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<\/p>\nWhat do we celebrate in winters?<\/p>\n
Food.<\/p>\n
The answer is probably true for all seasons in the heartlands of Gujarat and if you are from Surat, probably the word food-porn is the best description of your celebratory entertainment. Smack in the middle of all this high gastronomic drama, sits the legendary PONK.<\/p>\n
For the uninitiated,\u00a0Ponk is succulent, tender millet seeds reaped in South Gujarat during the winter months of Nov – Feb. The farmers thrash the seeds gently in bhattis or kilns and then winnow them to dust away the sparse fuzzy coverings. What you get are these small green nodules that are so ardently loved by every Surti worth her\/his salt (or ponk). Basically, its straight off the fields, slightly tended and then on your plate, like a no-nonsense guy in the Surti food family. We say Surti and unadulterated at that, because it\u2019s born here, eaten here, loved by all (parceling for NRIs anyone?) season after season.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
( A pictorial representation of the process of how\u00a0Ponk is collected and cleaned)<\/p>\n
Of course, our indigenous chefs go at length to play with the cereal and create various dishes out of it. There is the very desi \u00a0Ponk wadas and pulao, slightly NRIish Patties and we even spotted one laari selling Ponk burgers (just kidding, but you can take that idea). Ponk is also savored in its raw form with various spicy sevs \u2013 green, brown etc. and the ubiquitous chutneys \u2013 garlic and limbu-mari, a citrusy pepper chutney.<\/p>\n
We won\u2019t be hyperboles when we claim that Surtis are so proud of our\u00a0Ponk that some of them host grand parties to usher in the new harvest. Its smuggled religiously to all the relatives’\u00a0households abroad and the distribution to the extended family is fervently discussed.<\/p>\n
Our Recommendation: Ask for Wadas with the spicy green sev and wash them down with the Oh So Surti SOSYO.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What do we celebrate in winters? Food. The answer is probably true for all seasons in the heartlands of Gujarat and if you are from Surat, probably the word food-porn is the best description of your celebratory entertainment. Smack in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1316,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7],"tags":[122,165,265,338,405,419,449],"class_list":["post-1313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-food-beverages","tag-digitaldoorsurat","tag-foodgasm","tag-lifestyle","tag-ponk","tag-surat","tag-surtis","tag-winterfood"],"yoast_head":"\n