Trailing Off....: November 2013

Sunset dinner with Taj Mahal in the background

The first time I had Indian food was when I was 19 in Ames, Iowa. On the main road near the university there was a little hole in the wall place next to a cinema that I'm sure is no longer there. I walked by it a few times, intrigued by the smells, and finally ventured in. I don't remember what I had but I was hooked. When I moved to Houston, I drove into dangerous neighborhoods just to get takeaway. The lovely couple who ran the Taj Mahal Restaurant in Nanjing, China greeted us like old family when we went in for our weekly feast. The woman who runs Namaste in Hat Yai, Thailand came to know us as well and tried to give some useful advice on how to get our visas to her country.

I was interested to experience a bit of Indian history and see mountains and hill stations and UNESCO sites and all the rest. But really, I came to India to eat. And India did not disappoint.

One thing that I think would surprise many people is that most Indians are vegetarians and so therefore, most restaurants are as well. If a restaurant has meat options, they are advertised on the menu as non-vegetarian, the exact opposite of how Western menus work.

Next door to our hotel in Delhi. Some of the best and cheapest seekh kebab with roti and spicy green chutney I've ever had.

The choices of vegetarian vittles are endless. Here are a few we sampled.

A typical thali. This one with a variety of things I can't remember and puri bread. In many places, the thalis are all you can eat. A man comes around with giants containers of the stuff and gives you more. All for usually less than 2euros.

Vegetable curry and vegetarian kofte. Kofte means something like meat ball. These are made with chickpeas, lentils, etc and are kind of like a moist falafel in a rich curry.

One of my favourite meals. This was in Rajastan. The stuff on the left is a traditional curry made with a lot of yohurt. The bits inside are something like gnocci. The dish on the right is roasted eggplant in a tomato sauce. Divine.

A vegetable curry with big chunks of paneer, Indian cheese. This was at a vegetarian restaurant in Darjeeling.

giant dosa, a pancake like thing filled with whatever you want. This one had potato and paneer.

Vegetable jalfrezi, the absolute best preparation.

Indian food has nearly converted me to vegetarianism. All of the vegetarian meals we had were varied with rich and complex flavours and textures. Being a vegetarian would be easy if Indian flavour profiles were used. However, Indians also know how to make some mighty fine meat dishes as well. Tandoori--yoghurt and spice marinated meat cooked in a clay oven. Kebabs. And this Mughali stuff below that doesn't look great but nearly put me in a coma it was so good.

First lamb course at Karim's, a world famous place in Old Delhi. It was absolutely the BEST thing I had in India and after I was sick for about 2 weeks. I refuse to blame the food.

Karim's kitchen. They have an assortment of lamb curries as well as kebabs and koti rolls.

The stuff on the left was some kind of organ meat. I still don't like the taste. The other stuff is tandoori. No vegetables on the menu!

Jaipur was a depressing place. Luckily they had this tandoori place that also served pitchers of beer!

Tandoori at our dive bar, Rendezvous, in Shimla.

Tandoori food stall near train station in Delhi.

Restaurants are great, especially to process the chaos of walking for 3 hours. And even more especially if said restaurant serves beer or even cold soda. However, street food is its own category; its' dead cheap; and it's everywhere. The only problem is a plateful of liquid curry can be a pain to eat it when you're crowded on all sides by people. But not impossible.

He's putting the final touches on a chicken sandwich. Darjeeling

Fruit with sugar, salt, and spice

Various samosas and bread

Ok, not in the street. but a great snack. Aloo chat. Potato, onions, tomato, red onion, cilantro, masala, lime juice.

Lime and mint juice. Yum

Pani Puri. Bread filled with potatoes and other spicy goodness and dipped in tamarind juice. You eat in one gulp. 5 rupees for one.

Kati roll shop in Kolkata. Take a roti (like tortilla), coat in egg and fry, add whatever you want in the middle, roll it up.

Paneer and vegetable koti roll

Lime juice, sparkling soda, masala spice, salt, sugar. Can't remember the name.

self-explanatory goodness

Snacks on a train-samosa, a pepper battered and fried, some other fried goodness

Fried mashed potato balls, topped with light curry, onions, and chillies. Very yummy!!!

The above in a bowl. Wonderful comfort food

Chicken momos (Tibetan dumplings) with a dollop of spicy chilli sauce. These tasted like slow cooked chicken soup. In Jaisalmer.

