Dham Is a Heritage Food of Himachal, India
By Nupur Roopa
Rajma with gravy is served over rice on biodegradable plates made from dried leaves. Photo by @bhukhad_ghumakkar.
On a sunny afternoon in Chamba, a town in Himachal Pradesh, India, my friend’s family, and I join hundreds of people sitting on the floor waiting for a feast. First comes the rice with rajmah (red kidney beans) in gravy. I mix and start eating. My eyes close as the soft beans bathed in spiced yogurt gravy dissolve in my mouth leaving me craving for more. Later, I find that it is the famous rajmah madra of Himachal Dham.
My friend’s mother is right when she says I can never forget the taste of the Himachal Dham, a vegetarian ceremonial community feast cooked on Hindu religious holidays and other auspicious occasions. The taste still dwells in my memory even after many years.
Legend says that the kings of Chamba were descendants of Kusha, the son of Lord Rama. It is believed that King Maru came from Ayodha and conquered the mountains. About 1,000 years ago, one of his descendants, King Jaisthambh, was so impressed by the Wazwan, a multicourse Kashmiri meal that he asked his cooks to re-create those Kashmiri dishes in the Chamba tradition, using the local ingredients, and offer it to the goddess for her benevolence.
In those times, Chamba was famous for rajmah, spices and milk. The fusion of the two cuisines, Chamba and Kashmir using the local produce led to the creation of madra, the king dish for the Dham.
Dham tradition continues, and people organize these feasts to celebrate religious occasions even today. An auspicious day is decided months ahead before the actual date after consulting the village priest. Dham has an elaborate cooking procedure.
“It is cooked by Botis, traditional cooks having a long lineage of community cooking going back into history passing the legacy from generation to generation,” explains culinary historian Ashish Chopra, They are invited to every village where Dham happens.
“The demand for Botis is so high that you have to book them one year in advance,” says home chef Nitika Kuthiala, who promotes the Himachal cuisine with her home venture Pahadi Pattal in Noida, a city in Uttar Pradesh, India.
The feast is never cooked indoors. A temporary kitchen, rasialu, is built outside with bamboo sticks and a steel sheet roof. The food is cooked in a trench called char with the available firewood either pinewood or any other wood depending on the surrounding forest, says Chopra.
The preparation for the feast starts the previous night and cooking begins at 4 am. The Botis cook and serve barefoot. Strict hygiene is maintained inside the kitchen.
The team of Botis works under the supervision of the head Boti.
“The secret recipes of Dham have been preserved by the Botis for a long time,” says Kuthiala. They never measure the ingredients but calculate quite accurately with a glance and fist. The head Boti with maximum experience adds the spices.
An authentic Dham has all lentil- and bean-based dishes. Photo by Nitika Kuthiala.
Special brass vessels with a broad base and narrow opening, known as Charoti or Batloi, and iron cauldrons are used. These special vessels keep the food warm for a long time. Once cooked, food is never reheated, only rice is cooked as required. The slow cooking of food on firewood lets the spices mingle with other ingredients to bring out the hidden flavors.
Kuthiala says the thin neck of the vessels does not allow you to see inside. Cooking yogurt is tricky as it curdles quickly if not stirred continuously. However, the Botis manage it adeptly.
An authentic Dham has all lentil- and bean-based dishes, as vegetables were not readily available in Himachal Pradesh in the past.
“It was primarily hill food that was available easily,” says Chopra. The cuisine, based on geographical and climatic conditions of the region, is cooked according to the traditional methods with strong Vedic roots, he explains.
Because they weren’t historically available, onions, garlic, ginger and tomatoes are not allowed in the traditional feast. Lentils, yogurt, ghee, buttermilk, mustard oil, garam masala, sugar/jaggery and rice are the only ingredients.
Food is served on biodegradable plates made from dried leaves of sal (Shorea robusta) or banyan trees weaved together with thin strips of bamboo.
The platter consists of plain rice, madra (yogurt-based lentil curry) khatta/Mahni (sour chickpea curry), kadhi (spiced buttermilk soup), sepu badi (black lentil dumplings curry) maash dal (whole black lentils cooked with spices), meetha bhat (sweet fragrant rice) and more depending on the district of the state.
The serving of food follows a pattern. Madra: the heaviest dish is served first, then comes the Mahni, a pungent dish cooked in mustard oil to enhance and complement the taste of amchur (dry mango powder). This is followed by black or split chickpea lentil dishes. Lastly, comes the kadhi and, finally, the meetha bhat served to satiate the sweet tooth, says Kuthiala.
Rice is served thrice. First with Madra, then with dal and khatta and lastly with chana dal (split chickpeas) and kadhi. More rice is served only on request. You can ask to serve food on an additional pattal to take home, where everything is mixed and reheated before eating. This is called Tudkiya Bhat.
The food is ready by 11 am. The feast starts and continues until 5 pm. The whole village is invited to the Dham. It is common for around 600-700 people to sit in painth (lines) on the floor according to the Vedic tradition that signifies universal brotherhood as everyone enjoys the meal together.
The ecological diversity of this picturesque state is reflected in the vegetation, culture, dialect and cuisine. It can be experienced in the traditional Dham of each region. Chamba, Kangra, Hamirpur, Mandi, Kullu, Shimla, Kinnaur, Lahaul and Spiti are some of the famous Dhams.
The dishes are similar, with a little regional variation. The standard menu consists of rice and madra of rajma cooked in a yogurt gravy in Chamba, chana aloo (split chickpea and potato) in Kangra and sepu badi (steamed and fried dumplings made from soaked whole black lentil paste with salt) in Mandi.
In Kangra they have teliya mah (lightly spiced black lentils) Mahni and Mathadi, a sweet and a sour dish consisting of burnt and powdered walnuts, yogurt, spinach purée with finely chopped dry dates.
Kullu Dham has siddu (fermented and steamed whole wheat flour bread stuffed with poppy seeds and spices) savored with ghee and chutney.
The use of spices is so subtle that the food is neither pungent nor bland.
“The flawless balance of taste neither lets you miss the spice nor is too tangy to overpower if you prefer it mild,” says Kuthiala.
Almost every district of Himachal Pradesh has its own recipe for madra that has been served through the past. As cuisines migrate, the brides from Chamba brought the rajmah madra to Kangra and transformed it into the famous Kangri madra cooked with kabuli chana (chickpeas) instead of rajmah, as in those times rajmah was not available in Chamba. Today, you can relish madras cooked with mushrooms and dried apricot, Kuthiala explains.
The region has become so famous for these feasts that hotels cater Dham for tourists.
“They invite Botis to re-create the feast,” says Chopra.
Kuthiala does food popups to introduce and popularize the authentic dishes from the region by using local vegetables and bread.
Based on Ayurvedic principles, it consists of all the six tastes that make a complete food. It is not just a feast but, an ancient tradition that continues.
Dham needs to be experienced. How do you explain the taste described in the local language as “Twelve spices and thirteen flavors”?
