To the uninitiated, Seabuckthorn tea may resemble an Oolong blend. But, it makes a potent case for its individuality even to the most unversed palate. The mildly sweet cuppa, made using seabuckthorn leaves, that are plucked when young, is a “supplement source of vitamins, lowers blood pressure, regulates cholesterol, is an antioxidant and gives you clear skin,” informs the lady behind the Himachal Pradesh food counter at the ongoing Aadi Mahotsav in Dilli Haat, INA. The festival, organised by the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (Trifed), also features other nutrient-dense foods such as drumstick powder from Odisha, kodo millet from Madhya Pradesh, jamun churan from Chhattisgarh and forest honey from Maharashtra. The representatives of each state emphasise the medicinal and nutritional properties of resources locally available to them while demonstrating the delicious food that can be prepared using ingredients, that may soon, top superfood listicles. We all know about amaranth’s rise to stardom. As one strolls through the tail end of the Mahotsav, large steel utensils brimming with delicacies pave inroads for an investigation into the culinary heritage of the featured tribes while casting a spotlight on the diversity of plant-foods in the country. What also emerges is the self-sufficiency and the low-resource strategies that mark their culinary traditions. The robust dishes are created from merely three or four ingredients — their complexity and balance intact. A sharp tomato, onion and capsicum chutney is served with debra made with bajra (millet), gehu (wheat) and chana (chickpea) flour at the Gujarat food stall. The one next to it doles out large momos filled with chicken mince and half a boiled egg. On the menu, the popular street food from Gangtok is termed Thai phoo. The usual suspects, too, make an appearance. Sabudana vada from Maharashtra sits beside Rajashtan’s dal baati churma, hard balls of dough served with a broth made by mixing five kinds of lentils and a generous garnish of onions, mint chutney, and a dollop of desi ghee. Also available at the Rajasthan food stall is kadhi with sagro. The flatbread made of millets, a staple in Rajasthan, is eaten with curries or garlic chutney and raw onions. Dhuska, deep-fried rice flour discs that are served with a potato curry at the Jharkhand counter, make for an honest-to-goodness meal. Telangana, too, puts its best plate forward with mounds of biryani — mutton, chicken and vegetarian. Odisha, at the festival, serves deep-fried discs of rice flour called khadiya roti that differs from Jharkhand’s dhuska by dint of the sugar that is added to the batter. They are paired with dolma bhaat, in which raw banana, papaya, tomatoes, pumpkin and brinjal swim in a moong dal broth. From Madhya Pradesh, the food of newlyweds is put up — Bhajiya, fritters of gram flour, and what they call “suhari roti” made by combining rice and chickpea flour, wheat and kodo in varying measures. The most arresting flavours, though, are found at the Himachal Pradesh and Assam counters. The Himachal Pradesh counter has a sizeable menu with several dishes that are less known or unknown in the city. Sidu, at the top of the bill of fare, is bread stuffed with walnuts, sesame and poppy seeds, and “mountain herbs”, and is very popular in the state —they make sure to tell their patrons. In the same breath, they mention manna — an ambrosial sweetmeat that is said to find mention in the Bible and is served as prasad during festivals in the Lahaul district of Himachal Pradesh. Assam offers delicacies from its Singpho tribe. The food, at first glance, seems basic with only ginger, garlic, onion, bamboo shoot, coriander and a herb called mezenga, which exudes a seductive aroma, used to flavour meats or vegetable broths, like the banana soup on display — proof that, ever so often, less is more. The festival is being held till November 30
