STONE CURRY

[BBhasin]

My brother in law narrates this one.

He, as a kid, with his father was at this rich Jain wedding feast. Need less to mention that it was all vegetarian. He put some rice on his plate and then scooped up stuff from a dish, which went plonk on his plate. Upon this his father told him to “put the stones back”. Behold he had served himself some stones.

Apparently it’s a delicacy with the Jain Nawabs ( or whatever these noblemen were called).

Bottoms of the ponds would be scoured for small stones on which moss or vegetation had grown. These greenish stones were used to prepare the curry that my b’inlaw helped himself to , above. The moss or the vegetation on the stones would come off and assimilate with the liquid and other seasonings used to form the stew, which would be eaten and the plain stones left at the bottom. ( Though why would they transfer the stones to the serving dish??)

Anyway thats the story.

Does anybody out there know of this dish?

Or maybe you have some other unusual preperation that you can share.

[prasad2]

Have heard about Pathar (Stone) Gosht. Not in veggie...

[BBhasin]

Have heard about Pathar (Stone) Gosht. Not in veggie...

 

whats that 'pathar kabab' ?

[BBhasin]

Butterfly pieces of meat, pound them thin like a scallopine, marinate in oil, vinegar, ginger garlic paste, spices etc. Cook on hot stone or griddle.

[jackal10]

Is stone curry an Indian version of the old tale of stone soup?

[BBhasin]

Is stone curry an Indian version of the old tale of stone soup?

now you must tell the tale or we will never know

[BBhasin]

Don't try this with Ruff

My father, now retired from the Indian army, was posted in the North East Nagaland area. Being a disturbed area, this was a non family posting so communication was through mail and we learnt of the region through his narratives, which were occasionally censored by the authorities.

He described the area as beautiful, with lush green mountains. What struck him the most was the extreme quiet of the region. There were no birds, bees, bugs, NOTHING the Nagas ate everything! The ultimate foodies eh?

Their favourite was Roast Dog.

A dog would be tied on a short leash for a couple of days without water or food. They would then feed him soaked rice which the dog would immidiatly devour. The dog was then skewered end to end and pit roated with the rice steaming in the stomach.

While I do not endorse this treatment of animals I thought I would share the story.

[jackal10]

Is stone curry an Indian version of the old tale of stone soup?

now you must tell the tale or we will never know

Stone Soup story

[gingerly]

did you get to the bottom of this one?!perhaps the stones are left in for the same reason bones are-the essence!i do recall reading that women in the desert area of saurashtra collect small stones to add to pickling spices in lieu of the fruit which is traditionally used but that disappears in extreme drought conditions.coming(i think ?)from the same part of the country ,possibly the moss delicacy emerged from similar adversity?

[gingerly]

update-

'the jains flavoured their food with all these things and the richest spices,but they wanted to prove they were as good as rajput nobles.and although the gluten was like chicken in texture and taste,there were no bones.to give the english something to chew on,they fashioned chicken bones out of solid silver.