Desh Da Swaad - The food journey through North India

I, like a million others, have always dreamed of doing a travel show where i get to travel for free and see the beauty that nature has to offer, at somebody else's expense. So i sign up for this show which merges two of my most loved things - Travel & Food. Through this show, and a journey of 45 days, i discovered India like i had never seen it before.

My route for shoot was DEL-ASR-SXR-DHM-SVL-DED-MUT-MTJ-AGR-LKO-VNS-GWL-JAI-BKB

Reminiscing some of the most astounding discoveries I made through this route with Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi and my fantastic team!

DELHI (DEL)

I have lived in Delhi for a fair amount of my life and I felt I hadn't seen the city enough when i went there for the show. While i was growing up in Delhi, i ate at the same places time and again, went to the same places every weekend primarily because family loved it. This time, i chose places to eat at, to roam around and boy! was i amazed.


It was peak summer 23rd May, 2014 when we began shooting in Delhi. It has always been known for its chats and chhola but to me the most amazing discovery was Ganesh Fish, the guy who dips his bare hand in boiling hot oil and fries fish. Bang in the middle of the city, Karol Bagh area this guy is unbelievable in action. Not only are his antics amusing, but his fish tastes as good. Me and my crew chose to have dinner there after pack up and we were not disappointed. The Afghani chicken at Ganesh Fish mart is incredible among many of its delicious non-vegetarian fares.

The Epic Roshan Di Kulfi surprisingly famous for "Dahi Bhalle' (Above)

(Above) street side chholey kulche i grew up eating.

(Left) the epic Afghani chicken at Ganesh Fish Mart

This my friends is the fish that the maestro dipped his hands in hot oil for. ---------------->

(Left) Ama Cafe, Majnu ka Teela.


Another fascinating discovery was a restaurant in Connaught Place that i may have passed by a million times when i lived there but never really cared to eat at - Kake da Hotel. Undoubtedly one of the best palak chicken, paneer and the best ever Mutton kurma i had in my life.

But what will stay with me for life is my experience in the modest city within a monster city. The Tibetan settelment at New Aruna Nagar Colony is a city within Delhi. When our cars stopped at the entrance of the settlement, little did i anticipate what was awaiting inside those narrow lanes. There were a few monks in their classic maroon robes walking in and out that gave the vibe of that area instantly. As i walked deeper inside i could hear sounds of chanting and bells, i could smell momos in the air and i saw women freely sitting at their doors in whatever clothes they wished to wear. It was very highly unlike Delhi. For that moment in fact i forgot i was in Delhi, i thought i was in Mcleodganj or Ladakh or Tibet for that matter. A good 15 min walk into the lanes, i realised how massive this colony was and how these immigrants had made this place their own safe zone. The houses were typically 'pahadi' and I looked like an 'outsider' there but i wasn't unwelcome like they are treated most places. I found this cafe, AMA in the same vicinity and a narrow staircase led us up to the first floor. When the door opened i was instantly teleported into Tibet. It was not like anything i had seen or expected before in Delhi and i was welcomed warmly by Tenzing who owns the cafe. The place is warm and friendly as any cafe should be, but what made it score brownie points was the superb food and ambience it provided.

Delhi right from UPSC chat, Roshan di Kulfi, Kamla Nagar ke chholey bhature to Moti Mahal (the inventors of Butter Chicken and Tandoori Chicken) to the delicious momos at Tee Dees at Manju ka Teela... Delhi has earned more food respect in my head now than ever before.

AMRITSAR (ASR)

I havd never travelled to Punjab and one of my top things to see had The Golden Temple among the rest. So visiting Amritsar was special to me that too twice in a months time.

Our shoot began with the famous Amritsari Kulcha's at 'All India Famous Kulchawala' who makes only Kulchas! Amirtsari Kulchas are essentially stuffed with potatoes, paneer or cauliflower and soaked in desi ghee then smothered with a big dollop of butter. Best eaten piping hot with some punjabi chhole, one kulcha can give you enough carb to run like a machine for the day. Its not the most humble way to start your day if you are not a Punjabi, but i saw men, women and children eat 3 without cringing. Well, i downed 1 and half. If i had stayed longer, 3 wasn't impossible.

