INA Market - Refuge of the Delhi Tamilian!

This small shop in INA Market is quite familiar to most South Indians living in Delhi. 

It's where you go for those little things that you can't do without - 

• Bright yellow banana chips, fried in coconut oil and salted to perfection. 
• Raw green bananas, for the avial that you crave. 
• Green banana leaves, for serving traditional meals on festive occasions. 
• Sweet banana fritters, deliciously smothered in jaggery and dusted with dried ginger powder. 
• Fresh coconuts, without which no South Indian household can survive. 
• The little shallots that all Tamilians call "sambar vengayam", when you want to make the perfect sambar to eat with pongal. 
• A crazy bhujia-type thing called "mixture", there is no other word for it, but you'll find it served at 4:00 p.m. along with filter coffee. 
• Copies of Kumudam, murukku and ten-kozhal, Kerala appalams, Tamil pappadams.....ah, I could go on and on!

It looks like just any other old shop. But it has its definite place in the universe :)

Not far from the shop, there is this stall, selling medu-vadas. Served hot with chutney and sambar, by a guy wearing a folded lungi, they bring a little dash of South Indian soul into Delhi!

The medu-vada guy. Go around 11 am and you'll find it served hot.

Golden-brown medu-vada, crisp on the outside, spongy on the inside, with tiny bits of green chili, ginger and pepper to surprise you when you bite into it. Sigh...pure heaven.