Pani Puri at Old Delhi

Old Delhi, India

I got introduced by this street snack or Chaat in Hindi by a great Bengali food connoisseur, Sourabh and his great beautiful wife in Calcutta. There it is call Phuchka, and in Delhi its call Gol Pappa but most commonly known in its hindi street name, Pani Puri (Water-Biscuit)

Its made from wheat and semolina flour, deep fried into little balls, it is then filled with a mixture of tamarind and mint and pieces of potato and mixed spices, ‘Pani’. In Old Delhi it cost from 5rp to 10rp for 5-6 pieces, in Calcutta it cost 3rp – 5rp on average.

Tasted a few dreadful versions in places like Manali, some parts of New Delhi and other places,  this Old Delhi Pani Puri stall owner puts pride in his creation. The pani burst with sweet, sour and spicy mixtures in your mouth. Really great and cheap too!

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Sorta getting addicted to Meetha Paan (sweet betel nut leaf)

Sweet yummy paan with coconut flakes and fruit preserves.

In Old Delhi, the street food here is great, while Calcutta can get considered as the Queen of great Bengali street food, Old Delhi is great for its Mughal influenced Muslim delights.

One of the weirdest thing I am getting addicted to, is the great quality sweet paan from Old Delhi. An average it cost from 3rp – 10rp.  Paan which is betel nut and its leaf is kinda of a dessert or a mouth-freshener which proofs to be a little addictive, where everyone seem to have in their mouth, chewing and splitting constantly.

I have tried betel nut leaf in many places around India and Burma, I hate it, they taste bitter and have this tongue and mouth numbing effect that it last for an hour.

In Megahalaya, the Khasi tribe tradition to serve a tongue numbing mix of limestone and bitter betel nut leaf, the womenfolk loves their betel nut as shown in the red and black decaying teeth and their blood stained lips.

Nagaland where a naga man once told me, chewing betel nut is healthy for teeth while showing his decaying black stained set of ivory and in Calcutta where they constantly chew the processed and dried version of it and forever seem to be splitting all over the streets of Calcutta.

The paan in Old Delhi is kinda different, the leaf is sweet tasting and you get the choice of putting a sweet version of some fruit sugar instead of that horrid limestone paste. The Paan maker gives you a whole selection of his fruit preserves, dried coconut flakes, candied spices and herbs such as fennel, and a whole lot of different syrups made from saffron, dates, honey and jaggery (brown palm sugar), of course they do add the fresh betel nut, which I usually opt out. I don’t seem to know how to chew the fresh betel nut, its tough and hard and it almost breaks or chip your teeth.

This paan seller seem to be quite popular, I had to wait for a while, there were many people constantly at the stall. The variety of mixes are amazing, hidden chambers of syrups, sweet fruits and other spices and herbs

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Apricot season in Ladakh

Local vegetable seller during the apricot season at Main Bazaar Road

Leh town, Ladakh, India

Late Summer brings along the Apricot Season, cheap, plentiful, juicy and sweet organic apricots here in Leh.

I was globbling these wonderful apricots on a daily basis.

These taste even better than the ones I have tried in Australia and Europe.

Organically grown, pesticide-free apricots.

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Travel Food Recipe : Kick Ass Mushroom Soup

I love food but I don’t really like to cook, I prefer the eating part.

Travelling makes it a little more difficult to get that balance healthy diet and sometimes I am forced to cook, partly because the produce in the markets look too yummy not to, or to save tons of money on meals in those rather expensive cities.

While visiting pricey London, I fell in love with the gloriously stocked supermarkets where I found my favorite loves, mushrooms and cheese along with my other loves like smoked salmon and summer berries.

Here’s a rather quick recipe in making this amazing mushroom soup.

Recipe for Super Quick Mushroom Soup

1 Punnet of Portabello mushroom, washed, soaked in bowl of water for 5mins, then chopped into chunks

1 block of blue veined cheese (250g)

Microwave for 5-7mins.

This only works with microwave where the water soaked mushroom burst out allowing infusion of the mushroom juices and the cheese.

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Sku – a Ladakh noodle stew

September 2009

Thiksey Village, Leh, Ladakh, India

I got introduced to this traditional Ladakhi dish, ‘Sku’ while staying with a family in Thiksey Village.

Was wandering in the village and asking directions for a guesthouse when I was invited to stay with the family. At first I was hesitant when Stanzen, the man of house offered his place while taking his horse back to the household, but I was warmly welcomed by each member of the family, along with the two cute kids, Tsetan and Yangdol who helped carry my bag to the family living room where I stayed for a few days.  That’s Ladakhi hospitality for you, very open and friendly people.

Sku is made from local wheat flour (with unusual yellowish tone) and water and served with a vegetable broth. This hearty dish is something like a vegetarian pasta stew like gnocchi (potato pasta), a very simple dish that is helped by the incredibly sweet peas tomato and potato. All local vegetables harvested from the family’s various fields. These organic produce taste amazingly sweet and favor some.  While peeling the vegetables I was constantly popping these deliciously sweet raw peas.  I snacked on these constantly when I was in Leh, organic vegetables taste simply better than mass produce ones, if anyone doubt how organic vegetables taste better, they should come to Ladakh and eat these tasty vegetables raw!

Jigmat the lady of the house and Palmo, the sister in law who is currently a resident teacher at a Changtang village. She normally returns home during the weekend and cooks all her favorite dishes. Here we are sharing a cup of butter tea and while making Sku. As I didn’t eat red meat, Palmo decide to make Sku instead of cooking a mutton dish.

The dough is kneeled into cylinder then shaped into these little noodle by the thumb.  Palmo was teaching me how to shape the noodle. She does it in one swift skillful motion while my part of the Sku suffered with my clumsy unskillful hands.

The broth sauteed with diced tomato and onions before adding the other vegetables and further flavored by other spices like saffron. The Sku is boiled along with the potatos until soft.

This pasta stew is hearty and very healthy dish often eaten during the bitter cold winter months where temperature averages -20 to 30 degree celsius.  Sometimes the broth is made from mutton or beef bones along with dried vegetables that is harvested during summer.