Binsar WLS-Scrumptious Meals at a Village Homestay- Joshi's Cottage

 If food be the satiation for the soul, then bring it on. (Quote mine!) I am up in the mountains of the Himalayas and staying for about two and a half weeks in a village at Joshi's Cottage homestay amid Binsar WLS.  I am trying to get away from the crowd, and I have succeeded, it is a two kilometer walk to the village Dalar in Uttarakhand. Here too there is noisy construction work, but that is another story.

That's the dining room behind my host and guide at Joshi's Cottage

Coming to food, this is not a blog on culinary arts and “how to…”, it is simply what I experience here.  I have requested the homestay owner to serve me what the family eats, which they do, but with a bit of garnishing on the top. “Atithi Devo Bhava”, I guess.  I eat in the dining hall, which is another room in the main family house. 

The view from the dining hall

Breakfast is stuffed parathas and the stuffing varies each day.  The parathas could have radish, potato, cauliflower.  Then there is curd and at my request jaggery.

Dinner is sans rice, otherwise the menu remains identical to lunch...

The main meals being lunch or dinner are accompanied with a generous helping of salad consisting of tomatoes, carrots, onions and radish, with a slice of lime and all topped off with a bit of noon. This noon is Himalayan rock salt with bits of mint and other herbs ground together till it is a dry powder. 

That's noon

Then there is a vegetable, could be cauliflower, potatoes, yam or a home-grown staple of mustard stalks and leaves. This last is grown in the home garden and served at every alternate meal. Sarso ki sabzi could be cooked in mustard oil or in water, it could be with peas, with potatoes, or be served plain, any way it is delicious.

...and that is lunch, rice in addition to the chappati's 

The dal is also of different types, but deliciously different is the Kuthi (I think), it looks (a bit longer) and tastes (almost) like masoor dal. When uncooked it is rock hard, and the old lady (Santhosh's mother) of the house took great pleasure in showing me the raw grain. This dal apparently only grows in Uttarakhand and Himachal. Then there is black soya dal, a delicious mix of dal and sabzi.

Chilly pickle and peanuts drying on the roof, almost everything is homegrown or home-made

The soup has a tomato base, but is spiced up with juliennes of ginger and other spices. Each day it is served punctually at 6.30 pm a whole steel glassful, in very cold weather, it is yum.

Breakfast out in the sun, stuffed parathas, curd, and jaggery.  The  noon  was there at every meal and tasted delicious with the salad.

The food has the taste of spice, freshly ground, but it is not chilly hot. Freshly made for each meal, it is served piping hot, especially the chapattis, which are made as I eat them. The family is pure vegetarian, not even eggs, they get their protein from the soya and dals, I guess. 

A sign of the times, I guess

Joshi's Cottage is wonderful in that the whole family pitches in to make me feel welcome, there is of course Santhosh, my friend, philosopher, guide and host; then there is Kewal , Santhosh's elder brother cook of a very high order, and the mother, sister-in-law and nephew all contribute. 

So here I am, pure shakahari for two and a half weeks, but enjoying it.