A basket full of fruits and memories.....

Ah! at long last, am back! oh yes, i am, for real ;). and once more, my thanks to all the loving friends who enquired.....its strange how things go sometimes......one after another, something or the other comes up to keep you busy :) we'll get to those set of stories later though :). Its time to talk food now, folks.

Fruits forms an essential part of my daily meals and are totally my type of dessert. So, dear friends, its not a surprise that i am choosing to cover fruits first, in whats going to be a short series on my trip to India, which happened end of May to mid June. That part of the globe, which i relate to as "Home", is blessed with countless varieties of fruits. And while i could have expressed my annoyance at the time of year i was travelling to India, it being peak summer, with mercuries soaring past 45 degrees C, i instead chose to feel blessed :). Why? obviously in sweet anticipation of the flavorful abundance that was to come my way.....ah! those luscious lychees, the divine mangoes, chunky chikoos and tangy n' sweet berries.....

Dussehri Mango tree :with fruits and manjari/boor (floration)

I landed in New Delhi late in the night.....and after reaching home, i settled for a comforting, soothing dinner of chilled "Safeda" mangoes and enjoyed them along with some nimbu-pani (desi style limeade).....The next day brough along not only ripe, delicious, fragrant mangoes, but lychees too.....and chikoos.....it was more than three years that i had tasted any of these.....with each bite, i cherished them, loved them , more than ever before.....tears welled up my eyes for some reason.....the time and distance had completely vanished.....i was in a different set of familiar tastes and smells.....nostalgia rules.....

The first stop, after i was through all my academic duties in New Delhi, was my Chacha ji's place in Punjab, located in a lovely pind (village) between Chandigarh and Jalandhar. They have a lovely garden that boasts of "Dussehri" mangoes,

chikoos, limes and aloochas! Homegrown fruit is totally a different thing, ever more delicious! Now, before you wonder what aloochas are, here's what they are: Botanically named Prunus aloocha, they are smaller, tangier cousins of plums or as they are known in Hindi, aloobukharas. They do sweeten up a bit, when ripe, and are best enjoyed with some salt (loon or namak, as we call it in Punjabi) sprinkled on them :). They are also good for making chutney and sweet relish with jaggery or gur. I enjoyed homegrown chikoos (or sapotas; chikoo is a grainy, sweet tropical fruit, with a brown core)

Chikoo tree with near ripe fruits.....umm! yummy!

and amb (Mango) di chuntney, achaar, gudumba (mango jam made with jaggery, either plain or spiced up). And the karelas (bitter gourd), bataun (eggplants), bhindi (okra), mirchaan (chillies) and mooli (radishes) from their kitchen garden (we'll chit-chat on that later). Not to mention that the limes were mostly being used for making gallons of nimbu-pani/limeade every day!

Nimbu/Key limes: the provider of that elixir called skanjvi!

Here's how you make nimbu-paani/shikanji (Hindi) or Skanjvi (Punjabi): Juice from one lime/lemon, sugar and salt to taste. Mix. Add chilled water and enjoy! My taste buds call for more salt that sugar, though traditionally there should be a fair amount of sweetness to this. There is a reason for that: in hot summers, you tend to lose a lot of salt. For a change add a lil' bit of kala-namak instead of regular salt or try some ground black pepper! Best thing would be to listen to Anita and start using some lime rind extract as well, i tried and it works like magic!

Now, whats that! oh, you've seen this "paheli" before: a Guava in the making.

When it comes to mangoes, i am all about variety :). No fanaticism will do here ;). While i was able to enjoy only the early varieties (like safeda, sindoori, totapari/totapuri, neelam etc.) for the most time, i was also fortunate to sample some middle season varieties like dussehri and langda which had just started showing up on the fruit vendors' carts. Safeda is a rather popular variety and is known as Banganapalli in Southern India. One of the sweeter varieties, its so called because of its rather pristine color (which though is pale, more than white. safed means white in urdu). Sindoori gets its name from its rich, red hues which resemble sindoor or vermillion. Its a more fibrous variety and quite sweet. Neelam is the most fibrous mango and the first one to show up in Northern India during summers. Totapuri is lovely too, bordering on sweet and tangy. Raw totapuri makes excellent material for chutneys :) and in Bangalore, we used to enjoyed it with salt and chilli powder :)). Oh! and before the brickbats come my way, i did have my share of hapoos or Alfonso :) which is ever enjoyable!

Talk about us, please.....more guavas!

There are many more varieties which i love, but didn't get to taste, e.g. Malgoa, Raspuri and Parry (the former two were my favorites besides Banganapalli, when i lived in Banaglore and the latter one is a favorite from Maharashtra), Chausa (very acidic, ripes from the core first, comes from UP), Malda and Fazli (both from West Bengal n' Bihar and both yummy! Fazli is this really huge mango, and absoluteky delicious).

