Tag: Kachori

Episode I: What to eat in Varanasi?
Anything. Simply, anything.

Amidst all the chaos and confusion of Varanasi, food is one thing which instills some sense of order, with its simple yet mouthwatering flavors dominating a lot of other experiences one has in the city. Varanasi’s food is defined by its place in Hindu culture and tradition, its regional influences (Eastern Uttar Pradesh and proximity to Bihar), the influx of foreign visitors and their will to explore its cultural nuances, and above all its relationship with the river Ganga.

I got an opportunity to taste some incredible food on my visit to Varanasi in July, and have some insightful conversations on the cuisine, preparations, and its fusion with external influences. Hope some of my experiences help you make a decision on What and Where to eat in Varanasi.

Given there is a lot to talk about, I will put a follow-up post. In the second part I will share insights about the evolution of Italian food in Varanasi, Cafes, and much more.

A couple of key points before I start:
- When it comes to cleanliness, Varanasi is quite sad. Look around for clean surroundings, check if the stuff is being freshly prepared in front of you, and as a rule avoid drinking water at any place. You can’t run away from flies at any place but ensure that stuff you eat was well covered.
- I am not liable for any stomach upsets 🙂
Kachoris, chaats and all the fried delicacies you can think of. Kachori-subzi is the city’s stand out breakfast item. Remember you can have three variants of kachoris (fried snack usually filled with a spicy mix of pulses) :
1. Simple puris served with aloo rassa (potato gravy) usually only served during breakfast;
2. The regular kachoris stuffed with moong-daal served with aloo rassa or chutney;
3. The mini-kachoris you will find on the ghaats served with aloo-rassa.
There is no place in particular which you can choose and pinpoint on for having the best kachori in Varanasi, but MadhurMilan near Dashashwamedh is particularly famous. I ended up having it at a local sweet-vendor and was served 6 puris and subzi for 15 Rs. The small kachoris are mildly spiced and one can gobble up half a dozen easily without much hustle. Although all of them tend to be a bit greasy depending on the amount of oil which has been mixed with the crust. The aloo rassa has a strong presence of Hing (Asafoetida), but it tastes quite like the one at home. And yes do combine it with a plate of sweet-syrupy Jalebis.

Kachori-subzi is the best consumed in morning after the famous Varanasi sunrise and a Holy Dip in Ganges (if you muster the courage to do it with the filth around).

When it comes to chaat you will get all the usual variations ranging from Tikkis (potato patty served with chick-pea gravy), paani-puris and dahi-vadas. Again there are a million places to choose from but when it comes to chaats, Kashi Chaat Bhandaar is an institution in itself. Located close to Dashashwamedh, this small shop run by KeshriJi and the family serves all the popular chaat items. I got a chance to taste the Tikki (mildly flavored made in Ghee), Dahi-Puri and Pani Puri here.

But the clear winner is the Tamatar Chaat (Tomato Chaat). A cross between Maharashtrian Pav-Bhaji and a Kathiawadi Sev-Tamatar, this seamlessly fuses the spicy with sweet and sour, complete with a helpful dashing of crunchy Boondi Sev.

Your body might attain salvation through a dip in Ganga, but your stomach won’t attain the same unless you have the Tamatar Chaat at Kashi Chaat Bhandaar.

Interacting with Rajesh KeshariJi was quite an interesting experience, his family has served chaats for three generations now, and as he gleefully boasted about famous people visiting the shop he couldn’t stop smiling through his Paan-stained teeth.

He claims Tamatar Chaat to be the family’s original (and proudest) invention and he will ensure that you don’t leave without tasting his bomb-sized Gulabjaamuns (Fried Mawa balls soaked in sugar syrup) or the Malaidaar (super creamy) Kulfi-Falooda.

Ok and apart from Kachoris and Chaats there are tonnes of things you will find walking on the ghaats, like these awesome pakodis we had near Assi.

Litti-Chokha. A popular dish from the Eastern U.P. / Bihar region, Litti Chokha represents how simple and delightful Indian food can be. Littis are charcoal-baked wheat balls, stuffed with a Bhojpuri staple ingredient Sattu. Sattu is gram flour prepared by roasting gram in hot sand.

So what is so unique about the Sattu in Varanasi which makes its Littis so flavorful? If one has to believe the locals, the sand comes from the beds of River Ganga, and adds a unique taste to the Sattu. Maybe this was too far fetched a connect for me, but if you ta
ste the simple Lahi-Chana (Puffed Rice and Grams) cracked in hot sand and sold on the shores of Ganga, you will somewhat agree with theory.

