GOURMET FILES
Comfort food
VASUNDHARA CHAUHAN
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When it comes to the fare one prefers when one is feeling low, most of us tend to go for simple, bare-essentials stuff.
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Photo: Vasundhara Chauhan
Hot mug of soup: When you just need to curl up and sip…
Eggs and toast? Parathas and alu-ki-sabzi? A mug of hot soup? Dal-chawal-ghee? Chicken sandwiches? Cold bread pudding? All of the above? It’s amazing how they differ — people’s notions of food that comforts. I can’t quite make up my own mind. The ideal meal, when I’m feeling low, could be any of them. But there are strict conditions. Eggs and toast cannot be haute cuisine. They must be everyday eggs — fried, sunny side up; or scrambled with butter. No sun-dried tomatoes, no anchovies, no “erbs”. No French omelettes. The toast must be sliced and toasted, preferably white bread. Buttered. For my children, it’s half-boiled eggs with buttered soldiers of toast. No salt and pepper.
I can feel a hypothesis growing. Favourite comfort foods differ, but when you think about it, there’s a discernible similarity.
Keep it simple
One at a time. Parathas with achar or alu-ki-sabzi. See? No korma, no Shahjahani paneer-something-dilpasand. Plain parathas, either hot, fresh and crisp; or soft, old and cold. With a basic, floor-level potato sabzi. Just boiled and sautéed with zeera. No frills, just the essentials. But I found that the alu sabzi in some people’s packed lunches has an additional flavour that’s so delicate it’s elusive. And mild enough not to really interfere. So I asked what was different, and was told:
Basic alu sabzi plus
Serves 2
One tbsp vegetable oil
Half tsp whole zeera (cumin)
Six large potatoes, boiled and peeled
Two tsps coriander seeds
Half tsp saunf (aniseed)
Salt
Heat oil and fry cumin till crisp. Cut the potatoes into small pieces and sauté with zeera till beginning to change colour. Stir in salt. Coarsely pound coriander and aniseed and add to potatoes. Cook, covered, till the flavours of the spices are absorbed into the potatoes. Stir occasionally to prevent scorching.
Dal-chawal should be plain boiled rice with any yellow dal, preferably moong, masoor or arhar (and not chana, which needs too many spices). Tempered with zeera. Swimming in ghee. With a little pot of melted yellow ghee on the table for when the flavour needs intensification. If there’s one single thing that can unite our diverse country, dal-chawal is probably it. In my mind I can hear murmurs of dissent, but poetic licence shall prevail.
And hot soup in a mug, not a bowl. Because, by definition, you’re slurping it in bed, with the covers pulled up almost to your chin, it’s raining — or maybe sleeting — outside, and you’re feeling cold, down to your bones. The last thing you want is a sophisticated clear consommé with delicate garnishes. You need a thick, creamy, foody soup. Easy to gulp, heavy on the carbs, mild in flavour.
Leek and potato soup
Serves 4
Three tbsp butter, two leeks (white and pale green parts only), sliced one small onion, chopped six cloves garlic, peeled two large potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes.
Salt, four cups broth (chicken, mutton or vegetable)
Four rashers bacon (optional)
Pepper
One tsp chives, chopped, 1 cup cream
Over medium heat, melt butter in a pressure cooker. Add leeks, onion and garlic. Cook until leeks soften and start changing colour, about 10 minutes. Add potatoes, salt and broth. Close pressure cooker and cook over high heat until full pressure is reached: one “whistle”. Allow pressure to drop, open cooker and cool. Blend in food processor until smooth. Just before serving, reheat, stir in cream, and grind pepper over and sprinkle with chives. If using bacon, grill rashers without oil until crisp. Crumble over soup.
Bread pudding
Serves 4-6
Half cup raisins
One loaf sliced white bread, four tbsp butter, 1 cup sugar, 4 eggs, beaten, 2 cups milk, 2 tsp vanilla essence, 1 tsp ground cinnamon.
Soak raisins in warm water. Preheat oven to 180º C (350°F). Grease 12-cup ovenproof dish with butter. Butter both sides of bread slices, and toast each side in oven. Drain raisins. Combine sugar, eggs, milk, vanilla essence, and cinnamon. Mix well. Break up toasted bread, and put in casserole dish. Add drained raisins. Pour egg mixture over bread, and stir. Bake 40 minutes. Serve hot or cold.
The Great Comfort Food
Why is a bread pudding as appealing cold as hot? It’s not hard to imagine the taste of a hot one — the creaminess of the custard, the soft firmness of the bread, the crustiness of the bits of bread that are peeping out above the rest, soaked but toasted and slightly chewy. The fragrance of cinnamon, the sweetness. But when it’s cold… the sugar seems less sweet (so you can eat more), the whole thing is fair swollen with the custard (so you can eat faster)… I have friends who, like me, can scoop large chunks out of the fridge and swallow them without chewing. It qualifies as Great Comfort Food if it can be swallowed swiftly with no molar intervention and no hiccups, comforting the gullet as it proceeds towards the tum. Closely contending for inclusion in the Bread Pudding Comfort Food Category are breakfast cereal, muesli and packaged baby food. At any time of day or night, particularly night, there are times when nothing else will hit the spot but a bowl of cereal and milk. It’s not just the availability and convenience — it gives Pudding Contentment.
So here’s my hypothesis: the appeal, if you look at the Top Ten Favourite Comfort Foods, is in high carbs, low spices and associations with childhood.
Contradictions are welcome.
The author is a food writer based in Delhi. She is with the ASER Centre.
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