Walking along Chandni Chowk – No Meat Allowed

We will begin the walk with longstanding Chandni Chowk institution, Natraj Cafe, famous for its Dahi Bhalle and Aloo Tikki.

While carnivores have spent a lot of time and passion over the years debating ‘Karim or Jawahar’, ‘Haji Noora or Kallu Nihari’, we have more important task of putting two veggie disputes to rest:

1. Daribe ki Jalebi or the Desi Ghee ka Jaleba (thank you Amit Chowdhary for the suggestion)– both of them have their own die-hard fans, but we will put them to the democratic test, hoping that the outcome is straighter than a jalebi.
2. Parathewali Gali or Kake di Hatti ke parathe : Both these are not parathas in the typical sense, ones in parathewali gali akin to stuffed puris as they are deep fried in a kadhai while Kake’s are made in tandoor and even the menu lists them as stuffed naan. Anyway, neither is made in a tawa, and we don’t care. They all taste damn good, have great artery choking capability, and difficult places to get a seat at, so this one’s for the heart!

And if we are visiting Kake di Hatti, it would be blasphemous to miss out on Giani’s rabdi-falooda next doors. This is the real Giani, not the one with mediocre ice cream outlets at Metro stations.

Somewhere in between, we will also do a quick tasting of Churuwala Halwa, which comes recommended by Pamela of Eat and Dust. I hope Pamela will be able to join us as well.

To some this itinerary has sounded cloyingly sweet, and not enough chatpata, so we will look for Dinesh Kachoriwala on Nai Sarak, considered by Old Delhi Food Guru, Rahul Verma, to be the best in the area. Those averse to things too sweet could also try the samosas at Dariba jalebiwala.

The colour of the kheer says it all, outcome of four to five hours of slow cooking for caremalisation and getting thick consistency. And unlike most street-side vendors, Bade Mian keeps his kheer very delicately sweet. This would be the perfect finale for our walk before we hop on to the metro at Chawri Bazaar.

If you have already not confirmed participation, join in.

We had done a Nihari and Daulat ki Chaat walk through Jama Masjid and Kinari Bazaar (with Hazarilal Jain’s Khurchan as an add-on), captured in Caroline Rove’s beautiful words and on her camera here.