Delhi Street Food by Anubhav sapra – Page 4

Posted on June 22, 2015

THE TOP 10 STREET FOOD DISHES OF DELHI AND WHERE TO FIND THEM

1. Samosas

The most popular snack and street food of Delhi. The origin of the samosa can be traced back to the Middle East, where it was known as sambosa. The vegetarian version consists of a plain flour covering stuffed with potatoes, lentils, green peas or cauliflower. Some even make it sweet by filling it with khoya (thickened whole milk heated in open iron pans) or chhena (fresh curd cheese made from water buffalo milk). The non-vegetarian version of the samosa comes with minced lamb or chicken fillings.

The good ol’ champion among Delhi samosas is the aloo samosa, filled with potato (aloo) and served with mint chutney and saunth (a mix of dry ginger powder and tamarind sauce). In Connaught place, mini samosas named after their small size are available on the pavements of the Barakhamba road. While The Embassy restaurant in Connaught Place boasts about the heaviest and most expensive samosa in the city.

Where to find the best ones?

Annapurna Sweets in CR Park.
Chaina Ram in Fatehpuri.

2. Momos

Photo: Anubhav Sapra

Who could’ve imagined that the most common food of Tibet and Nepal would become one of the most popular foods in Delhi? Over the past 10 years momokiosks have flourished all over the city. Momos are dumplings stuffed with a mix of vegetables, chicken, lamb, pork or buff. They are steamed and served with hot and spicy red chili sauce and mayonnaise. To suit the palates of Delhites, chaat masala (mix of hot and tangy spices) are also sprinkled over the steamed preparation.

Where to find the best ones?

Majnu Ka Tila.
De Paul’s in Janpath.

3. Aloo tikki

Photo: Anubhav Sapra

Simply put, aloo means potato and tikki means a patty or croquette. Aloo tikkisare fried potato patties stuffed with either just potatoes or lentils and green peas, served with coriander mint sauce and tamarind sauce. They have a crisp outside and a soft inside.

Where to find the best ones?

Natraj Dahi Bhalla in Chandni Chowk.
Bittu Tikki Wala outlets in Delhi.

4. Kebab

Photo: Anubhav Sapra

The most common kebabs are Seekh Kebab — minced mutton grilled on a skewer;Shami Kebabs — minced mutton or chicken with a paste of lentils are mixed with chopped onions, garlic, green chilies and fried in some butter; Galauti Kebabs —galauti literally means ‘to melt in the mouth,’ they are prepared by marinating the finely ground meat with unripe papaya and exotic spices and are later fried in butter.

Where to find the best ones?

Karim’s in Jama Masjid.
Moinuddin Kebabs in Ballimaran.

5. Golgappa

Photo: Anubhav Sapra

Golgappas are deep-fried delicacies made of whole wheat or semolina flour. The street vendors pinch a hole into the golgappa and add chopped cubes of boiled potato and mashed chickpeas with saunth chutney. They are then dipped into a bowl filled with spicy tangy tamarind or mint water. There are regional variations of golgappas within Delhi. In CR Park, the water is strictly made of tamarind and the fillings are made of mashed potatoes with chickpeas and spices. In other parts of the city, it is mostly mint water and the fillings are simply boiled potato cubes or chick peas.

Where to get the best ones?

Street vendors in CR Park.
Vaishnav Chaat bhandar in Kamla Nagar.

6. Chole Bhature

Photo: Anubhav Sapra

Chole bhature is a Delhi classic available in all the residential and office areas around town. It’s a puffed bread made of semolina or wheat flour, deep fried in clarified butter or oil, and sometimes stuffed with paneer (cottage cheese) or mashed potatoes. They are served with chickpeas cooked in whole spices, onion, green chilies and pickles.

Where to find the best ones?

Sitaram Diwanchand in Paharganj.
Chahcha ke chole bhature in Kamla Nagar.

7. Chole kulche

Photo: Anubhav Sapra

Chole kulche is relished by everyone, from school kids to office goers. Chole are boiled chickpeas and kulche is a white flour bread. This dish usually tastes different depending of the street vendor you choose, since everyone seems to have their own recipe. At some places, boiled chickpeas are garnished with onion, tomatoes, spices and lemon; some others add tamarind or dry mango powder chutney to the chickpeas.

Where to find the best ones?

Lotan ke chole kulche in Chawri Bazar.
Bhogal ke chole kulche near Scindia House in Connaught Place.

