One Pound Capitalism, A Pinch Of Democracy, And The Not-So-Holy Buffalo

By Priti Gulati Cox

20 March, 2016
Countercurrents.org

The series "One Pound Capitalism, a Pinch of Democracy" brings to our elite dinner tables meals that highlight issues exposing the extreme consequences of neoliberal policies that are disproportionately affecting the daily lives of Muslims, Dalits, Adivasis, and other marginalized people. The type and quantity of each ingredient used and the presentation of a meal is determined by choosing key statistics that are embedded in the issue being conveyed, converting that to a measurement, and then using it in the recipe. Indeed, there may be a dish or two that tastes somewhat strange, with an ingredient or two out of whack. But that’s intentional.

This recipe is designed around the issue of India simultaneously holding the title of the #1 beef exporter in the world and the title of the #1 beef-ban murderer in the world.

I first presented this recipe in August of last year. Below are some facts confirming India as the world’s largest hypocrisy, followed by a slightly updated version of the recipe.

Facts:

1. India declared largest exporter of carabeef in the world in 2015.

2.On the domestic front in early March last year, the state of Maharashtra extended a ban on cow slaughter to include bulls and bullocks—but not water buffalo, the source of carabeef.

3. Since the ban, in 2015, five people were murdered for beef-related reasons by right-wing extremists. They included 50-year-old Mohammed Akhlaq from Uttar Pradesh, 28-year-old Noman from Himachal Pradesh, Zahid Rasool Bhat from South Kashmir, 25-year-old Khush Noor from Haryana and 27-year-old Abid,also from Haryana.

4. And in the latest violence on March 17 this year, two Muslim cattle traders from Jharkhand — 35-year-old Muhammad Majloom and his young relative15-year-old Azad Khan alias Ibrahim — were beaten and hanged from a tree till they died.

The chief difference between last year’s and this year’s incidents is that the most recent attack involved buffalo. Yes, the dark, unholy animal. According to a police officer who was there, “The sight (of the two men with their hands tied behind their backs and their mouth stuffed with pieces of cloth) suggested that the two of them were subjected to extreme levels of brutality. It means that the assailants were moved by extreme hatred.” I would label it extreme extremism. One that is beyond religious-sanctioned reasoning no matter how irrational and fanatical that might seem.

In a recent Kafila article titled A Close Look at Certain Words Allegedly Shouted Recently in JNU and Their Impact on Our National Intelligence, Soumyabrata Choudhury puts it brilliantly, “The more sovereign power looks ugly, feels despicable, acts brutally and talks idiotically, the more effective it is in holding and increasing its ambit and intensify. No one thought George W. Bush particularly bright; but his dim intellectual repute was directly proportional to his frighteningly effective plans of attacking every country he wanted to attack. Such a manner of sovereignty without needing the classical legitimating strategies and yet brutally legitimated by society beyond mere law, is the fantasy of all governments that exercise sovereign power. BJP today is violently enacting this fantasy and is seeming to say to the people who elected it, “We look stupid and crazy to you, well we are and you better learn to like it!” which is to say, the method in this madness is to decide to be mad.”

This Buffalo Jumbo Pav (BJP) is my take on Maharashtra's most popular street food vada pav:

Buffalo Jumbo Pav (BJP)#1 hypocrisy kebab bonda pav

Served with karela chutney, okra chips, sliced red onions, and fresh green chilis

1 lb minced buffalo meat (makes ten jumbo kebab bondas)
oil for frying
10 pav buns (dinner rolls)
a pair of dwija (twice-born) Hindu hands to cook with (not optional)

7 tbsp chana dal (split Bengal gram), washed
1 large clove garlic, chopped
1 inch piece of ginger, chopped
1 tbsp yogurt
1 dry red chili
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp peppercorn
1 inch piece cinnamon
1 cardamom pod
5 tbsp basmati rice, washed
8 dry-roasted cashew nuts
4.8 tbsp minced red onion
1 tsp turmeric powder
a pinch of jowar (sorghum flour)
1 egg
1 cup besan (chickpea flour)
a little less than 1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh dhania (cilantro)

Put the minced meat and the first four listed ingredientsin 2.4 cups of water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn heat down to medium and cook for 30 minutes. Let cool.

Dry-roast the red chili, coriander and cumin seeds, peppercorn, cinnamon and cardamon for a couple of minutes on a medium flame. Grind to a powder.

Put 10 tbsp water and 1/8 tsp salt in a pan, add the washed rice and bring to a boil. Turn heat down to low and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes. When cool, wet your hands a little and roll cooked rice into 10 balls. Lightly press the 8 pieces of roasted cashews onthe rice balls, breaking two of them in half to have enough for all the rice balls.

When the meat/dal concoction cools, drain the water and grind it in a food processor. Add the dry-roasted ground spices, minced onion, turmeric powder, jowar and egg to meat mixture and mix well. Divide into 10 portions and wrap around each of the 10 rice balls till the rice balls are completely covered. Gradually add some water to the besan till it reaches the consistency of mayonnaise (Use an egg beater to mix the water in so clumps don't form.) Mix in the chopped cilantro and salt to taste to the besan paste. Heat oil in a pan and using a spoon, carefully dunk the meat balls first into the besan paste coating it evenly, then pick up the meat ball with the same spoon and slide it gently into the hot oil. Turn the heat down to medium and cook meat balls about 2 minutes on each side. Kebab bondas are ready.

Karela (bitter gourd) Chutney

2.4 cups minced karela
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp urad dal (split black gram)
1 sprig curry leaf, broken in pieces
1 small red onion, chopped
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp garlic paste
1 large tomato, chopped
1 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 green chili, finely chopped
3 tsp brown sugar
1 tbsp tamarind paste
2.4 tbsp oil

Chop the karela into pieces and grind in a food processor. Sprinkle a little salt on it, cover and set aside. After about 30 minutes, squeeze all the water out of the karela by pressing it between your hands. Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds. When they begin to splutter, add the urad dal. Once the dal starts to turn brown add the curry leaves. After a few seconds add the chopped onion and saute for three minutes on medium-high flame. Then add the ginger and garlic paste and saute for another 30 seconds. Add the karela, mix in, turn the flame down to medium-low, cover and cook for about 20 minutes, adding a few sprinklings of water and stirring from time to time to make sure it doesn't burn on the bottom. Add the chopped tomatoes, chili and turmeric powder, chopped green chili, brown sugar, tamarind pulp, cover and cook for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Bhendi (Okra) Chips

Cut 15 bhendis in half. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a skillet and when it gets nice and hot (after about a minute) throw the sliced bhendi in and saute on medium heat till crisp (about 10 minutes).

Warm the dinner rolls, slice in half, put a little butter, sprinkle a little chili powder, and place hot kebab bondas inside. Enjoy with bhendi chips, 31 chilis, and 45 slices of red onion distributed equally between the 10 servings, along with a little karela chutney. Squeeze a little lemon on everything.

How I chose the recipe ingredients and measurements, in order of appearance:

India is #1 exporter of carabeef in the world; Maharashtra is averaging ten farmer suicides a day for the past ten years, occurring primarily in the cash-crop growing areas. The beef ban has claimed seven lives so far; India is the fifth largest meat producer in the world; In 2014 India earned more from export of carabeef than it did from basmati rice; eight states have no ban on cow slaughter; In 2014 the country earned $4.8 billion from cara beef exports; Food staples of the region like jowar (sorghum) that used to grow abundantly has now virtually been abandoned because of factors driven by state policies such as debt, high input costs, animal menace, water-use patterns, and catastrophic price shocks;In 2015 India exported 2.4 million tons of beef and veal meat; three people have been injured in beef-ban hysteria, including 22-year-old Danish from UP, 28-year-old Ashraf from Haryana, and an independent J&K MLA Er Abdur Rashid; Africa is the recipient of 15 percent of India's beef export; India's chicken consumption rose by 31 percent between 2000 and 2014; Vietnam is the largest recipient (45 percent) of India's beef exports (I used karela—bitter melon—in the chutney, becauseit is popular in other South East Asian countries, including Vietnam. The Vietnamese word for karela is khổ qua.)

Priti Gulati Cox is an interdisciplinary artist. She lives in Salina, Kansas.