If you are visiting Punjab there is no chance we would have skipped the sedating Lassi. Our stop was the famous Gyani lassi but turned out that the guy next to Gyani is more famous and makes better lassi than Gyani. His lassi is large tumbler of whipped yoghurt heartily mixed with tons of sugar and half an inch of rich cream on top... nothing less than anaesthesia. But this lassi monster is so refreshing that we had to have one. The owner  infact wouldn't let us shoot without downing one glass and then he offered another after the shoot. I only wanted a khatiya to sleep after 2 glasses of sedation.





Oh that took us to the world's largest Khatiya. Right in the middle of no-where... only a mental punjabi can think of something so insane. A khatiya that can seat 60 people at once! Quite frankly Punjab is full of amusing things everywhere you look around. The infamous Jugaad or just situationally funny things... Amritsar is delightful.

One of the other most ancient and under rated cultures in India is our very chai-culture. (i want to believe it is ancient, just makes my love for tea a bit more respectful and just) Gyani tea stall, a hangout where people gather in multiples after their morning exercise, walks, jogs, runs and sip tea and eat kachori's. Nothing so notably good about the tea but its the experience that is awesome.

I have been to several dhabas in my lifetime but none with a rich history like Kesar Da Dhaba. This Dhaba is operational since pre-independence India, since 1916. So their who's who ate here includes Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and many more... the kitchen is repulsive and you should be glad as normal customers you don't need to enter any kitchen before you eat. But when you enter their kitchen you cannot ignore the wonderful aroma of kaali daal cooked overnight for 8-10 hours cooking in a ginormous pot, freshly baked tandoori roti's and saag. It just takes your breath away. But what takes the cake here is their dessert - Phirni or saffron flavored rice pudding. So dense, so aptly sweetened and so divine! Kesar da Dhaba for me is a must do purely for the food experience.


From my knowledge North Indians are no big fish eaters, but because Punjab has 5 rivers flowing forming the heart of the land, fish are abundant here. Then i discover the most abused item on every menu to be delightfuly different in actuality. The Amritsari fish! Its not red at all... its not grossly heavy on the pallatte and not at all chewy like what we get anywhere else. I was told Makhan Fish was the king there and i wasn't disappointed at all. The delicately flavored Singhada fish (cat fish i guess) died for a cause i say! For all its flavor it should be called a martyr of food!





So much we ate and then we crossed this gali full of Ramlubhavan Aam Papad... several by the same name and the original ironically hosted his delicacy on small redi under the tree. That little thing to flush down all that food! This place is humble, his aam papad modest and man he is famous!

We also visited Chef Harpal's old family home which an hour away from Amritsar. I had never seen a punjabi pind and i was most excited to see the mud slapped houses and massive joint families. I must have been a 100 degrees of a peak summer noon and we were shooting in worst possible time of the year but his family kept us hydrated with tea, sherbet, more sharbat and lots of snacks. They had buckets full of iced water and i was overwhelemed because these villages do not get water in their taps like us, they fetch water from a nearest resource and for them to give us buckets of drinking water was a huge deal and kind gesture. His family of chacha's, tauji, women in the family and their children so warm and welcoming its not even funny. The Punjabi hospitality and unconditional love they shower is beyond words.

Apart from the food, there were experiences that will go down to my grave with me! Both sent goosebumps down my spine for two totally different reasons. One was my visit to Wagha Border. Something that as an Indian i have grown up thinking what kind of a border could it be that suddenly seperated two countries that were once the same? I was already excited to get there and i was seated right on the first seat at the gate where all the action happens.


Even before the ceremony began there was a certain buzz in the air... certain anxiety. I was constantly looking at the other side of the fence like they were looking back at us as well to see if we were any different from them. Surprisingly they did not have horns, nor did they have feet grown from the head, they were just like us... so why the fuss? When the ceremony began with a loud thump of feet and shouts filling the air, my blood rushed to every part of the body in excitement. It was no less than riding a rollercoaster. The flags were de-hoisted after the ceremony and then the public was allowed to walk around.

We reached a point where it was Zero Mile, just one stone that indicated Pakistan to one side and India to the other. I just kept looking at the stone... THIS??? This divides us? Well, for any patriotic person its an experience to last.

I visited the Golden Temple later that evening. Gurudwara Harmandir Sahib... topped with the golden peak relfected in the serene pool of nectar it is surrounded with like a galaxy on earth. The long cue only added to my anticipation to get in bow down. I sat by the pond for an hour soaking up the experience and unwinding from the long tired day.

Amritsar to me was an overwhelming journey. One that was both gastronomically and spiritually gratifying. 

