A Traveler’s Food Diary: Kumaoni Cuisine at Munsiyari

I had been planning to visit Munsiyari in Uttarakhand for quite some time. A few years back we had traveled up to Chaukori but could not continue on to Munsiyari due to bad roads and landslides. As the sleepy hamlet in the heartlands of Kumaon is known for its scenic view of the Panchachuli peaks, a repeat trip was planned just to visit this place.

The Sleepy Town of Munsiyari

We had hired a Mahindra Scorpio from Haldwani, and the driver was a young lad named Chandra Prakash.  On the long journey, we had to stop at a number of places for food, and I noticed that Chandu was a food lover, and his choices for roadside pit stops were immaculate. Over some hot aloo paratha and dahi during breakfast Chandu told me about Chachiji’s Mutton Curry, very popular at Munsiyari with both travelers and drivers. He told me that the mutton curry was prepared with khade masala or whole spices in typical Kumaoni style.

Khade Masale KI Mutton Curry

After an overnight stay at Chaukori and a rough journey, we reached Munsiyari around noon on the second day. We were famished and I told Chandu to take us straight to Chachiji’s place to try out her mutton. A small and dark place next to Munsiyari Bus Stand, it had three tables, and could barely seat twelve people.

The Mutton Thali

Soon we were served a hot thali of rice with a bowl of mutton curry and a little bit of local saag. A runny gravy (they call it soup here), the curry here had simple flavours of turmeric, chillies, garlic and the mustard oil in which it was prepared, and the lamb pieces were slightly tougher than we normally like in the plains. We were told that Kumaon boasts of some flavourful local turmeric which gives a special taste to the curry here. The side dish of leafy vegetables also had a rustic aroma from the mustard oil. The entire meal with ample mutton cost us Rs 110 per head, and we made up our mind to come back for some more food here.

Chachiji in front of her shop

Bhang Ki Chutney

A friend back in Hyderabad had told us that Bhang Ki Chutney is a must-have dish in Kumaon. I asked Chachiji about this and she agreed to prepare it the next day. Next afternoon along with lunch, we tried the Bhang ki Chutney with rice and some onion. The chutney is made by roasting the seeds of the hemp plant, crushing it and then preparing a thick paste with onions, coriander leaves, green chillies and a dash of lime. The chutney had an earthy taste, and I was told that this was a food for cold climates as it heated up the body.

Some pics of Kumaoni Dishes at the Tribal Museum

In the evening, we visited the local Tribal Heritage Museum, a collection painstakingly assembled by Dr. S S Pangtey, an erudite person with deep knowledge about history of Kumaon. There was a section in the museum about Kumaoni food with photos of Kumaoni delicacies like Dubka, Madua Ke Roti, and Thathani.

Some Grains and Cereals of Kumaon displayed at the Tribal Museum

We had a discussion with Masterji (as Dr. Pangtey is known locally), and he explained that rice is the staple carb in the Kumaon belt though roti prepared from gehu (wheat) or mandua (ragi) is fairly popular too. Potatoes and soybeans are popular vegetarian dishes cooked with local herbs. Gahat and Bhatt are local beans which are used to prepare a lot of dishes like Churkhani or Dubke. As there is a lot of cattle grazing in the area, mutton is by far the most popular meat, usually cooked in whole spices and local herbs. When I told him that I was curious to try the local cuisine, and he gave me the phone number of Mallika Virdi.

The Homestay of Kheela Tolia at  Upper Sarmoli

Mallika works with the villagers around Munsiyari and helps them to run a cluster of homestays in and around the town. She was very receptive to my idea of trying out Kumaoni cuisine and arranged a meal in one of the homestays. We traveled to Malla Sarmoli, a village near Munsiyari to visit the house of Kheela Tolia. Kheela along with her husband has rooms in her Kumaoni home converted into a homestay. The rooms are available at Rs 1000 per day and the guests can enjoy Pahadi hospitality with local Bhutia meals. However, since we had put up in a hotel in Munsiyari, we just visited them for lunch.

