National highways form the economic backbone of the country and have often facilitated development along their routes. Along with the countries’ expansion and development, many new towns have sprung up along major highways.
Highways- the hot-spot to the increasing numbers of small restaurants and inns (known as dhabas) along their length; serve the ultimate gastronomic experience. The mélange of the popular local cuisine is generally found at the truck repair shops, tea kiosks or dhabhas in villages, bandis at the railway crossing, and many more hidden treasures like these.
I was a cyclist during my school days and usually took to different highways during my practice sessions and competitions. At every highway visit, I was presented with a myriad of culinary treasures, which I would keep recording for my reference. To this day, the rustic charm of highways and my love for my Royal Enfield have kept me on National Highways long after I stopped cycling.
My vocation as a Chef has complimented my acquired passion for the highways; as now, when I taste the food along these highways, I try and transpire its rustic cooking style to the concepts of the refined five-star hotels and try to present the novelty to my guests.
During my highway trips, I have experienced some of the best tea, breakfast, lunch, and dinner while driving on these roads. Well, I would definitely not discount my bike for making any remote destinations more easily accessible to me. Piece of advice to all the fellow bikers & chefs- If you have time, try and talk to the locals, try to taste and explore the traditional foods available.
While driving on these highways, I often pick up a lot of new dishes which a chef would never try in his kitchen. On one of my recent trips, while driving back to Hyderabad from Kanyakumari, at 20 km from Coimbatore (Towards Mysore) in a small village with just some 70 households on the way, our convoy was forced to stop because my friend’s bike got punctured. While we were waiting for the repair, we saw a small shack with a broken table, chipped old chairs, a few benches, and a lot of smoke coming out.
We got tempted by the thought of freshly cooked food and decided to have a glass of tea. However, the owners (an elderly couple) courteously offered us some breakfast, and we all agreed. The treat started on a banana leaf, where the lady served us some steaming idli, to begin with; the idlis were so hot that we couldn’t touch them with our hands, accompanied by thin slices of coconut, and ginger chutney.
The preparation was so basic, mouth-watering, and cooked to perfection; trust me, it is still complicated to pen down the complete experience in words. I will not forget the sambhar (steaming broth of all the seasonal vegetables; most outstanding was drumsticks) that complimented the breakfast so well.
Our bodies were sore with riding for 200 km and our appetite building up with every morsel of the freshly cooked idli. We ate so much that the lady ran out of idlis, and when she realized that we are looking for more, she apologized and offered us uttappams. To our surprise, she was making dosas and uttappams on a wood-fired iron sheet (I won’t even call it a tawa)
For thoroughbred chefs like me, a tawa (hot plate) and its temperature are so important that we dare not cook anything without the pre-requisite temperature. With such a fearsome notion of the right temperature and right ingredients when we saw the lady cooking dosas without any glitch, I felt a wave of gratification for her, agreeing that she is a real chef.
Undoubtedly this was one the best breakfasts which I ate outside my home (being chef by nature). Even today, when I recall the taste of that hot idli with thin coconut slices and dosa cooked over the wood-fired iron sheet, my nostalgia for simplicity and perfection drives me to discover many more hidden highway treasures like these.
Though my journey along the highways has made me experience many such unique food concepts and my hunger to know more (well, I have travelled 4 such Highways, and there are approximately 45 more to go) makes me gear up for another trip.
“As after every 100 kilometres the food tends to change, these drives will never end because I can’t live without eating and cooking, learning new things and tasting new and different food all the time.”
My search for undiscovered food will keep encouraging me to kick-start my Royal Enfield and take yet another voyage to gastronomical nirvana!!
Goodbye, make merry, and let the wheel roll to a new destination.
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