A vegetarian’s food guide to "Dilli Haat" INA
At
times, we walk in to Dilli Haat just for the affordable, wholesome and diverse
food from the state wise food stalls. Here is a list of our vegetarian food
recommendations at Dilli Haat. These are our favs..hope you like these too.
Meal
for 2: Rs. 300 onward
Cuisine
type: Vegetarian
The
name Wazwan refers to a elaborate creation of 25 to 30 dishes mostly
nonvegetarian, by masterchefs called ‘Waza’s. The shop wazwan serves few of the
dishes from that long list of 35 options.Like all other stall in Dilli haat, u
r supposed to sit & eat out in the open. So Winter afternoons & Summer
evenings are a good option. We do not consider quality of service in the stalls
as a parameter for judging a stall. Taste rules the thought process.Four dishes
that we love at Wazwan are Haaq, tabak maaz, Rishta & Gushtaba.Haaq is a
very simple & very tasty boiled saag preparation. I have never been able to
figure out how they make it so good without much of spices.
Dilli Haat: Eclectic Thalis
1. Non-vegetarian thali and litti-chokha
thali at Bhoj Bhaat. Bhoj Bhaat seems to be one of the most unfrequented of the
food stalls at Dilli Haat. Tucked away beside the Odisha stall, and in
close proximity to the more popular Manipur Stall, this is one of the few
stalls which seems to have mostly retained the authenticity of the food it
serves: it hasn’t fallen prey to the temptation of momos, chaat, and parathas.
Instead, the menu rejoices in stuff like sattu, chana dal, moori, and more.
There’s lots here to please the palate, but both my husband and I decided we’d
opt for thalis. One biggie, the Bhoj Bhaat non-vegetarian thali, and a smaller
one, the litti-chokha thali. Both to be shared.While we waited for our food to
arrive, our waiter brought over a quarter plate with some complimentary
goodies: three vegetable pakoras, a roasted papad, and little deep-fried,
chocolate-coloured morsels of something I couldn’t identify, but was
beautifully crisp and mildly nutty in flavour.Like the litti-chokha thali, this
one too had the chunks of raw onion and mooli; in addition, it had a bowl of a
very light raita, mostly just delicately spiced yoghurt with an odd bit of
boondi floating here and there. Unlike the other, more sparse thali, this one also
had a dessert: a bowl of delicious makhaane ki kheer (for the uninitiated,
makhaanas are lotus seeds). The lotus seeds were faintly chewy and spongy, the
kheer chilled and sweetened just to the right extent. My sister, who cannot
abide grated coconut atop desserts, would probably have thrown a fit at the
garnish, but we didn’t mind it.
2. Nagaland special thali (pork) at the Nagaland Food Stall. The Nagaland Food
Stall, sandwiched between the Maharashtra Food Stall and the little café run by
Navdanya, has an array of (largely non-vegetarian) dishes, all the way from the
sort of stuff most Dilliwallahs associate with the North-East (read: momos), to
relatively little-known (to Dilliwallahs, at least) foods like akhuni and
anishi. We were four of us—my husband and I, and my parents—and when I decided
I wanted to eat the Naga special thali (pork), the other three also picked the
same thing.pieces of pork, lots of meat and lots of fat with rind, in a deep
red gravy that looked more fiery than it turned out to be—which was fine with
us.Last up, there was a mixed dry vegetable dish, a predominantly bitter
mélange of kundru (ivy gourd) and karela (bitter gourd), cooked with what
seemed to be no spices except salt and possibly a little chilli. A good palate
cleanser, really.
3. Rajasthan special thali at
the Rajasthan Food Stall.
Traditional Rajasthani food is not unknown in Delhi, what with the odd Marwari
restaurant here and there—and the fact that just about everybody has at least
heard of (even if they’ve never eaten) daal-baati-churma, ghevar, laal maas, et
al. The Rajasthan Food Stall at Dilli Haat is tucked away in one of the more
cramped parts of the complex, near the Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, Meghalaya,
and Tripura stalls. The menu has a very wide selection of dishes—all of them
vegetarian—to choose from. There are the rather more pan-North Indian dishes,
like the paneer or aloo parathas, as well as the more typically Rajasthani
specialties, like the daal-baati-churma and the pyaaz kachori. And they have a
special thali.The very generous, very good value for money thali at the
Rajasthan Stall. The rest of the bowls contained, in order: a thin, not
terribly memorable kadhi with two little pakoras; a fabulously simple but
delicious dal that perfectly accompanied the baati; and a very plain raita, of
chopped onions and tomatoes in yoghurt whisked with salt. On the side was a
touch of the desert: the dish known as ker-sangri, a dry vegetable dish made of
a desert bean and a pod, cooked with spices. This one was so-so (it had more
spice than anything else), but on previous occasions at the same food stall,
I’ve had excellent ker-sangri, so I’m guessing this was an off-day.
4. Fish thali at the Assam Food Stall. The Assam Food Stall sits right next to the
Punjabi Rasoi, which means the competition, in a city that thrives on its
chhole-bhature and tandoori chicken, is pretty stiff. Much of the menu at the
Assam Food Stall, therefore, tries to counter that with another set of Delhi
staples: momos, thukpa, and loads of Indian Chinese dishes.
Fortunately,
they also have a small section of rather more traditional Assamese dishes.
Happening to come by here right after a session of the Delhi Literature
Festival, I decided to try out the Assam Food Stall, since I’d never eaten here
before. Giving the Chinese and Tibetan-derived dishes a miss, I had a look at
the selection of thalis: egg, chicken, and fish.
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any queries contact –
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