Uncovering Old Delhi's History Through Its Food

Buff Nahari with bone marrow topped with fresh green chillies and ginger accompanied by Khamiri roti has been served in a steel dish and plate. As you break the bread, dipping it in the rich red Nahari juss, the flavours are surprisingly light but fulfilling. At Shabrati, a Nahari centre at the corner of a narrow street with no space to stand, struggling becomes a part of the experience.

Purani Dilli has often been the first area in Delhi recommended to people who want to try the city바카라�s delicacies. The Jama Masjid stands at the centre of the walled city or Shahjahanabad, a city built by Emperor Shah Jahan in 1648. As you go to the mosque through the Urdu Bazaar, the streets are filled with people trying on clothes and eating their breakfasts and drinking chai.

The tea is brewed separately, and the milk and sugar are added, resembling the English style of preparing tea. 바카라�In Old Delhi, chai isn바카라�t asked for, it바카라�s given, because they assume, 바카라�You must drink chai; who says no to chai?바카라�바카라� remarks Sadaf Hussain, Consultant Chef and author of Daastan-e-Dastarkhaan: Stories and Recipes from Muslim Kitchens.

It바카라�s still early, but the butchers find themselves busy as people hover around them to buy fresh bheja (brain) and kaleji (liver). You will walk past many as you make your way through Matia Mahal road before reaching Shabrati.

Hussain says, 바카라�This is what they call the gareeb gulba (poor man바카라�s feast)바카라�Nahari was invented for not-so-affluent people, they say, in the lanes of Old Delhi, when Old Delhi was being established. Because you need a heavy meal, something that labourers and builders could eat to sustain them through their work. But Nahari ended up travelling in the opposite direction바카라�it became loved by kings and emperors.바카라�

Away from this commotion, oral historian Sohail Hashmi questions the history of Nahari, 바카라�Poor man바카라�s diet바카라�I used to believe it and keep on telling it, but I have come across references to a dish called Nahari in early Mughal times바카라�What they were eating and calling Nahari and what is cooked now could be totally two different things. The story that is narrated in Delhi is that Nahari was very rich in chillies바카라�but there were no chillies in Delhi before the 18th century바카라�so no dish could be there which was so hot.바카라�

At the location, the story of Nahari added to the atmospherics, but it may be tough to draw a line between its story and recorded history. Food deconstructs history; it questions authenticity and certainty and selectively chooses the relevance of its history. History could be the binding factor, but never the main ingredient.

If you walk back towards the Jama Masjid and venture into a patli gali instead to reach Chawri Bazar, you may encounter a hidden ISKCON Temple near Chhipiwara Road before reaching Shyam Sweets. The sweet shop, established in 1910, is popular for serving Bedmi Puri and Halwa Nagori. Unlike the regular puris, these have a grainy texture and are fried twice for extra crispiness. The Halwa Nagori, on the other hand, tasted like regular sooji ka halwa. But it was the combination of the puri, halwa and aloo ki sabzi eaten together that gave the dish an edge.

Most of the sweet makers, food critic and historian Pushpesh Pant notes, travelled from Rajasthan: 바카라�Even if you take the more recent migrants to Delhi, like Bikaner, Haldiram, and Bikanerwala, they are all from Rajasthan. The namkeenwalas, the bhujiawalas바카라�it started as early as 250 years ago, when Shahjahanabad had just come up 400 years ago.바카라�

There are several sweet shops that sell Bedmi Poori and Halwa Nagori, which has existed longer than many of the more popular dishes associated with Delhi such as Chole Kulche or Chole Bhature.

Earlier this year, Lotan Ji Chole Kulche, also located in Chawri Bazar, was in the news as they served food at Anant Ambani바카라�s grand pre-wedding festivities in Jamnagar. The kulchas were light and airy, and someone from a nearby table even compared them to appams. However, when it came to Chole, there was confusion as to what the ingredient was, they were not kabuli chana or kala chana, and surely not mattar. Hussain finally revealed they were chote kabuli chana.

Lotan claims to have been running since 1918 but according to Hashmi 바카라�Cholas were not eaten in Delhi before 1947; what was eaten in Delhi was matra. This white kulcha also arrived in 1947. Before that, matra was eaten on its own. It is traditional now in the sense it has been around 75 years but given the age of the city바카라�바카라�

This is not to debate the existence of the eatery at a certain point in time but to understand how food influences our cultural memory. The popularity of this shop may have always been there and many people were familiar with it, but involvement in an event like the Ambani wedding has embedded the dish and its history in our shared cultural consciousness. As Pant says, 바카라�I think the problem is our memories of interesting eateries are what we encountered when we were growing up. So it (Lotan) may be a great place, but it is not a part of my memory...바카라�

The popular Chole Bhature joint Sita Ram Diwan Chand is located outside the walled city in Paharganj, an area that became part of Shahjahanabad by the 1800s. There are tables set inside the restaurant where you can eat with 2010s romantic songs for ambience music. Anil Kumar, an advocate, while enjoying the food with another colleague, said he has been coming to the shop since 1989 when a plate cost just Rs 2. He noted that the dish tastes the same apart from the chole, which he claims could be due to the increased use of fertilisers by farmers. As a regular customer, he was aware of the history of the establishment; he recalled they hailed from Pakistan. When asked if the history of the place enhances his experience, he started explaining that the food and the place evoke nostalgia in him, tied to the memories of having eaten it since childhood. And for him, this surpasses the importance of its history.

