BENGALURU: Being resourceful is being Indian with the most classic example being our kitchens. From being chided at the slightest wastage of food to clever (re)use of the limited ingredients and leftovers on hand, we have always celebrated this trait. My greatest learning has come from my travels and the people I meet.
During a visit to Rajasthan couple of years ago, I happened to visit Khejarli village near Jodhpur, inhabited by the Bishnoi tribe who passionately guard and co-exist with their natural ecosystem.
In this village, I met Shanti Devi, who raised her family preparing rotis for the local Aanganwadi, after being widowed at a young age. Here came my biggest lesson in resourcefulness with ingredients, because her kitchen and store had less than 10 ingredients! They ranged from millets, spices, basic dairy to sun-dried Ker, Sangri and Guar. In a short time that I spent at her home, I was treated to a most sumptuous meal consisting of “Rabodi’ a simple sabji made out of sun-dried Jowar papads and ‘Raab’ a buttermilk drink thickened with Bajra flour. My won-derment didn’t stop there, as Shanti Devi went on to tell me that she could conjure up at least 50 different dishes with those ingredients!
My greatest takeaway here, beyond the resourcefulness, was our age-old connection with the wonder grains called millets. Before the advent and widespread popularity of processed grains, millets sustained not just the human race but the ecosystem they grew in too. The variety and benefits of millets available in our country is enough data for a book. The green revolution undoubtedly did a lot of good for the Indian farmer, however the millets lost their charm in this era.
But the wheel keeps turning and what goes around comes around. More and more people are becoming aware of and re-adopting millets in their diet. A stand-out grain for me in the list is Finger millet or Nachni as we know it, popular in Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharasthra and many other regions. From the Bhakri (Maharashtra), Ragi Mudde (Karnataka), Keppai Kali (Tamil Nadu) to Pi-tha(Odisa), the grain has been a consistent source of nutrition in its humblest forms. Did you know we are the largest producer of Finger millet?
Food is a giver and I have always believed in this. Serving the Nachni Upma at TAG Gourmart Kitchen, is my humble cog in the wheel, in the hope that it keeps turning forward to more awareness and a better lifestyle for all of us. Also, the idea is to bring Indian grains at par with Western grains like kinova. We make khichdi and porridges with Indian millets. So, that’s how I came up with this recipe. This is another version of a porridge and the challenge was to make it taste like the other upma with these ingredients, as these are not used in making upma. To bring the creaminess in millet and the consistent moist mouth feel were the big challenges.
- Ranveer Brar
The chef was recently in the city for a Mercedes-Benz Luxe Drive.