Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

29 January 1661

The Bahubali Fever is still raging throughout the empire, with excitement surrounding it getting only more intense day by day.

Adding to this, the talk about receiving the voter ID, Aadhaar card, tax certificate, and ration card is still going on throughout the nation—not to mention the people who had left for their hometowns are coming back, and the production capacity of the Bharatiya Empire is gradually ramping up to its prior highest capacity.

At the beginning of the year, the Bharatiya Empire seemed to have become unusually lively and exciting. However, one place, no matter the time, where there is excitement around the clock is the Bukha Yodha Street.

The capital of the empire might have moved, but Hampi still remains one of the brightest jewels of the Bharatiya Empire and holds a special position in the hearts of all the people who had witnessed the growth of the motherland.

Many functions that were previously in Hampi might have been transferred to the Imperial Capital, Bengaluru, but the Bukha Yodha Street has still stayed behind as a testament to the Bharatiya Empire's culinary arts. It stays as the heart of the Bharatiya Empire's culture and beliefs and a reflection of the Bharatiya empire's origin.

The Bukha Yodha Street is as busy as always, with people crowded all over. The street, which has been managed by a special department totally dedicated to it, has blocked off all sorts of transportation means from entering, including horses, donkeys, carriages, or rickshaws.

People have to traverse the whole kilometre of the street on foot. In fact, the street was not so long when it was first established, but after the Bharatiya Empire unified and integrated more centrally, the Bukha Yodha Street gained more attention throughout the empire. Especially after the popularization of newspapers, every year the cooking competition in Bukha Yodha Street is a major attraction to people around the world, and this competition is regularly reported in the newspapers.

So, with the increase in popularity, certain societies and cultures felt like their cuisine was not getting any representation on the street, so they demanded that their section be added as well. With the thorough consideration of the management and the government, Bukha Yodha Street was approved to be expanded, and a protocol was put forward to add more shops in case a certain cuisine style fulfils the conditions.

Kaushik Patel was one chef who got his own storefront thanks to the help of the protocol put forward by the management committee. Before him there was no Solanki Puri cuisine, but after he pleaded his case, he was allowed to own his own shop.

Looking at the lining-up crowd outside his storefront, he smiled happily. Back in Solanki Puri, he ran a family-owned restaurant that was quite popular in the local area, but unfortunately, he had to sell the restaurant and the land it was on because a highway road was being constructed exactly where his restaurant was.

He could not have agreed to the acquisition from the government, but unfortunately, they gave too much—they actually paid twice the price of whatever his restaurant and land were worth. So, taking the money, he, along with his family, migrated to the southern part of the empire, looking for an opportunity to restart the business. It was in this travel that Kaushik Patel discovered that there was such a street as Bukha Yodha Street.

He was very confident in his cooking, especially in his hometown dishes, which his family had perfected for several generations. So, he tried out to be a chef in this street—not only could it save him a lot of money since he wouldn't have to invest in building a restaurant and buying a plot of land, but it could also make him famous throughout the empire. Not to mention, even if, in the future, he loses his position, he will have the capital to gain investment from investors if he wants to start a restaurant chain, which is all the rage in the empire recently.

Time passed on slowly, and Kaushik Patel served all his guests wholeheartedly with a smile on his face, but as the day came to an end, a man around his age stood in front of him with a hesitant expression.

Looking at him, Kaushik was taken aback, it was a familiar face, "Chef Sri Ram, what are you doing here? Do you need my help with something?"

The man opposite him was called Sri Ram Reddy, a chef just like him in the Bukha Yodha Street, who used to run a storefront of his own on the Spicy Kakatiya cuisine. But unfortunately, the man lost his way in order to research some beverage and ended up losing the food war to his fellow statesman.

Chefs like Sri Ram Reddy were not too rare in Bukha Yodha Street since all the chefs in Bukha Yodha Street were top of their class. In order to be top of the class, they have to be extremely talented and try to innovate all the time. Almost all the chefs are like this—they are not content with their traditional recipes and always look for something new that they could call their own and pass on to future generations.

For this reason, although they serve their traditional refined dishes to normal customers during the day, they research new flavours and dishes during their off hours. But even among these chefs, there are rare minorities like Sri Ram Reddy, who take the research too seriously and ignore the main business of serving normal customers.

A few days ago, Kaushik helped the guy out by giving his opinion on what spices to use for the beverage. He thought the problem was solved since the beverage, although he didn't know what he was trying to do, tasted alright. But now, looking at him, it's definitely not the case.

Sri Ram hesitated for a moment, but still, making up the determination in his heart, he asked, "Brother Kaushik, if it is possible, can you come and help me out in preparing the beverage?"

Kaushik's eyebrows were raised, his face furrowed, "Haven't I already helped you?"
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"Ah! Yes," Sri Ram nodded immediately and waved his hands, "It's just that I have gotten more input from another chef, and I had another inspiration, so I have polished the recipe even more. I was wondering if you would be interested in coming over to prepare the beverage?"

Kaushik's expression relaxed, but then he became interested, "Can I see the recipe?"

"Sure, here!" Sri Ram had no hesitation as he stretched out his hand and passed over a piece of paper.

"Interesting..." Kaushik stroked his beard and muttered.

"Chef, this fermentation step is just the inspiration you got?"

