LLDC 2019 – Part 4: The Kutchi Kitchen

As I emerged from the Assamese Kitchen and reminded myself that I was still in Kutch, I was hit by the aroma of one of my favourite dishes – sev tameta nu shaak – gently wafting out of the Kutchi kitchen and straight into my nostrils!

The Manipuri and Assamese kitchens at the LLDC Namaste festival catered largely to the visiting artists from the North Eastern states, and to epicuirous guests like us seeking new flavours. But the majority of the Kutchi artists, local team members and guests opted for the familiar Kutchi fare. So unlike the Manipuri and Assamese kitchens which were targeting limited covers for each meal, the Kutchi kitchen was cooking for hundreds of diners every day!

The jovial roti team swinging to the music

This kitchen team, buzzing with energy, was considerably larger than the two I’d visited earlier: there was a team of six only to roll out chapatis; and amidst chatter, laughter, whistles and grooving to the music from the live performances, they rolled them out at record speed.

Rotis for daaaays 

The menu of the Kutchi thali was full of crowd-pleasers. First there were the flatbreads - bajra na rotla and gahu ni rotli. Bajra na rotla – flatbreads made of coarse and nutty pearl millet (bajra) flour, hand-patted into discs rather than rolled with rolling pins – are the traditional staple in Kutch. In contrast, Gahu ni rotli, aka chapatis, made of whole wear flour or atta, have been adopted from neighboring wheat-eating states. Today, when doused generously in ghee, both are equally favoured in the region!

Bajra na rotla in the making

Then in the shaak or vegetables section of the meal there was my favourite, sev tameta nu shaak – a sweet and spicy curry of tomatoes topped with crunchy sev, and ringna no olo, aka baingan bharta in Hindi. These were followed by kadhi and mung dal khichdi.

(Clockwise from the top) Three bowls: ringa no olo, shaak, kadhi.
In the plate: rotlo, mung dal khichdi, chutney, adadiya, papad, and samosa in the center.

And for the sweet, there was Kutchi adadiya – a barfi made of urad dal and other complex protein- and fat-rich ingredients, like nuts, edible gum, ghee and warming spices… Can you guess why its a winter special sweetmeat in these parts?

The whole meal was literally a smorgasbord of familiar flavours for my Gujju half!

All in all, dinner at Namaste was an incredible experience – to sit in the grounds of LLDC Museum in the cold, crisp winter air, under the open sky, and dive into three different thalis from three vastly different cuisines!

(L to R) Manipuri Thali, Assamese Thali and Kutchi Thali

And then suddenly, from the corner of my eye, I spotted a small flock of Flamingos gliding across the sky, their pink bellies bright against the navy blue night! All of us stopped mid-chew, and stared up in awe!

I had thought that this year, after the scanty rainfall in the region, I wouldn’t get to see these large migratory water birds that have been known to spend their breeding season in the Rann of Kutch… but was I wrong!

So as the first leg of my Kutch journey drew to a close, and I got ready to bid LLDC goodbye (for this year at least), I couldn’t have asked for a better parting gift than this chance sighting!

For the next leg of my journey, I hopped into a time machine disguised as a rickety state transport bus, and traveled back to the ancient Harrapan civilization at Dholavira.

Magic School State Transport Bus

More on that in my next post.