Food to beat the winter blues

When the mercury dips, the days turn short, the skin feels dry and a mere hot cuppa fails to suffice, India digs into her chest of traditional winter recipes to stay warm. Whether it is the Kashmir valley or the Himalayan foothills, the Indo-Gangetic plains of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar or the deserts of Rajasthan, the sprawl of the Godavari basin covering Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh among others or the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu, every region and community has its unique recipes. Each standing out for both, ingenious choice of local ingredients and cooking techniques, here are our favourite ten:

Sagolir Manxo

This Assamese style mutton preparation in mustard oil is a must-have meal. Its tribal variant actually uses the ghost pepper, or bhoot jolokia, which generates such heat that the body breaks into instant sweat.

Hareesa

To call this Kashmiri winter special a labour of love will be an understatement. Because it needs to be slow-cooked. For hours. So that the wheat, meat, rice and spice integrate into a nice, sticky consistency. Served searing hot with oil poured on top, it can easily keep you going for hours.

Sarson da saag with makke di roti

This thick gravy made of mustard leaves, served with cornflour rotis can make you weep with joy. Rich in iron and protein, the nutritional value, taste and colour are enhanced by adding spinach leaves while cooking. Add a dollop of white butter for good measure.

Ponkh

Tender milky jowar (sorghum) taken off the cobs, roasted and flavoured with garlic and chilly. Gujarat has other stuff like the ghaari (sweet ghee fried fritters stuffed with dry fruits) and kandh (purple yam) and nee puri too, but nothing drives the winter blues away like this spicy humble peasant goodie.

Bajrichi bhakri, thhecha and shenga chutney

This flat bread made from pearl millets is a great source of protein, phosphorous, calcium and iron for the body to make it through winter. The coarsely pounded thechcha and/or the peanut chutney are perfect for this season. If you have kids, change the thhecha/ chutney for molten jaggery mixed with ghee in equal proportion.

Thiruvadarai Kali and ezhukari kootu

This cardamom-flavoured sweet dish made with rice, jaggery and cashew nuts is often served with the savoury ezhukari kootu, a mixed vegetable, tur dal preparation in spicy tamarind base. The combination will warm the cockles of your heart.

Kochchu hindee

Made with soaked methi (fenugreek) seeds ground with chillies, garlic, tamarind, ginger and salt into a fine paste, it’s kept in a cloth covered earthen pot left out in the open chilly morning dew for two-three days. Rich in iron, potassium, calcium, zinc, manganese, selenium, magnesium and copper, the fenugreek seeds also give you thiamine, riboflavin, folic acid, niacin, vitamins A, C and B6. So what are you waiting for?

Pidiya

This sweet dish from India’s rice bowl state Chhattisgarh uses fermented rice flour, curd, ghee and sugar. Rolled into small laddoos, this melt-in-the-mouth ball of goodness can be an instant source of energy. Two in the morning can keep you full long enough to make you skip lunch!

Phulkopir shingara

This crisper and smaller Bengali version of the samosa with a stir fried spicy cauliflower and potato filling is a must for the self respecting bhadralok to make it through winter. Made without garlic or onion and fried in desi ghee, it just the perfect snack for this time of the year.

Ulavalu Charu

What better way to tackle the cold draught than with this rasam made from horse gram or kulith. This tangy lentil soup made with tamarind water, tomatoes, pepper, coriander, garlic and other spices is the perfect foil for winter. Have it with rice or millet rotis before wolfing it down hot. Slurp!