Wisconsin Foodie

– Luke Zahm: This week on Wisconsin Foodie: - We are at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek.

On August 5, 2012, seven people lost their lives here to a gunman.

And one of those people was my father and Temple President, Satwant Singh Kaleka.

Tonight, we're gonna have the 10th annual vigil, a remembrance of seven lives lost.

This is gonna be a busy weekend, but we're excited to have people come inside and get to know who Sikhs are.

So, the kitchen and food have always been a festive part of Sikhism.

The gurus instituted langar as a sort of an intentional way of not just enjoying meals together, but celebrating one another.

- But we are making a samosa.

– Luke: Okay.

Just show me one so I can make sure that I don't do anything, you know-- I don't wanna ruin it.

- You don't wanna mess up.

- How much?

Like... - That's enough.

- That's enough.

- Yeah, that's enough.

- All right, yeah.

[laughing] - Luke is doing good.

- I'm doing good.

All right, great.

- Yeah, he's doing good.

- He's A+.

- He's A+.

[laughing] - This might be about perfect, friends.

- Ah, yeah.

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[paper tearing] [party noise] [kids exclaiming] [singing in Punjabi] - I'm Pardeep Kaleka; we are at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek.

On August 5, 2012, seven people lost their lives here to a gunman.

And one of those people was my father and Temple President, Satwant Singh Kaleka.

Tonight, we're gonna have the tenth annual vigil, a remembrance of seven lives lost.

So right now, we're just, in the midst of planning and getting things coordinated.

This is sort of the calm before the storm.

It was just a beautiful, sunny summer Sunday morning.

That day, we were having our big Paath, which is our big Sunday service.

Most of the people that were here by that time are the people that get here early and cook food, make the daily preparations.

My father was here, trying to raise money for another family who had just come over from India.

You know, people were just preparing to have a bigger service.

At that time, you know, it started around 10 o'clock in the morning when the shooter arrived here.

And the first two people that were killed were killed outside in the parking lot.

A couple children who were also playing outside saw that, and they ran inside and started to warn people.

And that's when the women in the kitchen, other people, were able to kind of find shelter.

And the first shot that was actually fired inside the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin was the one that you can see on the doorframe.

And it's the one that says on top of it, "We are One."

"We are One" is sacred to the Sikh scripture, because it is a foundation of what Sikhi is.

This, you know, truth, that we are all from the same One, will return to the same One.

In our lifetime existence, we are to realize this Oneness.

And for that person to come into the Sikh temple and try to divide us and whatever, this hatred that tries to divide us.

We wanted to make sure that that was part of the reestablishment of, we're gonna be strong to our faith, and we're gonna be strong to the people that we call our brothers and our neighbors and our family.

And we're gonna be strong to the ideals of America.

[motorcycles accelerating] For Punjabis and Sikhs, the bicycle, the motorcycle, is very much a part of Punjabi culture.

After 9/11, one of the first people that was killed was Balbir Singh Sodhi, and that was out in Arizona.

So many of the Sikh riders that are here formed after that.

And they would show up to many of these, like sort of, when there was a hate crime against a Sikh, to show not only solidarity, but show strength.

[women chanting in Punjabi] You know, as the Sikh riders got here, they were being greeted and there was a sharing of power and empowerment, and that's what you observed.

But then after that, you know, they all park their bikes.

They went inside and the first thing that they'll do, right, is they'll go show respect and reverence.

And they'll do Matha take.

The next thing that they'll do right away is eat and have langar and break bread together.

It's just such a beautiful thing that, like, the welcoming, we all know what's gonna happen in there.

And that's when you know you're a community.

– Woman: That's nice.

- So the kitchen and food have always been a festive part of Sikhism, yeah, what it means to be Sikh.

The gurus instituted langar as a, sort of an intentional way of not just enjoying meals together, but celebrating one another.

And that part of Sikhism is never lost.

And so, yeah, with food comes the ability to share, comes the ability to ingest something, right?

As well, whether if that's something like, you know, that's food value or something that's spiritual.

And so, for the way that we think about the kitchen and the langar, that is a very sacred part of Sikhi.

