Flavours straight from the field

We have watched with some amusement the play of two contending trends in Indian food being served globally.

One represents the ‘fusion’ of traditional delicacies recovered from the princely kitchens. The Michelin Star-struck Indian chefs across the world take pride in plating ‘creations’ that look like abstract paintings. Ingredients like truffles, blue cheese and caviar become strange bedfellows with mini kulcha, lukmi or savoury kulfi. Their copycat versions in swadesh have not had much success though.

The other culinary trend is motivated by nostalgia that propels the youngsters to search for their roots — ethnic, linguistic or regional. Rural recipes long dismissed as poor people’s staple have registered a strong recovery. Litti-chokha, daal bati, momos, have been in trend for a while now.

Seldom does one get a chance to savour a genuine recipe that carries with it a whiff of a crop that is ripening or just harvested. Our host in Baroda, originally from Gwalior, gave us a taste of the long-forgotten khet-wala khana.

We spent a wonderful morning that melted into the afternoon slowly devouring a tikkad (thick roti cooked directly on chulha or fire) brunch. The tikkad tastes best when cooked in a traditional manner on cow dung cakes but even when baked in oven or carefully grilled on tawa, tikkad can evoke bliss. This unique ‘bread’ looks like a flattened bati or litti but has nothing in common with them. The tikkad tastes divine with freshly ground green or red chutney, preferably both! For those with a sweet tooth, a few bite-sized pieces of gur pair well with this rustic brunch. The brunch also included unhusked-split urad daal or maash slow cooked with minimal spicing. A word of caution — tikkad has to be drenched in ghee for a soft, melt-in-mouth feel. But don’t let this scare you. One doesn’t stray from the path of virtue every day. Happy eating!

PS: If overindulgence gives you a heavy feeling, lukewarm ajwain water, sipped slowly after the brunch, is a time-tested formula to resolve this gastric issue.

— The writer is a food historian

TIKKAD BRUNCH

Ingredients

Wheat flour 250 gm

Urad (maash) daal 200 gm

(unhusked, split and soaked

for 3-4 hours)

Garlic-ginger paste 1 tbsp

Red chilli powder 1 tsp

Coriander powder 1-1/2 tsp

Cumin powder 1 tsp

Amchur powder (optional) 1 tsp

Salt To taste

For garnishing (optional)

Fresh coriander 1 small sprig

Green chillies (slit lengthwise) 2-3

Ghee 1 cup

METHOD

For preparing tikkad: Knead the flour to obtain a stiff dough. Roll with a pin, then cut with a sharp-edged katori or cutter into small round thick rotis about ¼-inch thick.

Bake these in a preheated oven (150°C) for an hour or patiently roast on a thick griddle pressing gently and turning once or twice till browned on both sides.

For daal: Slow cook it uncovered in a pot with almost 5 cups of water with garlic-ginger paste and powdered spices and salt. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce to simmer. Stir regularly and keep mashing the lentils as they cook. You may add some ghee as the maash/daal cooks. Cook till lentils are done to taste and acquire a creamy texture. Adjust seasoning and serve after garnishing.

Serve with hot and liquid ghee in small bowls for those in mood for splurging to dunk the tikkad.