A Taste of History

A delectable food walk in Old Delhi uncovers layers of history

- Rani Jana

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 city’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. “In Old Delhi, chai isn’t asked for, it’s given, because they assume, ‘You must drink chai; who says no to chai?’” remarks Sadaf Hussain, Consultant Chef and author of Daastan-eDastarkhaan: Stories and Recipes from Muslim Kitchens.

It’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, “This is what they call the gareeb gulba (poor man’s feast)—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 direction—it became loved by kings and emperors.”