Weekend food plan: Recreate regional new year recipes

There is a practice followed at the Jagannath temple in Puri, Odisha around this time of the year. Going by the Hindu calendar, on the first day of the Baisakha month (April-May), devotees at the centuries-old shrine pray, and then distribute pana, a cooling drink prepared with either yoghurt, chatua (sattu), or a seasonal fruit, out of earthen pitchers. It is fascinating how Pana Sankranti, the Odia new year, borrows from this drink, and celebrates nature’s cycles that largely govern the diverse food customs and festivities across the country.

From late March to mid-April, India ushers in new year celebrations in different regions, each depending on the harvest calendar. Next week, there's Poila Baisakh in West Bengal, Bohag Bihu in Assam, Buisu in Tripura, Puthandu in Tamil Nadu and Jur Sital in Bihar around April 13-15. What ties these occasions is an indulgent spread, home-cooked with the season’s best produce.

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Let’s take a look at a few of them along with community-specific recipes from food researchers and home chefs.

Pana Sankranti, Odisha
Sweta Biswal, Odia food expert and cookbook author, Bhubaneshwar

“In the week leading up to Pana Sankranti, the children were sent out to scout the neighborhood for signs of ripening bael (wood apple) on the numerous trees. A perfectly ripened bael falls to the ground under its own weight, cracks open, and releases a distinct, sweet aroma. The leads were quickly reported to grandmothers or mothers, who would then send the word to the neighbour with the 'blessed' tree. Someone would then be enlisted to climb the trees to pick the semi-ripe fruits. These would be carefully stored allowing them to ripen just in time for a delicious festive drink. With final exams behind us, we children, had a gala time being part of these little adventures.”

Recipe for Bela Pana

Ingredients
1 ripe bael (wood apple)
Half cup curd/milk
Half cup chenna (paneer)
1 small ripe banana
3 tbsp sugar or jaggery
One-fourth tsp black pepper powder
A pinch of green cardamom

Method

Break the shell of the wood apple with a rolling pin and scoop out the flesh. Put it in a mixing bowl and add 2 cups of cold water. Rub the mass with your fingers to loosen the fibre/seeds and extract the juice. Strain the juice using a sieve. Transfer the remaining pulp back to the mixing bowl, add 1 cup of cold water and extract any remaining juice. Strain the juice and throw away the pulp. Add the remaining ingredients and mix. Serve as is, or cool for a while.

Buisu/Bisi Kwtal, Tripura
Sanhita Dasgupta Sensarma, food researcher, Kolkata

“While growing up in Agartala, Buisu, which is the local name of the new year, was usually about eating all kinds of seasonal bitter greens. It was almost mandatory to drink up a concoction as a morning ritual, made of basak pata, a herbaceous plant known for its medicinal properties and kancha holud bata (fresh turmeric, pounded). And there was neem begun, which is prepared using tender neem shoots and brinjal, a dish synonymous with Bengalis primarily because of the similar geographical terrain and cross-cultural influences. Lunch on the day also calls for a feast comprising meat dishes, including the local favourite Tohan Mosdeng, a chicken or pork made bhorta-style or a mash.”

Recipe for Tohan Mosdeng

Ingredients
1 kg diced chicken cubes
2 finely sliced onions
30 gm ginger, julienned
10 green chillies, dry roasted
Salt to taste 

Method

Boil chicken in about 750ml water along with salt and ginger (15g) until cooked or when most of the water evaporates. Coarsely pound the dry roasted chilies, salt and ginger using a mortar pestle. Add this along with sliced onions to the boiled chicken and give it a good mix by hand. Tip: taste of Tohan Mosdeng depends on how well you mix it, not toss it or mash it.

Jur Sital, Bihar
Smita Verma, co-founder, The Bihari Studio, Mumbai

“In the Mithila region of Bihar, Jur Sital is an important day, and with changing seasons, cooling foods become part of the celebrations. While in the cities, these rituals are customised as per individual convenience, folks in the villages continue to observe the day by eating leftover foods from the previous day. There's dal puri, and a drink of chana or jowar sattu along with baby green mangoes, which is distributed. A very popular dish is kadhi badi, which is prepared using green mangoes instead of yoghurt, and enjoyed with rice, along with gourd leaf fritters called tilkora."

Recipe for Kadhi Badi

Ingredients
200 gm besan 
1 small green mango, peeled and mashed into a paste
1 and three-fourth tsp red chilli powder
1 and three-fourth tsp coriander powder
1 and three-fourth black pepper powder
One-fourth tsp cumin powder
One-fourth hing
One-third tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp mustard oil
One-fourth tsp turmeric
1 tbsp ghee
1-2 dried whole chilli
Salt to taste 

Method

Keep one tbsp besan aside. Make a batter with the remaining besan along with red chilli powder, salt, turmeric and hing until fluffy. Now heat some mustard oil, and put one tsp of batter to make a badi. Fry well. Repeat the process with the rest of the batter. Keep a bowl of cold water on the side and place the badis in it. 

Now, make a slurry with 1 tbsp besan and some water. In the same oil, fry the dry spices, and add the slurry, stirring continuously. Put the badis and adjust the consistency of the kadhi by adding more water if needed. Now add the mango and simmer for about 10 minutes. For the tempering, heat ghee, add cumin seeds and whole dried chilli. Pour this into the kadhi. Serve hot with steamed rice. 

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