My 8th wonder - "Keema Baati"

The only place I think of when I say Keema Baati is my own little food haven Spice Court, Jaipur. One bite into the tough exterior and the soft interior of this exquisite dish can leave you feeling mesmerised. If you are crazy about food and love exploring new delicacies then allow me to burst your dream bubble because your world tour is incomplete without tasting Keema Baati.

Baati originated from Rajasthan and is also popular in some parts of Gujarat. Dal, Baati and Churma is adored by the locals and every passing Dhabba on the highway will surprise you with their own unique version of this dish. Like my own version.

Keema (mince meat) is mixed with a number of spices and cooked on a slow flame till the moisture evaporates. This filling has a mild tang along with the warmth of the green chillies. Baati is an Indian bread, which can be baked or even fried. The main ingredients to make the dough for the Baati are ghee, flour and water. This simple yet amazing recipe has a perfect balance of flavours. The bread like Baati cuts the heat from the Keema and the mutton gravy makes the bread soft enough to break through its exterior.

It’s hard to describe the divine experience I have each time I eat Keema Baati. My father insisted that I learn how to make it not only because he is personally fond of it but also to retain some of the heritage cuisine. This as per me is very important, because as the new generations keep coming one must learn to hold on to certain portions of our past that help mould a stronger and better future.

 And so my first attempt of making this dish was in Bangalore. I made it for my friend’s family who happen to be passionate foodies too. From 9am I started fussing about how I would prepare this dish without using a Tandoor. By noon everyone started getting impatient and hungry, while I sat in the room thinking about the times I had walked into the kitchen where my chef would create the 8^th wonder of the world. It was time to get into action!! With utensils clanking and ingredients flying I got down to following the same path as though I was rewriting a story I heard in my childhood. After they loved and raved it I could see the score line read, Tejasvi-1: failure-0.

In a perfect world I’d be feeding Keema Baati to myself and my loved ones every day. Honestly it’s so simple to make, more like a standardised procedure. Make the dough for the Baati and store it, then make the filling for it and last step is assembling the two together and baking them. Sometimes the easiest things seem very complicated but as you dig deeper to make an effort you realise “what a cake walk it was”.

Moolsa Phoolsa Paanwala!!

 Why a Paanwala??? Harshlata’s curiosity compelled me to explain that this wasn’t an ordinary Paanwala. His unique attire and the display of gold jewellery on his body made him a little different from all other Paanwalas in town and reminded me of an era long gone. While the Paans at his shop are as famous as his shining personality yet tourists visit his shop only to get a glimpse of Moolsa Phoolsa.

A night before going to the Paan shop I was rehearsing my dialogues with Harshlata. The questionnaire I had prepared for him was extremely boring but having heard of him so much, I was only inquisitive to see what he looked like. I was also scared if he would acknowledge my presence or if he would hand over a Paan to me and say run along because I was told by the locals that he has an intimidating personality. In spite of all that drama I created in my mind I was pleasantly surprised to see how kind Moolsa Phoolsa was and how stupid was I to have thought he wouldn’t give my documentary any importance.

It was a bright and sunny morning; Harshu and I were all geared up to meet this famous Panwala. Navendu Ji (our guide) on the other hand was making us nervous by constantly telling us about Moolsa Phoolsa’s mood swings. However, we managed to give a deaf ear to all that and surfed our way through the morning madness to land safely at the pan shop. And there in front of us was this interesting man who somewhat reminded me of south Indian pandits (priests). Although he wasn’t wearing his famous turban that day yet the gold jewellery was enough to make my story fascinating.

Located near Kot Gate, in some corner of a crowded market was his tiny shop that had a beautiful painting of shri naath ji (lord Krishna) who inspires Moolsa Phoolsa to wear 1Kilo of gold on his body. Shri naath ji is a form of lord Krishna, depicted as a seven year old child, who is decorated with artistic jewellery made of gold, diamond and other stones. This Paan shop has been running successfully since 1960 and in a small town like Bikaner, he runs this show for 22hrs every day. This place thrives at mid-night!!  

