Deepa's Guide to Delhi's Bazaars!

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Would you like to help our students?

If you are a foreigner coming to Delhi, or a local with overseas visitors coming to Delhi, we would like your help.

We have a new batch of guides being trained for our offbeat and fun Delhi by Metro tour. This is a tour we are doing in partnership with the non-profit Manzil. The guides are from low-income families and this is an upskilling program for them to earn money while they are in college.

They are currently being formally trained to do the tour, and we want to give them some trial tours for practice. Our guides need to practice understanding foreign accents and helping foreigners getting comfortable with Delhi. They need to practice how to explain apparently simple and obvious things about our culture to a foreigner. They can only do this by actually taking foreign tourists on the tour.

If you have overseas visitors coming to Delhi in the next few months (Jul-Aug-Sep) we would love to offer them a free tour. There will be one or two trainee guides doing the tour. If you have a large group, we will also assign a fully trained guide.

As I said, there is no charge for the tour. We just want our kids to have some practice.

We will pay for the local travel expenses on the tour (Metro, autorickshaw, cyclerickshaw). The only thing guests need to pay for is their own meal (we will stop at a restaurant for snacks).

Tour description is here: http://delhimagic.com/metro.html It's a great tour, lots of fun.

Please email deepa@delhimagic.com if you want to help. I will only be keeping this free offer open for a short while, in the off season, for a limited number of free tours. So please write soon.

My Delhi Shopping Guide: Where to shop in Delhi

More entries in Deepa'a guide to Delhi's Bazaars! Enjoy :)
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Lotuses at the Chhatarpur Flower Market, Delhi

We went to the Chhatarpur flower market early in the morning, where Gaurav photographed these beautiful lotuses.

It reminded me of the many lovely associations of the lotus from my childhood; especially this painting of the Goddess Lakshmi by Raja Ravi Varma, which hung on the wall in our family's prayer area. She is holding lotuses in both arms; she stands on a lotus; and there are lotuses in the pool, with swans. Her saree is also lotus-pink.

I always thought the lotuses in these paintings were exaggerated depictions of the flower. But that was before I actually saw a lotus close up. The beauty of this flower is breath-taking. Look at all the layers inside! I can actually imagine a tiny Lakshmi standing on top of this flower :)

At the National Museum in Delhi, there is a rather unusual miniature painting of Vishnu, Lakshmi's consort, holding lotuses in all his arms. He is seated on a lotus. A garland of lotuses is being offered to him; his head is crowned with lotuses; and even the fly-bearer's crown is similarly studded with lotuses. This is a Pahari miniature from the 1750s, from the Mankot-Basohli school. One of the chief characteristics of the Basohli paintings is the use of lotuses as a "must-have". It is a rare Baohli painting where you will not find lotuses. The Basohli school initiated Pahari art by illustrating scenes from literary classics, such as Rasa-Manjari, Ramayana and Gita Govinda (this one below must be from Gita Govinda; see how the painting depicts the Gaudiya tradition of Vaishnavite body marks).

Even more unusual is this phoolsajya painting, again from Basohli, where Radha and Krishna are clad entirely in lotuses. Again, this is likely from the Gita Govinda, which sings of the yearning of Radha for Krishna. The song is interpreted as the yearning of the human to merge with the divine. In the Gita Govinda, Radha first enjoys the bliss of being with Krishna; then when he departs, she is filled with anguished longing. The painting below depicts the bliss of the union of Radha-Krishna using the lotus as the motif. Like the lotus, this union is beautiful, divine, tender and pure.

Even in this depiction of the fearsome Bhadrakali, the Basohli artists found a way to incorprate lotuses: look carefully and you will find them.

Lotuses are everywhere in India. In Sanskrit, there are many words denoting lotuses - for example, padma, kinjala, mrinala, pushkara. We see lotuses in the names of many Indian people, both male and female. Padma, Padmavati, Padam Singh, and so on. It is also the name of the famous pilgrimage town of Pushkar. The legend says that Lord Brahma struck the asura Vajranabha with a lotus (which is Brahma's weapon). A petal of the lotus fell here at Pushkar, and a sacred lake was created.

Oh and also, I got a real kick out of knowing that in the Star Wars series, Padme Amidala is named after the lotus too :) :)

Beating the heat - Lychee seller in Old Delhi

In the 1700's, lychees came to India from Burma (they are actually originally from China). 

