अहमदाबाद की थाली में पहाड़ का घी, शहद और दाल।
Ahmedabad's kitchens are largely vegetarian and run on ghee, jaggery and good pulses, which is a natural match for hill food. Pahadi ghee, hill honey, madua and the small dark dals of the terraces sit easily alongside a Gujarati thali, and a jar of loon goes on the salad plate.
For families from Kumaon and Garhwal, this is where to find what the city does not sell: gahat and bhatt for winter, jakhiya and jambu for the tadka, pickles in mustard oil, buransh sharbat for the long summer. Each order goes to a family shop in Uttarakhand, which packs and sends it. The product page says if the item reaches your PIN and if cash on delivery is available.
Ahmedabad celebrates Uttarayan in mid-January with kites from every terrace, and chikki and undhiyu in the kitchen. In Kumaon, the same festival goes by Uttarayani, and in many homes Ghughutiya: ghughute fried from flour and jaggery and strung into garlands for the children. The two names share a root, and jaggery sweets belong to both days.
Ahmedabad's summers are very hot, and ghee will be liquid for much of the year; that is normal and does not harm it. Keep it, and honey, away from the stove and sunny windows. Keep pickles shaded and tightly closed, and keep stone-ground flours in the fridge from April onwards.