They are a community without their own land and yet the characteristics that mark them are unmistakable - their language, their sense of community, their business acumen and of course, their food. As a highly visible section of Pune's population, the Sindhis have infused the local cuisine with their own flavours and it is common enough to have Sindhi kadi with rice as it is to have Sabudane chi khichdi! Shanta Bhagwanani has grown up on traditional Sindhi food - Sai bhaji, vegetable curries, dal pakwan and naturally, papad. Now of course, she admits to serving a more varied cuisine, having been influenced just as much by Maharashtrian food. But once or twice a week, she serves up all those dishes that would make any Sindhi smile contentedly.She explains, ``A typical Sindhi breakfast would have been dal pakwan.'' The past tense is because today's health norms demand something lighter and easier to digest. ``Dal pakwan,'' she continues, ``was served especially for guests. It consists of a thick channa masala and is served with puris made of flour.''
Bhagwanani says, ``Sindhis use a lot of onions and tomatoes and it forms the base of almost all Sindhi dishes.'' Although, one of the staple dishes of Sindhi food - Sindhi kadi - does not use this. ``It is one of my favourite Sindhi dishes and I make it atleast once a week. The kadi uses a great deal of tamarind and so is sour. In fact, the base of the kadi is made up of besan and tamarind. To this lots of vegetables are added - beans, yam (suran), brinjal, pumpkin, ladies finger and potato. It is almost a complete meal in itself.'' She always serves the kadi with plain rice and sweet boondi.
Sai bhaji is the other favourite in the Bhagwanani household. A good thing too, it would appear, as it is full of all the nutritious food stuffs that parents of fussy children wring their hands with despair. ``Sai bhaji is an amalgam of green vegetables - spinach, garlic and green chilli. The result is a soft to semi-liquid preparation that is again normally served with rice,'' says Bhagwanani.
As to regular lunches, Sindhi style, chapati is served with either a vegetable curry or with dal and a dry vegetable.
Bhagwanani says, ``Seviyan kheer is a common Sindhi dessert. Sindhis love sweet. We normally serve it after the meal unlike the Maharashtrians who eat it as an accompaniment to the meal.''
And then, the Sindhi papad deserves some mention. ``We fry or roast our papad and is served especially with rice. Nowadays, we eat papad made of urad dal. But traditionally Sindhis made their papads of a mixture of dried matar and urad dal'', explains Bhagwanani. She buys the papad from Pimpri where a women makes these at home. These are made in the typical Sindhi style with dry spices.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
