I love to eat. Food rejuvenates and nourishes, and sometimes reminds you of the cloying sweetness of "Ode to Autumn".
This is my little paradise where the little whiff of heaven or tastes of Valhalla gets recorded...
The warm aroma of the last two 'Thai Paus' from the old man bearing goodies from Tiretti Bazaar and the legacy of the far east is an undeniably nice way to begin the day.
Two large Thai Paus filled with the heady and familiar morning mix of spring onions joined with the Chicken and hard boiled egg looked, smelt and invited devouring for breakfast.
To set the context---a little digression ...
China is not a country of rice (and noodles) it seems. The regions that predominantly grow wheat have a tradition of making Mantou 饅頭. Steamed, bread and bun seem antithetical since I've always had 'baked' associated with bun/bread in my head. Chinese think and do otherwise :) Happily, they brought it with them and made it an integral part of many of my mornings as I grew up in Kolkata.
চিনা পাড়া or China Town... A space in my morning memories filled with the aromas of meat and fish ball soup, followed by bamboo and prawn dumplings and of course... Paus. That's what mantous are called here.
The Thai variation is called... Well... Thai Pau. Pretty close to what Wikipedia declares as "salapao" . Instead of the Chinese sweet red pork bits, this one is much larger and is stuffed with a concoction of chicken cooked with green onions and hard boiled eggs.
(Aside--The province of Shanxi (山西) is where Mantou is supposedly called is often called momo (饃饃)!)
Baba and I went to Chandni Chowk for some work and I smelt the irresistible aroma of the roadside dal bora. Now these are crisp little bits of rough ground dal with spices, condiments, and flecks of aromatic green chillies providing a hint of heat, flash fried in a kadai before a sprinkle of rock salt gets you to salivate...
Making of the Dal Bora
ঠোঙ্গা ভর্তি ধুমাইত ডাল বড়া Crispy Dal Bora topped with Rock Salt
The granular ground Dal that makes the Bora...
The maker (of the bora)...
Piping hot bora...
Work done we headed towards New Market aka the Stewart Hogg Market for some kati rolls. Now, this is one place where one could do a heritage walk for food. Many who grew up in Kolkata will have nostalgic memories.
Aminia... A familiar name...
Aminia opened extension counters or franchisee outlets in the south of Kolkata and eventually elsewhere years back. However, the original outlet still draws the hordes... Primarily for the Biriyani and Chap
Nizam's ... Now...
Nizam's claims to be the 'inventor of the Kolkata Kati roll'... Alas, with changing audience, they have turned a "No Beef" restaurant... The iconic Chaplin too has now been razed to make way for the new and glitzy.
UP Bihar Restaurant
We wanted some beek kati rolls, so we walked in to the UP Bihar Restaurant. This is reminiscent of the Nizam of the days gone by. In the taste, the selection on the menu, ambience, and surprisingly... price...
The paratha of Nizam and the surrounding shops are different from the ones that one gets elsewhere. The texture is different. Flaky and crisp on the surface from the searing charcoal fired inch thick steel tawa and well cooked soft dough between. The kababs are still cooked over charcoal on bamboo skewers. It is an interesting assimilation of influences... oriental (bamboo skewers), spices (arabic, south east asia, and Indian sub continental), and cooking methods (mongol and eurasian). What I like in these rolls is the lack of sauce. The horrible fake tomato and lurid chilly sauce successfully drowns most flavours that the simple onion shreds and dash of lemon evokes and compliments in the rolls found in New Market.
Beef Kati rolls
Inside the beef kati roll..
Although not on the menu, I dredged my food memories and ordered the Anda Aloo roll. This was a favourite from my childhood. A couple of biriyani aloos are crumbled with griddle sauteed onions in a fried egg coated parantha. A dash of lemon later, it is just heavenly.
Anda Aloo Roll
Inside the Anda Aloo Roll...
And of course the meal ended with a palate cleansing cup of tea.
A meandering walk through the spice section of New Market took us towards Park Street.
Next it was time for some nice tea at the Cha Bar in Oxford Book store. I ordered dragon ball tea for myself...
Dragon Ball tea...
And Kashmiri Kehwa for Baba..
