City Food – Litti Chokha, Around Town
Delhi’s best-kept secret. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] If Bihar were a country, Delhi should be its capital and litti chokha its national dish. The capital is home to a large migrant population from Bihar, but… ‘Just what…
City Food – Gular Leaves, Around Town
The secret of the mutton. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] If you love mutton curry, you cannot ignore gular. The leaves of this tree are the food of goats. Gular, the common fig (Ficus carica) native to West…
City Food – Paan, Around Town
The magic leaf. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] A foreign art critic visiting Delhi’s Connaught Place may be forgiven for thinking its red-splattered corridors are a form of abstract expression. Although the dirty white pillars of the colonial-era…
City Food – Julia Child Makes Chana Dal Gosht in Civil Lines
The great chef’s life in Delhi. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Meet the Julia Child of Civil Lines, a genteel neighbourhood of bungalows and apartments in north Delhi. Passionate about writers like Oscar Wilde, Mark Twain, George Bernard…
City Food – Roadside Chai, Around Town
King of brews. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] As Delhi acquires the trappings of a modern metropolis, the carts dedicated exclusively to serving tea are becoming fewer. But it is still possible to stop in the middle of…
City Food – Gol Gappa, Around Town
Taste explosion. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is more felt than tasted. The shell cracks open, the cold, intense spiciness washes around your mouth. Before you know what is happening it is gone. Made of whole-wheat or…
City Food – Delhi Belly, Around Town
The capital shame. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Messy, smelly and non-stop, Jane Austen would have described it as a continual state of inelegance. Delhi’s biggest embarrassment, it is also the title of a Bollywood film. The phrase…
City Food – Haleem, Meena Bazaar
The one-dish meal. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] This is hearty food, different from the subtle confections of traditional Mughlai cuisine, like koftas and pulaos. Yellow and with paste-like consistency, haleem is a one-dish meal of wheat, lentils…
City Food – Roasted Peanuts, Around Town
The soul food for winter. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Peanut roasting is a cold-weather trade on Delhi’s streets. The Bhaiyyas, mostly migrants from the impoverished countryside of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, fill up their carts with popcorn,…
City Food – Imarti, Mehboob e Ilahi Mithai Shop
The sweet decadence. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Thick and sticky, the loopy imarti is as decadent as the court of Delhi’s last Mughal. Its crusty deep-fried shell packs in a pool of extravagantly sweet sap. The disciplined…
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