Seasonal dining may literally be a hot trend abroad, but it?s not new to the Indian kitchen. Here?s my pick of must-use traditional ingredients this season
Seasonal eating as a culinary fad is at an all-time high in the dining capitals of the world. This month, for instance, there?s not a single restaurant, website, blog, column or magazine that?s not brimming over with menus featuring zucchini, tomatoes, eggplants, berries and cherries at least in Europe and the US.
Movements such as Slow Food (that began in Italy in the 1980s?in response to McDonald?s opening near the Spanish Steps in Rome) and those seeking to bring back the attention of chefs and diners to old-style farmers? markets, artisanal and ethical ingredients et al have been gaining popularity?despite criticism that these are elitist: the cost of such food and its cooking (following older, labour-intensive methods), after all, is much more than that of supermarket foods.
And yet, diners are getting converted. So are super chefs. So much so that chic, high-end restaurants in cities like London are now ordering their meat from four or five different locations, depending on the season. The logic: that it is not just veggies and fruits, but also meats that taste different at different times of the year (depending on cattle feed and so forth).
Whether or not we subscribe to such extremes, seasonal eating as a culinary philosophy is not new to the Indian kitchen at all. Ayurveda, that forms the underpinning of so many of our cuisines, has always recognised the fact that the quality, freshness, taste and benefits of ingredients are at their peak when these are in season. In fact, the way traditional kitchens functioned, even without our noticing, there was a distinct and automatic change in menus as winter changed to summer and cauliflowers, mustard greens, carrots and radish got replaced by different types of gourd, okra and parval?one of the oldest vegetables intrinsic to India.
Mango?and raw mango, used as a souring agent in so many dishes?apart, summer also brought with it, typically, the coolness and fragrance of rose and khus, the miraculous goodness of gwarpatha (common in Rajasthan; this is subzi made out of aloe vera leaves, known to have antioxidants), green cardamom (a ?cooling? spice unlike, say, peppercorn), ajwain and fennel (both supposed to aid digestion) and so forth.
The globalisation of the Indian palate has taken many of these traditions away. We now live in an age of 24×7 availability and ironically enough, unlike in the West, where seasonal and local foods are considered elitist and expensive, in India, it is quite the reverse. Local and seasonal ingredients are cheaper, easier to find and thus in our aspirational, middle-class kitchens, they are on their way out: the exact opposite of trends abroad. Nothing could be more ironical.
In any case, what are the top five summer ingredients that you can creatively use? My picks:
1. Homemade yoghurt: Other cultures may prize their cheese, but in India, we have ?curd?. In fact, setting it with a starter culture at home was an art?the taste of yoghurt apparently varied from home to home because of the use of leftover as a starter. While today we recognise its probiotic use, Ayurveda looks at curd as almost a miraculous food?prescribing it to treat different ailments. It?s a cooling food, whether you drink it diluted in buttermilk, hung and sweetened as topping for
a light cheesecake, or as a gourmet offering mixed with fresh fruit?another big trend internationally.
2. Roasted cumin: A must for summer. Pan-roast a little zeera and grind it. Store and use it on raitas, in chaat, in those tangy summer drinks, over cut fruit and what not. And should you make a light mezze at home, sprinkle this on the hummus as well.
3. Mango: Besides savouring your favourite alphonso or langda, you can use mango, and raw mango, in many different ways. Make a concentrated panna sauce to use over chaat. Or add raw mango to your lentils. The ripe fruit can even be made into a saut?ed vegetable preparation. Plus, all those wonderful pickles.
4. Rose: In elite homes traditionally, rooh-e-gulab?the essence of rose?would be distilled at home. Today, a small bottle would be quite expensive?even if you could find it. But just a small drop would be enough to make an entire dish fragrant. Sweets like boondi (and ladoos) were flavoured with the essence. And, of course, the qormas and pulaos. Sprinkle rose petals in your salad today.
5. Fennel seeds: Powder these and store in the kitchen. Add to a glass of cold milk or to a dish of bitter gourd, in salad or in a bowl of cold soup, fennel is a ?cold? summer spice, known to promote digestion.
The writer is a food critic