So the shooter, once, so once he came inside, the next part, he went over to the kitchen area, the langar area, or what we call, and he started to shoot from behind the doorframes.

So he was shooting into those doorframes, and a lot of women were trying to find shelter.

And strangely, like, you're not used to something like this ever happening to you.

You're used to watching things happen to people.

But you're never used to anything like this ever happening.

So I think a lot of them were still trying to rationalize, "Hey, we got a shooter inside the gurdwara, the temple."

And many of them, their priority was the food.

Like, they went back out to go make sure that the burners were turned off and that the food wasn't gonna burn for the whole day.

Like, you think about it, like, that's crazy.

Why would somebody?

But their priority was just that.

And so those couple women that went out were the ones who were being shot at while the other women were still back there hiding in that closet.

You know, through all of this, you know, you will see the sacredness of what food means, the priority on food.

And even like, when you think about how important langar, or what we call a communal meal, is to Sikhs and really, you know, Punjabi and Indian culture.

So this 10 years is really a celebration of that resilient spirit.

Ten years ago, we wouldn't have thought that we were here, but because a community came together and basically said that hate will not win.

That all of these children, who were eight at that time, who are 18 now, are the current leaders.

That's the spirit of going forward.

And so, you know, at the end of the day, love won.

How you been?

- I'm great; how are you?

- Good, good; come on inside.

- Thank you so much for having us.

- Usually when you come into a Sikh temple, the guys go to the left-hand side and the women go to the right-hand side.

- Okay.

- And so you're going, we're gonna take our shoes off and just kind of put them over here.

- Sure.

- And then the next thing that we do is we put a rumal over our head, or if you have a handkerchief, or you have a scarf or a turban.

And we cover our head, and we do that to show respect and reverence.

– Luke: Mm-hmm.

I'll get those ears out; there they are.

- There you go, and you're good to go.

- Okay.

- This is the Diwan Hall.

This is where the main scripture is held, which is called the Guru Granth.

And today, there's another recitation of it, which is a 48-hour recitation where somebody goes from the front to the back.

So, and then we finish off that service on Sunday of reading the entire scripture front to back.

– Luke: Wow, that's incredible; what a process.

– Pardeep: You will see people come in and out of the gurdwara.

You know, somebody will come in, they'll pay respects.

Now, where we're gonna go to next is where people will enjoy a communal meal.

- Sure.

- Which is called a langar, and this langar is all about, you know, as far as you know, again, like, your sacred scripture.

– Luke: Mm-hmm.

- That is a reminder of your sacred scripture and your duty outside of the Diwan Hall.

But then langar will be your ability to kind of gather with one another and enjoy each other's company.

– Luke: Sure.

– Pardeep: So every time that you come to any Sikh temple in the world, you have to have langar.

You know, people are almost insistent that you have to have langar before you leave, because that's such a core part of Sikhism.

Wherever you are, wherever a gurdwara is in the world, whether you go in on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, whatever day you go in, a lot of times, there will be a prepared meal.

And everyone again, like, is welcome to go in and partake in that, not just Sundays.

So we're gonna partake in this langar and we're gonna go and we're just gonna grab some food to eat.

– Luke: Thank you.

- There you go.

- Thank you.

– Pardeep: This is chole.

So chole are peas that are kind of in, in between dahl and the bigger lentils.

– Luke: Sure.

- So this is chol, rice, and usually you'll see some seeds in there.

- Yeah, caraway?

- Some sesame seeds, yeah.

- Yeah, okay.

- This is yogurt.

- Yum!

- And then sometimes, people will just put it kind of to the side.

- Sure.

- Or maybe, like, right on.

- Okay.

- Now, you can pour it right on there.

- And this?

- This is roti.

- Oh, wow, that looks beautiful.

- I'll give you some roti here and I'll get some roti too.

- Yeah.

- And if you wanna put a little bit of extra.

- Yes.

- I'm gonna put a little bit of extra, of what's called chole right here.

- That looks exquisite.

- Let me do the same over here and then get, make sure you guys get a little bit of the sauce too.

