Hazari Ke Pohe!!

India is an absolutely fantastic country; its diversity in every respect is a wonderful and exciting phenomenon. Every place has it own unique flavours and recipes. Who had ever heard of a town called Banswara?? Well I definitely had not!!! It is this small little place in the southern-most district of Rajasthan with the same name. Unfortunately, despite being in Rajasthan it is hardly Rajasthani in its look and feel. But then there is one thing to its credit-- the spiciest and definitely one of the tastiest Poha ever.

My taste buds are not very happy with mirchi wala khanna. I like it (sometimes) but it creates havoc in my mouth . Yet the attraction toward the havoc is such that I find myself eating it over and over, which has led me to sample this spicy dish a couple of time during my 14-day stay at Banswara.

Perfect haldi, lots of hari dhaniya, rai, pyaz, the perfect pinch of salt and lots of chill and pepper creates the magic for the Hazari Poha. So popular is it that people often visit the shop late at night (after 11 pm) to enjoy a plate of freshly made poha.

If you want to enjoy the poha in the comfort of your house you can get it packed too. Wrapped in a piece of newspaper just adds to the desiness of this snack. It is an absolutely fabulous flavour that will definitely stay with you for a long time and you would want more and more of it. So next time at Banwara, you absolutely must try Hazari ke Pohe if you haven’t already!

Bangali Adda

"Kotto eta" ---- How much for that?

"Baro taka" ---- 12 bucks

" Chho takae ekta luchi deben?" ---- Will u gimme 1 puri for 6 bucks....?

Somethin my dad overheard at C R Park. A typical Bengali conversation. Its fantastic how a Bengali uncle would go up to a vegetable vendor and buy exactly what he needs for dinner. Its true. What a simple lifestyle. No wastage. Not too many choices to confuse and best of all fresh...

Chit park is like a tiny Calcutta, relaxed, self suficient and a cultural hub in the middle of a fast paced Delhi. Its amazing how in this limited amount of space they have set up their very own city. A veggie place selling every fruit and veggie u would get in Calcutta, a Smelly Fishy place, a row serving all the various cutlets and chops and fish frys and egg rolls, a tiny shop selling the freshest notun gud ever, another having every bengali movie on disk... you name it they have it... and they play it loud and clear.

So taking the opportunity since we were at GK 2 , we took off to CR Park for breakfast at DADU CUTLET SHOP.... loads of choices, as u can see.

But we were here for breakfast, so what better than to have the perfect luchi and aaloo bhaaji... Its the Calcuttan reply to Delhi's Chholey Bhature breakfast. And may I add, what an Answer !

Though I would have prefered Alu dom instead, the preperation was fine. Not something I would put on my top 10, but worth visiting since such simple Bangali food aint available real easy here in Delhi. By the end, it did take me back to the simple Bong fare that i have had back in the City of Joy, so it was a meal worth mentioning....

Next time hope to try out the chops, rolls and cutlets. Care to join?

Where: Chittranjan Park

When : Breakfast : 7-10

How Much: Rs. 10/ plate ( Even the rates are Calcuttan)

The MIlky Way...

Walkin down the street...
In that scorching heat of our very own Delhi...
Shopping for things that we really don't need....
Holding atleast 7 bags of the same...
While the wife/ girlfriend decides on which shop to raid next...
Walkin on the footpath of this never ending circle, which even if incidently we complete pls don worry this was just the outer circle the inner is still to be discovered....

Yes ! ! ! You guessed it right i'm talkin bout CP....

Why do women and many men too just love this place...? its crowded... its full of shops that tear your pocket... people push u here and there... its confusing.... u get no parking on weekends... blah blah... blah blah...

WE LOVE CP.................................

End of discussion....

What do i love most about this place... The colourful shops... Each having its own crooked way of pulling u in and makin u drool over its stuff... and pinching you till u buy somethin.




Well, so now to tell u bout the place i love the most... Keventers. Somewhere deep within i'm still a lil kid loving her strawberry milk shake, chocolate smoothie or even the mango delight. Well this place is part of Delhi's history.
Years of stature this place has been around since my dad was born. Its a meeting place for so many, while many come here just to beat the heat. For the ones who've been there, is there anythin better than the milkshakes that Keventers serves when u're tired and down with all that sun and shoppin....???? If there is do tell me....
It brings back fond memories to some.... it reminds some of their childhood when their dads brought them there.... some go back to their college days when they bunked their lectures for a sip of divine indulgence.... while for some its all bout a lil break from the shopping just before they get back fo the second round.....

What though i find most fascinating is the way we're served. Squirm your way upto the guy at the counter and tell him what u want. The way the guy remembers every single order and serves it right to the right person, unimaginable...u'll understand when u're there... when u have atleast a twenty hungry hands "in your face" literally....
At the end of the day its a fantastic place... An awesome place to end your day in a fantastic city...

A must Visit.... :)

Vrindavan ki Tikki

I agree, one goes to Vrindavan to visit the temples, to pay homage, to get rid of their sins: but if there is sinful bliss available right in the heart of Vrindavan, shouldn we just follow it as 'The Path' and basically indulge.

Well thats what my heart said, and my tummy, when in Vrindavan ki galliyaan....

I immediately fell in love with this place when i was offered fresh ' Safed Makkhan' (white butter) as the Prasad in the temple... what nice ppl... :)

Well as we walked out, we couldnt resist the look of shops filled from top to bottom with pedas and burfis... who could resist them... they literally screamed... "come for me".

