On a food trail in Amritsar¹
“Hold on tight bhaji (a term used to address elder brother) and keep your legs tucked in while we ride” Sunny remarked as he cranked his Honda bike. Riding in the back seat, I followed his advice meticulously by clawing onto his shoulders and keeping my legs close to the bike for I feared I would bump into something while we snake through the narrow streets and would fall off the bike. This was how I embarked upon my journey to explore the local cuisine² during a recent visit to Amritsar. My chauffeur and guide in this quest was my brother in law, Sunny we call him with affection, a local born and bred and a foodie (like every Amritsari inherently is).
A systematic chaos is what I would describe the old city as, bustling with people, full of life and drama, infused with a plethora of fragrances, sights and sounds. Roadside beggars, pedestrians, rickshaw pullers, carts, cows, stray dogs, bikes, tuc tucs, cars, all sharing the narrow streets, none seems to be following any signals or rules, and yet everyone moving on towards their destination at a steady pace. While driving around, everytime we passed by a rickshaw, a bicycle or a pedestrian the bike would swerve and bend and I would instinctively try to support it by placing my foot on the ground from time to time. Sunny warned me with a smile, “If you keep doing that you will make sure we fall, just keep your feet up on the little supports and let me handle the balance”. I complied, although reluctantly.
Kulcha @ 0900h
Our first stop: a kulcha stand (Note: A kulcha is a stuffed bread baked in a traditional clay oven served with spicy garbanzo beans), for if one has to pick one signature dish from Amritsar it has to be “the kulcha”. Kulchas³ are served in most of the restaurants, but Sunny told me that the best kulchas are to be found at these inconspicuous mobile kiosks. And this one was his favorite of all (and is now mine as well). The kiosk in question was run by an elderly gentleman and his sons. Nothing fancy, a small mobile stall with a built in oven and a few wooden benches and tables for customers, set up next to a giant water tank on the side of the road. Sunny told me that these guys made awesome kulchas and that their ancestors learnt the technique and recipe from a guy who eventually moved to Pakistan post-independence (am I glad that they did so, otherwise this awesome recipe will be lost forever unless someone wanted to check out the stuff in Lahore across the border which I am quite reluctant to at this stage given the relation between the two countries). The technique is quite simple to look at. A ball of dough is flattened and a mixture of spiced potatoes is stuffed into it. It is made into a ball again with the stuffing inside, flattened once again and put into the clay oven. Within minutes a crispy Kulcha is ready. It is served with a very generous (read artery clogging) helping of butter, spiced garbanzos and mint sauce.
I have had Kulchas before, but this was without a doubt the most delicious of them all. I asked the guys about their secret and they said smilingly that there is something magical in the water of Amritsar that gives them the edge (water is used to prepare the dough) and that this taste cannot be replicated at any other place just because of that. Maybe there is a point there, however within the same city their Kulchas stood out to me, so there was definitely more than just the water. We tried at least 5 different Kulcha places across Amritsar that week, but this one beat all of them by a huge margin.
Lassi @ 1000h
Moving on, next we stopped by a very small traditional bakery (Halwai) to have a decadent glass of lassi (sweetened yogurt drink). Lassi is also comes in salted version and is similar to the Farsi Doogh and the western buttermilk. Traditionally, the women of a rural household used to churn cream into butter using a traditional device called “chaati and madhani” (a churning/blending device) and once the butter separated the leftover liquid was called lassi. This by-product was a very healthy drink with very little fat/calories but loaded with nutrients. However, the lassi found in the restaurants (and the one we had on this day) is more like a yogurt shake, served in a huge stainless steel glass with a layer of cream on top. Not a big fan of cream, I maneuvered and positioning my mouth at the rim of the glass in manner that allowed me to drain the liquid without having to deal with the creamy layer.
By this time I had probably consumed all the calories I needed for the day if not more, and a mild sedation kicked in (owing to paucity of oxygen for the brain in order to meet the demands of the digestive apparatus that was clearly overworking). After this we took a pause from eating and ran some errands (not involving food).
