Book Review | Pallavi Nigam Sahay’s ‘A Sip in Time’ offers the best of teatime recipes

Do you know that England was first introduced to tea in “1662 with the wedding of Charles II and the Portuguese princess, Catherine of Braganza, a tea lover, whose dowry consisted of the islands of Bombay along with chests of tea from China?” What would be your response if you were told that the Chinese wanted no less than Spanish silver in exchange for their tea? Or that we all must thank the seventh Duchess of Bedford, Anna Maria Russell, whose hunger during the “long gaps between lunch and dinner” made her have tea in her private chambers, as it’s this practice that sowed the seed of refined social contact during afternoon tea beyond the 1850s.

Be it a history or chai lover, each one is bound to enjoy author, columnist, and television show host, Pallavi Nigam Sahay, who offers these above facts as a “slice of history” through the lens of tea and teatime recipes in her latest culinary book A Sip in Time: India’s Finest Teas and Teatime Treats (Hachette, 2022).Consisting of 60 recipes — from light snacks like mathri to a meal like paneer kathi roll to sumptuous cakes — that perfectly pair up with tea during different seasons, this book begins with a personal anecdote of how Sahay got interested in the richness of Indian teas.

Sahay, who used to be a “masala chai girl” before marriage, back in 2011 was asked at her in-laws’ what she’d like to drink. She meekly replied, “I will have whatever you are drinking.” And when she had Darjeeling’s first flush (spring tea: February–April) that they were having, she experienced “love at first sip”. In 2018, Sahay decided to take that love a notch higher and joined a tea sommelier course in Guwahati. The learnings were immense and enlightening for her. It, as she notes, “answered a lot of my questions such as the difference between CTC, or ‘crush, tear and curl’ (the granules with which my mother prepares her chai) and wiry, twisted full-leaf tea (which my mother-in-law uses to brew her black tea).” But this tryst didn’t end with that course, as Sahay whose family believes that “serving chai without snacks” is an insult for guests, she began collating and documenting recipes that one can enjoy during their tea time. Her travel also enhanced her taste and storytelling, resulting in this neatly structured book.

Each section begins with a brief history, followed by teatime recipes to go with teas from Assam (Masala Chai, Assam Orthodox — the one that’s made via hand-rolling method, English Breakfast Tea, Earl Grey), Darjeeling, Arunachal Pradesh (foot-rolled tea), and Munnar. And almost all sections have a deeply personal anecdote. Sample this one, which Sahay shares alongside the recipe for Methi Mathri (Spiced and Fried Savoury Biscuits). During Diwali, Sahay’s mother used to make mathris in bulk, but everyone in their house would finish them before Diwali. And “the person who ate the most mathris was my Dadi. When she found the tin almost empty, Mummy would invariably ask, ‘What will I serve the guests now?’ With a cheeky grin on her face, Dadi would reply, ‘On Diwali, no one goes back empty-handed. We can always feed them what they’ve brought!’

These stories are so everyday and universal that reading them will inevitably make you feel that these are histories of your households, kitchen, family, and festive time. Another thing about this book is that it doesn’t take away from anyone their due. Naturally, Sahay wrote to several of her friends or tried to ask for recipes for dishes that are really famous. Though she managed to get recipes like Kolkata Vegetable Chop and Egg Roll from Kolkata’s Flury’s head chef Vikas, she couldn’t get recipes either from Pune’s Kayani Bakery (famous for their Shrewsbury Biscuits) or from Cycle Soupwala Shop in Bhopa’s 10 Number Market that according to the author “sells the best paneer kathi rolls in the world”.

While each dish in this book is a mouth-watering teatime snack, it’s fitting that we pick one teatime recipe — perhaps the easiest and simplest one — that can help us sail through the peak of summer.

Here’s how you can make ‘mungaudi’ or yellow moong dal fritters/lentil fritters

Though not every tea stall in Delhi would offer you Mungaudi, Sahay while growing up in Bhopal ate a lot of them after college at several tapris. While Sahay doesn’t “feel like going out every evening these days,” she never misses out on “enjoying crisp, gingery mungaudis with my rich sweet chai every morning.”

Her recipe involves 20 minutes of prep time and 15 minutes of cooking time and serves two.

Ingredients:

• 200 gm split moong beans (moong dal)
• 2 tsp grated ginger
• 1 medium-sized onion, finely chopped
• 1 tsp green chilli, chopped
• 1 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
• ½ tsp red chilli powder
• ¼ tsp turmeric powder
• ½ tsp cumin powder
• A pinch of asafoetida
• Salt, to taste
• Oil, for deep frying

Method:

Soak the moong beans for 4-5 hours or overnight. Drain and grind into a coarse paste. In a big bowl, add the moong bean paste and all the rest of the ingredients except the oil. Mix well. Taste and adjust seasoning if required.

Heat the oil in a wok (kadhai) over medium heat. Add a tablespoon of the batter to the hot oil and fry over medium heat till golden brown and crisp.

Serve with your favourite chutney and a cup of chai.

Saurabh Sharma (He/They) is a Delhi-based queer writer and freelance journalist. Instagram/Twitter: @writerly_life.

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