Gujarat on my plate

Amongst all things that I miss in these days, the major one is eating out at a traditional gujarati thali restaurant. I miss those enormous plates decorated with a crescent of small katoris, all filled with delectable stuff. The spread is thoughtful too! Out of the four main vegetables, one has to be a potato gravy, one sprouts usal, one fried sabji like bhindi, karela and one punjabi paneer dish made in an interesting gujarati style. Then there is an assortment of chutneys to go with at least two types of Farsans, again one steamed, one fried; two sweet dishes out of which one has to be a flavored shrikhand or basundi (can't get over the sitaphal basundi..yum) or aamras depending upon the season and the other one is usually the dry fruit halwa made delicately in the lightest of pure ghee. Breads comprise of ghee laden fulkas, pooris and wheat bhakri- a small round crispy biscuit made out of slightly grainy wheat floor.  Papads of different variety are usually heaped on a side plate. Rice or khichdi and gujarati daal or kadhi to give it a finishing touch. (I am in love with the slightly spicy and sweet and sour gujrati daal). And lastly unlimited supply of buttermilk to wash everything down. I know each one of us has tasted this quintessential Gujarati thali but just describing everything in detail so that all of you too start missing it as much as I do!

Kathiawadi food might agree with general Indian palate better because of liberal use of chilli in each form. On a winter night, a kathiawadi dhaba is the place to head to! Bajra rotla, ringan bataka shaak, sev tamatar shaak, khichdi, coupled with stuffed and fried chillies, dollops of white butter and unending supply of jaggery are the dishes to die for. 

I am amazed at the way they serve food in these restaurants. The servicemen are extremely courteous, mostly donning a traditional attire. And their job is to prod you to eat more. If they find you lacking in speed or not eating enough, they might alert the manager who in turn will coax you further to have another serving of kaju halwa or might even propose to remake a certain dish as per your taste if you have a problem with it. 

So, once, while on a yearly visit to a renowned thali place - (the food is such that once-a-year visit to this place normally suffices) - so even after feeding us to their hearts' content, the chief supervisor still kept asked me, 'have su aapu mari ben?' I finally replied, 'ek khaatlo aapi dejo' - arrange for a khaat, we will sleep here only and restart eating the moment we get up again so that you don't feel bad! 😅 So reluctantly they allowed us to leave but not without the extra serving of mukhvaas. 

So since I missed my visits to these wonderful places, we had a mini thali session at home. I made the irresistible sev tamatar sabji, multigrain rotla, white dhokla, aamras and those stuffed green chillies..An humble attempt to relive those thali days!