The most famous Paan in this shop is Madras Paan, and so I requested Moolsa Phoolsa to make one for me. He took a Paan ka Patta (betel leaf) in his hand and started putting various ingredients such as coconut, fruit preserves, rose petal preserves (Gulkand), betel nuts and other spices. In the next step he folded the leaf in a conical shape and handed over the juicy Paan in my hand. It was deadly, delicious and a Paan worth dying for (without any exaggeration). It wasn’t just a palate cleanser or a breath freshener; it was a complete treat for my taste buds and the juice was literally dripping outside my mouth. That’s how much I enjoyed Madras Paan.

Before leaving the shop Harshlata and I got five Paans packed, which magically disappeared before sunset. It was a wonderful experience and I couldn’t stop thanking Moolsa Phoolsa for letting me take his interview. His exceptionally smart marketing strategy has made his shop the most successful Paan shop in Bikaner. The people of this city have a very humble approach towards life, which can make anyone fall in love with Bikaner. But along with that they also know how to come up with unusual ideas to attract the visitors who come to Bikaner to find something they have never experienced before. 

Suleman's

On the third day of this journey, I discovered that we were getting more confident about the shoot and the clippings from the previous two days started moulding themselves into a documentary. Personally, in some corner of my heart I felt like a movie star after rehearsing my dialogues every night for the next challenge. My day would start with Harshlata yelling on top of her lungs “JIJA WAKE UP, PLEASE WAKE UP, GETTING LATE, COME ON!!!!” and when I finally got up from the bed, her excited mood bought a smile on my face and I was super charged up to hit the streets.

Objective no.3 on my things to do list said Rafiq Ji, living in the interiors of Bikaner, this man is famous for making flavoursome Meat Puri’s. A complicated recipe and yet the taste of every masala that goes into making this dish so special, lingers around my taste buds for days. This is a unique concoction of a Puri and keema stuffing that consists of minced meat, garlic, ginger, coriander powder, red chilli powder, turmeric, garam-masala powder, salt, onions, green chilli, mint leaves, lemon, curd and oil. Once this stuffing is added to the Puri dough it is then ready to be submerged into a wok full of hot oil. After an intense session of deep frying these golden yellow disks are all set to satisfy the hungry non-vegetarians. The secret behind this dish being so incredible is only and only its keema stuffing. It can be eaten in the form of a main course meal easily and in case there are some leftover meat puri’s from the previous meal, you can store them in the refrigerator, as they freeze well. Just reheat them whenever you fell hungry again.

While munching on the tempting Meat Puri’s, I began talking to Rafiq Ji and his family. They have been running this business successfully for the past 30 years, by a family consisting of 300 members and not to forget the 301st is on his/her way to join this gigantic flock. Suleman’s also own the largest butchery in Bikaner and along with meat puri’s they have mastered the art of making kebabs and keema samosas. In short this family can make practically anything that involves meat as its core ingredient. However, the meat puri’s are only made on order basis and delivered personally by Rafiq ji.

As we started shooting this episode, Harshlata had some trouble trying to fit 300 of them in one frame, so we decided to shoot those cooking the meat puri’s for us. The remaining family members gathered around in small groups to ensure they could all be a part of this documentary in some capacity. The first shot was taken outside their house which was located in an Islamic neighborhood. The women present there were all a part of the daily chit chat session which started with the morning tea and ended with the evening one. It was interesting to see how the entire locality knew the inside story of each other’s households. There were half constructed houses and well furnished ones too, everyone shared the same religion mostly. However, one thing common between all of them was the unity and mutual admiration of the other person’s religious feelings.  

For a split second, I got a little nervous as there were boys staring at us from the rooftops and women with their children, giggling away to glory, while we were getting my dialogues sorted. Yet I was wooed by their innocence and once Harshu succeeded at monitoring the decorum around us, we were all set to roll the camera and I introduced this massive family flawlessly on the 11th take.

Rabia, who is Rafiq Ji’s better-half, started preparing the mixture for the puri dough, along with two other women Abida and Sajida (Rabia’s sister in laws) who were organising the mis-en-place for Keema stuffing. While they were busy cooking, I went into memory lane telling Harshlata how all my cousins and I would crave to eat meat puri’s and towards the end of the day there would be a casserole full of meat puris on the dining table. Although my appetite was only enough for one Puri somehow I would manage to stuff myself with another helping. Our conversation lasted for 15 mins and by then our lunch was all set to hit our taste buds.

