Sundarkala: Traditional Wheat Noodles from Uttarakhand
Sanskriti Bist shares a recipe for wheat noodles from Uttarakhand, and the fascinating community traditions that surround it.
If you were to think of noodles in India, it is probably iddiyapam or shavige, rice-based ‘noodles’ from various states across southern India, that come to mind. Or perhaps the Indo-Chinese street food culture that originated in Calcutta, that is now prevalent throughout the country .
So imagine my surprise when my neighbour, Usha Aunty, sent me a bowl of sundarkala, or ‘noodles from Uttarakhand’ as she fondly calls it. Originally, in Raini village in Chamoli district, these noodles were made from mandua atta (finger millet) mixed with some whole wheat. It is not a dish that can be made in a hurry — rolling out the dough can be quite laborious and time-consuming, and therefore this was a dish made in the winters, when there was less farm work to tend to. These days however, it is more common to make sundarkala with just wheat, as it tends to be quicker.
Though the origins of the dish remain unknown, it is likely that it drew inspiration from Tibetan cuisine. Uttarakhand has a rich history of barter with Tibet. Communities such as the Bhotiyas have subdivisions that are named after ingredients they would barter with Tibetans. Marcha were the community who sold ghee, and Tholcha were the ones who would sell oil. In return they received salt, hing and all sorts of precious stones.
Usha Aunty’s fondest memory of making and eating sundarkala comes from the Uttarakhand festival of Egaas, or Buddhi Diwali. During the time of Egaas, the adults of the village would visit various homes in the neighbourhood to exchange pakodis, ladoos, and even the local alcohol, chaang*. It is mandatory to knock on each door and collect food from every house. The night after Diwali, children and teenagers visit the houses and collect, atta, rice, oil and other ingredients. The children then make a chulah on the biggest lawn and cook together, often making dishes like sundarkala and eggs.
The recipe is fairly simple, making a dough out of wheat, salt and haldi. The dough is then rolled out by hand into thick logs to then be cooked in boiling water. On another chulah, lehsun namak is made with garlic leaves, salt and chillies, mashed together in a tadka of mustard, oil and faran**.
*Chaang is a local alcohol made with a starter of atta dough called balam. It is then mixed with cooked jhagora (barnyard millet) and water and left to ferment for anywhere between a few days and upto 3 years.
**Although, faran is optional, it is one of the most fragrant of spicy foraged leaves of Uttarakhand. Usha Aunty gets her freshly dried faran from a neighbouring village. It is common, she says, to gift faran from one village to another, as the flavour of faran varies according to region, and the month it was plucked.
Usha Rawat’s Recipe for Sundarkala
Ingredients
200 g whole wheat flour
80 ml water
1 tsp of salt
1 tsp of haldi
50 g garlic leaves
2 tsp salt
3-4 green chillies
2 tbsp mustard oil
1 tsp faran
Method
To make the dough, pour whole wheat flour, salt and haldi in a bowl and slowly add water to the bowl and keep kneading it till it becomes a ball. This is the exact same procedure as to how you make dough for roti.
Cover with a cloth, and let the dough rest for 20 minutes.
When the dough is well rested, lightly flour your countertop and form small balls from the dough. Now take the small balls of dough and roll it with your hands on the counter top till they become long.
In a medium sized pot, boil water. Put the noodles in the boiling water for 6-8 minutes till cooked.
Now to a silbatta, add the garlic leaves, salt, green chillies and grind it to a paste. In a kadhai, on medium heat, add mustard oil and faran. Next, add the paste. Add in the boiled noodles and cook for 1-2 minutes. Stir well.
This recipe is best paired with namkeen chai.
Sanskriti Bist is a Bangalore based food stylist and photographer. She hails from Dehradun and spends her time researching and cooking Garhwali food.
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