Food talk
Novel dessert

The refreshing badali mein chand can also make a balanced
breakfast or light lunch, says Pushpesh Pant

THIS one we owe to Zakia Apa. She was the one who treated us most recently to a nayaab shahi tukra, light and refreshing that was, which wore a coronet lovingly crafted with kali gajar ka halwa. Zakia Zaheer belongs to one of the most illustrious clans of Awadh and has kept her roots intact, despite a lifetime spent in hectic globetrotting. She has written a delightful little book in Hindi titled Zindagi Zinda Dilli Ka Naam Hai that has been published by Yatra/Penguin. It has a moving chapter on foods recalled from childhood memories — foods that have now become extinct. She not only evokes nostalgia but also makes a powerful plea to not let the memories fade. The recipes of these ‘threatened species’ deserve as much attention as the rarest of rare flora and fauna. Kali gajar ka halwa for us is in this ‘red list.’

To be honest, we had tasted the stuff before and loved it — a friend from Lucknow, now residing in Dubai, had brought it as a special seasonal gift but we had not come across the delicacy for years. Kali gajar is not really black but of deep violet hue like a beetroot and is used in Punjab for the preparation of kanji, a mustard and rock salt-laced palate-tingling appetiser. We have never encountered it in a subzi or paired with other partners in salad or seen people munch at it with gajar-muli sprinkled with chat masala and drenched with limejuice.

Inspired by Zakia Apa, we ventured to improvise and am extremely pleased to share with our readers a light novel dessert.`A0It is not laden with guilt-inducing ghee and khoya, nor does it require the assistance of expensive dried fruits and nuts to shine. Supplement it with hung yoghurt and you have already travelled a long distance towards`A0a beautifully balanced breakfast or light lunch.

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