Food and Drink
You can't beat trying out the local nosh to get a real taste of the land. Food in the Indian Himalaya is a far cry from the curry house down the road. It’s actually surprisingly varied, drawing from a range of influences that include Indian, Chinese, Kashmiri and Tibetan - plus, lots of perplexing Indian renditions of western food in the more popular traveller hangouts. Here’s some of what you’ll find on the menu…
Dhabas
Dhabas are the ‘Little Chefs’ of the Indian Highway. Roll up at any dhaba along even the most mountainous of roads, and chances are a cauldron of dhal and a gargantuan, steaming pot of rice will be on the go – to the soundtrack of a dozen chapattis being hand-slapped into shape and the latest Bollywood hit pounding out of the stereo. Dhal is a real Indian staple – lentils in a sauce that can take all manner of forms. Rice is generally boiled courtesy of a pressure cooker on a kerosene burner that roars away like a taxiing aircraft. Throw in some ‘sabzi’, whatever veg is to hand, and you have your classic, traveller’s thali, named after the dish in which it’s presented - a metal, TV dinner-style plate with compartments for different foods. Stick to the busy dhabas for fresher fodder and on the whole, it's a good idea to avoid meats as storage and refrigeration leave a lot to be desired.
Thali may not be the most varied of dishes but it scores highly on quantity. Like a New Yorker’s never ending cup of coffee, it will keep arriving by the ladleful, until you yell ‘Bas, bas (enough)!’. But beware the spice-o-meter, which can fluctuate from mild and easily negotiated to a turbo-charged, chilli-packed, eye-watering snot fest that will test even the most dedicated of vindaloo connoisseurs. Thankfully, most restaurants are savvy to the likes of westerners and drop the gauge down a notch or three. Otherwise, they’re often a bowl of fresh curd (pronounced currrrrrrd) - yoghurt - to the cool the tongue.
In larger villages and towns, there's sure to be a roasting hot tandoor oven to the side. Generally manned by a smiling, sweaty individual in a string vest, Indian chapatti artists make a great show working their trade, kneading and slapping fist sized balls of dough with pomp and flair, churning out dozens of flat packed chapati discs in a blur of motion. Variances on the bread theme include thicker naan while paranthas are usually a breakfast treat similar to chapattis but filled with potato and fried in butter or ghee on a tawa – a hotplate. In fact, breads are for more than just eating. Used in lieu of cutlery, it’s a case of tearing off a chunk and shovelling the food up - right hand only... Take-aways are wrapped in Indian newspapers, which can make a great read. (Last time, my horoscope promised, 'cups of light and lotus blossoms greet you this week' and foretold 'abandoning yourself to a luxurious holiday' - that would be cycling in the Indian Himalaya then).
If you’re not a fan of thali, don’t worry, chowmein is a popular alternative. The best is cooked with fresh noodles and vegetables straight from the field. If you're caught in a tight corner, you may have to rely on the evil 2 Minute Maggi– packet noodles spiked with MSG. There are loads of flavours - try Macho Masala for size. Despite a shortage of squawking chickens, there are certainly lots of eggs – the mystery is to how they survive the journey on such bumpy roads. ‘Omlet Sanwich’ is the name coined by many a Himalayan truckstop for a local favourite, dabbed in ‘Continental Sauce’ – ketchup to you and me.
Here’s some words to help you navigate through the Indian menu: Alu – potato, Ghobi – cauliflower, Mutter – peas, Channa – chickpeas, Paneer – cheese, Murgh – Chicken, Gosht – Mutton. Leafing through the translated menus is also entertaining – the liberal sprinkling of English misspellings can be good for a giggle.
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Spitian and Ladakhi food
If truckstop thalis start to feel a little samey, once you make it to the towns and villages of Spiti and Ladakh, the culinary delights of momos, thukpa and kiyu await. Momos are crescent shaped dumplings filled with vegetables or meat, and then steamed or fried. They’re generally served by the dozen, neatly arranged around the plate like numbers on a clock. Variations on the theme include kothey - half-steamed, half-fried hybrids, and rochoosey, momo floaters in a soup, sometimes laced with chunks of ginger and joined by whatever veg lies to hand – the region is famed for its snap peas that grow in fertile, kidney shaped fields around the land.
Also of Tibetan origin are two soups. Thukpa uses thin, spaghetti-like noodles in vegetable or meat broth, while thentuk is basically the same, with thicker, flatter noodles. Packed with energy, they’re also a great way to rehydrate on the road. Spitian delicacies are headed by kiyu, probably our all time favourite. Dough pellets mixed in a chunky vegetable soup, it uses a thicker broth than thentuk and is more filling. Kiyu can take all sorts of forms, depending on who’s the chef and what’s to hand.
Tsampa is a wonder-food of roasted barley flour. Sometimes it’s rolled up with water in little balls and flicked into the mouth, sometimes it’s added to thicken breakfast soup. It’s also used with tea, butter and even the local brew - chang. We like to add a little to porridge, and then mix with honey, nuts, dried fruit and hot milk.
The ingredients of Ladakhi bread are similar to chapattis (flour and water) but with a little yeast that makes it puff it up like cooked pita when thrown on an open flame. It’s great with spreads, like local apricot jam or Himalayan honey, as it’s easy to split and tastes delicious when piping hot and fresh.
