There is an intense tingling in my being. My tongue has gone numb and I feel a sudden rush of saliva. My heart beats faster and I am nervous about what is going to happen next!!!

No, I am not off on one of my wildlife jaunts where I have come face to face with a large species of wildlife. On the contrary, it is a teensy weensy tame member of the plant family which is enthusiastically generating a similar level of excitement!

At the behest of my host Abhishek, I have just popped this little yellow flower into my mouth and that tiny culprit is creating a buzz on my palate!

I am concerned about the peculiar sensations that are playing around in my mouth but Abhishek reassures me that what I am ingesting is merely a natural digestive and that I have no cause for worry. I realise that I have just had the novelty of tasting the Jhanjhania, a flower whose name in the local dialect, literally translates to tingling (Jhann -Jhann … get it?)

A swift online hunt reveals that it is the well documented medicinal Acmella oleracea plant but more about that later, for my tingling has now turned into one of anticipation as this dramatic start to my evening at The Open Field seems to be just a precursor to the wonderful things I am going to imbibe, both orally and culturally! And if you follow me into the field, you will also partake albeit vicariously of this extraordinary learning experience that I was privileged to savor.

The Open Field is a space situated deep inside the rural region of the Khunti district in the state of Jharkhand, India. Established by its 3 co-founders Dr Manisha Oraon, her husband Abhishek Oraon and their friend Prateek Toppo, the venue is dedicated to showcasing the various facets of the tribal agro-tourism enterprise which they have set up.

About Jharkhand state –

Jharkhand state is located in Eastern India in a region where forests make up 30 % of the area. The name literally translates to Land of Forests. This state is also ‘Tribe rich’, with a high population from 32 indigenous tribes coexisting in multi-ethnic kinship.

Jharkhand was sliced off from Bihar state (to which it originally belonged) on November 15th of the year 2000, to form a separate state after a prolonged tribal movement.

Jharkhand is divided in 24 districts, one of which is Khunti which also has the distinction of being the birthplace of Birsa Munda who was a revered tribal freedom fighter of that region and after whom the airport at Ranchi is also named.

About The Open Field – 

The Open Field is an enterprise whose basic goal is to help conserve the elements of tribal culture and cuisine of Jharkhand and empower the farmers through training and community interaction and networking. They currently work with the farmers from the Ranchi, Khunti and Chatra districts but there are plans to expand to other districts like Giridih etc.

Broadly speaking, it is a bouquet of initiatives which include agro-tourism, safeguarding cultural heritage, enabling farmers by fostering a link between them and the outside market, showcasing and conserving Jharkhandi tribal cuisine and ingredients, providing knowhow in sustainable methods of cultivating and propagating agricultural produce and ingredients in order to prevent them from extinction, preserving and documenting ancient and traditional knowledge of how to utilize products and other such related activities which are executed via various methodologies.

One such outcome of their endeavor is the resurgence of the local brown rice called Goda chawal which is a drought resistant grain and is nutrient rich, has a low glycemic index and high in fiber, making it an ideal staple for those who manually labor in the fields.

For outsiders who are interested in learning about what they do, the owners have designated a 2 acre space out of their 20 acre farmland, which they call the Experience Center. This serves the purpose of being a single window that gives the visitor glimpses of the various elements of tribal culture and the knowhow that they support and manage. And with the added incentive of providing ingredients and other tribal ware on sale and of course a restaurant with the most enticing tribal cuisine, the Center is quite literally a One stop shop for showcasing their mission.

Started in 2018, this place has evolved over the years, morphing its way through a few avatars. Beginning with being a cash crop project with the biggest rose garden in the land, to pausing uncertainly through the covid era, to resuming as an informal space where people would come on rural jaunts and picnics, to seeing the end of the rise of the rose and changing direction towards growing traditional crops and produce, The Open Field in its current 2024 incarnation includes a restaurant that welcomes its guests with a structured menu and an incentive to spend the day and perhaps camp overnight in tents.