- I gotta say like, my mouth is already watering.

- Yeah.

- Seriously.

- My mouth is already watering, too.

And then we'll just come sit down over here.

- Okay.

I like to say that as a chef, you know, all these ingredients are like, a painter's paints, right?

- Mmm.

- And then you kind of approach it and you put it together on a canvas, and that's what it is.

This feels like amazingly refined paints that have been put together for you that all, you can't really mix and match a bad flavor here.

- No, no.

When you look, when you look at this dish, a lot of times, the complexity is kind of in the simplicity of this as well.

You know, you'll see, I mean, this is all made from scratch.

None of this is pre-made.

Like, you know, there's hours of boiling those lentils.

- Yeah.

- And that goes into the soup of it, right?

There's all the flavors and everything that's going into just one simple dish is sort of that complexity coming alive.

– Luke: Yeah, it's truly, truly unique.

It's like your taste buds just get electrified with love.

It's so good.

Sikhism, as I understand it, has some core tenets or principles, and service to humanity is one of them.

And another one is relentless optimism.

Do you feel like you can taste those in the food?

- When you're served by those that are, have been cooking all day, there's a trust to that.

- Sure.

- There's a mutuality to it.

There's a relationship that you have, not just with the food, but the people who served that food, who made that food.

And hopefully as you leave and exit the Sikh temple, you carry out with you that relationship, right?

That feeling of relentless optimism and that positivity, because all of that went into making that dish.

This is always available, it's always open.

Sundays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, sometimes Fridays will be the biggest or the busiest days.

So you get different dishes served those days.

But again, some people come in every single day and enjoy langar.

- Pardeep, I know that this is a busy time for you.

You have the anniversary coming up of obviously what is a senseless tragedy.

- Mm-hmm.

- And I feel so fortunate and humbled to be here with you today and sharing langar, but also sharing your story.

I know that you are one of the busiest humans I'm sure I've ever met, and I appreciate the work that you do here.

I appreciate the work that you do in the world, but I love the fact that we connect through food.

This is where it's at.

- Yeah, and again, like, we're honored to have you at the Sikh temple, where this is gonna be a busy weekend, but we're excited.

This is the best part of it, to have people come inside, enjoy company, enjoy the food, enjoy the atmosphere, and get to know who Sikhs are.

That is the best part of all of this.

So, thank you.

- Oh, I'm so excited to call you my brother, my neighbor, my friend.

- Thank you, brother, thank you.

- Yeah, of course.

Hey, hi!

It's good to see you!

– Satpal Kaleka: Well, we are making a samosa.

– Luke: Okay; do you want me to help?

– Satpal: Sure.

– Luke: Okay.

– Satpal: Yeah.

– Luke: I'm here to be of service to you, so.

– Satpal: Oh, okay.

– Luke: So whatever I can do to help you today.

Just show me one, so I can make sure that I don't do anything, you know, out of character here.

I don't wanna ruin it.

- You don't wanna mess up, okay.

We have to cut in half.

So then we are gonna give that to those ladies.

They're gonna make some cones.

– Luke: Sure.

– Satpal: Yeah, put the potatoes in there.

- So I have to say, like, it's a tremendous relief to be able to do something with my hands and feel like I'm being of service here.

Obviously, these ladies know exactly what they're doing, and when you're talking about mass producing a single item like samosa for over 2,000 of these things, you have to have a system, and they obviously know it.

It's a privilege and an honor to be here and to be able to use my time and energy to be of assistance.

I think that that's the hallmark of community.

When we can be here and contribute, it's the best thing we can do sometimes.

So I'm on the microwave station.

[microwave beeping] - Amaris Kelaka: Yep.

[Luke laughing] - Amaris: It's really fun over here.

– Luke: It's really fun?

What's your favorite part?

– Amaris: Standing in a corner.

– Luke: Standing in a corner!

[laughing] You've grown up, right, around the temple?

- Yeah.

- And, you know, tell me, can you just a little bit, like, articulate what this food means to you?

- Anyone can come in here and come make food, but just, everyone puts so much love into their food.

Every Sunday, to know that you're getting, like, just, like a home-cooked meal to everyone, just for free.

Whoever wants to come can come and they can get food.

And it's good every time.

And it's, everyone works so hard, like, obviously you can see everyone works together and it's, like, made with true love.

Almost like your mother's cooking, you know?

- Sure.

In this case, your grandmother's cooking.

- Yes.

[both laughing] - If there was one thing, like one thing you wanted people of Wisconsin to know about the Sikh community, what would that be?

- There's just a lot of love, you know?

It's just, we're, it's all about good actions.

- Good actions.

- That's what people are about.

– Luke: So this is the samosa filling.

We have potatoes, we have peas, we have spices.

- Spices, yeah.

– Pammi Aunty: Ginger, ginger, pepper.

– Luke: Ginger, hot pepper.

– Pammi: Green pepper, hot peppers.

– Luke: So you just slowly work it in.

You don't wanna cook these, this part, right?

- Oh, no, they're already cooked.

- Yeah, yeah.

- That's why only I mix it.

- Yep, exactly.

'Cause you don't want all this beautiful, green, aromatic stuff, okay.

It's like being in a beehive of activity.

At first, I'm not gonna lie, I was a little overwhelmed.

And I have to say that these shoots, for me, are always the most fun to integrate with.

It takes a second.

It's like any community; you want to build trust.

You want to build that rapport and identity to be able to, to be of the best service you can be.

I feel like I've done a little bit of that and I'm being rewarded with the inner workings of how things are coming together here at the Sikh kitchen in Oak Creek.

And I'm honored; I'm honored.

– Satpal: Ask her what you want, okay?

– Luke: You gonna walk me through this?

– Satpal: Yeah, yeah.

– Luke: Okay.

- Then, eh, like this.

- Okay.

- You look like you know that, huh?

– Woman: Put finger one inside.

- Okay.

– Satpal: Put the potatoes in there, yeah.

- I go in two fingers, how much, like...?

– Woman: That's enough.

- That's enough.

– Satpal: That's enough, yes.

- That's enough, all right.

– Satpal: Yeah.

Now put the finger and... - Okay.

- And this is flour.

- That's the flour, yeah.

All-purpose flour, you know?

- Yep.

- And the water.

- Okay, and then to seal.

- Yeah, just seal it.

- Ladies, this is fun.

- That's it; that's easy.

- Yeah, okay, so... - Now it's a samosa.

- This is a samosa.

- Yeah, and we have to fry it.

- Fry it, and then you serve it with chutney, oh, yeah.

I love this; I love this.

– Satpal: Look who's doing good.

– Luke: I'm doing good.

All right, great.

– Woman: Yeah, he's doing good.

He's A+.

- "He's A+."

Yes!

Oh, these are beautiful; look at that!

– Satpal: It's a beauty.

– Luke: Oh, my goodness.

– Satpal: It's a beauty.

- Just like this all the time, just like this.

– Luke: Just like this.

– Pammi: Yeah, just like this.

- So you're constantly moving them.

- Yeah.

– Pammi: For the same color.

– Luke: Yep.

– Pammi: Flip it, flip it.

– Luke: Thank you for cooking some for us.

– Pammi: No problem; eat.

– Luke: Eat?

– Pammi: Eat.

– Luke: Like right now?

- Everybody, eat, everybody.

– Luke: Moment of truth.

That one looks perfect.

And is this the-- - That's the turmeric chutney.

- Got it.

- Sauce.

- Sauce, I like it.

- Yeah, okay.

- All right.

- Need the spoon?

- And a spoon; thank you.

Will you join me?

- Yeah, I can join.

- You're gonna take one too?

- Yep.

- All right, great.

- I can take.

All right; look at how crispy is that.

[Luke laughing] - It's so beautifully crispy.

– Satpal: Yeah.

– Luke: Oh, you can see that beautiful steam coming out.

– Satpal: See?

Yeah.

[Luke inhaling] Yeah.

- That smell, you get the earthiness.

– Satpal: Aroma.

- You get the spices.

You get a little bit of that ginger.

