MHARI TOPLI MA: PHANG

Also known as the Midnapore creeper, phang is a robust, woody climbing shrub with creamy white flowers, which grows during the monsoon in the Narmada Valley—the traditional boundary between North and South India. Mhari Topli Ma: Phang is set amid the region’s tribal villages, and introduces us to Kehendi Bai and family, who cook highly nutritious phang leaves with moong dal (lentils) and also relish them as an ingredient of jowar roti (millet bread). But, although these dishes remain a favourite with the older generation—who even prefer them over fish and meat—younger people are losing the knowledge of how to prepare them, due to both changing lifestyles and tastes.