Expat traditions: Samosas & pakodas dominate the great Indian iftar spread

Published: 30 May 2019 - 11:59 am | Last Updated: 03 Nov 2021 - 12:40 pm

Vendors eat their iftar meals in front of their garment shops on a roadside in Kolkata, India May 28, 2019. Reuters/Rupak De Chowdhuri

By AP Muhammed Afsal I The Peninsula

Hunting down a definitive common denominator of an Indian iftar spread is a dreaded task. Apart from the risk of being called partisan or snooty, the breadth and length one must cover is so vast, of continental proportions.

“Wasn’t it a sea?,” wondered Umer Muqthar, a fresh graduate now working at a startup in Bangalore. I had phoned him to suggest something ‘representative’ to set this quick survey rolling. He had spent few years in Delhi, and traveled far and wide of the country enough to take a birds’ eye view of iftar meals.

But he failed to satisfy me, having just listed out his latest flavours of the month in Bangalore, which are badam ka harira, pathar ka gosht and haleem.

India holds the worlds’ second most Muslim population after Indonesia with 172 million. “Every tenth mile you have a separate cuisine,” says Maryam Abdul Samad, a primary school teacher in Qatar, who is originally from Lucknow, the capital of the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Pre-independence, Lucknow served as a later era capital of Awadh, a princely state, which was variously ruled by Mughals, Nawabs and the British.

Despite Ms Samad’s ‘a cuisine at every tenth mile’ theory, the region has a unified cuisine which was richly branded outside and sung by chefs and foodies alike. However, for Ms Samad, Ramadan brings memories of “chana masala, pakoda, chola, fruit chaat and sewaiyan.”

Pakodas and samosas unify Indian iftars though they vary in size, method and in ingredients. Photo: Wikimedia Commons / Takahiro Yamagiwa / CC BY 2.0

I should know this, having spent many iftars in Old Delhi in the last decade. It also occurs to me that in urban and rural areas, the menu may not necessarily include the regions’ best dishes in Ramadan. Unlike other occasions, iftar menu in these settings could be simple, universal and at times ‘working class’. Nourishment is the ‘norm’, not the gourmet or display aspect.

But in small towns, where people are still rooted and relatively well-off without being fast-paced, things are taken into the extreme. Lavish spreads are rolled out to impress and indulge.

In north India, and even parts of Hyderabad and Bangalore, glasses of diluted Rooh Afza make for the ultimate drink after an ounce of water and few pieces of dates soon after breaking fast.

In Qatar, this is the popular squash after Vimto, which are sold mainly to people of Arab origin. Recently there’s a shortage of Indian made Rooh Afza because of issues ranging from maker’s family feud to low supply of raw materials.

In south, especially in Kerala, we used to have lime juice, freshly squeezed, during iftar. However, the widespread ‘health’ concern that the citrus content is not good for a starved stomach seems to put a full stop to this tradition these days.

Fatiha Sultana, a house-maker of Bengali-Assamese origin who lives in Wakrah lists different types pakodas as her favorites: ones made of onion, potato, cauliflower, eggplant and varieties of meats. In a way, we can say pakodas and samosas unify Indian or even South Asian iftars though they vary in size, method and in ingredients.

There’s no iftar without fruit chaat in the north and east India. The recipe is the simplest of all: Cut pieces of fruits, whatever available, into a bowl or container and add few pinches of certain ground allspice sold in groceries as ‘fruit chaat masala’. For some, the essential fruit is guava, because, “it’s good for the stomach,” says Ms Samad. In the south, there are no such rules. Anything goes. But without masala. Watermelon is also seen widely in the mix.

In Old Delhi, sacks of sewaiyan, (vermicelli) in shop front is a marker of Ramadan. After fruit chaat, this could be an ingredient of another simple recipe: Add a fistful of sewaiyan into a bowl of hot milk and you are done. But it’s taken at Suhoor, not iftar. A variety of delicious puddings and kheer could be dished out of sewaiyan if you are creative and it will make your kids happy throughout the day.

Irachipathil is an iftar mainstay in certain parts of northern Malabar. Photo courtesy: YouTube / Dians Kannur Kitchen

Now, let me be a bit partisan here: In Malabar, where I belong in Kerala, iftar dishes are outrageously delicious, especially at my home town Thalassery. But many of them are rich in oil and deep or shallow fried and, leaves you distressed and drowsy.

While unnakkaya (mashed banana stuffed with coconut shavings, cashew nuts, raisin and deep-fried), irachipathil (spiced meat and onion stuffed in samosa-like sheets and deep-fried), pazham nirachathu (whole banana stuffed with coconut shavings, cashew nuts and raisin and shallow-fried) brings a distinctive Ramadan memories, all-season bonda (spiced mashed potato balls dipped in flour and deep fried), parippuvada (deep fried spiced lentil balls), pola (similar to cakes, prepared in bottom-flat utensils. Multitudes of sub-varieties, but beaten egg is constant) etc. also make the cut.

But in southern Kerala, especially Thiruvananthapuram of erstwhile Travancore region, healthier options are available: nombu kanji, a porridge of rice, spices and cumins are so common in mosque kitchens in the capital town.

In between the north Malabar and the South Travancore, tharikkanjhi (also called thari, or thari kachiyathu), is also associated with Ramadan. The taste, look and feel of this porridge, made with semolina, clarified butter and fried onion slices could vary, depending on where you have it from. In the north, beginning Kannur, it’s the thickest and en route to Kochi it gets thinner.

Of all things Ramadan, what I cherish most is haleem, a Hyderabadi porridge of wheat, legumes and meat. But it’s available in few places in Deccan including Bangalore. Even in Hyderabad few places serve haleem throughout the year. (Arabic harees and Malabar aleesa share many common features, though ingredients --except wheat-- and methods vary). Plenty of home recipes are available on YouTube, but still, large-scale cooking is what gives haleem its distinct flavour and aroma. After all, this applies to many dishes, be it majboos or biryani.

Haleem and all other Indian iftar foods are available in Qatar, but without that contrasting backdrop of smoke and dust on the Indian street. Muhammedali Road of Mumbai, Jama Masjid of Old Delhi, Charminar of Hyderabad and coastal food streets of Kozhikode, Ponnani, Kannur and Vadakara are far away places when seeing from tiny, tidy Qatar.

Here’s a stylish fruit chaat recipe:

Recipe & photo courtesy: vegecravings.com

INGREDIENTS

1/2 teaspoon rock salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper powder
1/2 teaspoon chaat masala
1/2 teaspoon roasted cumin powder
1 teaspoon lemon juice
3 cup fruits, like bananas, grapes, apples, pears, etc.

STEPS

Dice all the fruits. This recipe used 2 bananas, 1 apple, 1 pear and a small bunch of grapes. You can add any fruit of your choice.

Mix the fruits in a bowl and add 1/2 tsp rock salt, 1/ tsp black pepper powder, 1/2 tsp chaat masala and1/2 tsp roasted cumin powder. Also, sprinkle 1 tsp lemon juice.

Mix all the ingredients together. Fruit Chaat is ready. Refrigerate for 10 minutes and serve it chilled.

Here’s a simple sewaiyan recipe: