There is a pile of silky, shiny brown grain in my pantry, some lovingly sent by my dad from India straight from his farm, and some bought from our local farmers market. Flax seed often known as alsi, tisi, linseed or chikna as we call it in our native language are the common names of this grain which is a part of our culture & civilization long before the ‘West’ discovered it as superfood.

I have seen the gunny sacks full of tisi sitting in my grandmas grainery, and still see them but in small packs adorning the shelves of supermarket, but I always wonder as to why this grain used to fall into the category of those insipid food that we take for granted and often tend to ignore its nutritional values. Were we waiting for the ‘West’ to realize the value and adopt this humble grain, and present it to the world as a gift of their own research? A topic that certainly deserves our attention and needs to be discussed…I guess!

Talking about some traditional basic meals, that we seem to leave far behind amidst all the chaos of so-called busy city lives. The meals that were always an inseparable part of our cuisine, from the treasure trove of grandma, seem to be lost somewhere in the restaurant style meals and take outs. We still remember the taste, but we forgot to write down the recipe and slowly the dish slips away into oblivion.

Although a lot of them slipped away, yet I’m trying my best to hold a few at least to pass it on as a gift to the coming generation. A glimpse of our native cuisine, which they might not be able to experience firsthand. One of them is ‘chikna jhol’/ flax seed rasam / flax seed soup (if I take the liberty of analogy to make it easy to understand.)

When the summer gourds, beans and tender greens like amaranth have disappeared from the market, flax seed would silently make their way to the table in form of thin garlic flavored sour curry, to be eaten with rice and some potato fry as an accompaniment. A rustic meal without putting much effort, which indeed, can take me back to basics, to my native home without being travelled thousands of miles.

This is one of those ordinary recipes which I think must have been created out of necessity, to make use of whatever available ingredients, to turn out into something that is flavorful yet nutritious. An art with which, the women of bygone era were certainly blessed!!