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Drinks
No dhaba experience is complete without a few rounds of chai. Indian tea is milky and very, very sweet. Served in grubby little glasses, it makes the ultimate pick-me-up when energy is running low. The best is mixed with spices like cardamom and cinnamon for that extra twist. Black tea is just that, chai minus the milk.
More touristy locals sometimes have green and herbal teas. Lemon and hot water is also popular, while Bournvita makes appearances. Coffee is also available, brewed up from packets of instant Nescafe. If you’re feeling up to the challenge, try gur-gur, or butter tea, a Tibetan and Ladakhi speciality. Hand churned in a half-metre tube that makes a gurgling sound, with a liberal pinch of salt is added, it's an aquired taste but will you win you friends.
The usual fizzy drink suspects are present, such as Coke, Pepsi and Limca. Enterprising dhabas store them in glacial streams to keep them ice cold. However, fizzy drinks aren’t the best to rehydrate, though they do give you a sugar rush. Slice and Miranda are two mango flavoured, non-fizzy alternatives. Try and buy those from glass bottles, which can be recycled. Although there's plenty of bottled water available, for the same reason we purify or boil our own, or refill bottles at guesthouses and Dzomsas in Leh.
In restaurants, you’ll also find lassis – currrrrd based drinks, often mixed with banana or mango. Most include heaps of sugar unless you ask for one without. There’s also the salty, tangy variety, favoured by locals. Worth noting is that many lassis use tap water or ice – so steer clear if your stomach is feeling delicate.
Godfather Beer is a tasty concoction that’s available in larger towns, or from the somewhat inappropriately titled English Wine Shops. If you enjoy your tiple, you may wish to partake in a dram of Indian whisky. J&K's 'For Military Use Only' wins the prize for most original label (closely followed by Kashmiri XXX Rum) but travel connoisseurs say Bagpiper's tastes (marginally) better. Steer clear of arrak though - rice or barley liquor - unless you want to go blind.
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Snacks
Dhabas are also the place to stockpile on biscuits. While glucose and bourbons are omnipresent, keep an eye out for little gems like Hide and Seeks. Potato chips are also available, the packs of which expand at altitude like angry puffer fish. Don’t be unduly concerned if the sell-by-date was last year – the dates printed on packets tend to state when it was produced. Chocolate bars are plentiful too, including Kit Kats, Bar Ones, Five Stars and Cadburys. Most have melted, reset, and melted several times over…
For something more local, try toasted barley. They’re nice and crunchy but watch out for the grit. Towns such as Shimla, Kaza, Recong Peo, Leh and Manali are good places to load up on dried fruit and nuts, such as almonds, raisons, figs, pistachios and cashews. There’s also plenty of fresh fruit in the markets, like finger-sized bananas, cricket ball-sized apples (a Kinnauri speciality) and bags of eyeball-sized apricots. Apricots carry with them a warning though, as they're the source of many an upset stomach. Local folklore suggests that once you’ve eaten the flesh, crack open the kernel to reveal the tiny almond. Eating this supposedly keeps the stomach bugs at bay.
For just a few rupees, plump samosas are available from many dhabas and sweetshops. Again, sample first and refer to the spice-o-meter - some can reduce a grown man to tears. Pakora (fried onions and veg) is another delicious alternative, bought by the weight – look out for what appears to be chicken scratchings. The tiny green flecks are a giveaway that you’re in for a ride, so get some currrrrrrd ready.
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Sweets
Indians love their sweets. A visit to most teahouses will reveal an immaculate display cabinet crammed with neatly stacked miniature desserts, generally milk and sugar based, or deep-fried and greasy. It’s well worth working your way through a selection - but don’t go overboard until you suss out which ones you like, as some of the ones which look the tastiest are actually pretty foul. If you’re riding to Lamayuru up the Jalebi Bends, you must try the sweet after which it’s named – an orange deep-fried, squirly delight that literally explodes with grease in your mouth. Mmm! Delicious!
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Western food
If curry isn’t your idea of breakfast, there’s plenty of cereal (cornflakes and muesli) and porridge on offer. We’ll carry our own supplies as these are generally just available in the main towns and make a welcome change from paranthas and omelettes.
Tourist havens such as Manali and Leh will do their best to cook up an Indian rendition of most western foods, to varying degrees of success. Some pizzas, borrowing from well-honed tandoor technology, are simply fantastic. Others are simply odd. In fact, large tourist towns are a good place to sample some cheap world cuisine, including Italian, Japanese and plenty of ‘Israeli’ food. Indians chefs have also embraced the humble finger chip – bizarrely, cooking times vary from a few minutes to over an hour (and somehow, the ones in Pooh come out fluorescent orange).
We’ve saved the best till last. No visit to the Indian Himalaya is complete without a visit to the German Bakeries! Picture a cabinet teeming with fresh cakes and pies – banoffee pie, apple pie, pear pie, chocolate cake, chocolate brownies, cinnamon rolls, Nutella and banana croissants, muesli cookies… The list goes on. Thankfully, they’re only available at the beginning and end of the trips, so we can keep our waistlines in check and make sure we get up all those hills…
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Websites
Here's a funky website from a globetrotting cyclist, who clearly has a very healthy obsession with food:
And now for something completely different. Gastrobiking organises delicious holidays in a superb road riding region of France:
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