Tradition served on the local plate

Of late, stand-alone restaurants and star restaurants across the country alike have taken to serving local cuisines in the most authentic form possible, observes Azera Parveen Rahman.

Only in an Andhra home will you enjoy the gongura mutton, or in an Assamese home, savour the fragrance of the joha rice and the delicate taste of khar or taste the delectable patra ni machhi at the dining table of a typical Parsi family. True? Not anymore. Gone are the days when home-style food seemed to have taken a back seat to cuisines from around the world, as restaurants catered to that fad with a vengeance.

Today, it’s all about going back to the roots, rediscovering culture by savouring authentic meals from across India. With restaurants, that serve traditional food typical to a region or a community, springing up everywhere, one needn’t wait to be invited to someone’s home.

In Delhi, a restaurant, which serves authentic Assamese food, always has its tables occupied. Started three years back by an enterprising couple, SK Bezbaruah and his wife, the restaurant in Assam Bhavan gets a variety of customers, including a large number of foreigners and students.

“In the past, when I used to visit Delhi, it pained me to see some food stalls dishing out just masor tenga (tangy fish curry) and bhaat (rice) in the name of Assamese food. This was a blatant misrepresentation of our cuisine. So when we were invited by the Assam government to open a restaurant in Assam Bhavan, we decided to provide a true representation of the region’s culinary fare,” says Bezbaruah.

The restaurant offers two kinds of thali, or food platters – Vyanjan Thali, which according to Bezbaruah, is close to what Assamese people have in their homes, and then there’s the Parampara Thali, which is what is offered to guests. Pigeon and duck meat preparations are a part of the Parampara Thali, along with fish curry, while dal (lentil), khar, and pitika (mashed potato) are part of both platters.

To keep the fare authentic, two things are kept in mind – use of the right ingredients as well as cooking techniques. Bezbaruah informs that he sources the joha rice and dhekia haak (a leafy vegetable) straight from Assam. In addition, he ensures that the food is low on spice and is mostly prepared in mustard oil — just the way an Assamese homemaker would.

For Delhi-based Anushree Barua and her parents, a trip to Jakoi means getting a taste of the Assamese produce that they miss so much. “Although we often have fish curry and rice that is common to any Assamese household, my parents miss the local produce that one doesn’t get here — like our typical rice and some vegetables varieties. That is what we come looking for,” she says.

“Razor sharp” pricing, apart from great taste, of course, is what pulls the crowds into a restaurant serving authentic Telugu cuisine in Hyderabad. B V Uttam Reddy, the managing director of this restaurant opened the food joint to re-introduce authentic Telugu cuisine to people.

He explains, “It’s sad when people visit Hyderabad and think about eating just the biryani, Irani chai and khubani ka meetha. They don’t go for Telegu cuisine because they don’t know much about it. That’s why I set this restaurant up nine years back. Also I think because of lifestyle changes and people living away from their homes, such cuisine brings back fond memories of home.”

Although the menu offered majorly covers food from one region alone - Rayalseema - Uttam says that the menu covers food cooked in any home across Andhra. “For instance, the Gongura mutton, a kind of tangy, spicy preparation, is a favourite of Andhra families. Similarly, we have country chicken, which is a must try.” The ragi ball is another must-try, as are mamsam pulusu (mutton curry), and malai kulfi.

Even though there is a great deal of emphasis on the quality of ingredients used in such an eatery, the real challenge, according to Uttam, is “serving local food locally”, because one is essentially competing with housewives. “Sometimes women come up to us and recommend some traditional dish, which we take into consideration,” he adds. With its growing popularity – there are four outlets in Hyderabad – Reddy now plans to expand to other southern cities like Chennai and Bengaluru.

So what has rekindled an interest in traditional Indian cuisines, especially among youngsters? Bengaluru-based student and food blogger, Aarti Sachdev feels that it is the realisation of the richness of one’s culture. “When I was in the US for two years while I was doing my Masters, I realised that people there were so keenly interested in my culture; and while we looked westwards for everything, they were looking at us for inspiration. That made me realise that there was so much I had not explored in India itself,” she says.

Once she got back, Aarti started her discovery of India through food, and began writing a blog on different cuisines. She now uploads many traditional recipes.

Of course, the ‘interest’ in different cuisines is not entirely a new thing, opines Niharika Devaya Cursetji, co-owner of a restaurant in Pune, which serves Parsi food. “Earlier, it was about going to your friend’s place and enjoying a good South Indian, Bengali, Naga, or Maharashtrian meal, and then asking your mom to make something similar at home. These days, there are restaurants for you to have different kinds of food,” she says.

What is significant is that her restaurant often has Parsi families coming in for a lavish meal. “Because of the lack of time and hectic schedules, people don’t cook the way they used to and many from the (Parsi) community crave for their own traditional food,” elaborates Niharika.

A loyal kitchen staff — their head chef has been there for 25 years, as long as the restaurant itself; personal interest in sourcing the ingredients – Niharika and her staff don’t rely on suppliers but do all the shopping themselves; as well as traditional methods of cooking, like stone grinding the spices instead of using the electric grinders, all add up to give the food its distinct character.

“Dhansak, which is rice served with mutton in a uniquely spiced dal and kebabs, is an all-time favourite. Patra ni machhi, sali boti, chicken farcha and Parsi stew are some other popular dishes,” Niharika says, adding that celebrations like the Parsi New Year further attract people, especially youngsters, to try out traditional cuisine.

Local food is the best representation of a place or a region because its main ingredients constitute locally available produce and the style of cooking has its roots in the climatic condition, requirement of the people, and so on. These days, five-star hotels too have a special menu of home-style food, which has select homemakers coming in to cook. These are, in fact, quite popular with tourists who are keen to get an authentic experience.

Above everything else, it’s important to preserve the local flavours and traditional foods of a place, and bring them to people who are adapting to a changing lifestyle. That’s the only way to ensure that those flavours don’t get lost with time. Whether it’s about providing a true taste to foodies, preserving family culinary secrets or discovering new tastes, dining-out home-style is all that and more.