October 6, 2014
Amritsari Kulcha
By Anubhav Sapra
There is always something emotional about your first job, your first salary. And then comes a day when one has to take a stand to move on. I left my job few days back after working for an NGO for 4 years. I had to think for days to arrive at this decision to move on and follow my heart’s call.
On the last day at work, I decided to introduce my colleague to the partner organizations with whom I used to coordinate with. After starting from Saket in the morning, we reached another voluntarily-run organization in East of Kailash. The meeting got finished around lunch time. We rushed to a nearby community centre and started exploring the eateries out there. I have always followed a maxim, that if there is a crowd, the food has to be good.
We reached a place where young men in formal attire were having their lunch. I smiled, and told my colleague – this is the place where we are going to eat our lunch. He was a bit disappointed as he wanted to eat comfortably in a restaurant. However, I persuaded him to try the food there and he hesitantly ordered a plate of Amritsari kulcha and chole from a cart, which turned out to be absolutely delicious.
The cart is owned by Ashu Monga (Mobile number 880074901). He hails from Firozpur in Punjab and has been selling Amritsari Kulcha for the last 4 years in the Community Centre, opposite Building no.20 in East of Kailash. He is there from 10 am to 3:30 pm. A plate of two Amritsari kulchas with chole cost Rs 30.
The kulchas were soft and fluffy with the topping of tomato and paneer. I have never before eaten a similar kind of kulcha of this standard anywhere in Delhi. I requested Ashu to share the secret behind the softness of the Kulchas. He happily shared the secret – these kulchas are made up of wheat and semolina and not white flour, and secondly, they come straight every morning from Ballu Bakery in Firozpur, Punjab. He adds a spoon of chutney over the chole and garnishes it with onion rings and serves these kulchas with green chilly pickles.
I returned to my office with my colleague feeling satiated and thinking about the right decision of leaving the job to pursue my vocation of running Delhi Food Walks full-time.