Ok so here's a link to all my travel pictures

http://500px.com/preetiphalke

Heavenly Manali

Freshest and the most vibrant colors

The Hadimba Devi Temple 

Kids skate boarding down the slope

Gulaba

Honeymooning yaks :(

Charu taking off for her paragliding adventure

                                           The monastry

Beggar with an ID!

The most awesome welcome ever

Our new friends

In the orchids

Its been a year since i went back to Manali and i still dream about it. Its a place where i can retire and die. From childhood to when i went last year, Manali has changed a lot and i doubt for good. Seems to me that commercialisation can kill all things beautiful. Yet it didn't fail to enthrall me with its pristine beauty and tranquility. I visited Manali after almost 9 years and i felt like a child in front of the Dhauladhar range of mountains. Charu, my best friend and i took a bus from Delhi that cost us Rs 800/-. It was supposedly a luxury bus but broke our backs till we reached Manali early morning around 9am. My eyes couldn't shut out of excitement to catch the first glimpse of snow caped tall handsome mountains. And just when I opened my eyes i saw the first rays of sun beam on the top of the icing on the mountain right in front of me and sparkle like a thousand diamonds in the sky. We couldn't wait to get off and embrace nature. We were in a hotel called Chichoga Inn which was on the other side of the bridge. The view was breathtaking from our room. Me and my best friend had not planned anything and had relied heavily on Google. So google and my last trip to Manali had got us a few places to visit and we started off with Hadimba devi temple. Everything seemed to be so expensive and the auto guy charged us 70 bucks to get there. But then looking at the twists and turns in the road and the amount of risk they take to get there, Rs 70 were nothing. Hadimba devi was surrounded by the usual calm disturbed by the bustling tourists. Angora rabbits and fleeced lambs waiting to pose with you, people wanting to sell all the memorabilia to make it memorable for you. We walked past all that and found a place to eat the famous Maggi! Somehow, the way they prepare maggi is like no other. We ate, rather hogged and food tasted better. The fruits looked fresher, vibrant and juicier than any that I'd seen before. Few kids playing on the road caught my eye. They were skate boarding down the road like pro's. They had invented a game of their own.

I visited most places that i had seen before. But this time around, we went to the Manu temple and one of the most delightful experiences of my life was having a cup of pahadi tea with the local kids right across the temple. Simple children who were more amused than us to meet each other. They would've offered us all the food they had but we settled for Tea. We walked down old manali and stopped by at drifter's inn mostly inhabited by tourists has a cafeteria that serves some awesome food. We discovered these small joints all over Manali for great value for money food. One new place i visited this time was Vashisht for its hot water springs and i was hugely disappointed i must say. The place is of great importance and has a heavy tourist influx both Indian and foreign. But sadly it is so badly managed that i could'nt spend more than 5minutes there. We went to Gulaba Point since Rohtang was in 40ft snow and closed. Gulaba was extremely crowded and so obviously not the same as Rohtang. My faint memories of Rohtang reminds of heavenly mountains covered with snow all around the pass. The pass is so high that if you throw something today it may reach the bottom day after! So we had to miss Rohtang and settle for Gulaba full of honeymooning couples who were dying to see some 'ice'. The one fun thing we did there was snow biking! Charu did a bit of skiing and i indulged in photography. Our next halt was at Solang Valley. Since i was there, i had to.. HAD to do paragliding. We were looted and i knew we were looted but i cared less for the amount of rush i was going to get. We climed up to this point from where we would jump off and i was dead already. Then i saw charu flying. I couldnt wait for my turn and geared up just after she took flight. On my turn the strings of the chute got entangled and i topelled. It scared me a bit but did not deter me at all. In about 40 seconds i was off the cliff and flying! Just wind beneath my feet and beautiful valleys around that seemed to be smiling at me. Just when i had started enjoying it we had to land. Nonetheless, a memorable day it was. One of the few awesome local things we did was eating the local delicacy 'siddu'. Not quiet sure what it was made of

I was so mesmerised by Manali that Charu and i had decided to settle there and leave behind our boring competitive life. We looked for property very seriously. We hunted a broker and went around looking for estates for home stay options. Good lord what went into our heads!

Nothing in the world gives me more peace and introspection than mountains. Like i was born to die here. My pictures speak for the awesome time we had there. Manali is heavenly!

