Delhiwale: A cart is born

A new healthy dish, litti-chokha, has emerged in Old Delhi's Jama Masjid area, offering a taste of Bihar amidst traditional Mughlai cuisine.

Delhi gourmands go to Old Delhi’s Jama Masjid area for kebab, biryani, nihari, paya, haleem, korma, kaleji, fried chicken, chicken noorjahani, chicken lollipop, chicken 69, murg mussallam, mutton burra, mutton keema, nargisi kofta, bheja fry, bakarkhani roti, sheermal roti, shahi tukda, halwa paratha, firni, black jalebi, mohabbat ki sherbet… and many more dishes and drinks, all of which are bracketed under the general category of Mughlai cuisine.

Fussing around with a new stack of littis roasting on his cart’s grill, the busy man graciously agrees to pose for a portrait. (HT)

This is after all a Mughal-era enclave, set up centuries ago by Shahjahan badshah.

Something out of the box happened a month and a half ago. A dish that would never be seen in this part of the Walled City staged a quiet entry into the space. Unlike most Purani Dilli delicacies, this isn’t anything deep-fried or oily. It actually makes for quite a healthy meal (and yet is tasty!). It is the litti-chokha. The dish is being sold on a modest cart parked across the crowded road from gate no 1 of Jama Masjid metro station—30 rupees per plate.

Beloved in many parts of the country, litti-chokha is identified with Bihar. But is often sighted on New Delhi streets, though it is not as ubiquitous as golgappas or momos. A cart parked outside Gurugram’s Millennium City Centre Metro station, called Mithilanchal, has been serving litti-chokha for more than a decade. In rural Bihar, the villagers would traditionally make littis by stuffing the staple sattu—which is roasted gram powder—into bulky balls of atta, which would be baked over goyetha—which is dried cow-dung patties. These days, in cities at least, the baking is carried out in gas tandoors, ovens, or grills. As for chokha, it is prepared by roasting baingan, boiled aloo and tomato over direct flame till the baingan’s blue skin turns black. The three veggies are then peeled, mashed, spiced, mixed with chopped onions, garlic, green chillies and lemon juice, and spiked with a bit of raw mustard oil. A litti gets tastier when dipped in desi ghee, just before being served.

In fact, this Jama Masjid cart serves its litti smeared with ghee. The young man administering the cart is from Bihar, and happens to share his name with his state’s chief minister. Nitish Kumar was earlier helping his brother run a litti-chokha cart outside the Red Fort. He launched the second cart, he says, only after assuring himself of litti-chokha’s saleability in the chosen site. It is proving to be a sound decision. “I’m getting customers… tourists, shopkeepers, street vendors, rickshaw pullers… people from my Bihar who work in the vicinity.”

Fussing around with a new stack of littis roasting on his cart’s grill, the busy man graciously agrees to pose for a portrait. See photo.