 |
| Amita Paul |
Amita Paul
The Smells, the Colours, the Textures, the Histories
The Narrative, the Links to the Past and the Present
Of my Sarhon (notice, Sarhon, not Sarson) da (notice, da not ka) Saag
Or Maize- floured Mustard Greens Curry Stew, Mess, or Paste from Punjab
(notice me trying to define it for an international readership
(notice me trying to give and idea of it to those who may never have heard of it - and failing but failing spectacularly!)
Today, I want to tell you about it.
In my village in the Malwa region of Punjab
Sarhon da Saag always was and still is
Cooked from late November to mid February
The Winter Months in our part of the world
When the wheat is growing alongside the mustard
And imparting a sweeter flavour by some tangible osmosis
To the usually acerbic (literally, sour and bitter) mustard leaves
My grandmother always asked us to pluck the mustard leaves and stalks growing closest to the wheat fields
And to pick the earliest, youngest, most tender mustard leaves
With the greenest, sweetest, juiciest stems, called gandalaan
(Gandalaan da Saag is the sweetest, you must know - never discard the stems!)
And that too from the native mustard called Desi Sarhon
Never the hybrid or foreign Raili Sarhon
The Yellow Mustard, or Sarson, mind you, with its milder more sweet flavour
Not the Black Mustard, or Rai with its more bitter flavour, used for curries, chutneys and pickles
Or the Red Mustard called Banarsi Rai, whose tiny seeds are reserved normally only for pickling needs.
Those precautions taken, then we cannot forget to pick some Bathua Saag,
Which is Chenopopodium Album or White Goosefoot
(Also called Lamb’s Quarters or Melde in English)
And which grows naturally as a weed in the Desi or Native Wheat Crop fields
So we are doing the weeding of the wheat fields while also picking essential herbs or greens for our Mustard Greens Stew
Or Sarhon da Saag.
This is the season for spinach and fenugreek to grow in our vegetable plots
As also for the fattest and shiniest of green chilies
Onion and Garlic, while the monsoon Ginger has been harvested and put out to dry
In the mild and friendly winter sunshine
So we must gather these essentials too, for our Very Important Dish - let’s call it VID!
Now on a wood fire or supplemented with cow dung cakes
In the clay stove or chulha in the cooking area
Of an open backyard up will go
A sturdy red baked mud pot half filled with water
With the whole family busy cleaning and washing and chopping the greens
The proportions laid out by the main cook
Who could be mother or grandmother or aunt or some other elder
One part of mustard greens to half part of spinach
Quarter part of white goosefoot and one tenth part of fenugreek
Quarter part of white onion one tenth parts of garlic, ginger and green chilies
Thickly chopped and added in as and when prepared
And a little salt added for seasoning, that’s all
Some might add one tenth parts of shredded cauliflower
Or finely chopped cabbage and even a small shredded turnip
But these are by the way and dependent on availability
And matters of individual taste or family tradition.
Well, you let this mixture bubble and then simmer away for a good hour or more
Covering it with a lid after a boil or two
Taking care not to lose even a drop of the water wherein all the flavours are
And wait till the leaves grow tender
And the seasonings too have turned into a mush,
Then take it off the fire for the next step of the recipe.
Much gossip goes on in between, besides genuine exchange of news
Among the cooks and helpers
Adding mysteriously to the flavour of the final dish.
Meanwhile someone is pounding a mixture of fresh chillies and ginger with a purpose
While the main cook measures out the maize flour for the Saag paste
As also for the Makki di Roti or Maize Bread with which the Saag is to be eaten
And the previous Desi Ghee or Home- made Clarified butter for the cooking and tempering
For which last step more onions and garlic too must be chopped
And some fresh cream or top of the milk or Malai too must be kept ready.
Now to separate the boiled leaves and seasonings from the green and flavoursome water of the stew
In which they have been cooking in the mud pot
You must press with a ghotna or a wooden masher and squeeze to get all the water out
Then put the squishy solids in a Kundi or stone grinding pot
And begin to grind them with the ghotna or a sota
Both wooden mashing or grinding sticks
And as you mash and grind your greens
You must add small quantities of maize flour and the stew soup or green water
Turn by turn, and mix them with the boiled leaf greens, herbs and condiments
Till it all forms a thin watery paste
Taking care not to let the maize flour form even a single tiny lump
And adding tiny spoonfuls of the coarsely ground ginger- chilli mixture at every turn
So that the paste does not turn bland.
In the end, you just add the last of the water to the paste
As you put it back in the mud pot and give it all a final stir
Then let the thin gruelly paste simmer away for a good quarter of an hour
So that the maize flower and the raw chilli garlic mixture gets thoroughly cooked
You must stir it of course, so that lumps don’t form
But beware of the sputtering bubbles that form and burst out of the dish
For they can scald you badly
And MOST IMPORTANT of all
Don’t forget to add a generous ladleful of homemade ghee to the boiling mixture
To perform the wonderful alchemy that ghee always does
In Indian cooking.