Without talking further Harshlata, Navendu Ji (our guide) and I indulged ourselves into the world of sinful joy. After the hearty meal, we packed up and said Bye-Bye to the Suleman family. On our way back to The Heritage Resort, the three of us had a long discussion on how the day passed by so quickly and it wouldn’t have been so smooth sailing if it wasn’t for the ladies of this family who had done their home work before we arrived to their beautiful home. Organising skills were commendable; I was pleasantly surprised to see how well this family ran their show all afternoon with no major obstacles coming our way. This family led me into thinking “the more the merrier” is an apt saying for them. In this world where people find happiness in terms like “Nuclear” this family has set a beautiful example of living together in peace by staying united and also channelizing this strength by working in harmony. Kudos to the Sulemans!!

Yummy Rasgulla's = Chotu Motu Joshi

Kachori and Samosa are the mainstay breakfast of the Indian middle class, especially in the central, western and northern parts of this diverse country. The key to it being so well liked is its ability to be served as a heavy as well as a tasty quick snack. Bikaner is a city where these snacks have been a rage ever since they were introduced to this humble city. There are long lines of people waiting in the wee early hours of the morning to grab a quick bite and get on with the day. As a matter of fact there is not one street in this crazy city without its own local sweet shop and each and every one of them with their exclusive style of preparing these gods of Indian street food.

Chotu Motu Joshi a name that echoes in the ear of a true Bikaneri, was our next destination.  Back in the day I would wake up every morning and hop on my Nana’a Bajaj scooter and demand for some freshly fried Samosa’s and Kachori’s and without much ado Nana would rush through the morning traffic straight into the lane, where food is celebrated as a daily festival. A lane where legends like Lal Ji Chat wale and Chotu Motu joshi would sell some appetizing sweet and savoury dishes by satisfying our tummies till the next morning’s Delhi Belly fiasco.

I grew up listening to stories of my naughty Shamu (Nanosa), when he would take my mother as a kid to Chotu Motu Joshi, and they would stand at the shop trying every single sweet it had to offer, and once this outing came to an end he would say thank you to Mr Joshi and leave without paying. My little mother would say “Nahi papa, we have to buy something from the shop it doesn’t look nice” and Nana would give his typical mischievous smirk and say “ok beta, tell me what you want”. Mama would usually stand there and insist on taking home her favourite Ras Madhuri.  Like father like daughter is all that I can say, both had their ways of getting back at each other at the right time.  I still fail to understand if she asked Nana to buy something out of righteousness or if she just wanted to take his case.

An established businessman Mr Jag Mohan Joshi, told us about how his grandfather Mr Chotu Lal Joshi built this empire along with his elder brother Mr Motu Lal Joshi about 90 years back. The interesting part about the entire story is that his great grandparents didn’t take much interest while naming their children (as Chotu means small and Motu means big, in Hindi, lol). Hence the name “Chotu Motu Joshi” cropped up. Although, I would give them credit for coming up with some great recipies, which are strictly hidden from the outside world, after all “competition ka zamana hai bhai” and this family certainly takes the cake home.

Along with Samosa’s and Kachori’s this Mishthan Bhadar offers a variety of Indian sweets such as Rasgula, Ras Madhuri, Cham-Cham, Moti Paakh and Ladoo’s. My personal favourite would of course be their juicy Rasgula’s. Dipped into a pool of sugar syrup these Rasgula’s are handmade and are now packaged to be sold out commercially. Milk, water and sugar are the only components used to make these round sugar coated and completely fattening bombs. Can you imagine it’s that simple and yet no other sweet shop in this city can create the same ambiance in my heart? The reason behind the success of Chotu Motu Joshi, are the several workers who knead the cottage cheese for hours until it softens and forms into tinny balls that can melt in ones mouth within seconds. But let me warn you, once you start popping them in your mouth, there is no stopping my dear, until you realise that the buttons on your denims have given up all their strength.

