Culinary Treasures From The Shores Of Gujarat – Fun Foods From Udwada!!

Where you see dead – I see calm. Where you see simple old albeit boring hotels, I see charming cottages with character. Where you see just fire temples and houses of religion, I see history and a place of peace. The best word to sum up this sleepy town which looks like it’s trapped in the 1800’s is quaint. Udwada is a quaint town which on the outside probably has nothing to offer but for a spiritual person like myself, the two days I’ve spent there I will treasure in a way I didn’t even realise was possible.

I spent two days in this holy town and it was spent doing three things. Praying, meeting the local priests and their families who lived there and EATING! Which to any Parsi Zorastrian is an integral part of the religious experience.  The people of Udwada are humble and so adorable they remind me of Parsi’s from another world. A world so far away from what I’m exposed to in the city and it was just wonderful to interact with them. My tales about the locals is best kept for another post but apart from that a LOT of time was spent eating.  Our breakfast was a typical Parsi meal though I have to be honest I was expecting chunks of chicken or pork along with toast and jam. Sounds ridiculous I know but the more unusual it sounds the more likely some Parsi on the planet somewhere has eaten it!

Spicy akuri, lovely light fluffy ‘charvela eeda’ which is scrambled eggs and safe to say some of the best eggs I’ve eaten. Fried egg , mildly toasted bread, butter and the sweetest jam ( probably one of those mala or wit jams). Of course there MUST be some meat to kick start the day so the first day was this beautiful spicy as hell kheema with potatoes. The kheema was my favourite so when we were served kaleji ( liver) the next day I just couldn’t help miss that yummy kheema.

Spicy akuri, lovely light fluffy ‘charvela eeda’ which is scrambled eggs and safe to say some of the best eggs I’ve eaten. Fried egg , mildly toasted bread, butter and the sweetest jam ( probably one of those mala or wit jams).  Of course there MUST be some meat to kick start the day so the first day was this beautiful spicy as hell kheema with potatoes. The kheema was my favourite so when we were served kaleji ( liver) the next day I just couldn’t help miss that yummy kheema.

Another thing distinctly found in Udwada is the local Gujarati girls will come to your hotel, shout under your building if you want to buy any local treats and fix up a time to come the next day and show you what she has in stock. I brought home packets of saaria ( white puffy crispy wafer like treat that is served at most weddings ) baby papads, plain and garlic flavoured which you’re suppose to fry but I baked them instead and they turned out yummy. We also bought fresh peppermint just because she had some. It’s easy to get the papad and the saaria from a store in Bombay but the fun was in buying something different NOT from a store but from a sweet lady who probably made them at home and sold it in her basket on her head. She’s the same lady who brought us the doodh na puff.