So, which one is a favorite? My answer: anything thats fresh :). Because even the best mangoes would lose flavor when kept in cold storage or ripened before time. The best taste of any mango comes when its not put through any of this. To me, Hapoos and Safeda are both equally dear, as are Malgoa and Malda! If by saying so, i am commiting a blasphemy, so be it ;).

Chikoos and lychees are further proof of how much the freshness factor matters! Locally grown lychee tastes much better than the one that comes from a place far off. I am a fan of Dehradun lychees, while in Delhi. But when i Punjab, i would prefer to by something thats locally grown, like say from Pathankot. All i am saying is, all fruits taste good, provided they are not tortured with prolonged travel and cold storing :).

Oh, the guavas tell me, that i should mention them too :). Ofcourse, why not! I love guavas (or Amrood, as they are called in both Hindi and Punjabi). They are another yummy, grainy fruit, perfect for anytime, either by itself or with some namak, masala and lime juice thrown in, as a chaat!
And then there are these berries: Phalsa and Jamun (or Jamnu, as its known in Punjabi). Anita once very cutely said, "Mere paas phalsa hai"! How true! One of the most delicious, but undervalued berreies!! Its a tiny berry with a grainy core. Phalsa berries grow on a lil' bush. Green when raw and rich maroon hues (rich in antioxidants) when ripe. Raw phalsa would make good chutney and salsa :). Ripe phalsa, oh well, just sprinkle kala namak and enjoy!

Sweet and tangy phalsa: the desi wonder-berry

oh, and its also made into a fabulous phalsa sharbat too :). After i reached home (which is in a village near Amritsar, my next stop), i enjoyed it everyday :). Phalsa has plenty of medicinal uses too. Jamun gets its name from the purple hues its so rich in. It tastes mildly sweet, dries the mouth a bit because of its astringent action and is extremely good for health. Jamun fruit and seeds are considered very good for Diabetes. Jamuns are also enjoyed either plain or with kala-namak. We have two jamun trees at home, but the berries were just beginning to take shape.....he, he, and while writing this i remember the sing-song tone of the rehdi-wallahs (cart wallahs) who sell phalsa and jamuns! "Thanda-mitha phaalsaa' and "kale-kale jaamnu" :).

Talking about our home, Dad has always preferred to keep our garden "au naturale", so much so, that we would and still do refer to it as Jungle ;). No jokes here :). We have planty of Sheesham (Indian Redwood, called Tahli in Punjabi), Ber/Beri (Indian jujube), Bargad (Banyan, called Bohad in Punjabi), Peepal (Pippal in Punjabi), Keekar/Babool (Acacia, Kikkar in Punjabi) and Neem (Nimm in Punjabi) trees. Also very dense is the canopy of Dhrek (Persian lilac, Melia azadirachta) trees!

Dhrek tree with ghatonis

Dhrek is a cousin of neem, with a much more tender trunk. Also the Dhrek leaves are depper green compared to Neem.

Our Neem Tree

Its flowers look quite like Neem flowers, except that they are purple. And unlike the subtle, crisp scent of Neem flowers, Dhrek flowers are blessed with a very dense, sweet and intoxicating scent! I wonder why no one ever made perfume out of it! Dhrek along with Sampige flower scent are the most intriguing and enticing, yet undervalued scents.....Dhrek trees flower end of March and Neem just a lil' later. So, very obviously, i missed out on the dharek flower scent! Dhrek fruit called Ghatoni in Punjabi, unlike Neem fruit (Nimoli/Nimboli) is green and very hard and not edible wven when ripe. Ofcourse birds love to chew on ghatonis :). I love my share of Nimolis though, but they were just beginning to show up as tiny bulges.

Papaya tree

In the middle of all these trees are some papaya (Papeeta: Hindi and Punjabi) trees, which means that i had my regular share of kachhe papeete da parantha (raw papaya parantha) and ripe papaya for dessert :). Also, there are few trees of lasoodi, or the gummy berry! As kids, we used to enjoy these "bland, bordering on sweet " berries for the sheer fun of plucking them and then sticking them onto a friend.
Loasoodi da rukkh (tree)

There's even an ode of a phrase referring to lasoodi. When someone is bothering you perpetually or just sticking around longer than one is needed to, you say, "ki lasoodi di tarhan chimbad gya/gayi ain!" (you are sticking around like a gummy berry!). The bigged cousin of these berries is the lasooda (Cordia mixa), its quite like gonda berries, and is preserved and enjoyed as spicy pickles. Ah! though i am missing some old friends in this jungle: the phalsa bush, the almond (badam) trees, the peach (aadoo) trees and the mango tree.....As a kid, i used to enjoy picking raw almonds, which sometimes would be used for making badam-paneer sabzi! and before the fruition, the almond and peach trees would make a lovely scenery, what with the blossoms all over the place.....

So, these, my friends, were stories about the fruits of the land.....a land we call India or Bharat.....will be back with stories on the vegetable and street foods from that part of the globe, next. Meanwhile, you enjoy the fruits that your corner of the globe offers and thank Mother Nature for blessing us with these wonderful things to enjoy!