Chapda Chutney

Gordon Ramsay[i], celebrity British chef, during his visit to a Dhurva tribal’s home at Bastar was offered to sample a home-made side-dish.

‘Is it very hot?’ he asked.

‘Yes, it is,’ said his host.

Tentatively, Gordon put a little of the paste on his tongue and gasped. It was a fiery chutney.

‘What are the ingredients? he asked.

‘Our secret recipe. Let us walk to the jungle, and you would see how we collect our basic ingredient.’

They walked to the nearby forest, a man swiftly climbed up a tall tree, and chopped a small branch which was expertly caught by another on the ground. It was a leaf-nest swarming with red ants. The guide pulled apart the nest to reveal thousands of white eggs, took a few in a pinch and chewed it. So did Gordon, and said, ‘It’s very sour.’

‘Yes, like tamarind.’

‘Did I eat the chutney made of this?’

‘Yes. This is our secret ingredient.’

Back at the Dhurva home, Gordon crushed with a flat stone slab and a round stone pestle the white eggs and such tenacious red ants who had refused to desert their nest. Tomato, ginger, chilli, coriander leaves, salt and sugar were added to garnish the chutney.

Gordon tasted the chutney made by himself from freshly harvested chapda, the leaf-nest of the red ants, and exclaimed, ‘It’s ant caviar!’

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)

There is a video on You Tube of Gordon’s tryst with red ant chutney, also called chapda chutney in Chhattisgarh.

These red weaver ants (Oecophylla smaragdina)[ii] are called kai in Odisha. Tribal women of Mayurbhanj district have reportedly filed for a GI tag for Kai Chutney. However, red ant chutney is not made only in Mayurbhanj, but in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and the North-eastern states, too. In Thailand, they serve an omelette garnished with red ant eggs.

                                        (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)

These ants and their eggs are a rich source of protein, calcium, zinc, vitamin B-12 and other minerals, including folic acid. Maybe, it is a superfood that we know little about.

Tribal people believe it has medicinal properties, and cures asthma, cough and cold, and even malaria. A person with fever sits under a tree infested with red ants and encourages the ants to crawl over his body and sting. A guaranteed cure for fever, it is believed.

Long ago, I spent a year in Bastar, and had seen chapda chutney being sold and eaten in the weekly haats. Local tribals love to pair their salphi drink with this chutney. Alas, I wasn’t bold enough to taste this amazing cuisine. Next when I visit Bastar, I hope to sample it. No issue for me since I am a non-vegetarian, though guilt from infanticide may mildly bruise my conscience!

Post-script

* Binati Jamuda, a dear friend, has promised to send me a small jar of this chutney when she next visits Mayurbhanj. Thanks, Binati. Looking forward to savour it.

* Pratap Bisi, a dear friend from Sambalpur tells me that kai chutney is sold by tribal women in the weekly haat at Ainthapali, on the road leading to the backwaters of Hirakud Dam. So, if you are at Sambalpur and okay with a little culinary adventure, go ahead to buy a dona and sample it.

* B.V.Selvaraj, a dear friend, shared this note: In all the Weekly Haats in Jharkhand, white coloured sabudana-like but a little bigger and oval in shape eggs of certain ants, I think, are regularly sold kept in the "donas" made of saal leaf. 

Are you aware of it? What's it called?

* Ajay Tirkey, a dear friend, thinks it (Ref Selvaraj's note) might be Demta chutney, but he is not sure.

Kai Chutney of Shimlipal

Kai Chutney of Shimlipal, Mayurbhanj, Odisha won GI Tag, reports Telegraph, 19/01/2024.

Kai is the local name for the red ant.

 https://www.telegraphindia.com/my-kolkata/food/experts-from-mayurbhanj-orissa-share-their-insights-on-red-ant-chutney-as-it-snags-a-geographical-indication-gi-tag/cid/1994930?

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·       [i] Internationally renowned, multi-Michelin starred chef Gordon Ramsay has opened a string of successful restaurants across the globe, from the UK and France to Singapore and the United States. Gordon has also become a star of the small screen both in the UK and internationally, with shows such as Kitchen Nightmares, Hell’s Kitchen, Hotel Hell and MasterChef US. https://www.gordonramsay.com/

 

·       [ii] Aggressive arboreal ants that use larval silk to weave together leaves to form their nesting cavities. A mature colony of Oecophylla smaragdina can entirely dominate a tree (sometimes several) with nests distributed throughout their heavily defended arboreal territory. https://www.antwiki.org/wiki/Oecophylla_smaragdina