Winter of content

Pushpesh Pant

Ayurved, the ancient Indian art and science of living that holds the promise of not only prolonging life but also enhancing its quality, categorises seasons in two compartments. Grahan months like those in summer drain out all energy and leave us enfeebled while those labelled aadaan restore the balance by stoking up the sluggish appetite and boost our natural immunity. It doesn’t require a rocket scientist to tell us that Shishir and Hemant, the four winter months that follow Sharad (autumn) is also that time of the year when we can eat to our heart’s content! The festive season that is ushered in by Diwali lasts till Holi and includes Eid, Gurparab, X-Mas and New Year. The splurging on food continues till Holi. It’s only animals with cold blood that hibernate, while we, the humans, easy to rouse in anger, envy, lust and gulosity, remain focused on various fiery and fatty dishes or confections laden with sugar and spice. 

Leafy warmth

There is an old Hindi folk song with some element of risqué that reminds the listeners, “Aloo-methi ki bhujiya garam hoti hai”. Housewives need no reminders to start adding fenugreek leaves and seeds to daily fare as soon as there is a perceptible nip in the air. This is the time to enjoy keema, murgh and machhali draped in fenugreek-laced emerald sauce. Those who eschew meats can enjoy methi’s pleasantly bitter taste in paranthas, theplas, lentils, or in a lightly fried aloo-methi subzi. And who says these tad bitter greens can only be used in savoury dishes? Methi ke laddu may be getting increasingly rare to encounter but can perfectly balance the health quotient despite being a meetha.

It is not only methi that celebrates the advent of cold. North India braves the chill with sarson ka saag (mustard greens), enriched with other greens like palak (spinach) and bathua, slow cooked, mashed well and served with a dollop of freshly churned butter, along with makki ki roti. Bajre ki roti is another season staple that upstages the whole wheat rotis in winters to go with saag and lahsun ki chutney. 

To go by the advice of elders, the winter meal should be finished with a piece of jaggery, known for its digestive powers.

In central India, residents of Malwa think that nothing can compare with their makki ki khees. Grated sweetcorn kernels with an alluring creamy texture indeed are something unique.

In the villages of Uttarakhand, it’s not the mustard greens but spinach that rules the roost. Spinach is simmered for hours in a cast-iron karhahi, pureed and thickened with a little rice flour to make palang ka kapha. Lai, a variety of mustard, is also cooked with gaderi, a type of yam. 

Not just the greens, in winters, tubers like sweet potatoes, too, abound. Roadside vendors set up stalls to sell ash-roasted sweet potatoes as a tangy sweet-and-sour snack that is tantalisingly tasty as well as nourishing.

In Rajasthan, fresh turmeric transforms into haldi ki subzi cooked with garlic, onions and garam masala. In other parts of the country, the rhizome is relished as pickle or preserve. Till a few years back it was common for moms to flavour the morning glass of milk with a generous pinch of haldi to ward off coughs and colds in children.

Meat of the matter

Meat eaters should take heart as there is no dearth of non-vegetarian delicacies that are associated with winters. The Rampur (UP) palace kitchen repertoire has taar qorma that has less oil or ghee. Mutton pieces are dum cooked in their own fat. The recipe gets its name from the single-string consistency the fat acquires like in sugar syrup used by halwais in some sweets. 

In days of yore, Patiala royals had their cooks prepare heat-generating winter specialties like piste ka salan. Awadh, famous for its pleasure loving nawabs, sought inspiration for stoking the flames from aphrodisiac prescriptions supplied by royal hakims. Some of the exotic preparation included ingredients (now prohibited by law) like musk and ambergris. Delhi prided itself on its nalli nihari and still does while Hyderabad had everyone drooling over pots of constantly stirred halim, still a popular winter dish. 

Another non-vegetarian winter staple is kharode (trotters), cooked overnight and served as a thick gelatinous soup that is believed to have almost miraculous healing properties. In Northeastern India, game birds, pigeon and duck counter the chill, wrapped in leaf then roasted or pan grilled. Their flesh is believed to be generating heat in the body. Kashmir’s contribution to the nation’s winter repertoire is shabdeg that pairs turnips and kidney beans with succulent pieces of meat. 

What most of these winter dishes have in common is the extra amount of fat and some other ingredients with time-tested properties of fortifying the heat quotient of body. Sesame seeds, both black and white, provide the crunch not only in rewri, gachak and laddus but also impart a nutty zing to vegetables like til wale aloo. These power-packed seeds can be used in chutneys too.

Hot ‘n’ sweet

Those with a sweet tooth should take heart, as different regions in the country have long boasted of special winter sweets — ghari and akhrot ka halwa in Surat, Jaynagarer moa made with nolin gur in Bengal, til bhugga in the Punjab are just a few from a long list of by now slightly endangered species of sweets.

However, the other favourites gajar and daal ka halwa continue to be popular and remain a staple in home kitchens as well as at sweetshops. Old-time sweetmeat makers like Shireen Bhawan near Jama Masjid in Old Delhi still prepare some special winter desserts for their old patrons, even if in limited quantities, dishes like habshi halwa redolent with cloves and Sindhi majun. 

Liquid heat

Then there are the winter beverages. Memory is yet green about slowly-simmered karha doodh we used to step out for after dinner, braving the chill in Bajariya Motilal in Bareilley years ago. It was served in earthen kulhars and each cup was topped with a generous spoonful of clotted cream and khurchan of milk solids scraped from the sides. Slow simmering condensed the milk deliciously and its natural sweetness was seductive enough to ensure addiction. Some doodhwalas ‘garnished’ their large shallow karahi with sliced chhuhara (dried dates). Some halwais still keep a cauldron of milk simmering outside their shop in winters but this is more of a stage prop. The milk maybe tinged with saffron, enriched with almond slivers and garnished with pistachios but the magic is missing. 

Masala chai is another staple available both at roadside stalls and high-end tea cafes, alike. Tea leaves are boiled in milky water with ginger, cardamom, cinnamon and even with a few peppercorns some times, to yield a potent brew guaranteed to instil instant energy and warmth. 

Interestingly, the cold drinks or desserts do not disappear in the winters. Kali gajar ki kanji and nimish aka daulat ki chaat/makhan are quintessential winter delights. The same can be said of nimu mul saaana (a sharply sour, mildly sweet and pungent salad prepared with radish, lemons and pomegranate seeds dressed in bhang chutney) that was the highlight of an impromptu gossip session organised in mountain villages to enjoy the rare short sunny afternoons.