- Yep.

– Pammi: Ginger.

- Mmm, I can't wait to taste it.

– Satpal: Yeah, try this one, turmeric.

- Mmm, mmm!

- Wow.

- Yeah.

– Satpal: Sweet, tender.

- Sweet and sour, a little bit, yeah.

I mean, you almost get an essence of apple, in the tamarind chutney.

It has that little bit of a, you know, the bright note.

– Pammi: Applesauce, sometimes with applesauce.

– Satpal: Sometimes, we put with applesauce.

– Luke: Yeah, that makes sense.

It's so good though.

It's amazing what the potato takes on.

Like, it takes on so much of that other flavor.

– Satpal: So much other flavor, yeah.

- It doesn't even taste like a potato.

– Satpal: No, yeah.

- Wow, that is delicious.

It really, really is.

You get a little spice at the end, carries through.

You get the sweetness, the salty, the crispy.

– Satpal: Yeah.

- The soft.

– Satpal: Yeah, the soft.

- This might be just about perfect, friends.

– Satpal: Ah, yeah!

[Luke laughing] - I am over-the-moon appreciative of being able to come into the kitchen today and help put together samosa and be a part of your community and do some service towards humanity.

- Welcome in.

- Thank you.

- Yeah.

- Thank you.

- Always welcome.

- Now work is done; now you can eat as many... - As many-- - ...as you can.

- As many samosa as I can?

[laughing] That sounds like a challenge; careful.

[cheerful singing in Punjabi] [speaking in Punjabi] - Thank you so much for being here tonight.

And as I look around, I look around and I see family, and I see friends, and I see people that we have worked with over the past 10 years.

[applause] For me, the tragedy here, it changed the role of my life in the way that I needed to look at different dynamics of the way that I was living life.

And part of it made me just overall more grateful.

And when we think about lighting candles, for us, it signifies going from darkness into light.

And each and every person will light a candle.

The last thing that Sikhs say before they leave Sunday service is Nanak Naam Chardi Kala, teraa bhane sarbat da bhala.

And what that basically means is "We shall be relentlessly optimistic and fight for peace and prosperity of all mankind."

I think all of us have to light those candles.

All of us have to be committed wherever we are, as parents, as neighbors, you know, when we're having just regular conversations.

We illuminate somebody else's life, we do that.

That's life, and for that procession will really be, how do we do this together?

How do we do this as a greater community?

And how is it possible to go from darkness into light?

[somber singing in Punjabi] - Announcer: Wisconsin Foodie would like to thank the following underwriters: - The dairy farmers of Wisconsin are proud to underwrite Wisconsin Foodie, and remind you that in Wisconsin, we dream in cheese.

[crowd cheering] Just look for our badge.

It's on everything we make.

- I'm going out to pasture with the cows this morning.

– Announcer: At Organic Valley, we're on a mission to save small family farms.

– Farmer: Tasting pretty good?

– Announcer: And you can join us.

[farmer laughs] - Girlfriend's on a mission!

- Organic Valley.

- Twenty-minute commutes.

Weekends on the lake.

Warm welcomes and exciting career opportunities.

Not to mention all the great food.

There's a lot to look forward to in Wisconsin!

Learn more at InWisconsin.com [lively banjo music] - Employee-owned New Glarus Brewing Company has been brewing and bottling beer for their friends, only in Wisconsin, since 1993.

Just a short drive from Madison, come visit "Swiss"consin and see where your beer's made.

- Wisconsin's great outdoors has something for everyone.

Come for the adventure; stay for the memories.

Go wild in Wisconsin!

To build your adventure, visit DNR.WI.GOV.

- With additional support coming from The Conscious Carnivore.

From local animal sourcing to on-site, high-quality butchering and packaging, the Conscious Carnivore can ensure organically raised, grass-fed, and healthy meats through its small group of local farmers.

The Conscious Carnivore: know your farmer, love your butcher.

– Additional support from the following underwriters: [relaxing music] Also with the support of Friends of PBS Wisconsin.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel, where you'll find past episodes and special segments just for you.

[whimsical music]