The Naturalist’s Recipe: Dal Bhati from Forsyth Lodge, Satpura
This article was written by Vineeth, a naturalist at the Forsyth lodge, Satpura.
One land travels to another, churning life and geography. This isn’t the languid continental drift but the faster, the vibrant, the visible and the ‘tasteful’.
Madhya Pradesh rests in the heart of India and as any heart her blood has to pass through her heart from all corners.
It is Rajasthan that brought in more cultural influences to the state than any other.
Rajput clans like Bhagels, Jaiwars, Chandelas, Tomars and the Sengars earlier settled on the north of Narmada until the great Deccan roads opened to travelers and nomadic tribes, to the agriculturists, and to the recent Narmada Dam’s compensated villagers who seeped through to the south.
With them came the Rajasthani colors, the languages, the dance, the music and to keep it fueled, their Dal, Bhati and Churma.
The Gond and Korku were probably early inhabitants of Madhya Pradesh who fished and farmed, living on simple and healthy sorghum, rice and spice. The rivers they established their villages by have been excellent social networking sites, where the determined travelers of North-western parts of the Subcontinent itinerated.
One of the communities was Bhil who were warriors and hunters with an emblem of a bow and an arrow. The Bhil community settled in the hilly forests of Central India and convinced themselves to agriculture from hunting. Slowly the influx from north-west changed the pale wall paintings to energetic colored Gondi art, staple sorghum to wheat and the flavor of cow-dung powered Bhatis floated down the Narmada valley and crawled up her feeding rivers of Satpura...
Irrespective of class, special occasions stir up the monotony of rice and sorghum rotis to fired Bhatis, the spicy gumbo to Dal and even their leftovers were celebrated as maleeda.
It starts with cleaning the kitchen and plastering the anti-fungal cow-dung on the floor.
Artistic husbands with their children paint mural of flowing river on kitchen walls and some enthusiasts flow the river into the earthen stoves and ovens too. To me the murals interestingly honor the Dal-Bhati’s journey up the rivers.
I am more indebted to a version of Dal-Bhati served at Forsyth Lodge, cooked by the women from Madhai in winter afternoons, which fills the ambience with a smoky, lingering scent and is served under a Mahua tree to keep the roots more authentic.
This Central Indian edition involves similar ingredients to the Rajasthani edition but with an easier process that makes it a variant. Wheat flour is made into dough and doled out into golf balls and tapped to flatten a little.
These are baked on dung cakes until they turn brown. While those little appetizing orbs mature, its sacred companion, the Dal would be stewed on the earthen stoves. The baked Bhatis are dipped into clarified butter for a few minutes. A few Bhatis are refrained from this holy dip for another holier deed. They are mashed and glued into jaggery and this coarse ball is inlayed with dried dates, cashews and almonds to make maleeda; the unbeatable post-meal molar exercise.
Ideally it is served in cups lined by Palash leaf accompanied by ghee and mashed potatoes with green chili paste called Chokha. One needs to let the broken Bhatis soak in Dal and ghee for the aromas to take you on the journey it has traveled.
Here is a list of ingredients for the Dal Bhati and Maleeda, Central Indian Edition, Forsyth Lodge at Satpura version for 4 people:
Ingredients
For Dal
- 1/3 cup chana dal (split Bengal gram)
- 1/3 cup tooar (arhar) dal
- 1/3 cup moong dal (split green gram)
- 1 tablespoon urad dal (split black lentils)
- 1 tablespoon whole moong (whole green gram)
- 3 tea-spoon chilli powder
- 1/4 tea-spoon turmeric powder (haldi)
- 1 tea-spoon coriander (dhania) powder
- 1/2 tea-spoon garam masala
- 3 cloves (laung / lavang)
- 2 bay leaves (tejpatta)
- 1 tea-spoon cumin seeds (jeera)
- 2 green chillies, slit
- a pinch of asafoetida (hing)
- 2 tea-spoon dried mango powder (amchur)
- 3 tablespoon ghee
- Salt to taste
For about 10 Bhatis
- 3 cups whole wheat flour (gehun ka atta)
- 2 tablespoon besan (Bengal gram flour)
- 4 tablespoon melted ghee
- Salt to taste
For serving
- Melted ghee
- Crushed Bhati and Jaggery
- Boiled Potatoes mashed with chopped green Chilies, garlic and ginger, salt to taste

