[Watch] Celebrity Chef Vikas Khanna Calls Odisha’s Dahibara Aloodum A ‘Genius Dish’, Speaks About His Love For ‘Kanika’

Bhubaneswar: Michelin Star Chef Vikas Khanna was seen gushing over the amazing flavours and textures of Dahibara Aloodum, the quintessential street food of Odisha and a name synonymous with Cuttack, during a recent podcast with Ranveer Allahbadia.

While speaking about underrated cuisines of India, Vikas called Dahibara Aloodum a ‘genius dish’.  “You must be aware of urad daal Dahi Bhala, they soak it in flavoured water and it is then served with dum aloo. While it seemed like a strange combination, I decided to explore and got off my car while on my way to Puri Jagannath Temple,” he said.

He added that he is aware that the best Dahibara Aloodum is available in Cuttack, which is the place of its origin, but would love to speak about the place where he enjoyed a plate of this lip-smacking street food on a recent trip to the state. So impressed was he by the brilliance of the dish, that he also inquired about its preparation techniques, components and ingredients.

Elaborating further on the preparation, the chef said after pouring aloo dum, a gravy of garlic, chilli peppers and cooked potatoes, the vendor grated chilli peppers over it and then added soured buttermilk, roasted cumin powder, and sev (a popular Indian snack food consisting of small pieces of crunchy noodles made from chickpea flour paste) and raw onions to it. “I was like this is not going to work for me. I was so confused, I was literally asking for mithi and teekhi chutney. I told myself that I need to open my mind, I am in love with this place and everybody has been swearing about this dish,” he said.

Vikas then gleefully admitted that he was blown away after the first bite. “I was literally dancing on the highway. I was actually searching for somebody to put these flavours for me together,” he said.

Last month, the celebrity chef had recreated the dish while visiting Grand Hyatt in Mumbai to get a taste of their delicious Navratri thali at Soma restaurant. He made a quick dash into the kitchen and whipped up the delicious Dahibara Aloodum, along with Reena Samby – the in-house chef at the restaurant.

The celebrity chef also spoke about his connection with Jagannath Temple in Puri during the podcast. “Last week I was in Odisha, I feel Puri temple and Lord Jagannath keeps calling me. There was huge rush at the temple and I could smell ‘Kanika’,  an aromatic sweet rice dish, when no one else did. I told my friend who was accompanying me that there is cinnamon and jaggery in it. And guess what, he got me small pots filled with ‘Kanika’ and like a small child I started savouring it. This a thousand-year-old recipe and they use small rice, cinnamon and jaggery and they don’t stir it. There is something so scared about that cooking. I feel I should take inspiration from it and come up with some version of it, especially the way they use jaggery.”

He added, “I think their food is so good because it is between them and their God.”