Ripe for a Summer
The fruit mania in May is all
about the mango, but do not forget the mulberry and the bird cherry that are
disappearing from our tables
If May is here, can mango
wars be far behind? No sum mer in the subcontinent can be complete without the
aam aadmi. What kind of a person are you -an alphonso man or a langda one? Your
choice often says a lot about you. Should you venture off the pulpy path and
cham pion the lesser-known mallika or imam pasand, or makurad, it makes even
more of a political state ment. In that case your mango politics is definitely
deemed left of centre! The mango is much more than a fruit in India.
It is politics, religion,
sociology, history all rolled into one. In fact, the spread of the Mughal
empire in Hindustan and the trans formation of its rulers from conquerors to
empire-builders can be traced through the changing status of the mango on the
emperors' table. From the Baburnama, we know that the “prestige fruit“ was most
certainly the melon. The new rul er craved for the sweetness of Samar kand. But
Babur's descendants, born in the subcontinent, tasted flavours differ ently.
Mango, the ancient Indian fruit, became Akbar's choice. He is known to have
planted an extensive or chard outside Agra. And it was also Jahangir's passion,
after whom a variety is named.
The Mughal empire declined
but the mango's popularity didn't.
Ghalib, Delhi's most famous
poet, la mented about the destruction of the city post 1857. But heart ak
aside, what he break also left behind, in various letters ers to friends, is a
precious ord: the names of almost 400 varirecord: etiess of indigenous mangoes
that he tasted through his life. (Today, about 1,000 exist in India.) A
surprising number of those varieties still exists, even as newer ones are added
to our tables. All the mangoes are not the wild fruit of antiquity, but varie
ties produced by grafting, first introduced by the Por tuguese in India.
Alphonso, named after
Afonso de Albuquer que, a Portuguese general, has started making its way into
the markets, its fragrance marking a really short season. The rest of the
varieties will follow suit -the intense kesar from Gujarat in later May,
Malihabad dussehri through June and finally the langda from Banaras, named
after a lame sufi who appar ently found it growing, in July.
The Other Fruits
The mango may hog all our
attention, but there are other lesser known fruits that have dominated Indian summers
-even if they are now disappearing from our tables. Melons, plums and peaches
aside, fruits like chikoo (sapodilla), bael (Bengal quince) and shahtoot
(mulberry) have been an intrinsic part of summers, providing water, fibre and
nutrients in the hot weather.
You may no longer see
shahtoot, literally, “king's berries“, in the cities. But its season is May,
and if you are lucky, you may come across the elongated dark or white berries
on carts in neighbourhood markets. The mulberry is, of course, associated with
silkworms. In Mughal times, this was the tree that lined the Grand Trunk Road
and also used to graft figs.The white mulberry is a native of China while the
dark one of Iran.
Bael, on the other hand, is
an indigenous fruit (it is regarded as holy in Shiva worship). It belongs to
the citrus family and its fibrous pulp is ideal for summers, helping the body
retain water. In ayurveda, the fruit and all parts of the plant are regarded as
highly nutritious, curing many diseases, from diabetes to depression. The
traditional way of eating it is to soak and boil the pulp, making a sher bet
out of it. But it is a disappearing food tradition.Some fruit, however, get
turned a (commonly preparations. Lasoda into spicy preparations called bird
lime or the Indian cherry) is available in local markets in Rajasthan and parts
of northern India for just 15 days a year. It looks like an olive, is sticky
and the only way to eat it is to cook it very slowly with spices still it loses
the gumminess.
Praise the Gourds
It is the largest family of
fruit (cucurbitaceae) -even if we generally look down on its members. Tinda,
torai, parval, karela and other gourds and squashes have traditionally been a
huge part of summer cuisines in India. Both the parval (pointed gourd) and karela
(bitter gourd) are indigenous.
According to ayurveda,
bitters improve digestion and promote good health. In many communities, the
traditional advent of the new year in mid-April is marked by a ritualistic
consumption of neem leaves, to promote healthy living d through the year. In a
season marked by dis ease, the bitter gourd was prized in tradi tional kitchens
as much for therapeutic use as for gourmet dining.. The most popular gourmet
method of cooking the karela reflects the syncretism that defines all Indian
food. Stuffed with on ions and spices, it obviously takes after the Turkish
dolma variety of dishes.
Desserts made from gourds
and squashes have been a Mughal-based tradition. Delicacies like the Agra petha
(made from ash gourd) and the vegetable halwas of Lucknow and Delhi reflect a
Persian-Turkish influence.
In Banaras, the
inventiveness goes a step further. Parval ki mithai is made by slitting the
whole fruit, stuffing it with khoya and nuts. The entire fruit is then coated
with thin sugar syrup. This was modern Indian cooking, before the advent of
contem porary dining.
|
Anoothi
Vishal
|
ETM1MAY16
No comments:
Post a Comment