Another interesting fact: in Purani Dilli, many shops existed that specialised only in one dish like like Lotan and Sita Ram Diwan Chand.

Amidst the many hardware stores in Hauz Khazi, one will find the small Bade Miyan ki Old Kheer Shop. Upon entering, you see a big utensil filled with kheer that looks fudgy in texture and has a slight tint like Bengali Laal Doi. The shop, established in 1880, has been maintained just enough to stabilise the structure. The minimal sweetness and the thick texture of the kheer make one question the authenticity of any other kheer they have tasted before.

One of the customers dismissed the tale that the actress Madhubala could have lived above the shop, saying, 바카라�Madhubala was from Banaras.바카라� Jammaludin Siddique, the owner, interjected: 바카라�She spent her childhood here. Her father used to live here. Both sisters left for Mumbai from here.바카라� The possibility that Madhubala could have once walked into this shop made the kheer feel tastier. Over Bade Miyan바카라�s shop바카라�s 144 years of existence, this tale must have been shared with people enough times to embed it in its history.

Another specialised dessert shop to claim a legacy of 140 years is the Old Famous Jalebi Wala. Crowds gather there daily. The jalebis sold are thicker than the regular jalebis and best enjoyed with a dash of rabri. The two ladies enjoying their food at the shop did not mind when interrupted to speak. They said excitedly, 바카라�You have to come here especially! We바카라�ve been eating it since childhood, the jalebi is rasbhari (plump and juicy). It doesn바카라�t have too much sugar...The taste has remained the same, it바카라�s very old. I바카라�ve heard about it from my parents too.바카라�

However, according to Hashmi, Waqiat-e-Darul Hukumat Delhi, written in 1920, questions this claim: 바카라�There is a description of Chandni Chowk and a description of the jewellers바카라� market바카라�you realise there was no sweet shop in 1920바카라�When Nader Shah came and sacked Delhi, Dareeba had huge gates that were locked at night. His soldiers looted the market바카라�all that remained were two broken pillars. Where the shop sits now would have been one of the pillars. His (Old Famous Jalebi Wala바카라�s) claim that he had origins in 1884바카라�maybe he was there, I am not doubting it, maybe he wasn바카라�t. We are inventing entire histories for this country so a sweet shop can create its little history.바카라�

The distance between today and 1884 is long enough to fill the gap of history with the vague 바카라�bohot purana바카라� (very old). This vagueness, however, serves to enhance the authenticity of the experience, much like the taste of the jalebis.

On the other hand, eateries like Pt Gaya Prasad Shiv Charan Paranthewala located at Paranthewali Gali and Kuremal바카라�s Kulfi may have been established around 1872 and 1906, respectively, but their relevant stories were popularised during or post-Independence, adding to their authenticity.

The first shop in the narrow Paranthewali Gali was Jawaharlal Nehru바카라�s favourite. As you enter the restaurant, there is a photo of him dining there. Akash Sharma, a member of the sixth generation of the family of the shop, said, 바카라�Lal Bahadur Shastri would also often visit the shop to the point where the besan methi paratha became popularly known as Shastri paratha.바카라� He also claimed, 바카라�At that time, when the fight for Independence was ongoing, all the freedom fighters used to meet in the area, and the food arrangements for them were provided by our family.바카라� Post-Independence, Jawaharlal Nehru would often visit the shop with foreign dignitaries.

The deep-fried parathas are surprisingly not as rich as they look, and the boiled sabzis (vegetables) like aloo tamatar, aloo methi, kaddu ki pethe ki sabzi (khatti-meethi), along with kele aur imli ki chutney and dhania-pudina ki chutney, help to balance the fried element.

You can end your expedition at Kuremal바카라�s Kulfi, which is famous for its stuffed kulfi. The orange-stuffed kulfi tasted as much of the fruit as it did of kulfi, at the same time. Apart from the stuffed kulfi, the rivalry between Kuremal바카라�s two sons is also famous. The older son, Mohanlal Kuremal, and his brother Mahavir Kuremal have shops set up right next to each other in Chawri Bazar.

Hussain says, 바카라�In the 1980s, Mohanlal introduced stuffed kulfi at a time when resources were limited and supplies were rationed. Rabri was stuffed into fruits, and they would sell it. In 1975, during the Emergency, Mahavir Wale had already come up with this concept.바카라�

The food of Old Delhi serves as a living archive of memories바카라�both personal and collective바카라�and as a reflection of traditions and their exchange, and identity. The exact dates of when certain establishments were founded, or their claims to authenticity matter less than what the food tells us about the present and the past. Like recipes, food can be a starting point to trace the exchange of ingredients and, in turn, uncover layers of history and culture. History, after all, is rarely linear, even if it바카라�s often presented that way. It rarely accounts for word-of-mouth stories or acknowledges that collective memory is, in itself, a form of history바카라�because that바카라�s how history lives and evolves with people. While food may have rules and methods of preparation, it바카라�s the freedom to break free of them that breathes new life into a dish, making it ever-fresh and constantly evolving like history and culture.