Our passion to discover the rich and diverse regional culinary wonders of India has brought us to a small village in Maharashtra's Nanded district named Mandvi. We thank Kaaram Food & Agro for inviting us for this incredible experience.
Before setting out on this journey we had a hearty breakfast of poha, omelette and aalu vada, one of the preferred combinations over here.
In between our destinations we stopped by a local liquor shop which is very much a part of the culinary canvas over here. Most of the liquors are made of local ingredients like orange, sugarcane, mango, fennel etc. The shop didn't have any arrangements for sitting so the locals would walk in, buy their stuff, pour it into a glass, fill it with water from the tap and gulp it down.
On reaching the countryside lake by a dam, we were welcomed by the gracious family members of the owners of Kaaram Foods. They all had gathered there to treat us with a traditional meal. But first we joined Shravan and Shailesh to catch fish in the lake for lunch. We were surprised to see the local fishermen using thick Styrofoam boats and handmade oars for the purpose. This part of the lake was very serene and it's where all the fishing activities happen. Our fisherman Ashok got us a huge rohu and tilapia fish. Other ones who had got a decent catch sold it to the small local fishmongers who had gathered there.
Soon after we joined Kaaram's co-founder Kalpana Ji and other female family members for preparing the dishes. The menu for the day included fish fry, chicken roast, gavthi handi chicken, patodi rassa, fish jungle roast and fish curry. With the mise en place being arranged, we started with marinating rohu fish pieces with lemon juice for fish fry. Next was the turn of chicken roast. Contrary to the name, it turned out to be a semi dry chicken dish prepared with onions, tomatoes, garlic and some whole spices. While it got cooked, we got back to the fish fry. The gram flour, millet flour and spices based dry mixture prepared to coat the pieces of fish really impressed us because it was an indigenous and healthy alternative for breadcrumbs that gives crunchy coating to such dishes. The fish fry had a crunchy and crusty outer coating and a soft and succulent inner core.
After relishing these two dishes right after being made, we joined Pravin ji to see for fish jungle roast. It is a simple and ancient way of barbecuing fish over open fire. As he turned over the pieces smoldering over the low flames, we gathered a few anecdotes about the village.
Next we joined Kalpana Ji for gavthi chicken handi that turned out to be our favourite dish of the whole spread. In an effortless manner, she conjured up this rich and complex dish in an earthen pot. As the flavourful country chicken curry was left to simmer till done we went back to pravin ji to enjoy the fish jungle roast. Its tender pieces were served with a sprinkle of a few basic ground spices and it tasted great.
After the gavthi chicken it was the turn of patodi rassa. First spiced gram flour chunks were prepared and then it's curry. This was followed by the making rohu fish curry which had the same ingredients as gavthi chicken and patodi rassa but the processing was different.
Finally when these curries were ready we joined Sravan for the meal beside the lakeside. The flavours were rich, robust and enticing all because of the fresh ingredients and the wonderful range of Kaaram spices.
We sincerely thanks everyone present there for this incredible experience.
More about Kaaram Food:
www.kaaramfoods.com
/ kaaramfoods
About the host:
anubhavsapra.com/
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Text by Swetaleena Nayak