The
Gourmet's Paradise
Punjabis
have the reputation of being the greatest producers of
good food and being the still greater consumers of it.
Punjab has bequeathed the institution of Dhaba-originally
a wayside eating joint to the world. The Dhaba moves wherever
a Punjabi goes. There are vaishno dhabas where only vegetarian
food is cooked in pure ghee or clarified white butter.
Dal Makhni, a shining blackish lentil named Urd or Maha
of the Dhaba has become world famous and is served in
Punjab on all ceremonial occasions. Pranthas, stuffed
with seasonal vegetables, fried on a pan, baked in the
tandoor, a barrel shaped oven fashioned out of alluvial
soil, curds, sometimes mixed with khoya-a kind of fudge
made by boiling the milk on slow fire-with chunks of white
butter floating on top; spinach of mustard mixed with
other leaves and special tongue-tingling spices which
is cooked in an earthen vessel on slow fire and chappatis
made out of the flour of maize, panir-cottage cheese-stuffed
with different sumptuous fillings have also become commodities
of export. The saffron-mixed buttermilk(lassi) of Amritsar,
milk boiled with almonds, pistachio and dry-dates in winters
and the same mix boiled into a thick liquid and then solidified
in a banana shaped mould in the form a Kulfi are unmatched
in taste. Panjiri, whole wheat flour fried in sugar and
ghee, heavily laced with dry-fruits and herbal gums in
eaten in the winters to ward off cold.
The
Bazaars of the towns of Punjab are always loaded with
sweetmeats, seasonal fruits and other foodstuffs.
It will need a handbook to describe all the savories of
Punjab. Old towns like Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana,
Patiala also manufactures exotic sherbets.
Punjabi fried and tandoori-baked fish, tandoori baked
and butter chicken, kababs baked on charcoal, Patiala's
Shahjahani Palao and a variety of chicken and mutton curries
and vegetable and meat baryanis are relished the world
over.
The British were astonished to see, when they conquered
Punjab that on the periphery of every village there was
a special Dera or Takia where hospitality was offered
to every wayfarer.
Even today you can not come out of a Punjabi home without
having had enjoyed its hospitality. There are denominational
institutions all over Punjab, specially the Sikh historical
gurudwaras where free board and lodging is offered through
out day and night.
