India’s food evolves every 20 kilometres. It’s therefore a stretch to find something that could be labelled ‘Indian cuisine’ given the vastness of the country. This is reflected in the extraordinary breadth within its eating culture. Captured in India’s suburban National Capital Region is the melting pot of food that is an enticing mixture of Punjabi, Moghal, Lakshmi and much more. The warm, heavier dishes for which India is more typically known mostly come from the north, and they’re all of superb quality in Delhi, so one is always spoiled for choice. The capital is home to 25 million people, officially qualifying it as one of the earth’s largest urban assemblages. Its ethnic groups are diverse and the food is all the better because of the heterogeneity.

The city’s natural and man-made beauty is crude somehow, unabashedly proud and authentic for that very reason. The food takes inspiration from this genuineness and spills it out at every market corner and city street where pakodas and chole bature can be found. When seeking a glimpse of the passion and history of this city, deep-dive into the cuisine, and take the time to savour each of these iconic Delhi dishes that sing of the rich history and mouth-watering traditions Dehliites are so proud of.

Chole Bhature

Somehow, this heady plate is something of a city secret, yet equally as deserving of the fame often bestowed to its richer, also Punjabi, cousin – butter chicken. Try to eat this when hungry, as it’s spicy and heavy and prolific throughout the city. On menus for breakfast and served by hundreds of street carts in popular tourist spots, bhature (or bhatoora) means fried bread and chole refers to chickpeas in a masala (chana masala). This is a dish comprised of a sometimes-mild, sometimes-spicy chickpea curry with fried flatbread made of refined flour (maida). The chickpeas and the crispy, chewy breads are made for each other, and are rarely seen without chilli and pickled onions on the side.

Biryani

Mughal (Muslim Persianite) emperors favoured this dish, which is reported to have been created during their eponymous Empire (dated to around 1526). Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan’s Queen, Mumtaz Mahal, was said to have visited Indian army barracks and upon discovering the soldiers heavily undernourished, requested a preparation that would revive and nourish, combining both meat and rice that resulted in biryani. Due to these historical roots, the dish is exceptional in Delhi, where the resplendent orange rice dish will be identified first by smell and then by sight.

Stuffed Paranthas

Paranthas are a favourite food all over the country but in the north they come stuffed with options galore: aloo (potato), gobhi (cauliflower), mattar (peas), mirchi (chillies), mooli (white radish), methi (fenugreek), daal (lentils), bhindi (okra) and the unusual but well-known banana parantha. Tender and crisp, Old Delhi is famous for its paranthas, which were purportedly once reserved for VIPs of yore, again making an appearance most frequently during the Mughal empire. Paranthas are heartier than other famed Indian breads like chapati or roti, and for that reason are eaten any time of the day on their own, especially at breakfast.

Gulab Jamun

To-die-for gulab jamun are stocked by wallas (sellers or literally ‘carriers of’) all around the city, in carts on the streets, in bazaars and in a huge array of restaurants. These rather sinful balls of dairy and flour, said to have been first prepared during medieval times, are derived from a fritter that Persian-speaking invaders brought to India from the North. The word ‘gulab’ actually comes from the Persian words gol (flower) and āb (water), nodding to the rose water-scented syrup that the desserts used to and still often do swim in. ‘Jamun’ or ‘jaman’ is the Hindi-Urdu word for Syzygium jambolanum, a similarly sized and shaped Indian fruit.

Butter Chicken

Possibly the most famous of India’s dishes is butter chicken. It is very likely the Delhi-dwelling creator of this crave-worthy meal knew little of the impact he would have when he started combining butter and tomato with leftover tandoori marinade and then cooked the chicken in it. The chicken is marinated for hours in yoghurt that is steeped in spices like coriander, garam marsala, garlic, ginger, cumin and others, and then cooked in the tandoor (a type of typically clay cylindrical oven) and finally simmered in a curry sauce made indulgent with lots of butter and occasionally almonds, cream or raisins. 

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