The Kumaoni Thali at the Homestay

The lunch was a simple affair with few items, but each of the preparations was food for the soul. There was Malka dal (masoor) served with a tadka of jeera and a local dried herb called Jimbu. Jimbu is only grown in the hilly tracts of Uttarakhand and Nepal, and this house had a small garden where it was cultivated. It has a distinctive flavour akin to garlic. The vegetables served were Rai Ki Sabji a preparation of mustard leaves with salt and green chillies. There was a potato preparation with beans and of course Bhang Ki Chutney. We were told that this version of the chutney uses mint apart from the other usual ingredients. The staples served were rice and gehu ki roti.

The Herbs from the Homestay Garden: Tyamur and Jimbu

The garden of this homestay also cultivated Tyamur, a local peppercorn. With a lot of medicinal qualities, this is used to prepare Tyamur Ki Soup, which is another mainstay for the winter. After the delightful lunch, we had a quick primer on some local spices and herbs before saying goodbye to the family.

Singodi

Any cuisine in India has its favorite sweets. The most famous preparation in Kumaon is Singodi, a mewa based sweet wrapped in local leaves. It tasted somewhat like Kalakand to me. Bal Mithai, another milk based sweet coated with tiny sugar balls is another popular mithai in this belt.
Munsiyari is located in Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand, a serene place with a spectacular view of the Himalayas. The earthy food here with uncommon spices played a perfect foil to the scenery, resulting in an unforgettable experience.

Useful information:

Munsiyari is around 300 km away from Haldwani and Nainital.  You can stay in Hotel Vijay Mount View (05961-222123) where you can get a fantastic view of the peaks from your room. The phone number of our driver Chandu is 9761935850. For Kumaoni homestays or food, you can contact Mallika Virdi at 9411194041 or Kheela Tolia at 9568638795. Chachiji’s Mutton Curry is available in her small single-room outlet at Munsiyari bus stand near Hayat Paradise Guest House.

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Quick Bytes: Tuscany Brings Together Cuisines from Rome and Paris

The culinary team at The Trident Hyderabad comes up with niche food festivals at regular intervals. Their latest promotion at Tuscany, their Italian restaurant, is called “Rome meets Paris” presenting an array of delicacies from the famed French and Italian cuisines.

Whereas Hyderabad has quite a few restaurants offering Italian food, both in the fine dine and casual dine category, there are not many offering French food. Bouchon at Jubilee Hills, which is the only one I can remember, unfortunately shut down within a year. So, when I was invited for this promotion I was keener about the French offerings from Chef Manik’s team.

The festival has a specially curated a-la-carte menu. Whereas the Italian offerings have a lot of variations across regions and rely on the freshness of ingredients, the French cuisine boasts of subtlety in taste and  flavour.  In this promotion, there is no attempt to offer a fusion of the two cuisines; instead, each is presented in its own glory.

Panzanella

Our sampling journey started with two salads – one from each cuisine. Panzanella was a Tuscan-style salad with diced tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper and bread in a simple tangy dressing.

Salad Nicoise was the French entrant in this category. A salad using Nicoise olives, boiled eggs and tuna in a simple preparation, was a personal favourite. The highlight was the tuna, which was perfectly done.

Salad Nicoise

The Italian Ribollata was a rustic Tuscan broth made with bread and vegetables. Executive Sous Chef Prafull Aina, who is the person behind this festival, told us that this recipe is popular in Italy to use up leftover bread. This was a thicker version of the Minestrone, almost like a broth. Chilled Vichyssoise, the creamy French soup was one of the best dishes of the promotion. A cold soup of potato and leek, this was a perfect summer recipe.

Lamb Navarin

Among the main courses, Lamb Navarin stood out. A delicious French lamb and vegetable preparation, it was served with herbed rice. I overheard someone commenting in jest that it looked similar to Hyderabadi Nihari. The similarity does not end there, for this is a slow-cooked dish too.

Coq-Au-Vin

Coq-Au-Vin was the other French main course, a red wine braised chicken delicacy served with mushrooms and onions. The chicken had soaked in the wine, making it soft and succulent.