Work of course is always in progress and as time goes by, plans are ongoing to incorporate newer ideas and infrastructure like traditional mud houses where guests can stay over and get a feel of traditional tribal dwellings.

About the founders – 

The co-founders are a trio of highly qualified professionals who quit their successful jobs to embark on an alternate career, with the aim of conserving and propagating the rich tribal culture and traditions of their home state Jharkhand. All of them hail from the Oraon tribe.

The petite and bright Dr Manisha Oraon is a dental surgeon who quit her city job with the initial thought of taking her medical practice to rural Jharkhand. But subsequently, her travels and observations across places like Ladakh and Assam inspired her to focus on agrotourism instead.

Abhishek Oraon who is Manisha’s husband, is an MBA and aviator and he too quit his high flying (literally) pilot’s job to be a partner in this enterprise.

Prateek Toppo, a friend of the couple, is a Mechanical engineer who changed course from his corporate job to join hands with them as a partner.

Incidentally, the Oraon are said to originally hail from the Konkan region from where they migrated to the Chota Nagpur region ages ago. This would probably explain the affinity I felt for them, being a Konkan native myself 😎😁

Features and Amenities – 

As I mentioned, 2 acres of the total of 20 at The Open Field are earmarked for the visitor. The decor is as raw and rustic as possible, to maintain the integrity of the experience. There are a couple of seating areas open on all sides other than the sheet covered roof.

There is a shed where they have built in earthen ovens to cook items like the bamboo chicken. The counter top displays various unusual ingredients of tribal cuisine which the visitor gets to learn about.

The main building houses a porch which is open on 2 sides. A small but interesting boutique of sorts stocks a few food ingredients and other traditional items of art, craft and utility sourced from the local farmers and artisans, which one can purchase.

There is also a store room, a kitchen and a washroom here. At the back of this building are the visitor washrooms which are separate for men and women.

The backyard has a few tents pitched where people can camp overnight. The solar panels and a natural ‘swimming pool’ which contains unchlorinated fresh water, are also at the back. The pool was covered when I visited, hence I have no pictures of it.

Apart from this, the place is surrounded by the rest of the land where they grow seasonal crops and other plants along with the local farmers.

Animal lovers can play with the 4 resident dogs and/or the 2 cats called Annu and Gunnu, whereas food lovers can go straight to the ‘Mennu’ (sorry about the urge to rhyme 😉).

There are also a few more stray cats who feel entitled enough to randomly traipse through!

A quick video of the place and its features –

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A post shared by Caroline Radhakrishnan (@currylines)

The restaurant and cuisine – 

While the ingredients across all the 32 tribes are similar to a large extent, there are variations in the methods of preparation. The Open Field currently serves dishes mainly from the Oraon and Munda tribes with a smattering of other cuisines like that of the Ho tribe, in the form of the red ant chutney, locally called Demta chutney.

What makes the meals here so very exotic and delightful is that almost all the ingredients are obtained from less than 200 meters of the farm. Some of the seasonal produce is foraged from the surrounding vegetation and one can just imagine the freshness and flavor! The food is from farm to table and cooked fresh with no usage of refrigerated masalas or ingredients.

The meats too are locally sourced and I am told that the chicken is procured, literally from 20 meters away. This local desi chicken has the perfect texture which is a balance between the blandly soft broiler chicken and the usual super tough country chicken meat and it was a pleasure to chew on this for a change.

The Khunti mutton too is of a special variety with an optimal meat to fat ratio. It is called green mutton and according to Abhishek, there are various versions of why that is so. Some say that the grass that the goats graze on gives them that hue and others say that it is the sunlight that reflects off the black goats and renders a green tint. Well I don’t know about the goats but listening to Abhishek poetically describe how delicious the slow cooked meat was, I was definitely green with envy because it was unfortunately not on the menu that day😎

The restaurant has a structured walk-in menu but one would be well advised to make a booking because everything is cooked fresh and since Slow-cooking is the mantra here, one would not be able to obtain an instant meal as in a regular restaurant. The whole point is that people should come there to leisurely experience the place and preferably dedicate the entire day to the farm.