After paying a visit to this massive factory, Harshlata and I plonked ourselves into their newly constructed restaurant. We tried every possible thing on the menu that morning and Mr Joshi’s kind hospitality left me thinking, “In this world full of selfish people, there still live a few souls who have dedicated their lives to feed the hungry without caring much about filling their bank accounts”. To be honest, Bikaner is probably the only city where the mind is without fear and the head is held high, where food can be given for free, where this city has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls, where culture comes out from the depth of truth, where culinary kings are still striving to stretch their arms towards perfection, where the clear stream of humanity has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit, where the stomach is made hungry by thee into everlasting thought and satisfaction, into that heaven of freedom my father let my country awake. 

Making the best out of a perfectly imperfect situation

The uniqueness of the cuisine in any part of Rajasthan has a touch of royalty and Bikaner is no exception. Situated in the north west of Rajasthan in northern India, Bikaner has its own distinctive style of food preparation which offers a variety of mouth-watering traditional dishes from this region.

But for me Bikaner is a lot more than just a desert city of Rajasthan, it’s actually my birth place and I feel extremely  proud to say that my love and passion for cooking started  from Bikaner at a very young age. And so, with the help of a very dear friend (Harshlata Kumari) I set out on a 10 day long journey to rediscover the culinary magic of Bikaner and how it’s created.

The day began with two extremely puzzled friends sitting in a car and thinking how this will ever work out, as both didn’t have any previous experience of shooting a documentary. And in the middle of all the confusion the only hope of light was my maternal grandfather. Being a passionate foodie himself, I was sure that he would be the right person to guide us through this expedition of a lifetime. And so, Nanosa, Harshlata and I racked our brains for several hours together and at the end of the day we had an entire itinerary prepared which was going to help us in the days to follow.

As a child whenever I visited my grandparents during school vacations, there was one person who would come every other morning to our Derra (house) to bring a smile on our faces and treat to our taste buds, by luring our souls into gobbling up a bowl full of his delicious Rabri. Manka Maharaj, a man who is full of life and spreads happiness all over Bikaner by making some mouth watering Rabri. It was an honour to commence this journey by visiting his house or rather an Indian Charlies Rabri Factory.

This was not going to be very easy and I knew that from the very beginning but we had to act like professionals because every single person walking on the streets of this innocent city looked at us with their eyes talking “these baisa’s know their job and they know it well”. That moment a thought sneaked into my mind and said “forget about the result Teju, you know what you’re doing, just put your act together”.

With the help of one camera and Harshlata, I said action to myself and started interviewing Manka Maharaj and his family. Making Rabri has been their family business for 70 years now. His grandfather Shri Ojha Maharaj started this tradition and adopted the title Manka Maharaj which basically means, “king of one’s own mind”. This title had been given to the present Manka Maharaj by his parents. However, his birth name is Shri Laxmi Narayan, who took the reins in his hand from his grandfather in 1956 and today even after 55 years this man continues to satisfy many hungry stomachs who come wandering about on his front door every morning.

Manka Maharaj and I certainly have one thing in common; we have both been spoilt immensely by our respective grandfather’s.  Now, the secret behind his lip-smacking Rabri is that, best milk is used to make this dish so special; as a matter of fact this fresh milk comes from his own dairy every morning. Looking after a family of 24 people, he has delegated work to every member of his family, from the sons to the daughters to the daugther in laws.

Moreover, they only make limited batches of Rabri in a day ,which means a production of 30 to 35kgs per day and all the hard work that this amazingly talented family puts in throughout the day gets consumed by the all those people carrying their sweet tooth in their pockets much before the clock strikes to 7pm. In case there is a left over situation, then all the remaining Rabri is complied together to make Mawa, which is later used as the core ingredient in making Ladoo’s and Peda’s.

Having grown up eating Manka Maharaj’s famous Rabri  my tongue searches  for the same taste in every chilled bowl of Rabri that I have ever consumed at a wedding or party thrown by families residing outside Bikaner. In all honesty if I had to describe the taste of  Manka Maharaj’s rabri in one word, then I would seriously be in a major dilemma because no word can define the experience of  having a chilled bowl of Rabri in the heat of Bikaner. The combination itself is so beautiful especially for me because the weather or the seasons play a major role, in deciding my meal for the day.

Furthermore, anyone heading towards Bikaner for a holiday do keep in mind Manka Maharaj, just ask anyone on the road and they will guide you to the little heaven he has created over the years and I promise you there will be no disappointment, in fact you will thank me later for introducing you to a legend who makes the best Rabri in the world.