Ratatouille

Ratatouille was possibly the only dish on the menu which is popular in not just France and Italy, but all over Europe.  This was essentially sautéed vegetables like eggplant, bell pepper and onions served with garlic bread.

Paris Brest

The desserts stole the show. I had been hearing about the exotic Paris Brest, a choux pastry stuffed with cream and fruits, from my friends who visited the festival earlier. The dessert had a topping of fresh fruits and the combination of the pastry with the fruits and cream inside was indeed heavenly.
Cassata with Raspberry Coulis was the other dessert, a classic Sicilian preparation. This is something not to be missed either. Inside the almond marzipan cover, it had strawberry ice cream along with fruit and nuts.

Cassatta with Raspberry Coulis

A very interesting promotion indeed. Trying out the French delicacies reinforced my wish that we must see a pure-play French restaurant in Hyderabad soon. But in its absence, thanks to the Tuscany team for giving us a taste of the cuisine. The festival is a-la-carte and on at Tuscany until 3rd July only for dinner.

Location
Tuscany 
The Trident
Hitech City (next to Shilpa Kala Vedika)
Hyderabad
Telephone: 66232323

Some pics are courtesy The Trident

Disclaimer: The review is based on an invite from the restaurant.

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Khuwar Amez Louk, the Assamese Pop-up at Marriott

Hyderabad Marriott Hotel and Convention Centre have been organizing some great food pop-ups recently, showcasing states whose food is delicious but not much talked about. After the very successful Himachali festival, it is now the turn of Assamese food. Chef Kashmiri Barkakati Nath from Guwahati has been specially brought to Hyderabad to curate the promotion at Bidri, the Indian restaurant at the Marriott. The festival is aptly named “Khuwar Amez Louk” which means “Enjoy the Flavours of the Food”.

The Assamese Thali 

My travels to the North-East India on work had got me interested in this unique cuisine, but it was surprising to see that the food was hardly found commercially even in Assam. Of course, this was a couple of decades ago and the scenario might have changed now. However, even in the last few years, there are only a select few who have been organizing Assamese food festivals in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. In my city of Hyderabad, there was only one home chef who offered to host people at his home to try out this cuisine. (Read about it here).

Chef Kashmiri Barkakati Nath

Chef Kashmiri had been on a mission to popularize the cuisine, and she had been curating special Assamese menus for dignitaries from abroad who visit the state. At a Bloggers Table organized at Marriott as a preview to the festival, she explained that contrary to popular belief, there is quite a bit of difference in the cuisines of the seven sisters of North-East. Assamese cuisine uses little spices and strong flavours, in combination with the abundant vegetables and fresh water fishes available in the fertile Brahmaputra valley. The cuisine has influences of neighbouring Bangladesh and Myanmar as well as other regions of South-East Asia.

The Starters

A special set menu has been curated for the festival. We started with an appetizer platter, served tastefully on a plate. Luci (maida puris) with Aloo Bhaji and Bilahi Ambol was the first dish I tried out. The luchi-alu tarkari combo is a preferred breakfast in Bengali households, but here the alu sabji had a different set of spices, and the accompanying sweet and tangy tomato chutney complemented the taste nicely. There were two skewered dishes, Maas Khorika had boneless fish in a mustard based marinade and the Kukura Khorika had chicken served with a dip of Bhut Jolokia and bamboo shoots. The dip was one of the highlights of the meal, with demands for a refill in spite of its super spiciness.

The Chillies and the Lemons from Assam

Bhaat Karela was another starter, which had bitter gourds stuffed with spiced up mashed potato, whereas Anguli Pitha, the rice flour fritters provided an interesting interlude between the strong flavours of the other starters.

There were about four dips served on the table – Bhut Jolokia, bamboo shoots, mango, and mustard. They had varied flavours and tastes, and I kept on going back to them a number of times during the meal. The mustard dip provided a strong buzz and aftertaste, much more than what you get in wasabi. The earthy taste of fermented bamboo shoots augmented the taste of ghost chilli chutney.