Chokha is a mix of mashed Roasted Brinjal (Baingan Bhartain India, and similar to Baba Ghanoush minus the Tahini), mashed potatoes, lightly spiced with a dash of freshly chopped tomatoes, onions and cucumber for crunchiness.

You can have this dish at multiple locations in the city, but I recommend the restaurant Baati Chokha (close to the Railway Station at Teliabagh). You can enjoy this delicacy at a neat and clean place and they have fancier variations like the Paneer stuffed Litti, and a variety of other Indian dishes to choose from.

Dairy products- Sweets, Lassi and Thandai.When it comes to high-quality dairy products Mathura leads the popularity charts, but I don’t think Varanasi will be anywhere behind.

I got addicted to this LassiWaala’s Lassi near Assi Ghaat (well that rhymes!). Lassi is served in Kulhad (small earthen cups), with a heavy helping of cream on top, and a few drops of rose-water on top. I can’t articulate the goodness of Lassi in Varanasi, for me it is better than the one I have had in Amritsar, or in Indore. It is much more creamier in consistency, and I think is blessed by the River Ganga herself.

Again there is no particular place to have a Lassi or Thandai in the city but you can trust Raju KeshariJi sitting right at the Dashashwamedh Square for an amazingly refreshing Thandai.

When Raju Keshariji (not related to Rajesh Keshariji from Kashi Chaat) started talking about the mix of Thandai and the spices which go into the making of it, he was hardly comprehensible through his paan-stuffed mouth. Then he popped in a pouch of Gutkha and still managed to gulp in half of glass of Thandai at the same time!!! (One of the most shocking image I carried back from my trip). When I offered him advice on how eating so much Paan can lead to health issues, he replied:

BhaiSahab, Saccha Banarasikhaana chodd sakta hai, Paan nahi. (A true Banarasi can leave food, but can’t leave Paan)

By the way for a Bhang infused Thandai, move to the Government Approved Bhangshops near the temple. You never know what you will end up drinking at other places!

You will see a lot of shops selling milk-based mithais(sweets) in Varanasi, although please be aware of the fact that given the number of tourists entering the place, and the quantities they are producing it might not always be safe! Milk and milk-based products do tend to have a number of adulterants. Shops like Madhurmilan are bigger and one can assume them to be safe.

Banarasi Kalakand is the most popular sweet here, although I found it a bit too sweet for my taste.

To be continued…
September 18, 2012
A Day in the Life of an Indori Jalebi

Indore is my kind of place: vibrant, extrovert, loud, confused about its future, and yet rooted to memories it has grown with. Despite being known across India for its food, the place is rarely explored except for people from Central and Western India. One can claim to have had its namkeens and sweets, but it’s a different thing to be there and be part of the Indori culture, so heavily dominated by its gastronomical aspects.

I have traveled to Indore on numerous occasions, as a doting nephew to two loving aunts, as a caring brother and as a loving friend, and as a traveler exploring Indori food. And on every occasion I have returned gratified although with an upset stomach due to excessive eating. It is difficult to go through the details of Indori food in length of a post, so I thought of having a companion whom I have met on every trip to Indore, and who could help us navigate the way Indore lives and eats (synonymous terms at Indore), the Jalebi.

Jalebis are crispy saffron-colored sweets popular across India. They came to India through Iran, although India had its own version too, the Imarti. Jalebis are prepared from refined flour batter, fried in Ghee or Oil and dipped in sugar syrup. Imartis on the other hand are prepared from Urad Dal batter. There are other versions of Jalebi too like the Mawa Jalebi which is popular in Madhya Pradesh or the Chenna Jalebi popular in Orissa, both of them tasting a bit like Gulabjamuns and equally appealing.

Jalebi at its core symbolizes everything about Indore’s culture and people. It lives the way an Indori does, in a bright and a colorful manner, sometimes arrogantly crispy on the exterior, but with a soft and gooey heart. It is an amalgamation of everything Indori, and is surely the most interesting person to know in town, as it can lead one to not only a plethora of culinary introductions, but also give one a snapshot of Indori life. It is an important component of the Indori food construct, it is not the superstar of Indori cuisine, but it helps us navigate through its delicacies as it is popular, pervasive, and present across all the meals.

