Cuisines to warm you up

Anoothi Vishal on some dishes and culinary ideas that you should check out this winter.

Winter is quite the season for feasting and not just because of the inevitable year-end joie de vivre.

Despite the fact that we're well into the new year and have left the many parties behind, there's no time like the present to indulge all manners of food cravings: sit at home on a cold, foggy evening and dip into the communal pleasures of a cheese fondue, host a BBQ party on the terrace, or a bonfire-lit Lohri night with roast shakarkandi (sweet potatoes), peanuts (in southern US, this is the season for pecans, so if you can lay your hands on some, try and substitute) and rewari.

Or just gorge on the casseroles, hotpots, seafood and saags that all lend themselves to this season. Here are some dishes (and ideas) that you may like to check out.

At the Metropolitan Hotel Nikko in Delhi, the winter menu is a cheerful mix of comfortable cliches "" read sarson ka saag "" and the surprising. chef Surinder M Malhotra has created a carrot bharta, quite on the lines of the aubergine one, or a salty gajar ka halwa, if you like. You can't help but like this homely creation; the sweet of the carrot undermined by the sour of the tomato-based masala.

But the winner is clearly something else. The nihari gosht is a dish that has long since left its humble beginnings to be feted in the five-star circuit. Unless you have an iron-cast stomach, you cannot enjoy the nihari at any other time of the year.

This is a breakfast dish for these months, a common man's recipe (which is why it uses all the bony pieces of meat, the leftovers), ostensibly meaning gravy (to be scooped up with kulchas or khameeri rotis, fermented bread). It is believed to have originated in Awadh, where it was made and consumed by farmers just before they left home at dawn for work. Or this is the story told by Malhotra.

There are other versions to this tale. Depending on where you are eating "" in plush restaurants or in the bylanes of Jama Masjid, where a few old shops, specialising in nihari breakfasts still exist. If you are brave enough to navigate the bylanes as early as 6 am, you will be rewarded at Shabrati Nihariwalle, a shop half-a-century-old.

Unlike the five-star fare, the curry here is deadly; a potent mix of spices, black pepper, cardamom, cloves, cinnamom, and, right at the outset, you are asked whether you want it "less hot", the touristy version, or "as it should be". As-it-should-be burns the tongue.

The ageing, amused nihariwallah explains this is a delicacy that was, centuries ago, comissioned by no less than emperor Shahjehan when he shifted his capital in order to keep the first inhabitants of the Walled City safe from cold "brought in" by the waters of the Yamuna.

According to this version, the nihari/nahari literally means "morning" "" thus a breakfast dish. Alternatively, it gets its name from "nahar", the Yamuna waterway.

But whatever the origins, this is a delicacy in this day when anything that takes so long to cook is. Traditionally, chunks of meat were stewed overnight so that each morsel was melt-in-the-mouth and the proportion of spices supposed to be a secret.

The five-star-isation of the dish, of course, has robbed it of such mystique. Chef Malhotra recommends boiling the trotters for a good three hours so that all the marrow seeps into the stock, and then cooking the meat very slowly for at least two hours.

The spices, no longer secret, are considerably toned down "" as is the fat (a traditional nihariwallah will top your dish with extra tar, fat, and marrow). In fact, in several restaurants today, the whole process is hastened and the gravy thickened with cornflour , compromising on the flavour.

If you don't want to go Indian, winter may also mean extra work for the (charcoal or electric) grill at home. BBQs remain a perinneal favourite and while you can do your usual tikkas, experiment with some interesting marinations for the huge varieties of veggies and meats available this season.

Chef Abhijit Prasad at the West View, ITC Maurya Sheraton, has created as many as 20, so that you can customise your own bites.

According to him, a good idea would be to try a satay marinade "" peanut, coconut based "" on white meats or even veggies like mushrooms and broccoli.

For red meats (lamb, duck, tenderloin, even sausages), a Cajun spice mix (onion and garlic powder, oregano, thyme, chilli flakes, salt and sugar) works well and you can even try fish like the reef cord, not exactly tender, marinated and grilled as such. The Thai sweet chilli flavour on the other hand works well for shell- and other fish.

All these marinades and sauces are available off-the-shelf, as is smoke-free coal in case you want the flavour without the hassle.

Casseroles "" any mix of ingredients cooked slowly in a liquid "" are also quintessential winter dishes (make them as creamy as you like; and if you want to go traditional, combine tuna with pasta in sauce as they do for American pot-lucks) though in India all those exotic recipes involving rabbit and game meat would obviously be illegal.

The seafood available in winter is much better too. If you're dining Japanese, ask for snow crabs and yellowtail (buri), an oily fish. The fish is considered tastier in the winter months. The winter buri season begins in late November and a traditional way of eating it is to hold a piece in a boiling broth, placed in the centre of the table, as in the Mongolian hotpot, till it iscooked and then dip it lightly in some sauce before eating.

The hotpot, called the steamboat in Canton and going under various other names, is common all over the Far East. While in Beijing and northern China this may be a regular communal meal, in other places, this is strictly a winter affair.

Thinly sliced meats, seafood, veggies like mushrooms and noodles (these are added last before slurping on the "soup") are placed on the table along with the steamboat in the centre and each diner uses his/her chopstick to cook and eat the chosen morsel. This is now available at many restaurants, including at the Intercontinental, Nehru Place.

Chinese chefs also suggest combining warm meats and veggies like lamb and radish as "appropriate" and authentic winter dishes. Though, the "snake", says chef Yan Jun at the Claridges "is best had in September because it is fatter then, just before it sleeps." Thank god, it's autumnal.