North Indian Food

5 Indian things I appreciated after living abroad | Blogmas 2

/ Srishty / 2 Comments

I clearly remember how much I used to hate my mom’s habit of putting excessive coriander in everything. And then I went to Europe for around 10 months and I missed it’s presence in regular food terribly. I came back and became equally or more obsessed with coriander.

So, i dedicate this post to 5 such Indian things that I have only appreciated either when living abroad or with age. I am sure Indians who moved abroad to settle can add a lot to this list. If you are reading this, please do consider adding yours in comments!

1. Amla: Indian gooseberry is a superfood that doesn’t get the credit it deserves. I know you will say that it’s way more popular than many other superfoods but my point is just how versatile and tasty it is in so many dishes. Why people don’t eat it more often? Maybe because they don’t know how easy it is to incorporate in so many dishes! Apart from amla candy & murabba (preserve), nothing else seems to be super popular. I think I’ll do a post on some easy peasy recipes with amla.

2. Coriander: of course. No brainer . Chop and put it in any Indian dish and see its magic happen.

3. Spice box: just why do people elsewhere not use a spice box? Just why? If you are reading this and don’t know what this is, please Google. You will know its importance in a South Asian’s life. This point can also be extended to pressure cooker actually. Why are people buying canned legumes and not using a pressure cooker?

4. Fresh mangoes need i say more?

So this is my list but i am sure many others can be added to this list. Please do let me know in comments. Mine are a lot around food but yours don’t have to be. 😀

Amazing choley bhature near Madhuban, Nirman Vihar Metro Station

/ Srishty / 21 Comments

Hola! 😀

So long I took for this post. Yes, I was pretty caught up but so am I right now. So we are, always. Well, laziness and bad time management happens (all the time!!!). Oh, by the way, for those of you who celebrate it, I hope you had an amazing Raksha Bandhan 😀 (for those who don’t know, it is an Indian festival where sisters tie rakhis (bands) on their brothers’ wrists for their long life and well-being and brothers give them gifts. Of course, you can modify this custom as per your convenience 😀 ).

DSC_9105

Anyway, coming back to this post. So, we were in this area for some work and my dad decided that we eat something right away as it was lunch time. Let me tell you that my dad is hyper concerned about designated time for things. He doesn’t care if he is hungry or not, he checks his watch, if it is lunch time as per his standards, he eats THEN.AND.THERE.NO.MATTER.WHAT. So, as per the same standards, it was lunch time and we saw this Chola Bhatura (fried bread and chickpeas in gravy, an extremely famous North Indian delicacy) shop right across the street. Now, in North India, you find one Chola Bhatura stall at every nook and corner, so I had not huge expectations from this place. I just expected it to be filling and tasty enough. I think it would make sense to let you know now that I am not a huge Chola Bhatura fan, I mean I like them and all, but it is not one of my favorite things, get me? So, yeah, I did not expect much but this place bowled me over totally! This place had amazingly delicious choley bhature. The sweet lassi (buttermilk) served alongside was heavenly. The super spicy choley bhature with the soothing lassi was so divine an experience. 🙂 I can’t urge you enough to go try this place out. Highly recommended! Also, I am sure most of you reading this space love Choley Bhature more than I do, so you will thank me for this later. B-)

Before I end this, I would like to highlight a few points for your hogging experience:

  1. This place will satiate your hunger and taste buds, not your need for a good hangout place. It is basically a roadside shop meant for people running around to either eat there when in a hurry or get stuff packed to carry away to their homes.
  2. Lastly, I should tell you how to reach here, right? 🙂 Get down at the Nirman Vihar metro station on blue line (from the exit towards Shakarpur, NOT towards V3S Mall). Ask anyone for the Madhuban road. As soon as you turn towards that road, look to your left and you will see the huge hoarding of this shop.

DSC_9106

I don’t expect you to go here especially for this because, let’s face it, it is not a hangout place but if you are in the area, definitely try this out. 🙂