January 2007

So the chaat was quite nice. One of the biggest complaints I have about the chaat these days is the sanitization of it. As opposed to getting it on the streets like the days of yore, one eats chaat in brick and mortar buildings now. Some of the charm, atleast for me is lost in the process. But what can one do. Atleast the chaat thrives and that is what is more important to me.

We went to this place called Om Sweets after seeing another store we originally wanted to go closed. We sat down and ordered a few things. Papri chaat was the first to come. This is fried flats of chickpea dough, doused in tamarind chutney, yogurt, boiled potatoes and more chickpeas. It is also sprinkled with some indescribeable spices which will never be revealed by the proprietor. Dry mango powder and cayenne is my guess. We enjoyed the crunchy chaat with the tangy tamarind and the cooling yogurt. Quite delicious sans the grimy hands of the man on the street.
Next we had the Raj Kachori. What this is - is an over-sized fried dough ball about 5 to 6 inches big. It is placed smack in the middle of the plate and is then stuffed with sprouted green lentils, boiled potatoes, chickpeas and the tamarind and yogurt sauces. Quite good and eerily similar to the Papri Chaat. This is a fairly new concoction. Didn't exist when I was last here about 10 years ago. Good development nevertheless.
Now on to Channa Bhatura. This is a delicious chickpea dish cooked in dark spices like cinnamon, cloves and cardamom. It is all simmered for quite some time until the spices have immersed themselves into the chickpeas and developed this rich, luscious dark sauce that coats the chickpeas. It is garnished with fresh cilantro, raw red onions and green chillies. It is served with these fried pillows of love, as I think of them. It is white flour that is kneaded and fried into large poori like bread. It is different from pooris in that they are more doughy and a tad sour with the yeast in the dough. A very delicious lunch any given day.
The next dish is a bit hard for me to describe. This is Mattar Kulcha. Now the mattar part of the dish is dried green peas cooked with some mellow spices. It is garnished similarly to the above described channa. This dish has major childhood romantic value. The man that sold this treat - yelled outside on the street every few days to get our attention. He placed his make shift stand down and atop it a big pot of these mattars that simmered for hours. I had to negotiate with my mother and promise her that it wouldn't ruin my dinner and that I would study extra hard the next day. The kulcha part is similar to the Bhatura - but it is not fried. I believe it is steamed and then baked-not to be quoted at this time. I have recently acquired this encyclopedia of Indian food that I shall be referring to often and reporting back.
That was lunch. A very worthy trip despite the sanitized surroundings.

Until we eat again.