At MoMo cafe in Courtyard Marriott, chef Anurag Sharma and team are set to welcome guests with a satvik thali, adhering to the strict dietary rules during the Navratri festivities.
To put together this thali, Anurag had only to jog his memory to bring back those foods which he had during the nine days of Navratri as a kid. Anurag says, “I don’t think I undertook fasting. We just followed what our mother asked us to do, and at the end of the day we enjoyed special dishes, which were not cooked everyday. It included a lot of different puris, sabjis and halwa, all vegetarian.”
The fest, designed with pre-set thalis, has three options — a Navratri thali, a Punjabi vegetarian thali and a south Indian vegetarian thali.
In the Navratri special thali presented, I could identify only the sago (sabudana, tapioca pearls) papad. The thali that is available from October 13 to October 25 has a total of nine to ten dishes , including a portion of cut fruits.. All the dishes in the thali must be nutritious and should balance the meal, explains the chef. Hence, a lot of local grains and flours are used.
The Punjabi veg thali | Photo Credit: Prabalika M Borah
I realised that nearly 70% of the thali consists of preparations I have never had before.
The starters include raw banana croquettes and sabudana vada. The deep-fried raw banana croquettes rolled in crushed peanuts are crisp at first bite and mushy inside; even children will love them. The sabudana vada was served with a hung curd sweet raita and had grated cucumber. After sampling the fried starters, I tried the kuttu ka puri, a first for me. They tasted like bajra roti. Filling and tasty, these were to be paired with the dahi-arbi, colocasia — curd gravy curry with a strong flavour of ginger. The unusual preparation will instantly become a favourite.
The sabudana khichdi and the jeera aloo were along expected lines.
For the grains portion, there was barnyard millet pulao tempered and garnished with crushed pepper and cumin with a drizzle of warm ghee.
To end the meal on a sweet note, there was sreekhand and kaddu ka halwa.
Regular flavours
Apart from the South Indian thali that is familiar to diners, there is the Punjabi thali too. The Punjabi vegetarian thali has the usual suspects with specialities like choley, Amritsari kulcha, paneer sabzi, boondi raita, achari pyaaz, kachumbar , a dal and a portion of meetha.
Highlights
- Satvik food is not vegan or Jain
- Satvik cuisine is pro milk and milk products
- Use of onion and garlic is prohibited in Satvik food
