Camels and Pilgrims, Everywhere.

How Much is That Camel in The Window?

Now in a little town called Pushkar, a place that is undergoing a metamorpasis of sorts. Every year a 10 day camel market is held in this little lakeside town, with an important Hindu festival falling on the last day. So, not only does every man and his camel come to town, but thousands of pilgrims arrive to bath in the holy lake. The markets start tomorrow, and the town is swelling and bulging with tourists and camel lovers.

Hotel prices shoot up as well, but I have my tent set up at the back of a nice place on the quiet side of the lake, so I am insulated from the tourists (and all the touts that follow them) and from the prices.

The town is nice and quiet, which is a very welcome change after the noisy chaos that is Delhi and Jaipur. I think I will stay here a while. The lake is surrounded on all sides by ghats (steps on which people bath) and temples to all manner of deities. On the edge of town is a crowd of camels, horses and persons involved in the markets. The town lies in the middle of the desert, so it is plenty dusy and hot.

Jaipur

The rest of my time in Jaipur was... very Indian. That is, a combination of fun, annoyance, and surprise. I had enjoyed Eid (the day after fasting) with some Muslim guys and their hindu friends. Going to houses to eat rice pudding and curries. That night I had dinner on a roof top with my new-found friends. One of the guys, Bobby, cooked up a fantastic Rajasthani lamb korma (recipe below) that we all ate sitting cross legged on the floor with big stacks of chapati.

Of course, there was a hitch. Their boss, who runs a jewelry business (yeah, I know), tried to offer me work as a jewel courier to Europe. This pissed me off, as this is a well known scam -- there is always a catch where the foreigner looses money. The difficulty is that I met this guy through a couple of his employees who were fun to hang out with, and were embarresed about his offer. Well, after that we didn't meet anywhere near their office, and got on fine without mentioning jewels again. There seems to be catches involved with befriending anyone over here, so you have to weigh up the pros and cons of each friendship. These guys were fun, and showed me a lot of things that I otherwise wouldn't have seen or understood, and their boss got no money off me -- so I came out ahead.

Spicy Food

I am loving food over here, though I have been forced to cut back on the number of fried and sweet goodies that I buy from street vendors. Deep fried delights have included spicy samosas, potatoe cakes stuffed with dahl, and my fave, big green chilies that are stuffed with dahl and covered in pastry before being deep fried (these treats go for around 10-15 cents a pop). One can sit down to a plate of chapati, dahl curry and pickle with free top-ups for around 35 cents.

I have only eaten meat twice, and both times were great. I ordered a lamb rogan josh, and when I insisted that the sauce be "full hot" the waiters all laughed. They were all my friend after they saw that I clearly enjoyed a nice spicy curry... most tourists must be very soft!

The other time was for a genuine home-made lamb korma, with a thick rich gravy. The recipe is as follows. I don't give much in the way of quantities for the spices, use your intuition/a recipe book to guide you.

Ingredients

- 2kg lamb
- 500g ghee (yes, that much)
- finely chopped red onion (about 5 of them)
- ginger paste
- garlic paste
- tumeric powder
- chili powder
- korma masala (spice mix, look up a few recipes and settle on an a combo)
- salt

Cooking

- heat all of the ghee in a large caserole dish/pan.
- add the onions and cook over high heat for 15-20 minutes until they are caremalised
- add the mutton and stir regularly for 20-30 minutes until the gravy begins to form.
- add tumeric, stir, then add the garlic and masala mix. Add some water, bring to simmer and stir regularly for around an hour, till the lamb is tender. Add more water if needed.
- when the meat is cooked, add the ginger (important to add this near the end), chili and salt to taste. Simmer for another 15-20 minutes till it tastes good.

The sauce should be nice and thick, perfect for scooping up with chapati.

Right that is enough for now. I must go back to lie under a tree and read a book.