8. Chaat

Photo: Anubhav Sapra

The essential ingredients of chaat are yoghurt, onion, saunth (tamarind and dry ginger sauce or dry mango powder sauce) and a mix of spices. There are a lot of variants of chaat: Dahi Bhalla chaat are made of fried lentil balls soaked in yoghurt and topped with saunth, spices, pomegranate seeds and sev (small dried salty noodles). Papdi Chaat consists of little fried and crispy, flat-shaped wheat flour crackers with the same toppings as in Dahi bhalla. The other two commonchaats are aloo tikki chaat and samosa chaat. The only non-savoury chaat is theDaulat ki chaat, available only during the winter months in Old Delhi. It’s more like a dessert made with milk and cream whisked together.

Where to find the best ones?

Ashok Chaat Corner in Chawri Bazar.
Hira Lal Chaat corner in Chawri Bazar.
Daulat ki Chaat is available in the by lanes of Old Delhi during October to March.

9. Rajma Chawal

Photo: Anubhav Sapra

A typical Punjabi home-cooked dish, is also readily available in food carts across Delhi (mainly outside offices). Rajma is the curry made of red beans cooked in aromatic spices and served hot with steamed rice. Rajma chawal is highly nutritious and delicious as well.

Where to find the best ones?

Near the offices and shopping centers like Nehru Place, Shankar Market, KamlaNagar and Karol Bagh.

10. Kachori

Photo: Anubhav Sapra

Kachoris are made of white flour dough stuffed with a mixture of lentil paste and spices. This mix is fried and served with hot and spicy potato curry. Kachoris are usually served with tamarind sauce or coriander mint sauce, but some vendors serve them with a delicious mix of potato curry with asafetida in a slightly large amount.

Where to find the best ones?

Old Delhi has the best kachori joints in the city:
Jang Bahadur kachori wala in Maliwara.
Narayan das Halwai in Khari Baoli.

*THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED IN MATADOR NETWORK ON JUNE 16, 2015. HERE IS THE LINK TO THE ARTICLE- http://matadornetwork.com/pulse/top-ten-street-food-dishes-delhi-find/

Anubhav Sapra

Anubhav Sapra is an avid foodie! He is a Founder but proudly calls himself a Foodie-in-chief at Delhi Food Walks. He is also a street-food and Indian regional cuisine connoisseur and loves to write about street-food.

http://www.delhifoodwalks.com

Posted on June 7, 2015

Bhaiya Lal’s Pineapple Burfi

By Anubhav Sapra

Being a self confessed sweets addict, I am constantly looking out for sweet shops. Some of my favorite sweet shops in Chandni Chowk are – Chaina Ram in Fatehpuri Chowk for Karanchi halwa and sev badam, Hajari Lal Jain in Kinari Bazar for rabri and khurchan, Ghantewala near Fountain Chowk for sohan halwa, Tewari brothers near Town Hall for motichur ke laddu, Annapurna Sweets opposite Seeshganj Gurudwara for Bengali sweets and of course, Dariba Kalan’s famous jalebi.

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I was walking down the Dariba street when I spotted a mithai wala selling varieties of colorful mithais beautifully decorated with chandi vrak in separate trays. These trays were laid on the stairs of one of the Jewellery shops in Dariba Kalan. The owner, Naresh Kumar evenly spread sheets of edible chandi varak over the sweets, sprinkled pistachios burada, and covered the sweets with nets to keep flies away.

Naresh Kumar sells the sweets opposite Gali Kunjas in Dariba Kalan between Ramtaur Jewellers and Swastik Jewellers shop from 5 pm onwards. He learnt the art of making sweets from his father, who is well-known as Bhaiya lal. Bhaiya lal started the sweet shop in his name in 1936 at Shop no. 3459, Hauz Qazi, Subzi Market and Naresh Kumar took over in 1962. He has been selling the same variety of sweets.

The menu consists of Bengali mithai – Rasbhari, Parmal stuffed with khoya, cham cham, lauki burfi, Pineapple burfi, nariyal burfi. All the sweets are prepared in a more or less similar way – with khoya as the main ingredient. All of them costs Rs 400/- kg. The sweets are weighed by using a tarazu (balance scale).

What intrigued me most was the Pineapple burfi, which I had tasted for the first time at this sweets shop. It turned out to be excellent because it was just the right amount of sweet. It was prepared adding pineapple syrup to roasted khoya.Another Bengali sweet, Rasbhari which are small rasgullas were different from the ones we usually get. Rasbhari was not soaked in sugar syrup, it was dry from the outside and the centre was filled with thickened sugar syrup so that as soon as one bites into it their mouth fills with the sweet syrup. Other sweets, cham cham, lauki burfi, and nariyal burfi were equally amazing.

I am delighted to add Bhaiya Lal’s sweets to my list of favorite Sweets shops in Chandni Chowk!