Every morning Indore wakes up to the smell of Jalebis served with Poha. Poha is snack prepared using water-soaked flattened rice and few basic spices, garnished with the famous Indori Sev and Jeeravan (a masala similar to Chat Masala, without the Amchur component). At Indore, the Poha is always fresh and soft as it is prepared and kept over a steamer. The soft feel of the Poha gives way to the crunchiness of Jalebi, with the spicy clove flavored Sev mingling with its hot and syrupy sweetness. A crunchy and refreshing start to the day, topped with a cup of hot, milky and sweet tea.

A Jalebi can take two distinct flavors based on its thickness. The ones like the popular Chandni Chowk Dariba Jalebis are thickish, with a mushy-juicy center, crisp exterior and much more seeped syrup. They leave a more long lasting flavor as one tends to nibble on them for a relatively longer time. The others are the thin more crispy ones, like the ones served at Haldirams or at Indore with Poha in mornings, not so sweet, and very difficult to eat once cold. Most of the Jalebis lie on this spectrum of thickness, with the ones on the extremes tasting the best.

Back to Indore and its lazy afternoons. Post the lunch and a nice siesta Indoris are ready for a dose of Kachoris (both stuffed with dal and with potatoes), Samosas, and Batla Patties (A Pea filled snack, with a covering of Potato). What I have noticed that the Jalebis served in evening are thicker and softer, probably because it is served with crisp evening snacks. Along with the snacks, sometimes a plate of thick dahi or a glass of lassi (the famous one at Ghamandi Lassi) is combined with Jalebi to create a tempting Khatta-Meetha combination, driving Indoris to work and have engaging conversation throughout the evening.

Further in the evening the old city area in Indore Sarafa-a jewelry market turns into a salivating marketplace of delicacies. Here one would find Jalebi’s elder brother- the Jaleba. Served only in sizes of ½ Kg and 1Kg Jalebas are the perfect for families and friends to share and enjoy. And it is the perfect way to end a snacky evening tour of Dahi Wadas, Kachoris, Garadus (Yam deep fried and tossed with chutneys, like Delhi’s aloo chat), Bhutte ka kis (grated corn cooked somewhat prepared like Poha) and Shikanji (a fusion of rabdi, lassi, falooda) one can have at Sarafa. And there are few dishes like the Jhannat Kachori (Kachori filled with red chilies) which certainly can’t do without the pairing of Jalebis.

Even when the markets close and it is late at night Indore is still awake and craving for a glass of hot sweet milk garnished with Chironjis. At the bus stand or at Rau one can grab a glass of milk with a healthy layer of malai and gulp it down with a Jalebi, probably cold and prepared sometime in evening, but becomes more than edible with the hot milk.

After a hectic day of work and eating one has to just wait for a few hours, it will be morning again and Jalebi will be back with Poha.

Indore would go back to be same again: vibrant, extrovert, loud, confused about its future, and yet rooted to delicious jalebi-filled memories it has grown with.

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Which is your favorite city for eating out? Any city which beats Indore?

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February 29, 2012
किस्सा कचोरी का…

रविवार का था वह एक आम सा दिन,
दूरदर्शन पर चल रहा था चंद्रकांता, कैसे रहते लोग कड़क सी चाय के बिन.
चाय के साथ था कुछ खस्ता, रस्क, और नमकीन,
पर जब घर आई कचोरी और जलेबी, तब खिस्की ज़बान तले ज़मीन.

समोसा, आलू बोंडा और मंगोड़े भी देते है टक्कर,
पर कौन रह सकता है कचोरी के स्वाद से बचकर.

कचोरी कई बार अपना रूप बदलती,
राजस्थान मैं पूरी तो गुजरात मैं लड्डू बनती.
रूप के संग इसका ह्रदय भी बदलता
कभी मूंग कभी आलू कभी प्याज और कभी मटर से इसका दिल है धड़कता.

दिल्ली मैं चाट की शोभा बढाती राजकचोरी,
या दही सौंठ के अभिषेक से बनी दही कचोरी
उत्तर प्रदेश मैं आलू रस्सा संग रस रचाए
कचोरी हर रंग रूप मैं हमें है भाये.

इंदौर मैं सराफे का वजन,
या कोटा-जयपुर मैं इसका प्याज से लगन
गंगा मैय्या किनारे मोहन पूरी वाला,
कचोरिया ऐसी जुग जुग जिए बनाने वाला.

मेरा तो है बस यही अंतिम विचार,
कचोरी के है चार यार
चटनी, सौंठ, दही और तलने वाले का प्यार.

-अभिषेक ‘देसी’ देशपांडे

November 8, 2011