The best part of the trip for me was taking a cooking lesson. I arranged it before we left and rather than pay the extra to have the woman's husband collect me, we went by metro and of course, had no clue how to find the place. But several people helped us and we finally found the apartment. Fahreen and her husband live in a modest two bedroom apartment with their young son (who is the cutest). They are venturing into the tourism business and cooking is one branch of the empire they are trying to build. I had chosen my menu items before hand and learned to make a snack of pakora and chai to drink and for dinner, chapatis (flatbread), biryani (rice, meat, and spices slow cooked together), an eggplant dish (bhaigan bharta). For three hours, I cut, diced, added spices, asked questions and was completely in the moment. I didn't take as many pictures as I should have because I was taking notes and Fahreen moves quickly. S played Angry Birds with the son. Afterwards, we enjoyed a feast.

onion pakora batter

fried pakora with green chutney (green chillis, lime juice, cilantro)

eggplant stuffed with cloves of garlic slow cooking in a mustard oil

ingredients to be mixed with eggplant

chicken for biryani

Fahreen's well-stocked kitchen

student

eggplant dish. Personally I thought it was a bit heavy with the onions. Might have cooked them.

Farheen keeps her spices in a cookie tin

Gravy made with onion, garlic, and ginger puree and more onions

stuff that will go in pot for biryani

Chapati. Chickpea flour and water. So simple but difficult at first to get the hang of.

Chapati dough to seal the pot for the biryani

rolling the chapatis

the smell when the lid comes off is truly amazing

the lovely Fahreen

On a main road in Old Delhi

It was late at night when we arrived at the train station of our final destination, which happens to be the second largest city in the world. It seemed at least half the residents wanted us to choose their taxi or rickshaw. An overpriced 5 minutes later we were dropped at a surprisingly nice and cheap place on a street quite reminiscent of Khao San Road in Bangkok, minus the pubs. It was a good bit of planning on S's part to make sure we had a sanctuary to escape to at the end of the day, because as it turned out, I think Delhi tried to kill me.

The Grand Godwin Hotel

When I close my eyes to take me back to that week, I just remember the sensory ambush from all sides. The sun beating down on my head and back, the dirt, dust, and rubbish swirling around my feet, the saris, tuk-tuks, bicycles, brushing past my arms. The scent of spicy exhaust, the ceaseless honking of horns. And all of these things with their visuals too. It was amazing, terrifying, and maddening in equal measures.

toy market

typical street

But of course, it was fascinating. And despite the horrible Delhi Belly I suffered, we still managed to see and experience some of the Top Ten Highlights.

Qutub Minar

not only was it a historically interesting place, but very peaceful as well

Sometimes I think I can't bear to see one more temple, one more shrine, one more UNESCO protected site of ruins. The subway journey was a long one, it was a scorcher of a day, and the entrance fee was a bit steep, but it was definitely worth it. The complex was started in the 12th century A.D. by the ruling sultans of the time and includes the tallest tower in India, a mosque, and other structures. The stone carving and some of the pillars and archways are just beautiful. I've been in a lot these kinds of places, but this one spoke to me. Or maybe I was just delirious.

not sure why I have the angry face

so many lovely colours and textures

Old Delhi

inside a palace within the Red Fort

It was the walled capital of the Mughals for ages, so it's got a lot of stuff including a huge fort, a magnificent mosque, a labyrinth of alleys that are various markets, the largest spice market in Asia, and a lot of historical mansions.

Jama Masjid, India's largest mosque. This is just one tiny corner I could see from the back of a rickshaw

The places we wanted to see were only one or two stops from the metro station near our hotel. The first day we ventured out was a true monsoon day. The rain came down so hard that our little 1 euro umbrellas were absolutely useless. We were drenched. This was the day I became ill and rather than blame it on the most amazing food I've ever had, I choose to believe that it was because some malevolent bacteria was in the rain and found its way to my organs via seeping into my skin.

on a bicycle rickshaw after the rain

The Spice Market

It's a madhouse but the aromas and the colours are like porn for the home cook.

Add caption

bursting at the seams with dried chillies!

Now that it's been a rather long time since the trip (5 months, egads!!!) my memory has taken away the feelings of despair and frustration. My body is completely back to normal and whatever vitriol I had for the place has abated to a "that was hellish but a great experience" anecdote. Something I've noticed since starting this blog 3 years ago is how much I can retro-enjoy the places I've been to. It's like being there all over again but without having to scrub my feet at the end of the day.