The Scoop on Delhi's Cuisine
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CS-Food & Drink.qxd 11/6/2008 7:49 PM Page 30 Food & Drink Eat and drink your way through town. Just eat it The scoop on Delhi’s cuisine Lala Duli Chand’s tasty kulfi treats. Photography Cherian Thomas. CS-Food & Drink.qxd 11/6/2008 6:53 PM Page 32 Cover story Stirring the pot It’s pretty hard trying to work chicken, qorma and kababs? food is cooked on spits or in ovens the local edible flora and fauna and out Delhi’s culinary melange. Some of the earliest accounts of and in animal fat. You have very describes concoctions like murab- food in Delhi come from the four- limited use of spices. The chunks of ba. The Ain-i-Akbari has a section But that doesn’t mean you teenth century traveller Ibn meat are large and not as soft as we with price lists for various food- can’t have fun trying, argues Battuta’s writing. In her The cook them. When the Central Asia- stuffs, as well as full recipes with Sonal Shah. Essential Delhi Cookbook, Priti ns came, the tradition of bhun-na, measurements of several dishes. Narain (who is herself from a using ghee as an agent, was added. Much of the variety of these Great cities are defined, at least to Kayasth Mathur Delhi family) These two mixed to create what we ingredients has disappeared. some degree, by great cuisines: paraphrases Battuta’s descriptions know today as Mughlai food.” Hashmi told us how many saag Food & Drink either through an easily available of Sultanate feasts. She writes that While most scholars and foodies varieties are no longer cooked, or and intrinsic tradition, or through these rulers brought with them the claim that what we call Mughlai is indeed, aren’t even available any- making choices available that habit of communal dining, with possibly more influenced by Awa- more. The Ain-i-Akbari’s regional draw the culinary traveller from people seated hierarchically. dhi or Nizami cuisine than what the specifications of goat and lamb far and wide. Paris and Shanghai Battuta also describes beginning Mughals ate, there are references to varieties seem unimaginably exot- are examples of the former, the meal with a sharbat and ending food and cooking in various Mugh- ic today. Other ingredients, which London and New York perhaps of it with paan. But then, written al documents: the Baburnama, the we take completely for granted, are the latter. We’ve checked off the traces of “Sultanate food” pretty Ain-i-Akbari and other, less formal newer additions. Narain writes that monuments and the Metro in our much disappear. sources. A section of the Baburna- potatoes only came to North India own Delhi, we’re well-stocked According to educator and ma describes how Babur brought by about 1830. Tomatoes came with netas, bade baap ka betas and activist Sohail Hashmi (see On the certain fruits like melons and only about 20 years after that. SUVs, but what do we have to offer table), Delhi court cuisine was an grapes to India. (It appears the Chillies were introduced to South in terms of a culinary narrative? In amalgam of Central Asian (Turkic, ruler missed these so much that he India by the Portuguese in the a city as old as ours, surely our Persian etc) and local techniques. once became teary-eyed upon cut- 1500s, but probably took longer to food isn’t only about butter As he said, “In Central Asia, most ting open a melon.) It also talks of reach Delhi, as they are not men- ANSHIKA VARMA The meat of the matter The nihari specialist Kallu Ustad in action 32 www.timeoutdelhi.net November 14 – 27 2008 CS-Food & Drink.qxd 11/6/2008 7:47 PM Page 34 of Delhi foodies (and their patron saint, writer Rahul Verma) – but you’ll have to get there early; this stuff runs out fast. Verma sug- gests Haji Noora ki nihari at Bara Hindu Rao for a spicier version of the dish. Kallu Nihari 180 Chhatta Lal Mian, Jama Masjid, approach via Churiwalan and ask for Tiraha Behram Khan. Daily 5-7pm. m Chawri Bazaar. Haji Noora ki nihari 3576 Bara Hindu Rao, Thelewali Gali, Sangtarashan. Daily 6-8am, 6-9pm. Karim’s Hotel The classic, if only by virtue of reputation. While Charmaine O’Brien mentions in her book Flavours of Delhi that the Karim progenitor was an Arabian Food & Drink soldier-turned-personal cook for Babur, Hashmi told us that “Karim has very cleverly invented himself. It is in Gali Kababian – this is a family of kababchis who then said, ‘shahi hain’.” Whatever CHERIAN THOMAS (2) the true story, it won’t make a jot Chaat puja Kalmi and kachalu chutney complete the papdi chaat at Ashok Chaat Bhandar; Deepak Dewan’s fruit cream (below) of difference to the popularity of the famous burras. 