City Food – Sadia Dehvi’s Iftar Fast Food, Hazrat Nizamuddin East
The evening meal.
[Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi]
Ramzan is the month when the Quran is believed to have been sent down from heaven and revealed to Prophet Muhammad. It is also the best opportunity for believers to get chubby. While the day is devoted to keeping the roza, or fast, the nights are made of ghee-rich khajlas, cream-soaked shahi tukdas and delicious milky coconut parathas.
But Iftari snacks that break the fast at sunset is a healthier story up to a point.
On the first day of Ramzan, The Delhi Walla witnessed the Iftar meal at author Sadia Dehlvi’s drawing room in Hazrat Nizamuddin East. Ms Dehlvi, who is writing a book on Delhi’s traditional cuisine, was surrounded by son, singer Arman Ali Reza, and family friends, Shabana Rahman and Aleena Hashmi. She laid out the dastarkhan on the carpet in front of the TV. These were the items:
1) Dates
2) Spiced fruit salad
3) Water melon (sliced)
4) Boondi raita
5) Chicken samosa
6) Kakori kebabs stuffed inside roomali roti rolls
7) Fresh bel juice
The snacking began as soon as the siren from a nearby mosque signaled the end of roza.
Later that night the Dehlvi household dined on kathi roll, channa-lauki dal, matar keema and rotis.
That time of the year
1. (Sadia Dehlvi)
2.
3. (Shabana Rahman)
4.
5. (Arman Ali Reza)
6.
7. (Aleena Hashmi)
8.
9.
OMG I love chicken samosas and kakori kebabs!
Beautiful representation of Iftari by thedelhiwalla.
Lo and behold, “bhukhhad” paparazzi appears are the right moment 🙂
If there is a book or food … MASrazzi can smell it from miles away 🙂
What is the far-left’s obsession with the regressive culture of Islam? Yes, I mean you as well. Going through your blog, it’s not hard to see your blatant obsession with this disgusting religion and the fact that you approve of their barbaric customs. Customs like Female Genital Mutiliation, A Culture of Misogyny, a culture of disrespect towards other communities and that of nature itself. Not to mention, they populate and live like parasites, always in a parallel culture to their city of residence.
That’s absurd! Using terms like ‘barbaric’ and ‘parasites’ for people is the first step towards dehumanizing them. While Islam is fair game for criticism, one should bear in mind the diversity of its followers. One should not be tempted to slide down the slippery slope of sweeping generalizations. The ‘parallel culture’ you speak of used to be the ‘mainstream culture’ of cities like Delhi and Lucknow not very long ago. My guess is that you’ve been reading too many New Atheist and/or conservative European/American websites( I could be wrong). Things are way more complex and merely tarring 1.6 billion people with the same brush will offer no solution.
I don’t think if Mayank approves of the customs you spoke of.
What is the far-left’s obsession with the regressive culture of Islam? Yes, I mean you as well. Going through your blog, it’s not hard to see your blatant obsession with this disgusting religion and the fact that you approve of their barbaric customs. Customs like Female Genital Mutiliation, A Culture of Misogyny, a culture of disrespect towards other communities and that of nature itself. Not to mention, they populate and live like parasites, always in a parallel culture to their city of residence. ~2
What is the far-left’s obsession with the regressive culture of Islam? Yes, I mean you as well. Going through your blog, it’s not hard to see your blatant obsession with this disgusting religion and the fact that you approve of their barbaric customs. Customs like Female Genital Mutiliation, A Culture of Misogyny, a culture of disrespect towards other communities and that of nature itself. Not to mention, they populate and live like parasites, always in a parallel culture to their city of residence. ~3
What is the far-left’s obsession with the regressive culture of Islam? Yes, I mean you as well. Going through your blog, it’s not hard to see your blatant obsession with this disgusting religion and the fact that you approve of their barbaric customs. Customs like Female Genital Mutiliation, A Culture of Misogyny, a culture of disrespect towards other communities and that of nature itself. Not to mention, they populate and live like parasites, always in a parallel culture to their city of residence. ~4
Are you too much of a pussy to answer back, or will you just close the comment section back again? Are you scared that these poor Muslims will get “offended”? That’s right, considering how much they’ve terrorised everyone since the inception of their cult. Anyone who doesn’t believe in their barbarity is a target.
Modi bhakt spotted
Mandeep,
Your comments will have impact if you did not use strong language
i would say one thing – what is the deal with dates (what does it has anything to do on Indian sub-continent) – fruit from Arab lands
Ummm, we did have dates in India before the arrival of the Islamic hordes.For instance, khajoora/khajjura is Prakrit for the Sanskrit term kharjoora. The name Khajuraho, or Kharjuravāhaka, is derived from Sanskrit (kharjura, खर्जूर meaning date palm,and vāhaka, वाहक meaning bearer)
And we Indians sure love tomatoes,potatoes,chilli peppers and marigold flowers, all of which were introduced by the beef-eating mlechha Portuguese. Can you imagine an Indian feast/festival without tamaatar, aaloo, hari mirch and gendaa?
Here is a brief list of other stuff imported from the lands of the impure, accursed yavanas:
Samosa, Jalebi, Halwa, Naan, Guava (amrood), Maize( bhutta),Cashew (Kaaju), Capsicum( Shimla Mirch), Sunflower(Surajmukhi) and Sweet Potato (Shakarkandi)
Yuck! Don’t you hate them for introducing all that nasty stuff into our pure land of plenty and harmony?
Naushirvan,
Thanks for the info.
the point is that we cannot deny the fact that Muslims of Indian Sub-continent gravitates towards Arab Culture (even Iranian based Khuda Hafiz has to go thru Arab based Allah Hafiz)
We can choose to be defensive or we can decide to introspect
Mr. Ajay,
What do you have against food? It’s just dates for goodness sake. So what if some Indian Muslims draw upon the Arabian peninsula for cultural inspiration? It’s one think to attack a practice like FGM, and another to attack an entire culture, which you fail to distinguish. For one, you are using the English language, through a technical medium called the computer, and software marvel called the internet all invented by the harami goras, to post your regressive ‘introspection’ for desi-fication. Next time you buy a bar of chocolate for diwali, you can pat yourself on the back for being such a good desi – for eating sweets invented by south american adivasis and their colonial goras. You’re a joke. Ofcourse, I imagine you will fume about my comment over a cup of tea (the bastard child of a gora and chinky union).
Likes food.
As I said earlier
“We can choose to be defensive or we can decide to introspect”
thanks for bringing Chocolate during Diwali
it is really painful for me to see people falling for chocolate (it could be personal preference or people falling to marketing)
it is great to learn from varying cultures but falling for something because it is ways of victors (Islam came to India thru vicious invaders and 95% of Muslim population was converted – vast majority by force or enticement)
Same thing with Asian countries celebrating complete alien events – Halloween, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and yes Valentine’s day.
no one has right to stop other from celebrating whatever one wants to celebrate
So we are forgettign traditional Basant Panchmi and Nag Panchmi and Teej and Diwali has lost colour and Holie its spark but we will celebrate Halloween, Valentines day and yes eat dates
Peace