Anubhav Sapra

http://www.delhifoodwalks.com

Posted on May 31, 2015 June 7, 2015

Sardar ji ke Poori choley

By Anubhav Sapra

Despite the proximity of Daryaganj to Chawri Bazar and Chandni Chowk, the way food is prepared in these areas differ. While the food is mildly spiced in Daryaganj, in Delhi 6 it is hot and high on spices. Delhi Food Walks conducted its Sunday breakfast walks in these three places, and the highlight of the one at Daryaganj was Sardar ji’s Chole poori.

The shop was started by late Nand Singh ji and is currently being run by his son Kuku Singh. Originally from Rawalpindi, the family migrated to Delhi after the partition and shifted the shop to the current address on Ansari Road, Daryaganj, twelve years back. One can identify the shop by the board outside which reads, “Jeha Caterers” however the shop is well – known as Sardar ji ke poori choley ki dukan in Daryaganj.

At Sardarji’s shop, the menu changes as the day progresses. It starts with Poori Sabzi, offers rajma and kadi chawal in the afternoon and in the evening serves traditional snacks such as – samosa, kachori and jalebi.

This famous Sardar ji’s shop is proud of serving Punjabi poori. It is different from the regular Bedmi poori available in other places in Old Delhi. The dough of Bedmi poori, is made up of wheat and is coarse in texture. Whereas, the dough of Sardar ji’s punjabi poori is a mixture of wheat flour, white flour, ghee and salt. It is stuffed with urad dal ki pitthi (paste of yellow lentils), saunf (fennel seeds), jeera (cumin seeds), red chilies and the hing ka paani (asafetida water) and is deep fried in oil. The mixture of all the spices especially hing leaves the poori light and crisp and does not have any after effects like heart burn.

The aloo chole sabzi is mild in spices without onion, garlic and tomatoes. The sabzi is cooked in curd with masalas. The gravy of the sabzi is thick in texture and simply outstanding in taste : not too spicy, not too bland.

A plate of poori sabzi is accompanied with sitaphal ka achar (pumpkin pickles), sliced onions and methi ki chutney (fenugreek chutney). In winters, the pickles served are of gobhi and gajar (cauliflower and carrots). The pickles are also mild and light flavoured.

Apart from Poori choley, Sardarji’s shop also offers sweet malai lassi which is served in a kulhad and besan ke laddu. You can wash down the Poori choley with these if you find it spicy.

Cost of one plate Poori choley : Rs 30

Contact number of the shop owner : 9717031008

Anubhav Sapra

http://www.delhifoodwalks.com

Posted on April 20, 2015 June 7, 2015

Shiv Food Point

Amritsari Kulcha

By Anubhav Sapra

It is good to be connected with your old colleagues. Some of them are foodies and may also guide you to new places. I received a call from one of my ex-colleagues, Azad, few days back. He told me about Amritsari Kulcha Joint in Rani Bagh which was started by his colleague’s father. It was Baisakhi and I thought celebrating it with Amritsari kulcha would be a pretty great idea. I called him back for the directions and landed up in the afternoon to savour the Amritsari kulcha. This time, I took my mother along with me.

The name of this place is Shiv Food Point, and it has two outlets in Delhi. The addresses are – shop no.12, Shiv Mandir Market, Sant Nagar Road, Rani Bagh; contact numbers – 9891874446 and 9310199945, and shop no. G-1, Vardhman Crystal Plaza, LSC, CD Block, Pitampura; contact numbers – 9953399357 and 9953399367.

The place is owned by Rajesh Sharma who had a chemical business in Rani Bagh. Due to the government’s new pollution control policy, he had to close down his chemical business. Hailing from Amritsar and a food lover, he started Amritsari Kulcha Joint three and a half years back in Rani Bagh, and later renamed it to Shiv Food Point as it is close to Shiv Mandir in Rani Bagh. Although I am a regular at Kulcha King, Sarojini Nagar, the quest to find out the real Amritsari Kulcha never ends.

Rajesh ji described the making of Amritsari kulcha from the first step of kneading the dough to baking it in tandoor. The dough is made by kneading white flour with milk and ghee. Ajwain, jeera, dhaniya, kasuri methi, kali mirch are added to the dough, more so, in layers. Then the dough is cut with the help of a knife in small pieces, later stuffed with cauliflower or paneer. The same is flattened using both the hands. Ghee is applied to one side and later baked in the tandoor. The owner also explained how ghee makes the kulchas crispier inside and out. They offer a variety of stuffings – Amritsari aloo kulcha (Rs. 80 for 2 pieces); gobhi, aloo pyaaz, and aloo pyaz gobhi mix (Rs. 90 for 2 pieces), veg keema (Rs. 100 for 2 pieces), paneer (Rs. 110 for 2 pieces).