They have adapted well to India; and they grow well especially in Bihar, which today produces 75% of India's lychee crop. It's a difficult fruit, mainly because it has only a week or so of shelf-life, from the time it is harvested.

Lychees ripen on the tree, are harvested in May-June, and they show up on Delhi's handcarts immediately, where they are sold by weight.

Here's a closer look. There are many varieties of lychees in India, but mostly they are pale in colour by the time they come to the market. This is because fruits are transported at normal temperature conditions i.e. without pre-cooling. The market reach is limited to places/cities which can be reached quickly, since the fruits lose their attractive red colour after 48 hours.

The most popular variant is called Shahi (photo above); it is a sort of deep pink in colour, with an oblong shape and rounded end. It is grown in North Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttaranchal and Uttar Pradesh; and it comes to the Delhi market in May. Shahi has a distinct rose aroma; and it has a thin, more delicate skin compared to other varities of lychees.

When lychees are harvested, it is always along with the twigs and leaves (you can see the twigs in the photo). Care is taken not to let the fruit fall to the ground during harvest. They are packed in baskets along with grass, twigs and leaves, and sent to the nearest city.

Lychees growers rarely market it themselves. They actually pre-sell their crop to contractors, who then take over the orchard during harvest time. The contractor has full control over the orchard for that period. After harvest, the famer is back in control of the orchard. Of course, the contractor makes most of the money.

Better facilities for cooling, storage and transport would really improve the returns from lychee (export markets will open up more). It will also allow farmers to market directly to the cities. As always, it's a question of scale and infrastructure.

Tea sets at Nizamuddin

These metal tea-sets are popular with those who visit Nizamuddin dargah. Check them out next time you visit the dargah. They are sold at small road-side stalls.

Beating the heat - Shikanji-seller near Red Fort

Summer is here! So I thought I'd post a cooling image for the hot days ahead!

Shikanji is hugely popular in Delhi, you will see hand-carts selling Shikanji everywhere. The drink is primarily lemon-juice and water, to which sugar, black salt and mint is added. Often there is cumin and ginger also. Each shikanji seller has his own balance of ingredients, making for a non-standardised but always yummy taste. It's a great way to replenish the electrolytes that you lose in the heat. In some larger stalls, it is served with soda, instead of water.

If you want to try making it at home, you can go to the market and ask for Jain Shikanji Masala. All you need to do is add lemon-juice and water or soda to it, and adjust the sugar levels to your liking. Garnish with mint.

My new jacket

It is winter now, and Fab India has started to stock several jackets for women. I bought a new blue jacket a couple of days ago, and yesterday I wore it for the first time. I teamed it with an orange linen kurta.

As soon as I wore the jacket, I fell in love with it. Especially the easy laid-back yet formal look! And the pockets, lord, they were super useful!! As the day progressed, my phone, my pen, money, little chits of paper, coins...everything found its way into two spacious pockets.

By evening, I was hooked good and proper.

I was going to become a Jacket-Wearing-Person.

I would be just like my friend Debashish from Ahmedabad, who works in heritage conservation, and wears the kurta-jacket combination often on walks and lectures. This was going to be my new look!

And then came the rub. I discovered that the jacket was Matka Silk.

Matka is the local term for rough hand spun silk fabric. It feels and looks a bit like tweed, except that it is single-colour. It's a soft fabric, so if you provide inner lining cloth, you can make great jackets with it. Often there are rough irregularities in the fabric, which gives it a charm all its own. The best thing about matka, though, is that it always drapes softly and adapts to the contours of the body.

So what's the problem, you ask? The problem is that I've more or less given up buying silk. Especially after I visited the silk making village near Bangalore and saw the moths being boiled to death. Not a pretty sight.

The jacket was a quick impulse buy, I didn't even stop to see what the fabric was. I just assumed it was cotton. But I've bought it now, and I'm a little bit stuck here. Should I give it up? Aaaaagh, No! Maybe I should just gift it to someone. I'm telling you, parting from this jacket is going to be a very difficult thing :-)

Here's a closer look in sunlight, clicked in my car.
You can see the Matka fabric more clearly in this one. 

The Note-walla, Old Delhi

If you're stuck with a torn rupee note, head to the nearest note-walla. You'll see them in many places in Old City, sitting with a display of crisp 10 rupee notes. 

