Eat your greens: Terrano food trails

The last two times I was handed over the keys to the Terrano and told to hunt for some good food, I made sure there was no dearth of meat where I went. And shutterbug Vikrant, being a vegetarian, wasn’t particularly thrilled. So this month, when the Ed handed me the keys to the Terrano and told me to be on my way, Vikrant flatly refused to join me. He doesn’t like starving on the job, he says. Employee satisfaction is apparently quite the rage these days and so I was given categorical instructions by the boss to do a dedicated vegetarian story this month. Oh joy.

We are in India and finding a whole lot of shakhahari food isn’t much of a problem. The problem is, when I am in the proximity of meat, I just cannot bring myself to eat vegetables. So I had to go some place where coming across meat would be nigh impossible, compelling me to eat greens. Kerala has too much beef for its own good, Madhya Pradesh apparently has some great kebabs and Goa was done and dusted. With not much else in the vicinity with respect to great food, our attention turned to Gujarat. It was not particularly far away from where we were, was supposed to have plenty of tasty (debatable) vegetarian food, and not as much meat as I would have liked: just what the Ed ordered.

Vikrant was visibly thrilled, he didn’t shut up for even a second on the drive there, going on and on about what he wanted to eat and where. We planned to begin our drive in Surat in the morning, and end it in Ahmedabad in the evening. It isn’t a particularly long drive, some 270km and with Gujarat’s brilliant roads, it would mean we had plenty of time to eat, sleep and make merry. Oh wait, this place is alcohol-free as well. What am I doing here again!?

Luckily for us, we didn’t need to leave Surat at some ungodly hour. I slept comfortably till past 8am until Vikrant dragged me out of bed, impatient to try some of the local fare. Asking around a bit revealed that the many shops near Surat’s railway station was where we could find some authentic Gujarati farsaan, so we hopped into the Terrano and made our way there. Surat has some really nice, wide roads and our trusty Terrano trundled along without a hitch Traffic wasn’t as bad, probably because it was a weekend and we reached the station in no time. Bang opposite the station, our attention was caught by a tiny little eatery (you can’t really call it a restaurant) called Vrindavan Bhojanalaya. Vikrant had already sat down and ordered everything he wanted before I could even say ‘Gujarati thali’! My initial aprehensions of this trip were dispelled the second I took my first bite of that fafda. This deep-fried cracker-like snack is made of a chickpea batter and is generally served with a minty chutney with a besan (also made of chickpea) base. They were so light, so crispy and the combination of flavours were so perfect that I devoured a good two and a half plates all by myself. Next up was khaman, a dish I honestly mistook for dhokla. They are undistinguishable to an untrained eye and I found out that they are even cooked the same way.

But while the key ingredient in dholkas is rice flour, the key ingredient in khaman is (once again) chickpea. The khaman we tried was a tad bit spicy, which I found weird because the Gujaratis were famous for sweetening everything they eat. Turns out, the Surtis like a bit of zing in their food and eats you find in this city will be spicier than everywhere else in the state. Well, this was not such a bad start to our trip and I was actually curious to see what else Gujarat would serve me up with.

So Vikrant (with a massive grin plastered across his face) and I left Surat behind and began our drive north towards Vadodara. NH8 is one brilliant road, and you can cover the 150km between the cities in less than two hours. If you don’t get stuck in a traffic jam like we did, of course. Halfway through our journey, somewhere beyond Ankleshwar, we came to a standstill behind a long line of cars and trucks on the national highway. Apparently, a couple of kilometres down the road lay a bridge which only permitted one way flow of traffic. Cops generally man the bridge and ensure both sides of traffic get to move at equal intervals. However, as our luck would have it, there were no cops and the oncoming traffic was relentless. But thankfully, the Terrano’s cabin is a comfortable place to be and we had no problem waiting it out. When we finally got through and reached Baroda, it was past 3pm. Vikrant was hell bent on having a Gujarati thali for lunch but most of the places that offered thalis were already winding up. A comprehensive search on Zomato with all sorts of filters including ‘Gujarati cuisine’, ‘open now’ and ‘not too heavy on the pockets’ turned up one result – Sasumaa.

