Thursday, 14 November 2019

A vegetarian’s food guide to "Dilli Haat" INA


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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