It's not as if there are no formal channels available for the exchange of soiled and mutilated banknotes.  The Reserve Bank of India has provided clear guidelines for it. If a note is old or damaged, you can take it to your bank, have it assessed based on the RBI guidelines, and then changed. Not all notes can be exchanged, especially those which are too brittle or damaged. 

But who wants the hassle of going to the bank and dealing with the bureaucratic procedure? And really, no one has the expertise to assess whether the note meets the Reserve Bank guidelines. So this little note-walla stall works as the instant alternative. It's queue-less, painless, and quick. For this kind of service, people are willing to pay the note-walla a commission. 

Apart from exchanging soiled notes, the note-walla also provides other services. If you have a wedding or other function in the family, and want new crisp notes to gift during the event, you can come to the note-walla. He has a "setting" with his bank clerk, and can get a bundle of new notes for you. If you're a shopkeeper who wants to provide change to his customers, you can get notes in smaller denominations from the note-walla. You can bring a stack of coins and exchange them for notes (a useful service for beggars, I'm sure). If you've been conned with a fake note, you can try asking him for help.

The note-walla's business operates in the grey zone. He has no permits or licenses to do what he is doing. But he meets a specific need, especially among less educated and less privileged people who are outside the formal banking system.

Whenever I see small businesses like this, I feel a sense of admiration for the sharp business instincts that the owner has (maybe because I totally lack this kind of instinct). This man has set up a service business based on his expertise, risk taking ability and negotiation skills, and by providing instant customer service. His stall is a simple wooden box; the hollow inside portion serves as a stool for him to sit. There's a drawer with a set of crisp new currency notes; those are his stock in trade. I'm sure he has to pay off the cops every now and then. It can't be comfortable, sitting like this in Delhi's hot summers and cold winters. But he does it, all through the year, and puts food on the table for his family.

Deepa's Guide to Delhi's Bazaars

More entries in Deepa's Guide to Delhi's Bazaars! Enjoy!!

Deepa's Guide to Delhi's Bazaars
My picks for what to buy from Delhi's dazzlingly diverse markets!

The Bakeries of Old Delhi (and their many delights!)

For the past month, the bakeries of Old Delhi have been especially busy. Their ovens have been churning out various types of delights for the Ramzan feasts.

We walked past Sikander Bakery a couple of days ago, and found them making their popular rusks.

The popular Sikander Bakery is super-busy.
They were making rusks.

Have you seen how rusks are made? Did you know that they are "twice-baked"? The first time it is baked like a soft bread, something resembling a brioche. Then it is sliced, the slices are placed on trays and baked a second time. It's the second round of baking that makes rusks perfectly crisp for dipping into chai. 

Indian-style rusks originated by happy accident. They have their beginnings in the city of Surat, which was the biggest trading port on the Western coast of India during the reign of Jehangir and Shah Jahan. The Dutch had a settlement in Surat, and they established a bakery there, teaching the art of baking bread to five Parsi gentlemen. 

When the Dutch left Surat (I assume somewhere in the early 1800s), one Parsi gentleman called Dotivala took over their bakery. Business was not good; as locals did not eat the kind of bread that Dotivala produced. In those days, bread was fermented with toddy sap, to prevent spoiling. But old bread would lose moisture and become hard. When he was stuck with old surplus bread, Dotivala sold it to the poor at low prices. Soon he discovered that these hard breads were very popular with people, who dipped them in tea to soften them. So Dotivala began to deliberately harden his bread, through a process of drying them in the ovens a second time. And thus the "toast biscuit" or rusk was born. If you want to see what Dotivala makes these days, you should check out their website. They still have toast biscuits.

The same "double-baking" method is used in the bakeries of Old Delhi:

Soft bread out of the oven after the first round of baking.
Ready for slicing.

The slicing process.

Rusks going into second round of baking.
Bakeries are typically small operations with a
single bhatti (oven). This means the only way to
handle the Ramzan rush is by working extra hours.

In the photo below, you can see rectangular packages of rusks, wrapped in clear plastic.

Lots of rusks for sale. They are sweet as well as savoury.
In the bottom right corner you can see a circular bread called paapey, or gol-paapey.
Pappe have anise inside, and are dusted with poppy seeds after baking.
In the left bottom, you can also see pheni, which is a thin vermicelli.

The most visible thing in the market during Ramzan is pheni, very fine noodles that have been fried (supposedly) in ghee. These are eaten with hot, sweetened milk, and often garnished with pistachios and almonds. Pheni is typically a Sehri dish (pre-dawn meal). Pheni is of different types, some are super-fine, some are saffron flavoured, some are coloured, some are fried almost a dark brown.

