Several niche eating joints are coming up in the Delhi metro to cater to the taste buds of the people hailing from various geographical regions of the country. Apart from the famed North Indian curry, Punjabi makki ki roti and sarson ka saag, South Indian idli and dossa, or the Chinese cuisine, you can also enjoy the flavors of the rich, royal Marwari foods from Rajasthan and the rasogullas of Kolkata. Next to Bollywood movies, the delicious delicacies from various parts of the country are playing their role in bringing the Indians together as never before by appealing to their diverse gastronomic tastes. Surely - those who can eat together can stay together.
Since buying/renting a restaurant in Delhi is not everybody’s cup of tea, people have started serving specialty foods from their home kitchens. Preety Goenka, although a Bengali by birth, specializes in preparing Marwari foods that have the rich flavors of the desert. Moreover, she can even set up a counter at your home if you wish to throw a party at your house.
A lot of these home restaurateurs offer extensive menu options to their customers. Indian delicacies like crispy kalmi vadas, deep fried and richly spiced besan batons served with addictive garlic chutney, dahi vadas etc. will be served to you as you want it. Preety’s dahi vadas have a coarse but tempting texture. She serves it beautifully garnished with mint and coriander chutney. In contrast, the average halwai usually grinds his urad ki daal very fine which takes out all semblance of texture from the vada and spikes up his dahi with sweet chutney.
As per Preety, she is not the only home restaurateur in the city. There are many more Preetys’ all over Delhi, whether east, west, north or south Delhi, she reiterates.
There are many places where you can enjoy kanji vadas, a Rajasthani staple diet unknown in this part of the country, served diverse style - in diluted sweet-n-sour gravy, thick creamy gravy or green chilly gravy. Some home restaurateurs offer delectable crisp khasta kachori where you can specify whether you want them filled up with peas or daal. If you are a kachori lover, then Preety’s place is where your search for the real crisp khasta kachoris with millions of flaky layers may well end. Not only are her kachoris tasty and crispy, but they also remain fresh for long. If you wish to consume them at a later date, you can order half-fried items, store them in your fridge and refry them when you wish to eat them.
Different home restaurateurs have different specialties. For some, it is their palak ki chaats, pao bhajis or matter chaats, for others it is their paneer koftas in fresh orange gravy, for still others it is their saffron almond biryani, and for the niche ones it may be their Mumbaiya vada pao.
Anonymity is a general characteristic of every metropolitan city. Delhi is no different. But it is these personalized enterprises that give Delhi a personal ambience. As said before, surely those who can eat together can stay together.