says Suresh Basni, junior sous chef at The Westin Resort & Spa, Himalayas. A highlight of a stay at this property is a full-blown Garhwali thali loaded with local delicacies such as palak kandalee ka saag, aloo jhakiya, pahadi mutton, trout cooked into a delish curry, raita, bal mithai and jhangore ki kheer. The thali beautifully showcases the region’s indigenous produce and uses a host of unusual herbs and warm spices.
The land of millets
Millets, also known as mota anaaz, are the superstars of pahadi cuisine. In fact, at the peak of Uttarakhand’s statehood movement in the 1990s, the hills would often reverberate with the “Kodo-jhangora khayenge, Uttarakhand banayenge” slogan. Mandua, gehat ki dal (horse gram) and kauni (foxtail millet) are used to make rotis. Jhangora (barnyard millet), very similar to its glamorous cousin quinoa, is made into a delicious kheer and also a kadhi called jhangora ka chencheda. “Millets are in the spotlight now with the government declaring this year as the ‘year of the millet’. But millets have always been an integral part of the cuisine here. It’s not just easy to digest but also highly nutritious. The good part is that tourists are now seeking out these dishes since mandua, gehat, jhagora and jhakiya are not easily available elsewhere in the country,” says Rakesh Rana, executive chef, Taj Rishikesh Resort & Spa. Apart from the delectable thali, chef Rana has also been enticing guests with his flaky mandua croissants, buttery mandua cookies, bajra tarts and jhangora upma.
A staggering variety of pulses and lentils are used to prepare regular dal, dumplings and also stews that provide warmth during cold months. While gehat ki dal is a staple with laal bhaat, chainsoo an urad dal (black gram) dish is made occasionally. “It’s slightly more laborious as the dal is first roasted and then ground on a sil batta (flat-stone grinders). This makes all the difference. The light roasting and slow-cooking in an iron pot gives this dish an earthy, smokey flavour,” says chef Basni.
Another fascinating dish is the naal baadi the preparation of which in the hills is no less than a festival. Hollow stems of the taro plant are coated with a paste of spiced lentils ground on sil battas. The naal baadi is left to dry in the sun for a day or two before being cut into small circular pieces and stored away. It’s brought out and cooked specially during the harsh winter months when not much is available in the hills. It is usually prepared as a jhol (stew) with or without potatoes and eaten with rice.
A constant ingredient in most of my meals in the state has been jhakhiya, also known as wild mustard or dog mustard. The small black seeds are widely used to add life to literally any pahadi dish. Because of its sharp pungency and distinct crunch, most Garhwalis prefer jhakhiya over cumin and mustard seed for tempering. Jhakhiya is crackled in oil before being tossed into curries, dals and vegetables. “You cannot experience authentic Garhwali taste without it,” says chef Adhikari who makes a delish jhakhiya aloo ki chutney using the magical seeds. The Garh Bhoj, a typical Uttarakhandi thali made of delicacies of the mountains, is an elaborate and charming affair at Barefoot Bungalow. The 10-course meal is served on the lawn with a view of Kedarnath mountains!
Meals are typically accentuated with spicy chullu (apricot) chutney, flavoured salts like lehsun ka namak (green garlic pounded with salt) or a piquant achaar. My favourite is the Kach Moli a side dish of malta oranges coated with a fiery paste of freshly ground green chilies, coriander, ginger, garlic and onions. Sweet, sour and spicy all at home.
Uttarakhandis love their sweets. Kheers and halwas form an indispensable part of the cuisine. The melt-in-the-mouth sweet balls called arsa make for a great teatime snack. Another mouth-watering pahadi sweet is the bal mithai. The crunchy and chewy texture of the caramelised fudge balls studded with sugar pearls is a gastronomical delight hard to resist. Winters are synonymous with singhori, a toothsome sweet made from khoya (condensed milk) and wrapped into cones made of malla ka patta. But it’s the zingy bhaang ki chutney that I want served to me in a bucket when I’m on my deathbed, and the creamy, luscious rice kheer of Barefoot Bungalow for dessert if I make it to heaven!
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