From Jangalmahal’s Kitchens Cuisine
“The aroma of a sizzling dish can drag you inside a lion cave,” goes an old tribal saying in Jangalmahal in West Bengal. S. Shrobana travels to the tribal territory bejeweled by autumnal Kaans Grass and Jasmine — a wild beauty often depicted in their works by the likes of Satyajit Ray and Bibhutibhushan Banerjee, and gets transported deep inside the gourmand escapade of Jangalmahal even as the lengthy monsoon lapses into an amorously festive autumn.
Laad Jel
In the bucolic boondocks of Belpahari-Banspahari in Bengal’s Jangalmahal districts, the sharp, sizzling flavor of Adivasi fare would last ‘generations’.
“I don’t know what you talk about Pora Mangsho or stuff but I can tell you about Laad Jel, a traditional raw meat grilled in Sal barks or leaf,” says Madhusudan Hansda from Belpahari. Hansda is a tasted bon vivant who can cook, serve and make you eat to your fill like any Santhali man worth one’s salt.
“Laad Jel with Panta (cooked rice soaked in water) is a teenagers’ fad during knee-jerk picnics After catching a stray goat (often stealing it) they will slip inside a forest where they will do the needful. Then they would marinate the meat --- in lemon juice, oil, onion, ginger, garlic (no paste but) some salt, plenty of red chilli --- over Sal leaf. Finely peeled Sal bark is used for cooking pans in forests. The marinated meat is kept on the bark and covered by another one. This is called bark-packing.
“A simmering fire bereft of flame is created for grilling the stuff by thrusting the bark packing into the fire. After half an hour you have a semi-grilled, semi boiled sharp yummy food ready to be consumed with Panta,” says Hansda. Even if the teens are caught in their act, the owner of the animal generally lets them go with a mild rebuke. “That is part of the tradition.”
Some tweak the procedure of traditional Laad Jel to afford it a different taste. “You can replace the meat by ‘Chuno maach’ or tiny river fishes and use big turmeric leafs for the Sal bark for packing even as the turmeric leaf burns in glowing fire the raw flavour of turmeric provides it a rustic taste. They can never provide you this in Kolkata restaurants,” Hansda says.
In terms of flavours, Laad has many more avtaars, Hansda reminds. “From Gongha (snail) Laad to Ketla (cockle or bivalve mollusk) Laad you have a plenty of other tastes too. You just have to wander about the forest during and after monsoons and about the ponds to fetch yourself a good catch.”
Mahd Rapa Jel
Moyna Budhi has bent under her age but is enormously alert to cooking skills that she has mastered in her thatched kitchen.
She tells you about the Mahd Rapa Jel, which is cooked inside a green bamboo and which she learnt it from her mother-in-law.
“Cut green bamboo of the length of your hand --- with rings intact on both sides --- so that it is impermeable. Cut a six inches hole on the body. Thrust through the hole half-a-kg of marinated Shukri Jel (pig meat which enjoys the most favoured status in Jangalmahal).
“Cover the hole tightly. Put plenty of ginger and garlic. It blends well with the flavour of the bamboo juice that gets extracted into the Jel while the bamboo is put in smouldering fire for a good half-an-hour roasting. It is mind-blowing,” she screams in excitement. And then she murmurs, “I haven’t had this for years … you need money to buy them.”
Laato Gel
Like Moyna, her cousin Bilasi Mandi from Gidhni, dishes out a mouthwatering recipe for Laato Gel, which is temptingly close to the city-like Mutton or Chicken Kassa that do not have a liberal mix of rice powder. The better way to cook Laato Jel is to use the animal’s intestine minced into small pieces.
“Marinate it with traditional spices … add plenty of oil, onion, ginger, garlic salt etc --- some people also experiment with Heeng (resin) to marinate. In that case, garlic and onion goes out. Black pepper, red chilli, lemon juice or even curd are also used. Put it on the earth oven for slow cooking,” she says adding “the interesting part of it is you have to add rice powder slowly to the boiling stuff and stir so that it mingles well. After cooking it would appear like what babus have in towns: chilli chicken,” says Bilasi.
Peetha
Those who have a distinct taste of Peetha --- a typical sweet dish served in eastern India particularly Bengal, Assam and Odisha --- may try a different kind of Peetha here in Jangalmahal. They are not only salted and sharp but stuffed with meat and not with traditional coconut, khoya or ricotta cheese.
“Cut up chicken, mutton or pork in small pieces, marinate and deep fry keeping some juice … Then make some dough with rice powder and flatten them on rolling board like a Pizza bread … arrange the meat and role them. Heat up a Tawa (pan) and fry a little changing sides. And there you have a Jel Peetha,” says Sabuj Soren, a small time trader from Baans Pahari, reminding “Shukri Peetha (pig) is preferred more than Naram Peetha (mutton), Sim Peetha (chicken) in any adivasi festival or occasion.”
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