Red hot chilli pepper & Jodhpur's meaty delights

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I've always thought of royal food from the whole volume angle. You know, tables groaning under the weight of the food which is served on elaborate thaals. Lots and lots of delicious courses.

But from Jodhpur, the one phrase I remember is 'Isme mirchi kam hai'. Let me tell you: DO NOT BE fooled, unless you have a tongue made from aluminium and a reinforced stomach. At this point, I also have to let you know that I am NOT a huge fan of spicy food. I can't stomach chilli-based spiciness (though pepper spice is another matter altogether) and Jodhpur, as I found out, was a place where the chilli reigns supreme. When people say that the food is not chilli-hot in Jodhpur, they usually mean it won't burn a hole in the table setting, but can and will sear the tastebuds. Large, virulent and sharp, the red chilli rules the roost, in sharp contrast to the people we met, who were overtly polite and a little too taken by the whole thing of being 'propah' and following the protocol.

Now let's come to the food itself. I found that my main guest on the show, Gaj Singh II, or Bapji, the owner of India's finest art deco palace and the man who used to be the ruler of Jodhpur, has great interest in food himself. Starting with the chillies. Recommended here is the Mathania chillies, which have a powerful aroma and flavour but go easy on the heat. Unfortunately, I discovered later, chillies don't grow in Mathania any longer. At least not the kind that used to grow before. But we did go to a farm where the hotel sources its chillies from, and they were almost bellpepper-like in their sweetness.

We also made some of Bapji's favourite dishes. There was a dish called 'Shweta' cooked by his personal chef Poonaram and the gola kargosh made by Sunder Singh, one of his close associates, for want of a better word.

How did I find the food? Well, in a setting as royal as the Umaid Bhavan, the fare seemed to be strangely simple. The food used very few spices and the flavours and textures which we played with were rural to say the least. No way do I mean to say the food was bad -- it's just that I was surprised to see such simple fare on such a grand table. I guess it was a revelation to find out what Bapji's favourites were!

I've given the recipes which we made below. These are the standardised version, but I must say that something like the Shweta, which we made with Poonaram, did have a spur-of-the-moment element about it, especially since Bapji (as claimed by Poonaram) called and made changes to the recipe itself. So you must use the recipes as a basic guideline only.

Recipe

1. Khud Murg

Serves 2

Ingredients Quantity

Whole chicken I no.

Yoghurt 100 gm

Kachri powder 30 gm

Ginger 15 gm

Garlic 30 gm

Red chilly paste 20 gm

Coriander powder 10 gm

Garam masala powder 10 gm

Turmeric 5 gm

Clarified butter 30 gm

Salt 2 gm

For dough

Whole wheat flour 400 gm

Clarified butter 20 gm

Salt 3 gm

Method

Blend ginger and garlic in a mixer to a fine paste.

Marinate whole chicken with this paste and red chilly paste. Keep it in a cool place for 6 hours

Put rest of the ingredient in a mixing bowl and mix it properly.

Marinate chicken with this marination and store it in a cool place for 6 hours.

For dough

Sieve flour and make a well in the centre.

Add salt and clarified butter and make a dough out of it.

For wrapping the meat

Once chicken is marinated for 12 hours, wrap it with muslin cloth.

Then wrap it with banana leaf tightly.

Roll the dough and make it flat. Wrap this dough around the chicken tightly.

Soak multani mitti (fuller's earth) in little water and cover the wrapped chicken with it.

In a pit put live charcoal and wrapped chicken and cover the pit completely with sand.

With a long pipe blow air to keep the charcoal live.

After 2 hours take it out and remove the upper crust.

Serve hot.

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2. Mutton Shweta

Serves: 04

Ingredients Quantity

Lamb 1 kg

Onion 300 gm

Bay leaf 2 no.

Cardamom 12no.

Ginger paste 15 gm

Garlic paste 30 gm

Red chilly 15 gm

Salt 4 gm

Ghee 100 gm

Cracked millet 400 gm

Milk 1 lt

Ghee 50 gm

Method

Heat clarified butter in a pan and crackle bay leaf, mace and cardamom.

Add onions to the pan and saute till golden brown.

Add the ginger garlic paste and saute it for a while.

Now add the mutton and saute it in high flame.

Add red chilly paste and cook for few minutes in low flame. Add some water.

Add salt and let it simmer till the lamb is cooked and almost dry.

For Shweta

Heat clarified butter in a pan.

Saute cracked millet for a minute.

Add milk to the pan and equal quantity of water.

Cook it till it becomes thick.

Mix the lamb preparation and kheech in a pan and cook for some time.

Serve hot.