Shirdi

I am not particularly religious but spiritual on a certain level. Shirdi has been one religious shrine that has been on top of my list for always. I had heard all these magical stories of Sai Baba coming to help his followers and things happening that had no explanation and all this made me very curious. I first visited Shirdi when I had given my 10th board exams. I had to visit and offer my prayers for better results, in my case to pass with little more marks than the passing average. I went with my aunt’s and I do not remember what special occasion it was because the temple was fairly less crowded.

We had reached early morning and checked into a shady room, well shady is an understatement though, but that was the only option then. Today you get some fantastic accommodation in Shirdi since the trust has gone into better managed hands. All of us freshened up and I was anticipating a long unwinding que but I was pleasantly surprised. We took our offerings and stood in the waiting area.

After about 10 mins of waiting I was straight in the shrine area. I was thrilled and for the first time in my life I experienced this overwhelming feeling and I had tears in my eyes as I stood in front of the shrine. I felt embarrassed about it tried to hold them back but it was too overwhelming to be held back. I sat there for a good 15 mins without any distraction and was awestruck by the aura and energy that shrine exuded. We went ahead to this other shrine in the temple complex called “Dwarkira Mai” where Sai Baba was supposed to have lived. There is an eternal flame which was lit when Sai Baba took Samadhi. There is also a neem or eucalyptus tree in the premises and the strangest part is the leaves are sweet, or rather not bitter. Very strange and you gotta taste it to believe it.

The premise then was totally different from what it is today. I could actually manage to get Darshan a second time when my aunt lost a one of her slipper from the pair (it actually happened, although doesn’t happen anymore) we went back to search for it. That’s when I managed to sneak in and nobody stopped me. It can’t be possible now since the entire management has changed and the place has become better managed and slightly commercial. Now you should consider yourself lucky if you can manage even one time decent darshan.

The second time I went was a disaster trip. I can’t complain but that can’t turn the fact around. Some gunk threw my shoes out of the bus and I went looking for it at 6 am and I had to walk bare feet till the hotel room. Some other personal problems happened and I did not know what to do. My aunt said I should not think about it and I did not. Went to the temple complex and had quick darshan but since had an evening bus to catch we sat in the premises all day. It was a very different feeling to be sitting in a temple all day, very calming.

My third trip was with friends. We all drove from Mumbai to Shirdi and like most religious trips have to begin on a wrong note coz God wants to check your endurance and faith, ours was twisted too. our driver was awesomely slow... we had a flat Tyre in the middle of no where and then we took 9 hours for a 5-6 hour journey! But all said and done... it was awesome. We reached at 11, had our first glimpse of Dwarka mai and returned to our rooms. Got p early in the morning to catch the Kaakad aarti at 4am and we did. The experience was so overwhelming. The constant echo of 'mandir ki ghanti' the chants and the calm of the place brought tears to my eyes. The effect is so calming that your mind doesnt know how to react. But then as soon as the aarti got over we had to leave and return to the madness of the city.

I want to go back but haven’t been able to somehow. But surely I will make it soon!

Aurangabad - Daultabad

I confess today I had completely not known and had underestimated the beauty and charm of this city. Aurangabad is the original home of King Aurangzeb. A city that has history in the air it breathes is also host to UNESCO’s one of world heritage sites ‘Ajanta-Ellora caves’. Has some 6 in and out flights connected to Delhi and Mumbai and is also a popular tourist destination. The Japanese have funded Aurangabad to build its airport so that tourists from Japan can connect with Aurangabad.

I had spent time working mostly here and hardly got time to explore Ajanta Ellora but one thing I did here was visit the fantastic Daultabad fort. Now this was and is the only fort which was never won in a battle due to its engineering genius. It still stands undefeated and when you see it you’d know why. Now there are several levels of security around the fort. Let me unveil them one by one.
• The entrance to the main fort is guarded by tall 10-15 ft tall thick walls that run around the fort. This is a long and winding wall which has window like openings for weapons to be placed in.
• If you manage to escape the illusive walls the premise around the Palace was surrounded by barracks that had infantry deployed for any emergency. Elephants and Horses were a part of it
• If you manage to escape that the whole fort is surrounded by a 10ft wide and several feet deep water canyon. I believe it homed alligators and crocodiles that could never let you alive. To get to the door or the fort one had to cross this canal which was a task
• If you managed to still enter the fort was still on top of a hill so one had to climb all the way up with their army which means waste of time and energy. The stairs were deliberately made so huge that it would enervate any hulk out.
• Now if that wasn’t enough the highlight of the fort is the Bhool-Bhulaiyya or a maze that was designed to disorient the enemy and lead him right out of the fort again. The entrances of the fort are so narrow that you would have to enter head first which meant your entire body is helpless and your head would be chopped off from the soldier on the other side.
• The maze is dark with not the tiniest particle of light. The defending soldiers sat inside small openings in the roofs and as soon as the enemy entered the narrow path they would jump from the top or throw fireballs in the dark. The roads were so illusive that if you take on wrong turn you would either fall into the canal outside toppling over a 200ft long tunnel or you’d be killed somewhere.
It is impossible to make it through the maze alone without the help of a guide. Although all the fatal exits are now closed for safety reasons, its best to hire a guide to see the fort. Daultabad is truly an engineering wonder for the time it was built.

