Indian Winter Foods

Winter treats: Who is afraid of calories?

1- Sauteed green peas 2-Roasted peanuts 3-Nuts & dry fruits 4-Spicy paneer
5-Veg pakodas 6-Boiled, spiced peanuts 7-Matar tikki 8-Masala chai

Foggy mornings, dull hazy days, dark evenings, and long shivery nights. North India is not Greenland or Siberia, but we live through our own extremes - 45 degrees summers and 95% humidity monsoon. So, whether the day temperature is 1 degree or 14 degrees C, December to mid-February is winter for us.

In the days of cold hands, chapped lips and dry skin, when bathing turns into an everyday adventure, clothes do not dry for two days, thick woollens are loaded on bodies, what makes winter bearable for most of us is the thought of razai (cotton-filled quilt) pulled up to chin, with plates piled high with our favourite foods.

Rich, healthy and wholesome food, the eyes refuse to look at, the mind does not think about, and the stomach rejects during summer, is respectfully ushered into the must-haves list. Purpose? To fight the cold.

I am not talking of soups and stews, pot roast or braised meats, hot puddings or mulled wine. My focus is on shuddh Bharatiya (purely Indian) winter food, the kind, the body and mind crave for.

Low temperatures turn us into social creatures. Family and friends get together for snacks and meals, with everyone trying to hog the warmest spot in front of the bonfire or room heater. Conversation starts with badi thand pad rahi hai (It's very cold), asking, “Yeh thandi hawa kahan se aa rahi hai,” (Where is this gust of cold wind coming from?) and searching for cracks in closed windows and doors, debating whether it is colder this year or some other year.

Trays of peanuts roasted over woodfire disappear fast as everyone pulls a small pile before them, shelling and popping them into their mouths with black salt, thin coriander chutney or jaggery, depending on the region. Or chhaunke harey matar (sauteed, seasoned fresh green peas), gazak and chikki, (sesame/roasted gram/peanut brittle).

People get into cooking mode, grating, grinding, sauteing, stirring, mixing, for hours, like preparing weapons to fight winter.

In summer, the same food sits heavily in the stomach for hours. But come winter, and it is like spiritual sustenance.

For a few fearless weeks, fat is not the villain. You polish off plates full of potato, onion, fenugreek, spinach pakoras, with gallons of immunity-booster masala chai (spiced tea), the aroma of cardamom, tulsi (basil), ginger and cloves wafting from it. During a recent visit to Jaipur, I was introduced to paush vada - Rajasthani fried dumplings of soaked and ground black-eyed peas with fenugreek leaves, made especially during the first half of January.

Nuts, seeds and dates beckon you and you obey. You snack shamelessly on whatever your budget says aye to.

Left: Winter veggies Right: Mixed vegetable pickle

Doctors advise that winter is the right time to enjoy local produce packed with natural vitamins and minerals. You can keep your meals cost-effective and sustainable with the colourful greens, cauliflowers, carrots, turnips, beans. Carbohydrates like potatoes get a guiltfree yes. Gorge on parathas stuffed with potatoes, spice mix, fenugreek, radish, cauliflower, peas, or deep fry them into sinful kachoris.

A reader, Animesh Sengupta, once wrote that khichdi (rice and dal cooked together) is his favourite food. Winter is when hot steaming khichdi with a dollop of ghee melting over it whispers ‘come hither’. Health freaks though, will recommend complex carbohydrates like jowar (sorghum): bajra (pearl millet), ragi (finger millet) instead of rice.

Warm ghee poured over dal or parathas, not only provides heat to the body but is psychologically comforting too. The fats nourish, slow down digestion, and keep the body fuelled for longer periods.

Then come the accompaniments – pickles made of carrots, turnips, and cauliflower, their sharpness stimulates appetite dulled by the cold. Fermented kanji of black carrots, is a natural probiotic, and loved equally by the gut bacteria and organic food lovers.

Meat intake also goes up. It is the season to be jolly with bone-broths, spicy, slow-cooked mutton and rich qormas. Somebody recently mentioned  Hanhor Mangxo Komora- an Assamese duck curry made with ash gourd.

1- Undhiyo 2-Bajra khichdi 3-Stuffed parathas 4- Winter spices 5- Mutton curry

Go for Gujarati undhiyu, Odiya pakhala bhata, a thin rice and yogurt dish, or chase the winter blues with spicy, peppery rasam.

Ginger, garlic, black pepper, carrom seeds or sesame, cloves and turmeric, spices that build immunity, increase circulation and generate heat. So go ahead, don’t be miserly. 

No meal is complete without dessert - pinni (roasted dal balls with nuts and sugar powder), panjeeri (roasted wholewheat flour with sugar and nuts), nolen gur (new jaggery) sondesh, gajrela (slow cooked carrot halwa) or Sakkarai Pongal, heart-warming sheera (thin, runny gram flour halwa in ghee). Then there is gur or jaggery, the true powerhouse. Make kheer, (rice pudding) sweet rice with nuts or melt it with ghee and smear on your roti. Eat it plain or spiced, without guilt.

The list is end-less, I could go on and on till the masala chai gets cold. But tell me, what is cooking in your kitchen today?

1-Gur ke chawal 2-Gond laddu 3-Sheera 4-Gajrela 5-Gazak 

                                                                                         -Anupama S Mani