Back in the day, one could tell the onset of a season by the flowers that bloomed on the wayside and the smell in the air. In cities, the only things that smell pleasant on the roadside are the food vending carts, which keep pace with the seasons. And thankfully in Delhi, every neighbourhood has its own personal purveyor of posterity, peanuts, and other provender.
Come winter in Delhi and, as sure as the drop of mercury in thermometers and increase in respiratory complaints, there is an influx of pushcarts doling out nuts around the city, accompanied by a panoply of other seasonal specialities.
For us, personally, the change of seasons on India’s Fleet Street is heralded by the mithai-walla and his radioactively bright stall, which is parked at ITO. His summer menu comprises a collective of Kulfis, while winter is announced, and sustained, through Gajar ka Halwa and Gulab Jamun (in monsoons, everyone is too busy wading to work to bother with meals on wheels). At a nominal price, scribes and editors get a dollop of change and relief from the Capital’s climate, political or otherwise, and hot or cold.
Similarly, every neighbourhood and professional space in the Capital has its own go-to seasonal favourite, and at the moment winter is king.
Daulat ki Chaat, an ephemeral cloud of hand-beaten milk, condensed with khoya and chenna, is available only during this time of the year, with patrons braving the cold weather and murky traffic of Old Delhi to visit Chandni Chowk in December and January to partake of pastiches of Khemchand Chaat Waala’s original creation.
Siddharth Kakkar, originally from West Delhi and now living in Canada, makes sure to always include a trip to Old Delhi when he comes back for winter holidays. Among the many variables on the menu, the one constant is the Daulat ki chaat. “It’s definitely a family tradition. I had my first Daulat chaat as a kid with my grandmother, and haven’t stopped coming back since,” he avers.
Speaking of savouring old things, nihari is another winter staple in Delhi Digest(ive)s, with Kallu Nihari in Daryaganj, Karim’s in Chandni Chowk, and a few others jostling for the top spot. Wherever one ends up going, we’re all winners.
All the modern cold-heartedness in the world can’t beat an age-old tradition of meat simmered overnight and served in a bowl with a splash of gravy and steaming fresh rotis. Not only does it warm the bones, but it also rallies the spirits, scaring away any fears of chills and colds.
While there are a variety of winter combustibles, there’s no denying that everything gets nuttier. Apart from the previously mentioned roadside moongphali mania, almonds blossom atop hot halwas, whether gajar or/aur gur, and cashews preen on ladoos of every grain.
Ending on a sweet high, there are the singular gond ke laddoos, which mix together most of the above. Dry fruits, gur, and desiccated coconut amalgamate into sugary spheres, each frosted over with gum crystals. Climate change may have given us the coldest spell of weather in more than a century, but it’s foods like these that make Delhi wait for winter.