While the printed menu has a choice of a la carte dishes, the star of the show is of course the tribal Thali which is available in veg and non veg variants and comprises of an impressive 15 to 16 items, each one more interesting than the other! The staples consist of rice and some local breads made of rice or millets. Some of the dishes are made from perennially available items like dals, local greens, year round vegetables, meats etc and the other dishes feature seasonal or preserved items. Those who visit in the right seasons would be lucky to taste rare items like varieties of wild mushrooms, softshell crabs and other seasonal fare.

The Hadiya (local rice beer) is the beverage which is normally imbibed with the meal.

Before moving on to the most important topic of the day (which is what I ate of course) let me list out some of the new ingredients one can view and learn about.

Beginning of course with my new friend of the day, the Jhanjhania 😁

Acmella oleracea  (Spilanthes acmella) – local name Jhanjhania. Also known as Paracress or Sichuan button.  I hunted out this information from Google and if it is incorrect, I would be happy to know the right name.

Phutkal powder – the tangy powder of the dehydrated tender leaves of the Ficus geniculata tree.

Sanai phool – The bright yellow flowers of the Crotalaria juncea, commonly known as Sunn hemp

Kali Haldi – Kaempferia parviflora or Black ginger (which is bluish inside)

Kudrum – The calyx of the Hibiscus sabdariffa, also called Roselle.

Haduwa – dehydrated bamboo shoots

Goda chawal – a hardy, drought resistant brown rice

Kutumba –  Solanum torvum also called Turkey berry or Thai pea brinjal

Kanda saag – a local variety of herbal greens

Chakod saag – a local variety of herbal greens

Mahua – The flowers of the Madhuca longifolia which are naturally sweet and have medicinal properties

The local Shakarkand- Local variety of Sweet potatoes, slimmer and much sweeter than the commercial ones

Jatangi – Guizotia abyssinica or the Niger plant

Pattharchatta – the Kalanchoe pinnata also called Miracle plant. It is said to have a host of medicinal properties including the ability to dissolve kidney stones.

Hadiya – a locally brewed rice beer.

Do request in the comment section below if you want to me to match the individual names to the photos.

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What was on my Thali (plate) – 

While the food is only a part of the entire project, I could not help but be besotted by it and hence I quickly directed my focus mainly towards learning about the various ingredients and the role they played in constituting the rather large Thali that was presented before me.

While I can wax eloquent on the fare laid out before me, I think I will hasten to do the honors of describing the constituents of my platter, lest you get impatient!

On the main Thali, going clockwise from the lowest bowl, we have

Alu Kanda – Potato fingers sprinkled with the powder of the Kanda herb,

Hari dal – a greenish hued dal which has urad dal and spinach,

Sarson ka saag – mustard greens,

Alu urad ki badi – sundried chunks of urad dal paste prepared with potato into a thick gravy,

Kudrum chutney – chutney of the roselle,

Haduwa chutney – dehydrated bamboo shoot chutney,

Katnausi – a very special dish made of black chana and chicken liver and compulsorily and customarily served at all important occasions,

Maar jhor – a rasam (or soup of sorts) made from the rice starch of the brown Goda rice and the tangy Phutkal powder,

Desi chicken curry – using the local country chicken.

The staples are from R to L –

Maduwa rotii – ragi flatbread,

Goda chawal – the brown Goda rice,

Chilkaroti – much like our South Indian dosa made of rice and urad dal batter which is fermented.

Under the rice are some sliced onions,

Dal pitha (above the chilka roti and inside the closed leaf) –  a rice dumpling stuffed with dal and steamed in a Sal leaf (pitha is a generic term denoting various types of rice breads in stuffed or plain form).

Mahua ki kheer (to the right of the pitha) – a dessert which is a sweet made with mahua, milk and the fragrant Sonachur rice.

