BHUBANESWAR: ‘Dahi Pakhala’, the preferred summertime specialty of city folks, seems to have vanished from restaurant menus post-Fani owning to power outage and scarcely available green vegetables.
The summer-time cuisine consists of cooked rice fermented in water. The dish is then mixed with curd and served with ‘Aloo Bhaja’, ‘Badi Chura’ and ‘Saga’.
So why has this summer specialty gone missing? “Dahi-Pakhala cannot be made without curd. It is as simple as that,” explains Bijay Rou, manager at a restaurant here. “Dahi (curd) is the essence of the dish and since no power is available, it is practically impossible to preserve it in the aftermath of the cyclone,” he added.
Preserving curd has been a nightmare not only for connoisseurs of the coveted dish but also for various shop owners due to the power outage. While few shops have stopped bringing fresh stocks of curd packets others have even thrown the existing ones.
A resident of Nayapalli Sukanti Chand said, “As my job requires a lot of field work, I usually have Dahi-Pakhala for my lunch which revitalises me. However, I am eating simple rice with curries since the past few days as my preferred one is almost extinct. My lunch feels incomplete without the dish.”
While curd is one of the crucial elements of the dish, non-availability of green vegetables has also hindered the preparation of the summer specialty. “Either the vegetables are unavailable or are too costly,” stated Debasis Jena, a cook here.
While foodies are craving for their revered dish to resurrect, restaurants are waiting for normalcy to restore so that their business may flourish again. “I had a huge customer base as I largely severed Dahi-Pakhala. Ever since Fani, I’m haven’t opened my outlet,” complained Bibhuti Bhusan who runs a food stall at Ekamara.
Meanwhile, as the power paucity has forced the Dahi-Pakhala to stay elusive for a while other beverages and desserts such as soft drinks and ice-creams have been rendered useless. While restoration work is in full swing, denizens of the temple city can only pray to the Gods for their preferred dishes to come to the fore again.
Meal prices mark steep rise
Skyrocketing prices of regular meals in the aftermath of ‘Fani’ has caused a lot of distress to bachelors and working professions in the city. Odisha Hotel, a famous eatery in Sahid Nagar, has increased the price of its regular meal from Rs 140 to Rs 190. Small chawl eateries have also increased their meal tariff from Rs 55 to Rs 65. Interacting with Orissa Post, Avinash Mohanty of Babu Hotel said, “With the current power situation, lack of staff and grocery items, we are forced to increase the price. Chandan Behera, a regular at the hotel, said, “The arbitrary hike in meal prices are impacting people like me.”
Aviral Mishra, OP