A delicacy made up of strange combinations
Food as Language
Our samdhis (son’s in-laws) love to host friends for small dinners with specialty food. This always reminds me that food is the language of love in our culture- a language that sees hospitality as a human law which signals respect and honor. The joy of serving guests with delightful delicacies is a treasured art and beloved heritage of our culture, and we are all glad for it (In case you have interest, you should listen to Netflix series – Raja, Rasoi Aur Anya Kahanian (Kings, Kitchens and their stories- a fantastic lesson in food history of Subcontinent; much of the diaspora abroad loves to reenact those exotic food fests although we have to work very hard to keep our health metrics in shape (mostly on weekdays).
Flower petals and beef!
Several years ago, I was invited to my first Kachnar Gosht party made with dried Kachnar petals frozen and brought from Pakistan. When I tasted the dish, I definitely tasted the beef, but I was straining to taste the flower buds- should they be sweet, should they be bitter- my tongue kept wondering? Having lived outside Pakistan most of my life, I had drunk flowers in the form of juices or added to drinks and eaten flowers, usually added to desserts or even salads. But I had never had a dish where flowers and beef were cooked together. Over time I developed a taste for it, and more importantly began to enjoy others’ delightful enjoyment of it!
Botany lesson
And as I got more curious, I learned so much about the flower itself, which was an education in botany. It reminded me of my aunt Hafiz Rizwani who was a botanist and joined us here in New York not long after we came in 1968. Kachnar (Bauhinia variegata)- also known as orchid tree, camel’s foot tree, kachnar and mountain ebony- is grown in Southeast Asia – southern China, Burma, India Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka. It is known as an ornamental flower due to its scent and beauty of 5 petals either pink or white or even lavender. I have never seen this beautiful flower, but have heard about the beautiful fields of Kachnar in Punjab – the agricultural haven of the Subcontinent. They bloom and fade quickly-less than a week- hence the delicacy label.
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