Alongside the right of thali is the famous Bamboo chicken where the marinated chicken is stuffed inside a length of bamboo and cooked in the fire for nearly 3 hours. The little basket on top contains another local specialty called the Chhoti buddhu –  tiny fish enclosed and cooked in sal leaves. Buddhu in Hindi means stupid and the amusing story of why these fish get their name is because they are very easily caught from the stagnant waters of the rice fields where they usually live.

Well this was the feast that lay before me that evening and though there are a vast number of items here, there still are plenty of other ingredients and dishes that are served at the restaurant depending on seasonal availability.

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A post shared by Caroline Radhakrishnan (@currylines)

Exotic ingredients are worth travelling across the country for and I hope to return someday to relish the wild mushrooms of the monsoon or the soft shell crabs that I learnt about and so many more such items that I missed during my brief visit here.

Other activities and events –

The Open Field has been a venue for bringing together like minded people from the agriculture, food and tourism industries.

They have hosted Chef summits, guests of the State tourism department and other such delegates and they also constantly associate with educational and other institutions to deliver talks and attend seminars.

They also conduct Workshops and other interactive learning sessions from time to time.

They also host a bi-monthly farmer’s market which I suppose would showcase a whole lot of very interesting produce.

Event announcements happen on their social media sites hence it is a good idea to Follow them.

The other activities include some traditional games that guests can try playing.

Visitor Profile – 

Guests of all ages are permitted with no restrictions but please note that it is a family friendly place.

Best time to visit – 

The experience center is a year round destination. Of course the summers can get really unbearable and would not be a smart time to visit. Rainy season has its own charms, which include some seasonal items too. Winters are cold but actually quite lovely and are also a great time to visit. So generally speaking, August to February would be optimal.

Phone and internet connectivity –

Connectivity is better in this remote part of rural India than it currently is in the heart of the metro city where I live. So you can easily go Live on Instagram as you show off your exotic thali to your envious friends, as you are gorging on it😎

Environmental and Social initiatives – 

The farm is solar powered.

Pesticide free farming is encouraged in order to preserve the sanctity of the soil.

They have a Rainwater harvesting system.

Food waste from the kitchen is used to generate compost.

The overall project benefits the local farmers and tribal residents in various ways, thus contributing to the local economy.  

Additional Information –

Plenty of open air parking is available.

It is in the middle of nowhere so be aware that you will be sharing space with a few insects and creepy crawlies who are hospitable enough to let you occupy their home.

This place has friendly dogs and cats for those who might want to play with them.

Being raw farmland, the terrain is not smooth and hence this is not really a disabled friendly property for people who want to explore the surroundings on foot. But it is sufficiently comfortable for those who might want to stay put and enjoy the meal and ambience.

Getting there – 

By air –  The nearest Airport is Ranchi’s domestic airport, Birsa Munda. This is 30 km (around 50 minutes) from the farm by road. The highway is not bad at all.

Cabs like Uber and Ola outstation are available.

Where to stay –

While the locals can access the place at will, visitors from other places can stay in Ranchi city or opt to camp overnight at the farm.

Booking and contact – 

Considering the remoteness of the place and the ‘slow food’ on offer, it is highly advisable to make a reservation and decide the menu and other arrangements in advance.

The owners can be directly contacted or bookings can also be done via EazyDiner.

Address –

The Open Field, Ghasibari,

Khunti district,

Jharkhand 835221

India

Phone –  +91 78085 51100

Email id –  theopenfield834001@gmail.com

Website of The Open Field

Instagram of The Open Field

FB Page of The Open Field

Please Note –

This trip was in collaboration with The Open Field and I thank them for the hospitality. My narration is based on the inputs I received from various sources as well as my personal experiences.

For more pictures see My Facebook – The Open Field (coming soon)

Also catch me on My Facebook, My Facebook page, My Twitter and My Instagram

This itinerary was specially curated hence some of the features might have been personalized accordingly. Before booking, please check the facilities offered in your package.

I would really appreciate your feedback and comments in the comment box below.

Nov 18th, 2024