"Yes, I feel like if this beverage is fermented and used as a chilled drink rather than a hot drink, it would be tastier and more delicious."

Kaushik nodded in understanding.

"All right, chef, give me a few moments to clean up the counter, and I'll come with you in a moment."

---

Soon, Kaushik and Sri Ram left the Bukha Yodha Street and went to the house of Sri Ram Reddy. Sri Ram was not a rich person as he grew up poor, and his whole childhood life was in a temple kitchen, but he was very talented in cooking. After working in Bukha Yodha Street for a few months, he had already accumulated some wealth, wealth enough to afford a property to rent in the capital of Vijayanagar. What's more, for chefs like Sri Ram Reddy, there was a discount on housing in the city of Hampi, so Sri Ram's life was not too stretched.

Getting to Sri Ram's house, Kaushik was surprised as he saw a face he was not expecting to see. It was of a woman with a normal face and a little chubby build, but no matter who in Bukha Yodha Street saw this woman, they would recognize her immediately and have a hint of reverence in their eyes because this was Rukmini Padma Nathan, one of the youngest and the only female chefs in Bukha Yodha Street, who had maintained a storefront for almost half a year.

Kaushik hesitantly pulled the hand of Sri Ram, "Sri Ram, the person who helped you—is it Chef Rukmini?" he asked in amazement.

Sri Ram nodded with a smile, "The day before yesterday, I went to her shop and wanted to try the new Cholapuri Rasam she had prepared, but who would have thought she would become interested in the recipe I was preparing at that time and gave some suggestions? I tried it after I got home, and it really worked. After I added your suggestions and my own inspiration, the recipe was very close to success, so I invited her too."

Kaushik Patel soon came forward in front of the woman and did a namaskara.

"It is an honour to meet you, Chef. You are the pride of our street."

Rukmini laughed, "Where, where, Chef Kaushik! You are praising me too much. Come, let's go."

Kaushik smiled and followed. In fact, he was not simply praising her to get closer—she was truly an inspiration to a lot of chefs in the Bukha Yodha Street. Her story is legendary, and her experience even more so. Being widowed at 25 years old, raising two children, and having the determination to become the best in an empire where men dominate was not something every woman could do. Her story was published in the newspaper, making her a celebrity among the women.

Soon, the three chefs started to work together.

Sri Ram Reddy, being the one who did most of the research—matching various ingredients and spices and balancing the taste—was the head chef in the preparation of the beverage, while Rukmini Padmanabhan and Kaushik Patel acted as sous chefs, helping him out.

Sri Ram Reddy started by bringing two cups of water to a simmer, after which he added tea leaves and simmered it for five more minutes. Kaushik Patel helped strain out the solids, while Rukmini Padmanabhan helped blend the spices like tamarind pulp, jaggery, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, black pepper, and nutmeg.

The ratio of the spices was the work of all three people, so there was no secret to be kept. The spice mix was put into the tea water and left to simmer for another five minutes. In the end, Kaushik Patel strained out the whole solids, leaving only water infused with tea and spices.

Sri Ram Reddy took a separate pan, heated one tablespoon of sugar until it melted and turned dark brown, and carefully added it to the drink for colour, after which he sealed it with lemon juice.

The final step, which was Sri Ram's inspiration, was to let the mixture cool at room temperature. After cooling, he added a quarter cup of gingerbud and stirred well. The liquid was transferred to a clean glass bottle, leaving some space at the top, after which the bottle was sealed and left to ferment at room temperature for three days.

Rukmini Padmanabhan, Sri Ram Reddy, and Kaushik Patel all left after preparing the beverage, but they did come back three days later.

Sri Ram Reddy excitedly rubbed his hands—he wanted to try out his masterpiece. Rukmini Padmanabhan and Kaushik Patel were equally excited as they looked forward to the sealed bottle with anticipation.

"The ice cubes, Chef—did you add them?"

Rukmini asked.

Sri Ram Reddy nodded, "I added them a few hours ago in order to slow down the fermentation process and to cool down the drink as much as possible."

Soon, the three took the glass bottle they had set aside three days ago and opened it carefully.

"Pop"

"Fzzzzzzzz"

When the cork used to seal the bottle flew away like a cannonball, all three chefs were startled, and Sri Ram Reddy almost dropped the bottle. Fortunately, he caught himself at the last moment.

They looked at each other with amazement and finally fixed their eyes on the fizzing drink in Sri Ram's hand. Looking at the bubbles inside, boiling like a volcano, all three hesitated—was this thing edible?

"It should be edible, right?" Sri Ram Reddy asked, a little doubtful because, in his original theory, the fermentation should have turned it into something like finely aged wine—not whatever this was. "We have only used natural ingredients; it should not be poisonous," he said, but he was not too sure.

Making up his mind, he poured a few sips of the drink into a glass and hesitantly took a sip. Immediately, his eyes widened as he felt bubbles popping in his mouth continuously, like an explosion happening. Although the initial feeling was disgusting and overwhelming, with a will to spit it out, but soon after, a refreshing taste came to his mouth. Although he felt like a certain ingredient was overwhelming the others, overall, the feeling was very refreshing.

He took one sip, then another, then another, after which he poured a little more liquid into his cup and started to drink even more.

Rukmini Padmanabhan and Kaushik Patel, seeing him like this, grew curious. They too took a few sips of the drink, after which their eyes lit up.