Taking a Break at Chandni Chowk

Chandni Chowk - Paranthe Wali Gali

Last week I finally decided to walk down the lanes of Chandni Chowk as a stress-buster. It proved to be quite an adventure with the sights, sounds and tastes of the historic area. The Delhi Metro has been quite useful in directing the youthful crowd down the historic 'Galis' especially the famous Paranthe wali gali which I and my friend though to be truly amazing.

After researching on the web I  found out that the Chandni Chowk region in particular was established in 1650 and was built along with the Red Fort under the Mughal Emperor, Shah Jahan. The Paranthe Wali Gali ("lane of parantha-makers") in Old Delhi is one of the famous gourmet localities of the world. The gali in the past had over ten to twelve shops, but today there are just five shops left. Located near the Gurdwara you can ask about just anyone where the gali is and they would direct you to it.

Anyway as we entered the Gali my friend suggested that we would enter the shop that was the most full of people, so as to judge the tastefulness of the paranthas, which I though was a good idea. We passed 2 shops and as we approached the third, I found the smell too tempting not to venture inside. Already almost lunchtime I was really enthusiastic to taste the parathas but the varieties were endless. We decided to take on the parathas one at a time to relish the taste (anyway due to the crowd at the small place we were handed the parathas one at a time so...we had to do it that way.)

We tried out the most popular mix paratha (stuffed with a little bit of everything, from aloo, gobi, matar, tomato and paneer to cashew, almonds, pista, radish and papad!), nimboo paratha (super khatta), mirchi paratha (not really spicy, but full of chilles) and bhindi parathas. The paranthas are quite hygienically prepared, deep fried in pure desi ghee in cast iron pans and served with chutney, sabzi and achar. After savoring these, we were quite full and we missed out on the bananna, Kaju, Badam, Matar, Rabri, and other exotic parathas, which I would try on my next visit.

Daulat ki Chaat

As we walked down the lanes of Chandni Chowk we came across a few street sellers with closed baskets. Wondering what was inside, I decided to ask the next vendor what indeed was inside.

What we ended up tasting was 'Daulat ki Chaat'. This is kind of like a Desi-ice-cream which served as a light dessert over the heavy meal we had earlier. On asking what is was made of the guy just mentioned milk. Later on I got to know it was made of cream, caster sugar, rosewater, pistachios, all whisked up to create a foam. The foam is then sprinkled with castor sugar in layers as well as on the top so that the foam is compressed further and refrigerated. Simply super!

Old Famous Jalebi Wala 

Our journey ended at the Old Famous Jalebi Wala's shop. As history puts it, Kailash Chand Jain, the present owner of the shop's father Nemi Chand Jain, a native of Agra's Hari Ki Garhi village, migrated to Delhi in 1905 and after some struggle, started a shop at Dariba Nukkad. He experimented with many recipes and finally came up with the most delicious recipie of a Jalebi that has been kept as a family secret for years.

I have had jalebis earlier, but not really as tasty as these jalebis. We relished the hot jalebis and handed tit bits to a well fed stray dog who was quite glad to help us finish them.

Rambling forward we looked for the entrance to the metro station. A passerby informed it was near the fountain. We soon found the station, which was located near a non-functional relic of a fountain. As we stood still resting our feet on the escalators to the metro platform, I though back about how I would have almost not made it to the place due to daily work routine commitments. I'm glad I took a break to walk down the lanes of Chandni Chowk to see what the streets of Old Delhi have to offer.