Pheni or feni, does not need cooking as it is already fried

Pheni is sold sometimes in
long thin threads

Apart from rusk and pheni, there are lots of interesting bakery products / breads you can see in the market during Ramzan.

Sheermal is a sweet bread; usually the dough is sweetened with milk and sugar, and flavoured with saffron. It is popular in Old Delhi but many bakeries only make them during Ramzan or other festivals. Sheermal probably has origins in Iran, where they are almost twice the size of the ones below, and they are commonly sold in the markets. The Irani sheermal seems much thinner too.

Sheermal

I'm not sure what this bread is, but it looks like a sheermal that has been dunked in sugar and saffron syrup, ready to eat:

Looks awesome.

There is also khajla, deep-fried, flaky and melt-in-the-mouth.
Like pheni, khajla is also usually eaten in the
pre-dawn hours for Sehar.
Photo courtesy Nadeem Khan

Coconut Parantha, a mild-tasting unleavened
bread flavoured with coconut
(also from Nadeem Khan, thanks Nadeem!)

The soft Khamiri Rotis, baked in tandoors are hugely popular

And as if all this wasn't enough, Delhi's repertoire of baked goodies also includes lots of stuff sold all through the year in tiny shops scattered around the city.

Masala Twists

In the foreground is a pastry called "fein" or "fan".
Behind that are the always-popular cream rolls.

And of course, there is also that awesome delight, the nankhatai, about which I posted some time ago.

The Nankhatai Man

With all these treats, one would think the bakeries in Old Delhi are prospering. But it's quite clear that they are in fact, struggling to stay afloat. There aren't as many of them as there used to be. Everywhere in Old Delhi you see branded biscuits and other packaged eatables from big companies; so I am sure they are taking away a big chunk of the bakeries' business. I don't know how long these bakeries will survive.

The Ice Runner

Ice delivery in Old Dehi - this is how it rolls.

Now you know why tourists should say, "No ice please!" :) :)

I'm going to miss my Gaajar ka Halwa !

All through Dec-March, I have been enjoying the taste of fresh, bright red winter carrots:

Go on, admit it. They look fantastic, don't they?

During the rest of the year we get these orange ones; they are small and stubby and not very interesting.

"Regular" carrots for sale at Chittaranjan Park
These orange ones always remind me of Brer Rabbit, for some reason :)

Then along comes winter, and the long red ones start appearing in the markets. They're so juicy and sweet that I often end up buying more than I need!

This year I've eaten an unusually high number of winter carrots. I've julienned and grated them into several salads. I've diced them small into biryanis and pulaos. I've sauted them with other winter vegetables as a stuffing for rolls. But what I've enjoyed the most - my favourite winter carrot treat - has been Gaajar ka Halwa.

I suspect this is North India's favourite winter dessert, because I know very few people who don't like it. What's not to like about a mixture of carrots, milk and sugar? :) :)

Hot Gaajar Halwa from my kitchen, just before the garnishing
Now that spring is here, I am going to have to say goodbye to this :(

The markets are still carrying several winter vegetables; although in a few weeks it will be all gone.

I am not a big fan of radishes, but lots of people love them and winter is when the best ones make their appearance. Chef Sanjeev Kapoor has a whole bunch of radish (mooli) recipes here. My favourite among them is mooli paratha.

Fresh winter radishes in Delhi's bazaars

Another winter specialty is broadbeans or sem phalli.
 This year the crop in Rajasthan has fared really badly due to frost.

But the best part of winter is all the green leafy vegetables that appear in the market. Spinach, amaranth, mustard greens, fenugreek, there's lots to choose from! In general we don't eat leafy vegetables in the monsoons, so when winter comes, it's great to be able to add these to the diet.

What a pleasing sight!

The last couple of weekends, we have been indulging ourselves with paalak ke pakode (spinach fritters). It's really super-tasty, and Sanjeev Kapoor's video is very good. So here's the video recipe; watch it, it will make you salivate!

If you cannot follow Hindi, then the English language recipe is here. Spinach will be in the markets all through spring, so you can try this recipe next weekend. The entire family will clamour for more. Let me know how it goes!!

