I have just returned from a fantastic two week trip to India, where my grandma, second cousin and I did a tour of New Delhi and Rajhastan. For me, a self-professes foodie, one of the highlights of the trip was the Delhi
Food Adventure Walk in Chandni Chowk New Delhi, run by Prabhat. I found the tour on tripadvisor and would highly recommend it.
We got a taxi from our hotel, the Shangri-La Eros- to Chandi Chowk Metro Station (well we tried, but got confused and ended up at a revised meeting point) much to the horror of our guide, the concierge and the bell-hops. Unsurprising considering we were suggesting that we break a good handful of the "rules" for avoiding the dreaded "
Delhi Belly". The golden one being "don't eat at local food stalls"- but that's just what we did! Prabhat, is simply brilliant. He has built relationships with the shop and stall owners, to the point that some have emulated his behaviour in an attempt to make it safer for foreign visitors to try their food. Prabhat brings hand sanitiser, his own plates, spoons and handwipes- which supplemented the arsenal of such products that individuals in the group had brought.
We visited about 8 establishments and tried an assortment of foodstuffs- from appetizers and snacks to full on curries at the last place. We got to try things that we would never have attempted simply because we didn't know what to ask for, or even what they were. The finest example of this being the Raj Kachori or "King of Snacks" on the left. It's a semolina based shell,, filled with an assortment of things including dumplings, potato and beans. There's a green, spicy mint sauce, a sweet red tamarind sauce and it's flooded with yoghurt. It's cold which I didn't expect and all together pretty tasty!
The King of Snacks is everywhere in Delhi, so it was great to try something like that- but we also tried things that we wouldn't have even seen, let alone tried had it not been for this excursion!
Below is golgappa- a sort of DIY mini Raj Kachori- you punch a hole in the top of one of the little shells, fill it with the potato and lentil mixture add some sweetening tamarind and then fill, read flood, the whole thing with the thin, spicy, mint sauce (a real surprise to the taste buds, in the west we are conditioned to thinkthat mint is cooling) before popping the whole thing in your mouth- I've captured grandmas reaction below:
We tried several types of bread at different places. The man in the photo, who contrary to his expression was very happy to be photographed- made us a selection of paranthas which we dipped into a variety of chutn
eys and dahls. There was a banana one and a mixed vegetable amongst others. This is where Prabhat provides disposable plates- and the proprietor has realised this and makes sure the breads don't touch his metal plates by separating them with a kitchen towel. There was a very sweet one too. At this point Prabhat was stressing that we eat just a taste of everything- and my goodness was he right- I'm so glad we didn't eat lunch!
One of the places was so incredible I'll never forget the experience- I believe it was called Nirmal Restaurant- it was on the first floor overlooking some sort of rally that was taking place. The grime on the walls must have taken years to get to its peak condition- and that alongside the power lines spanning the glass-less windows, the rat we saw running across the stairs during our ascent, the age smoothed wooden benches and low tables and the delicious smell of wafting bread gave the place a fantastic ambience. The film should give you a feel for the atmosphere!
The breads we tried here are fried on a flat pan by a duo who make a jaw dropping show of flipping the breads- a popular youtube video has made this skill famous- I've taken a little film of my own:
Other highlights were the jaleba we tried from a famous corner str
eet vendor, enjoyed on the street under an advertisment for a sexologist.
And we learnt some handy survival skills on the tour too- for example, it's perfectly acceptable to pour excess oil off the top of curries.
So I haven't told you about everything as we'd be here forever, but if you ever get the chance
do this walk! It's just fantastic- it's well organised so that any initial discomfort is dispersed with the first (sanitised) venue- and you hardly notice the increase in salubrity with time. I believe we paid 1500 rupees each, about £20 at the time of writing, and this included 3 or 4 rickshaw rides, all food, a cold drink at one restaurant and water for the whole night (bought at the beginning and carried for you). Worth every single rupee.
