Page 18 - Seniorstoday October 2022 Issue
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well balanced, healthy and nutritious diet
with a combination of wheat and non-wheat
rotlas, rice, fermented rice, split chickpea,
variety of lentils, millets, grains where the
food is largely baked or steamed and one
can by choice avoid adding the oil on top as
garnishing or “tadka.”
The sweet dishes too include variety of items
made by using broken wheat fhadha lapsi or
kansaar, sheero- halwa made from sooji with
ghee and gud. The food is relished not only by all types of
Even sukhadi, magaj, mohanthaal etc. are visitors coming to Baroda, but is a popular
popular and healthy sweetmeats. destination for the local Barodians as well.
Every season has its specialities as in other Some families are known to have a fixed
regions of our country. In the winter it is booking for one weekend every month, while
Undhyu and jalebi, while in the summer it is others make it a point to celebrate birthdays
Aamrus and rotli. and anniversaries of their parents only at
While Shikhand poori is welcome anytime Mandap……. Because the elders/ parents enjoy
of the year in milk rich Gujarat. this food. They seem to have an emotional
Typically a Gujarati thaali in any restaurant connect with it since almost four decades.
will offer anything between fifteen to twenty The restaurant too has maintained its taste,
items which include dal, subji, kadhi, kathol, quality and standard. So next time you are in
farsaan, kachumbar, papad, chutney, choice Baroda…you know where to head!
between khichadi and rice, bhakri, rotli South Gujarat, especially Surat and
and poori and at least two desserts. While surrounding areas are famous for another
in Baroda, MANDAP restaurant is the best mouth-watering stand-alone dish called
go to place for an excellent, memorable and Undhiyu or Undhiya. This is a winter
affordable authentic Gujarati thaali. favourite because all the vegetables used
in it are abundantly available in the winter
months. It is a mixture of potatoes, sweet
potato, yam, small round brinjals and a
variety of beans called papdi in the local
language. Another important ingredient is
oval shaped dumplings made of fenugreek
leaves called methi na muthia. These are first
fried by themselves and later added to the
dish when it is being cooked. But it does take a
lot of oil and spices to make this variety. There
is a non-vegetarian version of it also which
is made by using tender chicken. A popular
variant of this same dish is the rural and
healthier version of the same, where all the
vegetables are put into an earthen pot matka,
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