Bhut Jolokia or Ghost Chilli Chutney

The main courses were served in a thali, which had about eleven items. The Assamese love their rice, rotis have only been a recently acquired taste from other regions of India. Joha Bhat, a flavourful steamed rice similar to Gobindabhog or Chittimutyalu is a popular staple, and we enjoyed the main courses accompanied by this. We were provided a taste of the typical Prasad which is served in some temples in Assam, chana and chickpeas served with chillies and Gandharaj lime presented tastefully in plantain leaves.

Prasad

As is customary, we started the main courses with Omita Maahor Khar, an alkaline dish of lentils and papaya which cleans up the digestive system. This was followed by Xaak Bhaji, a preparation of Dhekia saag, Lau Bhaja (pumpkin fritters) with Masoor dal, and famed Pitikas (boiled/roasted and mashed vegetables) in two forms – potato and brinjal.

The Assamese are primarily non-vegetarians with lamb, duck, pork being some of the favourite meats. Chicken is a recent addition, but the sweetish Kukura Kurma served here was a distinct preparation with yoghurt and whole spices. Tenga, the sour fish delicacy is perhaps one of the signature dishes of the cuisine. Fish Tenga here had tomato and ou tenga or elephant apple as the souring agents. Part of this gravy was savoured with rice, and I loved it so much that I drank up the rest of it. Maanxo Rongalou was a preparation of lamb with potato and pumpkin. Though I did not get much taste of pumpkin in this unique dish, I had no complaint with the potato tasting brilliant after soaking in the gravy. One of the highlights of this set menu is the brilliant curation - almost each of the dishes had different tastes and flavours appeasing the entire range of taste buds.

The Dessert Platter

As I apologetically state again and again in my posts, I am not much of a dessert person. Still, I was very impressed with two of the desserts Kola Bora Sawal Paiyox (Black Sticky Rice Pudding) and Komolar Kheer, a milk and orange based dessert. Narikol Pitha (Dry rice cakes with coconut fillings) was the other dessert on offer.

This is a festival which should not be missed by any lover of East Indian food, or any food aficionado who likes to try out diverse cuisines. The food is simple but extremely fulfilling, and the flavours are very different from the local palate. A big thumbs up to Executive Chef Yogender Pal for organizing these out of the box promotions. The festival is on from 23rd to 26th June only for dinner and is available as a set menu which is Rs 1200 (plus taxes) for vegetarians, and Rs 1500 (plus taxes) for non-vegetarians.

Location:
Bidri
Hyderabad Marriott Hotel and Convention Centre
Tank Bund Road, Hyderabad
Telephone: 27522582

Disclaimer: The review is based on an invite from the restaurant.

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Chicha’s: Showcasing the Diversity of Hyderabadi Khana

Normally I desist from visiting a restaurant as soon as it is opened. But for Chicha’s I had to make an exception. The new place for Hyderabadi food at Masab Tank was creating a lot of buzz in the social media, and soon I was hearing the question “Have you been to Chicha’s?” about three times in a week. What I was told is that the restaurant is serving a bouquet of Hyderabadi food, beyond the ubiquitous biryani. Not able to control my curiosity I landed up at this place close to Mahavir Hospital with two of my food lover friends.

Malai Paya available only on Fridaya

As you enter the place your attention is immediately drawn to the live counters to your right. In one counter the Hyderabadi delicacies bheja, gurda, kaleji, and kheema were being prepared on a tawa. Offals or body parts are integral parts of the Hyderabadi cuisine, and it is good to see a restaurant focusing on these. Next to it was Hyderabad’s “world famous” Patthar Ka Gosht. One look at these counters upped my appetite and soon we were ready to order from their AC seating area at the end of the restaurant.

The Patthar Ka Gosht counter and the dish itself

The place was sparsely filled up at 8 pm on a weekday, perhaps it was too early for Hyderabad.  We started with the offals. My friends were not too keen about the Gurda Fry (kidney), so we ordered the Bheja Fry (lamb brain), Tawa Kheema and Kaleji (liver) fry. From the starters list, we went for Shikampur. The bheja was the pick of the servings, it, the soft brain fry had the right amount of spices and oil and  was perfect with the Rumali Roti we ordered . Kaleji was a masaledar (spicy) dish we loved too. The kheema was good and would give tough competition to the preparation of Alpha Hotel.

