Hot foods to fight the chill

What's served piping hot may not be warm food. These food items have intrinsic heat- generating properties that help rev up circulation
Pushpesh Pant

From left: Vitamin-packed gaajar ka halwa, iron-rich gur ke chawal, energising khus khus ka halwa, nutritious besan ke ladoo and rasa, a soyabean soup

When winter comes, there are some who don’t console themselves with the clich`E9d thought that now spring can’t be far behind. Instead, they take delight in the chill and prepare to warm body and soul with hot stuff.

Ayurveda and Unani both classify food or ingredients as having hot or cold properties (guna and taseer) that speed up or slow down body metabolism and either engender passionate excitement or subdue stirrings of desire or outbursts of anger. These are labelled as satvik and tamsik (light and dark in the Tibetan system of medicine). Kabutar ka shorba was prescribed to patients who had suffered a paralytic stroke to dissolve the blood clots in the brain by raising temperature. Eggs are believed to have inherent heat and that’s the reason that the sale of hard-boiled eggs shoots skywards as soon as winter descends.

Season to revitalise

The trick to remain healthy and happy is to harmonise these with your body type, psychological predisposition and changing cycle of seasons. What shouldn’t be forgotten is that seasons too are ascribed with qualities either sapping or gifting vim and vigour. Summer is categorised as grahan period that drains vital energy and winter as adaan — a time to recoup losses and revitalise the body. Most of our traditional recipes have evolved through millennia, according to this wisdom. It is not surprising that almost all the rich recipes pack their punch with power of ghee/oil, sugar, dried fruits and nuts and/or aromatic substances and spices with time-tested heating elements like saffron, nutmeg, mace and cloves.

Some ingredients like the now-banned kasturi (musk) and ambar (amber gris) have long enjoyed the reputation as potent aphrodisiacs as miniscule quantities added to food were guaranteed to result in a flush of blood to the face and elsewhere. Piste ka salan and kundan kaliya, prepared with 22-carat gold leafs were created by chefs to meet the needs of their princely patrons enfeebled by over-indulgence in pursuit of sensual pleasure. Commoners with means too tried some of this stuff to supplement the warmth provided by quilts and blankets.

Richer Northern fare

In this context, it is worth emphasising that the repertoire of delicious winter delights is far richer in northern India where winter chill is far more pronounced than in the peninsular south. Paye or trotters are a quintessential winter delicacy. In Hyderabad, the traditional combo is with zubaan or tongue. The kharode ka soup in Punjab is like the paye, slow cooked overnight to extract all the gelatinous juices from the bones and is spiced strongly to flavour the dish. Nihari, though now cooked round the year and served at any hour again is best enjoyed in winter mornings. Rich with fat, though to a lesser extent than myriad its gravy is thickened with roasted atta. It can be ‘tailored’ to taste as it is served with garnishes like finely chopped green chillies, coriander, roasted cumin seeds powder, halves of lemon, diced green ginger, finely sliced deep fried onion and mint. It originated in Delhi to serve as ‘soldiers’ brunch’. Its best paired with khamiri roti.

Halim is a one-dish meal associated with the holy month of Ramdan. It is a delicious and wonderfully nourishing porridge prepared with boneless mutton, broken wheat, m`E9lange of pulses, aromatic spices. Lucknow, Rampur, Hyderabad, Bhopal and Kochi, all have their own rendering of this classic that is admirably suited as winter fare. Taar Qorma is a fat laden thick gravy dish equally popular in Rampur and Hyderabad. The name, we are told, is derived from the string consistency of the fat-floating on the surface.

Food that produces heat

In Awadh, Maullaham — an exceptionally rich meaty delicacy came to revitalise the elderly weak in flesh but with a willing spirit. Halwa, according scholars of food history, reached Indian shores with Arabs. This bit of information has left us a little confused as we have always believed that the royal sage Vishwamitra was led astray by the temptress Menaka with an absent-minded, mouth-watering lick of the seductive halwa prepared by her. And what else is Chyawanpraash, if not a halwa packing enough latent heat to charge up the libido of another sage whose spirit was willing but the flesh was weak? Suji, atta and moong dal halwa, along with gajar ka halwa, are winter staples in north India. There are many other, more exotic warming versions like badam (almonds), akhrot (walnuts), khajoor (dates), khus khus (poppy seeds) and chholiye (green gram). To enhance their tonic value, these are enriched with dried foods and nuts.