Now if you’ve never had a Gujarati thali before, go have one; it is quite an experience. As soon as you sit down at the restaurant, a massive plate with a seven tiny bowls is placed in front of you. And before your brain has time to even process what is going on, four waiters have already started emptying food in the bowls at lighting speed without telling you what it is or asking you if you want it. Once all the bowls are full, a few pieces of farsaan-like dhoklas are dumped in your plate. Then comes the onslaught of rotis, bhakris and parathas. Even the desert is served immediately, and not after the meal. And to top it all of, you are also given a glass of buttermilk. Hot rotis keep getting served to you straight off the tava and when you’ve wiped your plate clean and you think you’re done eating for the rest of the week, they come and offer you some khichadi and kadhi. As much as you want to refuse, you cannot because it smells so good. With our tummies so bloated, we were in no mood to get back onto the highway so we decided to explore Vadodara a bit.

The Lukshmi Vilas Palace is something we were told to swing by if we had the time, so we headed  straight there. The palace was built by Sayajirao Gaekwad III, the Maharahja of Baroda way back in 1890. While his descendants still live on the property, part of it has been converted into the Maharaja Fatehsingh Museum which contains one of the best collections of paintings by Raja Ravi Varma. It includes portraits of the royal family as well as paintings depicting Hindu mythology. It was dark when we left and we thought it’d be a good idea to grab some grub before we headed out to Ahmedabad. The roads we found in Vadodara weren’t as nice as the ones in Surat, however the Terrano’s suspension is rather soft and flattens out everything in front of it rather well. We trawled the streets of Vadodara, looking for something to eat and found a lane filled with street food vendors. Chaat? Kachoris? Samosas? Take your pick. I settled for dabeli pao, a dish that traces its origin to the Kutch region in Gujarat. The insides of a pao are coated with a paste of chilly and a whole host of spices and coconut and is served with a garnish of tamarind chutney and peanuts. Vikrant ended up ordering way more than he could eat and I ended finishing up his bhel-stuffed kachori.

To get Ahmedabad from Baroda, the easiest route you can take is NE1, or National Expressway 1. This 93km stretch is arrow straight and with the lack of motorcyclists and with disciplined truckers, you can belt through it in no time. Even at triple digit speeds, the Terrano doesn’t pitch all over the place like some other SUVs this size do; it stays stable and begs you to push down on the accelerator harder.

When we reached Ahmedabad, it was nearly 10pm and we went to our hotel to freshen up. Ahmedabad is supposed to have a lively nocturnal street food scene which is what we planned to check it out.  Vikrant was keen on visiting a place called Manek chowk, and that’s where I took him, not before taking a slight detour of my own. Just a kilometre away from Manek Chowk lay this tiny nondescript lane called Bhatiyar galli. You should have seen the look on an unsuspecting Vikrant’s face when I dragged him into this lane which served nothing but the best meat in town. If you bother about things like hygiene and how your food is cooked, I wouldn’t recommend you come here. Chickens were being skinned and slaughtered right beside a tandoor where they were being cooked. The floor was strewn with feathers and the entire place stank just like any other chicken coop would. But sit down at ZK Fry’s table and ask for the mutton chaap, and you will be transported to meat lover’s heaven. After licking my lips, fingers and plate clean, we headed over to Manek Chowk. And it blew my mind.

Have you heard of the night market in Goa? Imagine something just as colourful, without the hippies and you’ve got Manek chowk. Rows and rows of vendors selling all sorts of street food (only vegetarian though) line the street. During the day it is a market for gold and silver, but come nightfall, they pack up and leave only to be replaced by the spectacle in front of us. Chaats, jalebis, pani puri, papdi, we tried it all. And then, in true Gujju style, we ended it with a mouthful of paan. Manek Chowk was really something else, food is sold here every night, every day of the week and crowds throng the stalls till 2am. If this isn’t a true foodie’s city, I don’t know what is.

Ok I admit, vegetarian food isn’t all that bad. One day in Gujarat is all it took to change my opinion about it. In fact, while I was eating my thali, it even crossed my mind that I could do this all my life! Just kidding, that didn’t happen. But no longer will I be dismissive to vegetarian food, bracketing it as tasteless and vile. I know my fellow steak lovers will think I’m falling prey to vegetarian propaganda but you should try it. You never know, it might just grow on you.