Move aside exotic international dishes. Here's a cuisine that can give signature Indian dishes a royal run for their money. Shocking but interesting, these dishes come from the ‘tribals in the jungle areas of Madhya Pradesh, Jhansi and Indore. Another surprising fact is that these foods are mostly vegetarian and has speciality of Jainism.
Taj Banjara in its effort to introduce these never-before-tried cuisine, bring the Bundelkhand food festival.
Termed as ‘tribal cuisine experience' the uniqueness of the taste lies in the style of preparation; the use of raw materials and extensive consumption of different types of millets. Bundelkhandi cuisine claims its roots back to the Jain cuisne.
The speciality is the unique amalgam of wheat and milk with local culinary products. Bundelkhandi cuisine extensively uses clay pot for the preparation of their food and the fact that it is cooked on firewood gives it a unique flavour. The famous dishes of the region are Kunde Ka Bhatta, Murar ka kebab and Tapu. The rice variety is also unusual, one famous being the Kodu til ka bhaat. The two types of rice widely used in this region are Kodu and Kudki. Kodu til ka bhaat is a preparation of rice with black sesame.
In an effort to preserve and revive this cuisine, Chef Manish from Banjar Tola and Kanha National Park has documented the cuisine. He is brought to the city to share these unexplored flavours with food connoisseurs here.
Most of the dishes contain very little oil and no use of artificial flavours. The dal prepared from green sprouts is to be tried. The kunde ka bhatta is somewhat similar to the traditional baigan ka bharta but it has a different steamed feel to the dish. Also the use of the green egg plant gives the dish a bland taste. The puris of the region are made from bajra and jawari and should be tried. In the non-vegetarian range, fish is generously served. Some dishes are Bhunji Macharia, Macharia ke kebab or Machariya tarkari.
The Bundeli gosht and Sighdi wala kukra are two dishes that needs a special mention. They go well with the masala rice.
The desserts are a few but nevertheless each of them should be tasted. The best of them is the Rass kheer a sweet dish which is prepared by mixing the extracts of the mahua flower with milk and millets no sugar is added in this.
The food fest at Taj Banjara will be on till May 9 only for dinner and a meal for two will cost approximately Rs. 1500.