Know your spices (1) - Jeera

Every Indian woman knows this spice: cumin, jeera, jeerakam, jeergey, jeeralu. It is in my kitchen masala box too. But in spite of being so familiar with it, I realised that I had no idea where it grew! Or when! Or how it reached my kitchen! So when I spotted a big heap of jeera at Khari Baoli, I decided to ask the shopkeeper where it came from. 

Cumin (Jeera) stacked at the Spice Market at Khari Baoli (Old Delhi)

The shopkeeper looked at me somewhat irritatedly. "It comes mostly from Gujarat", he said, "and Rajasthan." Ah. So at least now I could place the spice geographically into Western India! Since the shopkeeper wasn't very forthcoming, I went to the Spice Board website, and looked up some data. It turns out that India is the largest producer of cumin in the world (80% of world output). Most of this jeera is for domestic use. Only about 20% of what we produce is exported (mainly to the US, Brazil and the UK). 

Jeera is a rabi crop, which grows in dry winters. It is sown in Oct-Nov-Dec, and harvested in Jan-Feb-March. So the best time to see jeera in the wholesale markets is in March, when major deliveries come trundling in. But you will also see jeera all through Jan-Feb (the peak tourist season!). 

The biggest "mandi" for jeera in India is in Gujarat, in a little town called Unjha (couple of hours drive north of Ahmedabad).

Ganj Bazaar, Unjha.
Photo source: http://nitatheworldthroughmylens.blogspot.in/2012/02/india-where-i-come-from-unjha-part-1.html

Among the larger cities, Delhi is a very big terminal market for jeera. Other big markets are at Jaipur, Jodhpur and Rajkot. The National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange has its cumin warehouse in Unjha and in Jodhpur (Salawas).  A couple of years ago, I went to Jodhpur, and I saw lots of cumin and cumin-related products (such as jeera-goli) at the Jodhpur Clock Tower market.

This is me at the wholesale grain market in Jodhpur.

Behind me you can see jute sacks filled with wheat. Like wheat, jeera is also usually packed in jute bags, with the edges sewn by hand to prevent spillage. Usually jeera is quick to absorb moisture, which spoils it and reduces its value. So it is stored away from damp areas. The jeera-goli (candied jeera) you see in the bottom-right of the photo is a digestive made with jeera, amchur (dry mango powder) and sugar. It is one of my favourite tidbits, and in fact, I don't know anyone who doesn't like it.  

Jeera is a friendly spice that gets along well with other spices :) :) My friend Hina is Gujarati, and this is her  kitchen masala box. 

Spice box from a Gujarati kitchen

Of course, there is jeera in one of the containers; but if you look again, you will see that jeera is also a key ingredient in two others :) Near the yellow turmeric, there is a dhania-jeera powder, made by dry roasting coriander and cumin and then grinding them. And just below the red chilli powder is Hina's own blend of garam masala, which contains jeera and a host of other spices.

Because jeera is such an everyday spice, it is hard to pick just one jeera-flavoured dish that is special. But if I had to choose one, I would pick the simplest of them all, jeera-aloo (potatoes flavoured with cumin). 

There are many variants of jeera-aloo. My dish above has baby potatoes tempered with jeera, finely chopped green chillies and ginger, and garnished with coriander. Some recipes use red chilli powder, garam masala and dry mango (amchur) powder. The really great thing about jeera aloo is that you can attempt any variant of it, and you'll still always end up with something good. Great for rookie cooks!! Try it!

While we're on the subject of jeera, I must talk about shahi jeera (also called kala jeera or black jeera). This is a darker, thinner spice, which looks and tastes different from the standard jeera. It grows, not in the hot dry areas of Gujarat or Rajasthan, but in the cold terrain of Kashmir and Ladakh. While jeera is used almost everywhere in India, shahi jeera is mostly seen only in Kashmiri and Mughlai cooking.

Shahi Jeera
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Black_Cumin.jpg

There's a lot of confusion about shahi jeera/kala jeera. In some languages, like Assamese and Bengali for instance, kala jeera / kalo jeera is used to mean the nigella seed (kalonji), which is an entirely different thing.

Kalonji (nigella)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nigella_Sativa_Seed.jpg

In Bengali cooking, kalonji and jeera come together, along with other spices, to form the very unique panch-phoron (five-spice).

Panch-phoron, photographed at the Kotla Sabzi Mandi, Delhi
Fenugreek (methi), Nigella (kalonji), Mustard seed (rai/shorshe), Fennel seed (saunf / mouri), Cumin seed (jeera)

But more about all these other spices later!!