Paneer Bhurji @ 1330h
But soon we were back on our quest and decided to have “paneer bhurji” for lunch. Paneer is traditional Indian cheese (similar to ricotta, mozzarella and cottage varieties of cheese from the west but yet different), and bhurji is a style of cooking that involves mashing the ingredients and mixing in spices and condiments. We went to one of the well-known corner stalls near the Golden Temple and ordered our food. The aroma of the dish made me hungry again. The dish was served with a garnish of onions and cilantro and a scoop of butter. Strangely, two ordinary looking pieces of white sandwich accompanied the dish (while I was expecting one of the traditional Indian breads), so I was skeptical whether the combination would work. I was wrong. It worked perfectly well and even better. Spicy and smooth at the same time, each bite of paneer bhurji almost melted in the mouth and the flavors lingered on for a while.
Samosa @ 1700h
After resting a bit we took off one more time and headed for Beera’s samosa shop near the Golden Temple. A samosa is a samosa, I thought. I was wrong. Beera’s samosas were special. Fried to perfection; the crunch and the crisp were immaculate, the soft filling exuding flavors and aroma. Served with a tamarind chutney. Traditionally, savory snacks are served with hot “chai”.
Kesar da Dhaba @ 2200h
It is said that one should eat like a king while breaking fast in the morning, have a common man’s lunch and eat like a poor man at dinner. Does not really apply to Punjabi cuisine. For the dinner, we went out to eat at one of the traditional eateries (commonly known as dhabas). This one was called “Kesar da dhaba”. This dhaba I was told was not on the tourist map as it is located in the interior of the old town, but was a local favorite. Their “Mah di daal” (black lentils) and “paranthas” (another traditional bread) are very famous, and rightfully so. There was a wait to get in, but the food arrived almost as soon as we sat down, in big bronze colored plates (thaali). The daal is the staple protein of Punjabi cuisine and is traditionally slow cooked in an earthen pot for hours before adding sautéed onions, tomatoes and spices to it. The parantha is a multilayered bread made from wheat flour dough and cooked in ghee or butter over a flat pan. The paranthas we had at Kesar’s were absolutely mouthwatering and were perfect culinary partners to the richly flavored daal.
Dessert @ 2330h
I thought we were heading home after dinner but the route seemed a bit out of place. “Where are we heading Sunny?” I asked. “We have to finish in style,” he said. It was almost midnight by this time and I had a feeling he was referring to the local late night ritual of eating warm “jalebis”. I knew I was correct when the bike stopped at a local shop with a guy working on cooking crispy jalebis in a huge cauldron full of ghee. The batter (made from flour, yeast and yogurt) is released tactfully in circular motions from a handheld cloth bag with a hole at the bottom, straight into the pan with the ghee at a specific temperature (a little too hot and the jalebi will overcook and a little too cold and it will disintegrate). Once the squiggly pretzels are fried to perfection, they are dipped in a warm sugary syrup, and served warm. I am not a big fan of desserts and prefer savory flavors, but this jalebi was super delicious, authentic and I enjoyed every last bit of it. What a wonderful way to end a wonderful day!
Epilogue
This adventure like any other came to a conclusion, but the memories of the trip are still fresh in my mind. Back to my base in Europe, I can still feel those vibrant flavors, fragrances, sights and sounds gamboling in my mind, enticing me to come back for more.
Notes:
1) I have not included the Langar (free community kitchen in Sikh religion) at Shri Harimandar Sahib (Golden Temple) among these experiences. The food served in the Langar without a doubt is the most delicious and does not compare in any way to any other food described here because if its symbolic value. Some other places featured in the article: Kulcha place (Ajit Nagar, next to Water Tower), Lassi (Katra Sher Singh, Gian Lassi), Kesar da Dhaba (Chowk Passian, Near Telephone Exchange), Beera Samosa and Tea (Next to Golden Temple).
2) The food described in this article is lacto-vegetarian.
3) Another popular breakfast option in addition to Kulchas are Puris, the classic Indian breakfast food. Puris are also made from flour dough (sometimes with a filling) that is made into flat discs and deep fried. A finished Puri swells up/inflates to look remotely similar to an American football. In Amritsar, Puris are deep fried in clarified butter (yes that’s correct!), served with a curried potatoes and garbanzos and a spicy sauce. For delicious puris, I recommend Anupam (Lakhsmansar Chowk) and Sohan (Namak Mandi, Amritsar).