16 Gali Kabab- tioned in the Ain-i-Akbari. several sources. Hashmi is of the slightly more laidback fashion ian, Bazaar Matia Mahal, opposite While Muslim cuisine is perhaps opinion that khomchawalas (gents than Karim’s. According to Hash- Gate 1, Jama Masjid (2326-9880). the best recorded, Delhi cuisine carrying their wares in baskets on mi, Jawahar was founded by a m Chawri Bazaar. Daily 7am- was and is made up of the tradi- their heads) would hawk their kulfi family of butchers; food critic midnight. Meal for two Rs 300. tions of several communities. and chaat from store to store, and Marryam Reshii holds that their Super Meat Stall Avtar Delhi’s sizeable Kayasth communi- the storekeepers would call them cuts are better than Karim’s. 65 Singh’s family used to sell swords ty were scribes and officials in the over to keep the snack train going. Bazaar Matia Mahal, opposite in the underground market at imperial courts and, as such, their Or, the khomchawalas would be Gate 1, Jama Masjid (2326-9241). gurudwara Sis Ganj. In 1966, food habits were heavily influ- called home for family feasts. m Chawri Bazaar. Daily 7am- Singh’s grandfather and father set enced by Muslim ones. (See On the These street traditions continue midnight. Meal for two Rs 300. up Super Meat Stall, popularly table.) There was also an inventive alongside their non-vegetarian Kallu Nihari Beloved nihariwala known as “Super Meat Wale”. Try vegetarian tradition: Narain men- counterparts in the walled city. The tions several dishes that featured newer tradition of Punjabi and vegetables masquerading as meat. frontier food and the attendant Kayasth recipes and menu plans popularity of chicken and tandoori 3 questions for… could be found – along with items have been added to the mix What sets Aangan’s food Muslim ones – in Urdu cookbooks since Partition. apart from other Indian that were possibly originally put Uniformly, every food-lover or restaurants in five star together by housewives. Indeed, scholar we spoke to said that the hotels? Mathur found some of her recipes best examples of any of Delhi’s It serves traditional Delhi cuisine, in these unfortunately no-longer- cuisines – whether from the “tradi- which is a mix of Bania, Kayasth, available treasure troves. tional” resident communities of the Muslim and Mughal, with an Banias, particularly Marwaris, sheher or newer migrant ones – can emphasis on a variety of vegetarian and Khatris are chiefly responsible be found in people’s homes. We food, including kababs and main for Delhi’s vegetarian traditions. can’t provide you with a list of peo- courses. The hallowed tradition of Delhi ple’s phone numbers, obviously. chaat may have come from the But if you start in the old city, a Any particular picks? Bania community, according to The following dishes are a fine quick course in the evolution of our example of Delhi’s cuisine: Aangan city’s khana is possible. We’ve ki seekh (lamb mince skewered compiled a list of some of the best, with fresh coriander, garam masala most authentic, most inventive or and carom seeds), very traditional just most popular places to eat out and similar to kababs that sell in the in purani Dilli, as well as a list of COURTESY HYATT REGENCY streets of old Delhi; murg zafrani caterers and bawarchis to start (chicken breast marinated in Rakshit Sharma, chef, Aangan. with. Happy exploring. Kashmiri saffron and cooked in the tandoor); kali mirch aur ajwain ka Why and when did the rest- paneer tikka (cottage cheese aurant’s name change? And marinated with cream and carom how did the menu change at seeds); and tawa aloo tikki (griddle- Meat the time? fried potato patties filled with Dilli Ka Aangan became Aangan lentils). Sonal Shah Al Jawahar Jawahar’s new and in mid-2004. However, there was Hyatt Regency Delhi, Bhikaji Cama old branches serve “Mughlai” no change in the food concept Place, Ring Road (2679-1234). (kababs and oily curries) in a and style. Noon-3pm; 7-11.30pm. 34 www.timeoutdelhi.net November 14 – 27 2008 CS-Food & Drink.qxd 11/6/2008 6:55 PM Page 36 their hot, spicy curries of mutton tadka along with your unlimited pieces or keema with phulkas, or thali. Verma also recommends Gunjan Goela the mutton pulao with gravy. 937 nearby Annapurna. We also HC Sen Road, Chandni Chowk, like New Soni’s thali of unlimited the same. It’s the experience that near Fountain, next to HSBC dal, aloo-tamatar and phulka matters. I would have to recreate ATM (6990-2920). m Chandni and limited daily sabzi, raita and the pots and pans, the ambience, Chowk.