Tasty tonics

Indian fruit preserve go by the name of murabbe the most popular being, amla, gajar, seb and baheda. These were included in the winter diet as tasty tonics.

Haldi ki subzi, that is at times served in marriage banquets in Rajasthan is a unique gastronomical thermal. It is prepared with kacchi haldi, sliced fine and cooked with tomatoes, onion and garlic with chillies and garam masala and a lot of ghee. Villages in the Punjab have a strong tradition of preparing pinni and panjiri from a great variety of ingredients. No one complained about excess calories then. Gur ke chawal were also immensely popular, as were gurh ke parathe. Gajjak and patti, combined gur with til or moongphali to unleash the "power of two." Purists could be pleased only with unrefined gur or better still raab. Those who fancied themselves as finicky foodies insisted on spice and nuts enriched mini ‘cakes’ of freshly made gur. In the Hindi heartland of UP, Bihar and Rajasthan, methi ke laddu were prepared at home. The more affluent enjoyed kesar badam ka dudh, thickened by slow boiling for long and the not-so-well off sipped kaadha dudh, topped with malai in earthen kulhars. Those who could not afford this, made do with masala chai.

Joy of slow cooking

In hill villages in Uttarakhand, people continue to slow cook (on a cast-iron karhai) rasa a thick soup of black Soya bean and assorted lentils that is considered invigorating. Badami roti was thick seasonal bread, cooked on tawa that encased a thin spicy layer of daal filling. Like bajra or makki ki roti too requires certain skill and perhaps this is the reason why it is threatened with extinction. Or is it that the wannabe kachori, badami puri, has upstaged it? Ghaul dale alu (potatoes baked overnight in their jacket in the fireplace) are seldom encountered nowadays. In rural Bihar, though shakarkandi (sweet potatoes) after receiving the same treatment continue to be popular. Last winter, a friend introduced us to girode-deep fried yam sprinkled with chaat masala. Few of us are aware that the ubiquitous garam masala gets it name from the heat-generating ingredients used in the ground mixture: jaiphal, javitri, laung, daalchini, kali mirch etc. There are other ingredients too like garlic, saunth (dried ginger powder) chuhara (dried dates) and anjeer (figs) with similar properties. Ingredients reputed to raise the body temperature include — now prohibited- animal produce like kasturi (musk)and ambar (ambar gris). Do not despair as what is available freely in the market should be enough for you to please the palate and keep the cold at bay.

For those who need to weight and watch

All things nice, packed with sugar n spice and dripping with butter and ghee are irresistible in winters but what about those who have dietary restrictions? As advancing years catch up with us, we ourselves are forced to measure our dining pleasures literally in teaspoons. The good thing is that many of the tastiest tid- bits and even substantial satisfying meals can be prepared without hazardous-to-health substances. No, we are not suggesting artificial sweeteners or ‘zero’ cholesterol good for the heart Omega-3 rich oils but just reminding our dear readers of often overlooked ingredients that warm us up with a gentle blush. Dried fruits — prunes, figs, apricots or frozen ones with a trace of honey can literally light a fire. Dried ginger, peppercorns, nutmeg and mace, cinnamon add a zing to any recipe. Don't be shy of picking up what appears to be "exorbitantly expensive" stuff. Chances are that only a miniscule quantity will be required. Saffron for instance — a few strands go a long way. Pistachio and almonds aren’t the only nuts around. Good old groundnuts and sesame seeds are capable of spreading as much happiness. Don't let the sense of deprivation depress you. A small bite of even the forbidden stuff is not going to kill you. But don't make it large ever or succumb to the temptation for seconds. — (See Page 5 for recipes of traditional winter recipes)

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