Hatod <recipes>

One winters night in Hatod, sitting with my neighbor Ajit Singh, we heard the unmistakable boom of a muzzle-loader going off somewhere to the north of us. The Mogia (traditional hunters and forest-dwellers) were out poaching again, and by morning there was five kilograms of excellent de-boned venison for us to show for it. Although everybody in the neighborhood knows we discourage hunting (see: Wildlife), they do love us nevertheless I suppose,... and we do love them too.

Anyway, here was a chance to try out this meat-pickle recipe which had so fortuitously survived passage into the obscurity of the Maharajah of Hoshiarpur's fabulous kitchens coaxed off the loosened tongue of a drunken retainer by none other than Ajit Singh himself!

We proceeded with the entire 5 kilos of meat as follows:

Soak meat (one inch chunks) in 500 ml of good quality XXX Rum for 2 hours

Drain meat and dry on cloth (keep rum aside)

Fry meat pieces in mustard oil till dry of water, and tender, then put aside

Heat leftover oil with leftover rum

Add 1 kg. finely grated onion, 200 gms garlic paste, 200 gms ginger paste

Stir-fry till dry, then add:

> chilli to taste, > 200 gms whole garlic kernels, > 50 gms powdered aniseed, > 50 gms sabut metha, > 2 dessert-spoons kalonji, > 2 table-spoons garam masala, > 100 gms haldi, > 1 litre grape vinegar

Add meat pieces and cook for 15 minutes, then add 100 gms jaggery

Cook for another 5 minutes, and then finally add 5 gms tartary (tartaric acid???), stir thoroughly, put to cool.

Make sure the meat is totally dry and cool before bottling, and it should stay fabulous till finished.

Aaah... good ole mama's cooking!... but I did learn to make this one. Here's how:

Take a kilo of big pieces from a big carp, wash, coat liberally with Haldi powder and salt, then set aside for an hour on a tray

Cut three large potatoes into extra-thin potato-fingers

Keep a kilo and a half of firm tomatoes at hand, and proceed as follows:

Heat enough mustard oil to deep-fry the fish (1-3 pieces at a time) in a wok

Deep-fry the pieces till golden brown, being careful not to break them (wait for a little crusting before trying to unstick pieces from the wok base, and they'll come off easy)

Now, deep-fry the potatoes with a few grains of mustard seed till just short of browning

Pour off extra oil, and crush tomatoes in (just grab 'em, squish 'em over the wok, and drop the mash in)

Add fish pieces, salt to taste, and enough water to make a thick gravy.

Cover lightly and simmer for 30 mins to 1 hour.

Garnish with fresh herbs and serve hot with plain boiled rice.

Mama's Pepper Cabbage Pork

This is one of the most efficient meals to cook that I've ever prepared. You can substitute spinach for the cabbage if you prefer, and any other meat for the pork.

Wash a kilo of lean pork and drop into the bottom of a large pressure cooker

Ram in as much rough-cut cabbage or spinach ~or whatever other leafy greens you prefer~ as you can over this

Add one tablespoonful of oil, and about the same amount of vinegar

Rough-grind a frightening amount of black pepper over this, with salt to taste

Close the pressure cooker and put over an extremely low flame for about an hour or two, checking periodically sound to make sure it's not dried out (add a tablespoon or two of water only if neccessary)

Serve hot with bread, butter, and sweet port.

Spit-Roasted Tiddlers

In the course of my first trip down the Brahmaputra River on a "raft", I spent an evening and a night with a team of Bihari fisher-folk in their camp on a sand-bar. Since the catch of the day (other than the lot they were drying) had already been sold at the nearest bazaar, the chieftain packed off a couple of eager young lads to catch something appropriate for the unexpected guest (i.e. me), and while the goodies were caught and then cooked, we all sat around talking, drinking, singing, and spit-roasting tiddlers that had incidentally been netted with the main course for dinner.

You'll need a good bunch of tiddlers (fish less than four inches long), salt, kebob-sticks, a good wood-fire, excellent company, and the finest of spirits,... including liquor. Proceed with the tiddlers as follows:

Have a drink or a few while stoking the fire till there are ample coals and ash

Spit 3-6 tiddlers sideways on a kebob-stick,.. place on coals and ash

Turn over every 10-20 seconds. Remove in a minute or less, according to the size of the fish

Dip each tiddler in salt-to-taste as you eat them along with your drinks.

Enjoy!

Ami's Chilli Pickle

This is straightforward good stuff.

Take a half kilogram of fat and hot green-chillies. Slit lengthwise.

Rough-grind the following spices together into grits.

Aniseed................... 1/2 tbsp
Mustard seed........... 2 tbsp
Red chilli powder... 1/2 tbsp
Amchoor................. 1/2 tbsp
Salt.......................... 4 tbsp (suit yourself)

Thoroughly mix the chillies and spices, and put into a clean and adequate-sized clear glass or PET bottle with about 4 tbsp of raw mustard oil.

Sun well for a few days, shaking periodically to spread the oil.

Watch your tongue.

Mahua Moonshine

Mahua is the name of a large tree found all over Central and Western India often lining the highways. In April or so, the trees start dropping firm little white flowers which one can see women and children collecting all over the place. These are then dried and sold in the marketplace, with enough put aside to produce liquor for the household through the year.

The finished liquor has a funny flowery smell which can't be got rid of, but it's really simple to make. In fact, even the flowers left uncollected on the forest-floor get quite a bit of the local wildlife population drunk! Proceed as follows:

Soak 2 handsful of dried Mahua flowers in 2 litres of water for 4 days

Distill,.... Cheers!