Bheja Fry

Kheema

One of my friends remarked that the onion in the Shikampur, a minced meat specialty kabab of Hyderabad, was not finely chopped. However, the taste of the dish compensated for it. In fact, we initially wanted to order a repeat but held ourselves back, as we wanted to taste the maximum number of dishes.

The Tawa Counter

Kaleji

We had noticed some interesting versions of flavoured tea on the menu – Elaichi, Dalchini, Zafraan, Ajwain, and Lavang Tea. We tried the first three and would definitely recommend the cinnamon and cardamom versions.

Shikampur

Patthar Ka Gosht was up next. I loved the masala of the preparation here as it was distinctly different from what I have had at other places. The mutton was a tad overdone, but the taste made up for it.
Talawa Gosht was a disappointment. The mutton was a bit chewy and the masala tasted like the usual “Hyderabadi Chinese” offered by numerous Irani joints in the city.

Mutton Biryani

Finally, it was biryani time. We shared a plate of Mutton Biryani. The quality of mutton was very good, but the biryani was dry and lacked flavour. When we told this to the owners of the restaurant, whom we met during the meal, they attributed it to the fact that possibly the biryani was served from the top of the handi, and got us another sample which was much better. However, still I would not rate it among the better ones in Hyderabad.

Gurda Fry

We had a long chat with the owners. One of them is the nephew of Mehboob Alam Khan, the connoisseur of Hyderabadi food. Thus, many of the recipes used here were special. It was 9:30 now and the whole restaurant was choc-a-bloc with people waiting for a table. During the conversation, we learnt that Kareli Gosht, the lamb shank dish, is one of their delicacies, but by now we were too full, so decided to keep it for our next visit.

Hyderabadi Twins: Double Ka Meetha & Khubani Ka Meetha

We ended our meal with Khubani ka Meetha and Double Ka Meetha, the signature Hyderabadi desserts.

When we were coming out, I noticed the sign on top of the open seating space “Chicha Poochre Phir Kab Aate”.  A couple of weeks later, my son was here from Bangalore and we promptly hit the place again, this time with my family.

Our order, this time, was slightly different. Apart from the Shikampur, we ordered Malai Paya which was a Friday special along with Gurda Fry and Talawa Gosht.  You may be baffled at the last order, but I was told by a friend that the dish had improved a lot since my last visit.

Talawa Gosht: First and Second Visit

The Talawa Gosht really surprised us with much improvement.  The dish looked completely different from last time and tasted much better with the Chinese touch taken off. Gurda Fry was a spicy dish much like the liver I had on the first day. For me, the pick of the dishes for this day was Malai Paya, a preparation of lamb trotters in a lot of ghee and masala. Elaichi and Dalchini Chai rounded up the meal.

We were told that soon the restaurant has other weekend specials like Dalcha with Bagara Rice, Nihari, and Khichdi Kheema. They also have economical combos for a quick lunch. The prices of the dishes are reasonable, a good meal for two persons will cost around Rs 1200. This is a good place to hit during Ramzan for Iftaar too. Next time Seekh Kabab, Kareli Gosht and Dum Ka Murgh are some of the items which will feature in my order.

Location:
Chicha’s
6-2-39 A C Guards (near Mahavir Hospital)
Opp Kun Hyundai Showroom
Masab Tank, Hyderabad
Telephone: 66567890

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Zaika-E-Ramzan: A Sumptuous Iftar Feast

It has been about a year since Hyderabad House was taken over by a new management led by Mr. Khalil Ahmed. Since then,  they have come up with innovative promotions like Hyderabadi Shaadi-Ka-Khana which have been delightfully lapped up by the food lovers of Hyderabad. The most popular of these initiative has definitely been Zaika-E-Ramzan, a month-long food festival serving a wide range of Iftar delicacies under the same roof.

