Possibly every human being is bound to fall in love with some culinary delight at some point or the other in their lives. Be it their mother’s home cooked bowl of love, or the post-midnight snack attacks in college, we all have a strong emotional connection with one dish or another.
People from Delhi are known to have a similar sense of obsessive passion for dishes local to their region. Yes, it’s not love. It’s obsessive passion. But what happens when you remove this food-loving Delhite from his natural habitat? Here are the top five things that every person from Delhi is bound to miss when away from home.
Warning: This article was written after the author’s recent sojourn away from home. There were tears welling in his eyes and falling on the keyboard while typing this. This article contains strong emotional content, derived from mental trauma experienced at the hands of non-Delhi food .
1. Momos
Don’t even get me started here. These steamed dough balls don’t just contain minced meat or vegetables. If you are from Delhi, they contain the mana for your happiness, your lifeblood, and possibly your soul. They have comfortably made their presence felt in every nook and cranny of the city, and are the definition of comfort food here. It is safe to say that their migration from the North East to the North is legally complete now.
2. Chole Bhature
Even if you hated them for being high on oil (and, ahem, cholesterol) while in the city, you will terribly miss them when you are standing alone in a cold rainy night somewhere else. That is the moment when it will hit you, and all you will think about is the aromatic fragrance of the chickpeas and the steamy bhature. Trust me, it has happened to me.
3. Honey Chilli Potato
The most unlikely of all the dishes that have made Delhi their home, these babies are nowhere to be found as abundantly outside of the capital as they are in the City of Djinns. Found in almost any Chinese food (‘van’ as they like to call it), eating them is bliss. They leave you with a taste that lingers for hours on end. Fried with sesame seeds, and arguably one of the most good-looking dishes, you will not find anything quite like these while you are away from the town.
4. Stuffed Paranthas/Naans
You will miss these like you miss Honey Singh being played in an SUV (and being driven around Connaught Place). Pocket-friendly and readily available, these are the oldest serving comrades that have always been loyal to the city. Right from your grandfather’s youth to your youth, they have been there all along, a symbol of the city’s rich heritage and majesty. Chicken, potato, paneer, onion, keema (minced meat), cauliflower—name a flavor and we have it. I tried having dosas to try to get rid of my cravings, but they were no match at all.
5. Banta Bottles
After all your gastronomical adventures, at the end of the day, all you need is something good to wash it all down. And there’s no substitute like Banta. Trust me when I say this for I have long underestimated their value and importance all these years. A couple of months away from the city taught me how divine a gift they are for foodies like us.