Bombay Buddha Bowls: Gujarati Pasta

“While the ‘who made the pasta first’ wars have raged between enthusiasts of Italian and Chinese cuisine, India has quietly been quietly eating all manner of noodles ever since we have had wheat (about 4000 BC), rice (some say as far back as 8000 BC), and chickpeas (about 2500 BC). Yes, pastas are made from all of them, and are eaten by almost every Indian in some form or other.”

Madhur Jaffrey, food writer and Queen of Curry, explores the history of Indian food, how it has influenced and been influenced by various cuisines of the world, in her book ‘Madhur Jaffrey’s Ultimate Curry Bible’. Above is an excerpt from a passage on pasta from this book. The passage continues:

“Along India’s west coast, Gujaratis not only make hundreds of crisp, chickpea flour noodles, which are eaten as snacks, but also many wholemeal noodles. One, in the form of small nests, can be seen drying on cots in village courtyards. Another, and it would be considered an everyday food, is this next dish, dal dhokli.”

Daal Dhokli as depicted with Tarla Dala's recipe of the dish, from tarladalal.com 

Many have noted this uncanny resemblance that daal dhokli bears with flat noodles or pasta. Including Rushina, who grew up calling the dish ‘Gujarati Pasta’, and even went on to create a daal dhokli ravioli with Gujarati daal sauce inspired by it!

That’s right! The Gujarati bowl in the Bombay Buddha Bowl pop up menu that she has curated for SodaBottleOpenerWala (SBOW) Bangalore is exactly that.

Rushina's Daal Dhokli bowl at SBOW (photo courtesy of Rushina)

A spiced potato and fenugreek stuffed whole what ‘dhokli’ ravioli, cooked by plopping it into boiling hot, tangy and slightly sweet Gujarati daal, served with steamed rice, and her grandmother’s wilted onion salad. And for someone like me – whose favourite part of daal dhokli are the peanuts in the daal – the cherry on top is the sweet and spicy caramelized peanut relish that goes with it! Although I tried the Marathi Bowl for dinner at SBOW, I asked for a portion of the peanut relish on the side just to munch on – that good!

More on the Marathi bowl soon – stay tuned!

The Bombay Buddha Bowls pop up menu curated by Rushina is being served at SodaBottleOpenerWala Bangalore till the 17^th of December – go check it out, and let me know which one you try!