Part of the Huge Spread at Zaika-E-Ramzan

Buoyed by the huge success of the food court at Mehdipatnam during Ramzan last year, Zaika-E-Ramzan this year is being organized in two locations – Khilwat in the old city is the location added. Each of the locations has around two dozen live counters where you can see the delicacies being prepared in front of your own eyes. The initiative is headed by the CEO of Hyderabad House Mr. Pradeep Khosla, who is a well-known chef and food critic of Hyderabad. Both the outlets are open from 5 pm to 5 am in the morning, from Iftar to Sehri.

Alu Gosht Asaf Jahi

Invited for a preview of the festival, I visited the Mehdipatnam setup at Rayyan Function Hall Pillar 47. The number of stalls seems to have gone up from last year, and the menu has been enhanced too. New items include Alu Gosht Asaf Jahi, a subtle mutton curry with potatoes and Rampuri Dumdar Seena , a recipe from the royal kitchen of Rampur.

Mazedar Mutton Chops and Talawa Gosht

We started our food journey with Paya Shorba, a soup of lamb trotters. The soup was not rich at all, with a strong flavour of the meat.

Paya Shorba

The tawa items were the ones which interest me the most, and you have the entire range starting from kaleji, kheema, gurda to bheja and even kapoora. These dishes are priced below Rs 150. We tried Kheema-E-Khaas and Garam Garam Gurda, and both were pretty well prepared and got quickly lapped up with the large tandoori rotis. I would have liked my Bindaas Bheja Fry to be slightly more masaledar.

Bheja on Tawa

In the kabab section apart from the usual Shandaar Seekh and Hyderabadi Banjara Kababs, they have a Special Khiri, which is prepared from lamb udders. The Hyderabadi signature Patthar Ka Gosht was present with a chicken-based variation Patthar Ke Murgh. The items prepared on stone had the right amount of spices, and the mutton was perfectly cooked resulting in a melt in the mouth dish.

The Starters: (Clockwise) Patthar Ka Murgh, Batair, Patthar Ka Gosht and Banjara Kabab

Apart from chicken and lamb preparations, batair (quail) and fish fry were the other attractions. The Poora Fish Fry was decent, and the quail was crisp fried after absorbing an extremely tasty marinade. Baida Roti and Kaathi Rolls were dishes which can provide a quick complete lunch. I thought the filling in the Baida Roti was slightly inadequate, but the thick Kaathi Rolls with chicken and veg stuffing more than made up for it.

Murgh Paigah

The main courses were pretty interesting too. Murgh Paigah, an orange coloured chicken preparation had a lip-smacking gravy. Mazedar Mutton Chops were much in demand, and we had to place repeat requests for them. The creamy and boneless Safed Murgh Makhanwala was one dish which suited my palate well and was liked by my fellow diners too.

I also loved my roti dunked into the gravy of Aloo Gosht Asaf Jahi. The potato in the dish was a star for me as it had soaked in the gravy. The mutton in this dish was soft and succulent. Talawa Gosht too went well with the parathas served with it.

Haleem in Attractive Packaging

Hyderabad House prides itself in the quality of Haleem it makes. The Haleem (Rs 150) is packed in quality containers and sold through Heritage outlets all over the city. We tried the haleem and it was quite different from the others that I had tried this year. The taste was very subtle, and we had been told that this was home style Haleem. The dish had a nice aftertaste which lingered on for a long time.

Desserts: Double Ka Meetha and Jalebis

Finally the desserts. Apart from standard Hyderabadi dishes Double Ka Meetha and Khubani Ka Meetha, they had Kheer Puri and hot and crispy Jalebies on the menu.

A word of caution for the vegetarians. There is nothing much for you here except for Masala and Paneer Dosa and of course the sweets.

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The celebration of Hyderabadi food will continue until the end of Ramzan. This is a place not to be missed by any lover of Hyderabadi food. One visit is not sufficient to try out all the delicacies. I was here thrice during the Holy Month last year and plan to do the same this year also.

Location:
Zaika-E-Ramzan
Rayyan Function Hall,
Pillar 47. Mehdipatnam
Hyderabad

Zaika-E-Ramzan
Khilwat Grounds
Opp Chowmahalla Palace
Charminar
Hyderabad

Disclaimer: The review is based on an invite from the restaurant.

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