Kashmiri Kehwa
I love Cha Bar for the tea pots they use and display. The beautiful tea ware is a refreshing change from the self same ceramic and despicable plastic that one is served in.
Tea done we decided to have a light dinner. So, I gravitated towards a roadside stall selling momos. This I had not tried in this trip and I wanted to bench mark the momos with the ones from Delhi.
Momos and Chicken Soup
The interesting bit about the Kolkata Momo is the teeny little bowl of chicken broth that is served gratis with the momo .
That done it was time to head home and prepare for the next day ahead.
Silent and cold is the morning in Kolkata. Fixating oneself to the comfort of the bed and within the warmth of a কম্বল (blanket) is a natural reaction.
Crisp, piping hot, deep fried dal puri from the nearest neigbourhood কড়াই (kadahai) is one of those things that can draw one from the womb (perhaps) or at least the কম্বল (blanket)...
Dal Puri
The dal puri from the muslim eateries around my place in Ripon Street is a creature distinct from similar species from the Bengali or any other part of this nation, separated by the taste of the filling and the texture of a deep fried concoction. The Jaipur kachori comes closest to the texture.
It is had in winter with copious soup plates of piping hot Nihari and Paya during winter mornings.
I decided to cook something simple at home for lunch. So I made some Aloo Methi and Aloo Karela... (I hope to put the cooking experience up in a separate post)
Karela... করোলার তরকারি
Aloo Methi...আলু মেথির তরকারি /आलू मेथी
Lunch done and a little siesta later, my dad wanted to visit an old friend of his from his office days. So, we hopped onto a taxi and landed up in Lake Garden.
Enroute, across a railway crossing the তেলে ভাজা (telay bhaja) stall beckoned like a siren from the rocks. So we had to try the piping hot fare that invited us so :P
তেলে ভাজা (telay bhaja) stall
ধনে পাতা ভাজা (Dhania patta fritter)
আলু বড়া (Aloo fritter)
আলু বড়া (Aloo fritter) being devoured
The delights of a nourishing road side economy in early evening is beset with tempting fare. So. Next it was a ফুচকা ওলা (Phuchka Wala) who started his evening with us as his first customers.
Beware! This is NOT the paani puri or gol gappa! Growl and Grr just in case you decide (and dare) to get mixedup between these!
A ফুচকা in hand
A beautiful গন্ধরাজ লেবু (Gondhoraj Lemon) makes things aromatic
তেতুল জল, আলু সিদ্ধ, মটর সিদ্ধ, মশলা এবং কিঞ্চিত লঙ্কা গুড়ো ... আর একটু বিটনুন (Tamarind water, boiled yellow peas, mashed boiled potatoes, and phuchka masala... With a dash of red chilly powder and rock salt
Here we go...
Then of course there was some ভাড়ে করে চা (tea in earthen kulhads) from the nearest stall followed by Tamilian home cooked savouries and excellent filter coffee. The latter of course was at the home of the people we visited.
Once back home, the left overs from lunch got rejected for dinner owing to typical Bengali-esque idiosyncrasies that I have escaped for the last 15 years (রাত্রে তিতো খাইলে অম্বল হয় !)
So I got my dad some Sino-Nepali clear chicken soup (though I was looking for the Chinese made Maida Surua (that is now extinct in Ripon street)), while I settled for an egg chicken kati roll...
Kolkata style Chicken Kati Roll in the making...
Presenting... The Egg Chicken Kati Roll
Presenting... The Egg Chicken Kati Roll
Within the Egg Chicken Kati Roll
Clear Chicken Soup... A valid contrast...
Then I decided to have a look-see at the decked-up-for-Christmas Park Street...
No festivity in Bengal. Let me reiterate. Nothing festive... is possible sans food... Hence the crowds thronged the music arena at Allen Garden and of course--the plethora of food stalls doing brisk (and insane) business...
One was spoilt for choice between authentic chinese, anglo-indian, muslim, and bengali cuisine. Apart from the adapted (and hence not so authentic) Thai, Japanese, and of course the ubiquitous Momos!
Of course there was confectionary from Flury's and a host of interesting places and even the humble candy floss!
Next it was time for some nice tea at the Cha Bar in Oxford Book store. I ordered dragon ball tea for myself... 