Mysore Palace/ Summer Palace

Still staying in Bangalore this place called the Mysore Palace is a dream to see. A portion of it is still lived in by its original heirs and all of whom are adopted sons of the Wadiar hierarchy since he never had a son of his own.

I am not a palace person and I have faint memories of Mysore Palace but the one very important thing is a lift/elevator from very very old days that is still operational. The palace is atleast 5 stories high and perhaps the only one I saw where there was a lift inside the Palace! Very tech friendly kings! Then there were beautiful carvings all over the palace walls, ceilings and furniture that took my breath away. Supreme luxury, extremely big rooms and they had an art gallery of the sculptures and paintings gifted to the king is a must watch!


Summer Palace
By my memory and understanding the summer palace is not very far form Bangalore and hosted mighty Tipu Sultan during summers where he rested with his family. There isn’t much left in this Palace to see but a museum of the Palaces heir’s classics and the most important Tipu Sultans armor and weapons and his Famous Sword!
When you look at the sheer size of the sword its hard to believe a man 5 ft tall which was supposedly how tall Tipu was could have even held this in hand forget about fighting with it! Must pay a visit to check that sword out!

Talkadu

From the north to the south, a little ahead of Bangalore en-route to Mysore is a place most likely to be missed by many and not featured anywhere. We discovered this gem when our driver told us about it and all of us curious cats jumped on to the adventure ride instantly. A place sure to shock you and make you think if such things actually existed ever in history.

Talkadu is off the main road a few kms inside and very hard to locate then without someone who knew where it was. It was an archeological excavation site then and work was still in progress so it wasn’t open to tourists. But who can stop snooping noses like us who are suckers for adventure. The land was rocky and as we walked suddenly there was sand under our feet from nowhere. The guide told us the legend behind Talkadu. The story says that Raja Wadiar was a lazy and indulgent king. He had very little interest in ruling and had given his empire to his wife to handle and before dying asked her to never give it up to the British. Now while the British came to attack, the queen ran with as much as she could gather and cursed the kingdom would turn into sand and the British would never be able to rule it. The legend also says that since Raja Wadiar never had a heir of his own there are said o be hidden treasures around Talkadu if someone finds will be given the Wadiar kingdom.

It is hard to believe the legend but one is forced to after you see the amount of fine beach sand in the middle of nowhere. Only a few temples and courts were exacavated by then and I was completely thrilled about this trip into history. I was actually walking over the entire kingdom that was some 15 ft under sand waiting to be excavated and tell its story. The temples were carved in stone like most other old time monuments but the one interesting piece was the four corners of a temple that had rings dangling that were carved out of one single stone. The strangest is the two rings had no joints and were one single moving piece of stone. One dangled from the corner and the other intertwined in the one stationary ring. There was pottery from that time and the astonishing part was it was painted from both sides! Inside and outside!!! Now every class had different kind of paintings so one could differentiate between the pottery and utensils. The pots were regular mud brown from outside and had blue and ceramic paints inside apparently helped keep water cool for long.

I managed to steal a few invaluable pieces of that pottery which had I retained would have cost millions! But since they were jinxed I had to throw them away as I returned home. We were also actually standing on top of a mint where coins were made and I saw one that was still stuck in the mud that had some Greek face and had something engraved in a language that hailed from the era unknown to me! I loved it and had mentally been teleported to a time zone where I was experiencing how the life must have been then. Talkadu a must see on my list! It will not cost much since there is nothing to consume a day so you are free to carry on with your trip to Mysore.