The kulchas are served with chana, spring onions submerged in tangy tamarind chutney, and raita. Chana are cooked without ghee, garlic, and tomatoes. However, even without these, chana had a nice flavour. The masalas used in kneading the dough for kulchas are used in cooking the chana as well. The same is cooked over low flame on the tandoor. The tandoor plays a pretty important role in retaining the flavours, I am sure. The tamarind chutney served with spring onions also had a nice tangy taste. Raita was cold and fresh.

All the kulchas were excellent in taste, and were slightly thick, yet crispy. They were laden with oodles of butter. I did not like the taste of butter, though. I am a big Amul fan. If you are a Amul fan too, do not forget to ask for it. I called my ex-colleague back to thank him for the wonderful recommendation. But, as I said, the quest never ends.

Anubhav Sapra

http://www.delhifoodwalks.com

Posted on April 13, 2015 June 7, 2015

THE EMBASSY RESTAURANT

By Anubhav Sapra

I seem to have grown interest in posting my food updates even more so on Instagram recently, and I did so the night I went for the review at The Embassy Restaurant. It received more than a hundred likes in less than an hour thanks to the truly delectable royal food that it serves. Before I start describing how delicious the dinner was, I think it is important to throw some light on its history.

In 1947, India got its independence. A year later in 1948, two gentlemen, P.N. Malhotra and G.K. Ghai who arrived to Lutyen’s Delhi from Karachi, decided to set up one of the most iconic restaurants in the heart of the capital. It happened to become the city’s iconic gastronomic and intellectual hotspot. The royalty of this place, however, is still apparent.

I have witnessed people bonding over food here. People bonded over love, some in the sphere of business, and some in politics. This place even had regulars who put “9.30 a.m. to 11.00 a.m. Embassy Restaurant” on their visiting cards. And the legacy continues even today. The restaurant is currently managed and run by the third generation – Kumar Savar Malhotra. In August 2014, there was a disastrous fire that gutted the interiors of the restaurant. After a short break, the restaurant was back again with its flaring new interiors blending effortlessly into the existing architecture of Connaught Place.

I have been there many times before, usually during the mornings to try different dishes on the menu, especially the king-sized chana and vegetable samosa. I was present there for dinner this time. There is no doubt that the menu is quite extensive and I, therefore, asked the chef to suggest some of their signature dishes. On the table, were three of their non-vegetarian signature starters – roasted chicken, bharwa tangri, and chicken malai tikka. All of them were excellent in taste. The roasted chicken was first marinated in hung curd and aromatic spices, and was later roasted to perfection. The chicken was juicy and tender. Marination seemed to be just right and spices evenly spread. Bharwa tangri kebab was stuffed with minced chicken, cheese, onion, garlic, spices and coriander leaves, later roasted in tandoor. This kebab was completely flavourful and I literally went drooling over it!

Next in line were the embassy’s specialties from the main course section. I was accompanied by a vegetarian friend who commented that the dal makhani was extremely delicious. She accorded the same to its strong clove flavour and yes, the chef’s recipe as well. Achari paneer was another dish that makes this place truly different from others. This dish was nicely flavored, quite spicy but the use of kalonji seeds seems to have given it a slightly bitter taste.

Chicken masala, dal meat, tomato fish and chicken steak were some of the other signature dishes here at the Embassy. Unlike the red gravy in which chicken is usually cooked, the chicken masala, here, was cooked in a rich cream and almond sauce tempered just right with red chillies. This dish also had a slight sweet taste. However, I was quite disappointed to taste dal meat – lamb chunks cooked with lentils. This dish is basically a mix of boiled yellow lentils (moong dhuli) and mutton rogan josh. I found the lamb chunks to be quite dry and a bit chewy for me. However, the gravy was absolutely delectable.

Yet another iconic dish of this place is tomato fish – sole fillet topped with their own tomato concasse sauce. It is said that when Savar took over the reins of the restaurant, he tried twisting the tomato fish slightly by serving it with French fries. The reaction they received from their clients was that of total rejection. The loyalists were equivocal in their view and the restaurant then had to come back to its original version.

I rounded off my meal with the Embassy Pudding – soft, creamy, and with a surprise cashew element was simply a treat! Tooti Fruittee was another delicious mix of refreshing fruits and nuts. May the legacy of good food continue!

Address: 11-D Connaught Place, New Delhi
Timings: 10 AM to 11 PM
Seat covers: 84
Average Meal for Two: Rs. 1,200 plus taxes (Without Alcohol)
Contact: 011 2341 6434, +91 9311085132

Anubhav Sapra

http://www.delhifoodwalks.com