Panchi

#TBT January 2019

Panchgani before the Pandemic

The year is almost over and I have a million stories I never wrote. I really must buckle down and write more. #goals #newyearresolutions

In that spirit, here is an absolutely fresh post about my day trip to Panchgani yesterday.

Panchgani is (or used be) a quaint hill station located about 3 hours drive from Pune. Further up the ridge is Mahabaleshwar, the larger and more famous sister. The British and Parsis first began living here around 1860, creating the two beautiful towns and filling them with colonial charm: sprawling old bungalows, dense woods and many Points where you went to enjoy panoramic views of the valley below. Horse-riding, fishing, boating in the little lake, colonial hangover Clubs, strawberries and cream and a legacy of boarding schools are other heirlooms of a glorious history.

Today Panchgani is famous for its incredible vistas, it’s flat, rocky Table Land, the very special locally cultivated strawberries that are incredibly sweet, paragliding and boarding schools- lots and lots of boarding schools.

Panchgani is regularly invaded by hordes of Gujaratis ( including myself) who have adopted it as their favourite hill station, so you will be spoiled for choice for tasty vegetarian thalis and uniquely Gujju junk food. Hungry hordes of boarders are seen walking around in their cardigans, hoping to find treats at local shops, forever wanting creamy local ice cream and Amazon seems to be delivering them parcels by the dozen ( I saw!). The most famous alumnus was of course Freddie Mercury from St. Peter’s High School and I am surprised they still haven’t built a statue in his honour.

A work trip took me up the hill yesterday from the flatlands of Pune. The air was so fresh and salubrious, I confess I slept all the way there and back, and came home feeling rejuvenated. The mercury had hit 3C the night before and the nip in the air was simply perfect. I also got to wear my favourite winter coat outside of Europe!

First stop was lunch and my dormant Kutchi genes begged for an authentic Gujju Thali. The Gujjus have adopted Panchgani as their own and everywhere you will find Thalis and shakes and ice creams in typical Gujju fashion. Gujjus love their dairy and they have some truly innovative ice cream flavours, ranging from pink guava to green chilly! You will find the best ice creams at Hilltop ice creams just off Panchgani Main Street.

I went into a tiny little dining hall, Purohit’s Thali. It was old and not fancy at all. Perfect!
Purohit’s serve a limited thali for the princely sum of Rs. 170/- and dessert was extra. No frills or fuss. Just home-cooked fare.

My thali came with four rotis, very paper thin, Gujju-style. There was a papad, kachumber and some boondi raita. Five katoris filled with fresh set dahi, cauliflower, potato, dahi kadhi and Dal took up the rest of the thali.

One whiff of my lunch, and all my childhood memories came flooding back to me. I immediately saw my Dada’s ( father’s father) face and remembered endless family lunches and chaat parties, three generations of Dossas munching away at whatever the Maharaj deemed fit to feed us.

I remembered my Anju Kaki (father s brothers wife) who served us children as we sat on paatlas, flat wooden stools, on the floor, our thalis on small raised tables before us. Dal-bhaat-rotli-shaak- lunch time litany.

The cauliflower nu shaak at Purohit’s was dry and spicy with lots of tomato. It is the best cauliflower preparation since the vegetable is not overwhelmed with onion or ginger- garlic.
The tamata-batata nu shaak was made of diced potatoes simmered in a light tomato gravy with peas. Very comforting. Again, no onion, ginger or garlic. The potatoes have their own specific flavour and fragrance and I tucked into them with gusto.

Most Gujarati cooking uses onions, ginger and garlic minimally or not at all. My own great grandmother never ate anything that grew below the soil, being a Vaishnav Jain, so the food cooked at the Pedder Road home was always made without. Except for potatoes, because well, everyone loves potatoes!!! ( I don’t think she ever ate any potatoes).

The kadhi was perfect-perfect: piping hot and delicately flavoured, it was sweetish and sour and spicy. Gujarati kadhi is made of curds beaten with besan / chickpea flour, and tempered with rai and jeera and chilly.The Dal was typically sweet and sour, gud-kokam ka dal ( jaggery and camboge).

I slurped away at both the kadhi and the Dal, waiving away the rice. I sat back, insanely content. I didn’t need dessert. My tummy was full, as was my heart. This was simple, homemade food, tasty and nourishing and made of the freshest seasonal produce.

After lunch, I dropped in to Roach Bakery, Panchgani s oldest, established in 1901, and now sadly not a whisper of its former glory. Even ten years ago we would run there to stock up on their many flavours of eclairs, the palmiers and toast biscuits. They don’t bake their bread fresh anymore and the bakery is filled with all sorts of mass produced candies and chocolates and items popular with boarding school children. I left without buying anything but paused to admire the rows of ancient glass sweet jars, the kind we grew up with but which you never find anymore.

Later that evening, we gave in to greed and tucked into a decent beer mug full of strawberries with cream at Hilltop. I think I much prefer the one at the bustling, popular Mapro Garden.

I also stopped at my old and favourite strawberry vendor, Mr. Doiphode’s, who pulled out his best fruit for me. I am not a fan of the larger sized strawberries, finding they lack the sweetness of the smaller ones. I was delighted to find the medium sized Sweet Charlie variety to take home.

I picked up some tart local gooseberries, a bunch of knobbly and gnarled local baby carrots ( heirloom carrots!!) And, oh geez, wow, local passion fruit! The little boy selling me these was really funny because he couldn’t add up the math right. I guessed he regularly failed at math in school and when I told him that he flushed and asked me how I knew!! His father laughed loudly at this exchange.

I resisted the beautiful broccoli, large luscious figs, and the prettiest pumpkins.

I can’t wait to dig into all the fruit! I love gooseberries with their pretty paper wrappers that unfurl and make such pretty photos.

The strawberries at breakfast today were just so divine. I wish I could have bought heaps more but they currently cost a fortune. Ah well, strawberry season has only just begun.

If you get to Panchgani, do stop and buy your strawberries from Mr. Doiphode, and the other vendors across from Roach Bakery. They don’t sell the bland, tasteless and chemical-laced fruit that we end up buying in cities and from online grocers. This is the real deal: grown by local farmers for decades and hand- picked that very morning. Don’t fall for size, the smaller ones are so much sweeter , and the tiny ones perfect for jam.

We eat at Rustoms for the best Parsi food and we order crew meals from the lovely Shenaz Kinghar for larger buffets. Shenaz’s food is authentic Parsi Bonu, delicate and delicious. And we buy the local jambul forest honey.

There are loads of hotels and restaurants serving Indian fast food like pau- bhaji and stuffed parathas, iconic vegetarian Gujarati thalis ( Dreamland, Rasoi, Shreyas) and grilled sandwiches oozing potatoes, capsicum and cheese. Many of the Parsi owned family hotels like Il Palazzo, Prospect and Dina offer delicious multi-course Parsi meals including soup, farcha, dhansak and colonial inspired desserts.

If you haven’t been to Panchi and M’haby recently, go!