As the VID simmers and sputters on the wood fire in the clay oven
We must now get together the handful of chopped onions and garlic
and the leftover mixture of ginger and chillies roughly pounded together
And more ghee for the final tempering
And add these to a kadhaai or large Indian wok
And saut├й the seasonings before adding the cooked greens to them
Checking for taste and adding salt or red chilli powder if needed
And finally, just before taking the VID off the fire
Add the homemade cream or top-of- the - milk
And give it all a good stir.
Our Sarhon the Saag is finally ready, but we must cover it and keep it aside.
For now is the time to make the Makki di Roti or Maize Tortilla or Indian Cornbread to eat the Saag with
Starting with a loose dough made in warm water
And rolling out thick tortillas to be cooked on a thick iron griddle
And to keep ready the white unsalted homemade butter
Or in its absence more ghee
To butter the hot bread with.
Some helpers must now make ready the other essential accompaniments of the VID
Curd and buttermilk, and sliced carrots and radish
Whole red or white onions mildly smashed with a ghotna or wooden pounding stick
And peeled but not sliced, ready to be pulled apart by the diners
Each of whom would get one full thus smashed onion on his plate
Alongwith one or two buttered Maize Tortillas piled on top with the Saag
Again topped with a scoop of white butter or fresh cream
And the carrot and radish salad
And some freshly made Amla or Indian Gooseberry pickle
With gooseberries fried in mustard oil with salt, turmeric powder and coriander powder
And if asked for, some mango pickle as well.
A walnut- sized lump of jaggery would also be placed in the thali or brass serving plate of each diner
The curd in a small bowl for each diner is left unseasoned
But the buttermilk is usually salted spiced up further with black salt, coarsely ground black pepper, as well as freshly roasted and ground cumminseed powder.
These are great accomplishments with which to wash down the Saag- Roti.
The sweet jaggery can be eaten at any point during the meal but is usually left till last
To be eaten with the final morsel of Makki di Roti
Or Maizeflour Tortilla
And some fresh unsalted butter or cream or warm fluid ghee
- That’s enough dessert after such a full meal.
Now tell me, is that not a meal fit for a king or a queen ?
Far away from home, if homesick for this VID, one has to make do
For restaurants serve only a travesty of it
And many serve the Saag with wheat chapatis
Or with Missi Roti, which is made of a mixture
Of gram flour and wheat flour, seasoned with salt and caraway seeds.
In England in the nineteen seventies one could find tins of Sohna or Verka Mustard Saag
Exported by the Government of Punjab and sold by Indian stores
And in the United States and Canada in the nineteen- nineties
I found it still available as such, but with the added benefit
Of Mexican Corn, Maize or Wheat Tortillas.
I always tried to make fresh tempering of onion, garlic, ginger and green chillies to go with it
And to add the curd, buttermilk, carrot, radish
Onion, green chilly and pickle accompaniments for good measure
And always shed a metaphoric tear or two induced by nostalgia
For my village, my grandmother, and the clay oven in our open backyard.
My guests to such a VID meal were always delighted
For though they knew it was not authentic
They appreciated the thought and effort behind it
And while the non sub continental ones had nothing to compare it with
The guests from India and Pakistan, especially those from Punjab
Were just so sentimental about this signature meal from rural Punjab
That their emotions made up for the lack of authenticity in the meal served to them.
Such is the magic of our age old culinary treat
Sarhon da Saag te Makki di Roti
2. POEMS AS FOOD
(A Self Renga)
The sudden burst
Of chilli on your tongue
Satirical Senryu
The headiness
Of Rice Wine Sake
Japanese Haiku
Biting and chewing
The sweet bread of a Sonnet
So satisfying
The Rose Petal Kheer
Of a delicate Ghazal
Unforgettable
The bold Biryani
Of an Irregular Ode
A full meal
The rustic potage
Of an Ecologue
Pastoral Idyll
The Greek Retsina
Of Epic Heroic Poetry
Most influential
The Honeyed Wine
Of Horace’s Lyrics
Latin Poetry
The Korean Kimchi
Of a thought-provoking Sijo
Very inspiring
The Malaysian Satay
Of a rounded Pantoum
Tasty and nourishing
The Burmese Khao Suey
Of a graded Than Bauk
With echoing rhymes
The French Chocolate
Of a charming Rondeau
A real treat
The Italian Ravioli
Of a sensuous Sestina
Worth the effort
The Scottish Haggis
Of a Highland Ballad
Or Border Song
The Irish Stew
Of the Ae Freislighe form
Brief or long
The English Breakfast
Of an Aubade with benefits
Very tempting
After Dinner Mints
Of a Sweet Serenade
Fragrant Dreams
The Funeral Meats
Or Wake of an Elegy
So appropriate.