But after sooooooo much of sweetness we so needed somethin non sweet... We came across a shop that sold tikki chholey... we really dint think that this mere potato dumpling and completely mashed up green pea stuff would blow our minds away...

Every tikki that i have ever had.. and trust me i've had many.... should bow down to the one in Vrindavan... its a sin worth commiting... Its crispness taken to another level. The three humble ingredients being potatoes, curd and arrowroot...

When i was a kid, i would rip the tikki apart, eat allthe crispy edges and leave the sticky potatoey inside for anyone esle interested. Here i had the entire thing.

The chutneys are outstanding... be it the khajur ki chutney, or the pudina- dhaniya chutney... since we're in Vrindvan there is no usage of garlic or onion, but a hint of asafoetida does the trick. I so now agree of it being an aphrodasiac.

Though i'm not a very big fan of the chholey that they serve here in Delhi; personal taste; but the green pea mash here in Vrindavan was spectacular. The right amount of spices and the Hing( asafoetida)............... God help me... Dramatic.

Vrindavan is so on my cullinary trips now.

Where: Vrindavan Ki galliyaan

When: All thru the day

How Much: Rs. 20 a plate. ( You could easily gobble 3)

keema samosa

in the fourteenth century, one would have found them in the sultans court. loved and respected by the sultan and his courtiers.

i had read about them in the books, but always thought of them to be fictitious characters like the fiery dragons and the hobbits.

somewhere in a book last year i read that "keema samosas" are yet not extinct they are just endangered, you can spot them around the jama masjid (chandni chowk) at times in the evening.

hadn't been so lucky to find one, asked a few people with no satisfactory answers.

finally one day during Ramazan as i stepped out of jama masjid right outside the gate i could hear some shouting " कीमा समोसा पांच रूपए के दो " i could not believe my years but as i followed the voice i had to believe my eyes.





yes! it is true sumptuous samosas stuffed with keema and dhaniya chutney are available outside jama masjid.

as i had my first bite of those samosas only i know how myths turned into reality.

Luck by chance ( Adarsh Vegetarian )

Plans went wrong.
PLAN 1: parathewali gali- too crowded. a waiting of atleast 15-20mins. too hard to handle our hunger.
PLAN 2: fatehpuri area- mostly closed on a sunday i guess. only some sweets were available. we need to have a full meal.

Net Result: two hungry guys
We chanced to stop by and have some super sweet rabri from roadside vendor. 2 good things happened.
1) the sugar kick made sure we survive for the next few minutes
2) the rabri guy suggested us to hop across the road for to get our lunch

rabriwala

 

Across the road in the not so narrow lane was Aadarsh Vegetarian. surely it didn't look like one of the joints for which we come all the way to Chandni Chowk. it was not one of those who may have a heritage dating back to the days of the Mughals or maybe of a more recent date like that of the Britishers. well this one had nothing to boost about in those sense. lets be real we can't wait for this restaurant to grow old. we need to have something on our plates right now as in RIGHT NOW. and we walked into this modest restaurant. nothing to be talked about the interiors or the other customers around, everything is just as regular as it could be.

adarsh vegetarian

we asked for the menu in return we where directed towards the cash counter to pay before we eat. there was nothing like a menu. simple thali system. and soon after paying infront of us landed little katoris (bowls) and a big thali. one by one the katoris got filled up accompanied by parathas followed by tawa rotis (layered in ghee) and then rice. the quantity and sequence can be of your choice. get as much as you want as whatever you want, refills are encouraged. the spread was not too wide, but well prepared.

the thali

THE SPREAD: Aloo Capsicum (Shimla Mirch) + Dal + Mungoori + Lauki ka Koofta + Kheer + Papad + Rice + Roti + Aalo/Paneer Paratha + Chutni + Neembu

What made me fall in love with the food was it's non-spicy, non-oily character. i have a long list of stuff i love to eat in purani dilli, but seldom have i come across food which i can manage to have day after day, food which may not threaten my digestive system. well here is one such thing.
a thali which i may not remember for long, as it lack those typical dilli flavours, what it has is the flavour of home cooked food. a plain simple thali which is probably the everyday meal for the nearby shop keeper. maybe one day some other hungry guy gets lucky to land up at Adarsh Vegetarian.

Where: Aadarsh Vegetarian, 483, haider Kuli Corner, Main Chandni Chowk
When: opens at 10:30 (i would say lunch time is ideal)
What you pay: Rs.100/- for unlimited refills

Chaina Ram ki Jai ho

Today hunger took me to Chaina Ram's Sweet Shop (famous for it's karachi halwa) more than a century old shop right next to Fatehpuri Masjid, Delhi.
The smoky little joint doesn't give an impression of it's sitting facility, inside the smoky screen are a few tables and chairs where one can sit and comfortably munch.
The... wait was not to long to get our Chole Bhature. The nice, crispy and oily Bhature's were served followed by the Chole. Definitely the recipe was somewhat different from the regular Delhi Chole-Bhature on the look of it. Soon i had my first bite of this yummy stuff. The Bhatura's where not bland like most of the other places and the Chole had a bit of a gravy not the regular dry version.
The whole place was still having a low hanging smoky cloud which was smelling of the Bhature itself. Everybody around us was busy having their probably first meal of the day. The amount of people ordering Chole-Bhature was sign of Chaina Ram's excellence in making of Chole-Bhature.

 

where: Chaina Ram, next to fatehpuri masjid, chandni chowk, delhi, new delhi

when: anytime i guess

price: Rs 40/- (two bhatures and portion of chole)