Srinagar for foodies

In my latest trip to Srinagar, I got great opportunity to spend time doing my most favorite activity.. EATING.. So, if you are foodie and love trying various delicacies.. this article is for you..

To start with, I enjoyed some sweets, chats and bakery stuff at Nathu sweets. Nathus sweets is opposite to Dal lake ghat no. 11.

Nathu sweets not only serves Kashmiri sweets but has amazing variety of bakery, bengali sweets and chaat items.

You can enjoy pastries, puffs and lots of cookies here. Hot veg puff was really amazing.

If you are craving for chaat.. Dahi bhalla, Dahi puri & the famous Aloo tikki will satisfy your taste buds. You can also get panipuri here, but pani puri and shev puri are no where near Mumbai.

You can also try some kashmiri sweets full of dry fruits like appricots, walnut, almonds etc.

For veg lunch / dinner, the road parallel to dal lake, between ghat 11 till dal gate provides lots of Vaishnav restaurants. All of them serving amazing parathas, chhole puri or some even serving south indian.
  
Now comes the part for real food explorer..

I had an opportunity to enjoy traditional kashmiri meal called wazhwan... Its a serving for multiple people and must be enjoyed in group, sitting on the ground (bhartiya baithak).. 
First course consists of platter of kebabs which include chops, seek kebab, chicken leaver, sweetish reshmi kebabs etc. This platter is served on top of base of rice.. this rice is enough to accompany all courses..

This is how Wazhwan enters the eating area ....

And then... the real beauty is revealed and presented to you....

Second course is a spicy red gravy called rista.. its close to apla marathi Rassa.. this rassa has 5-6 big meat balls prepared from minced mutton. 

Third course is of gostaba.. its a white curd based gravy again with meatballs. Tastes really fantastic.. not spicy, but sour gravy and made very rich probably by adding dryfruit paste..

Fourth serving is of roganjosh.. this is again brown spicy gravy with mutton, but this time not minced.. it has big pieces with bones. The gravy is spicy and tastes amazing.

Dont take your closest friend if he is foodie.. else that bone can break the friendship

Once you put all this in your tummy.. drink hot kawa to help digesting it..

This amazing drink is made up from cardemom, saffron, sugar and some local spices.. its real bliss

If you are in shrinagar, dont miss this lavish grand meal.. but dont forget to go in a group and enjoy this meal together.. the best place to get this meal is at mughal darbar restaurant which is 15 minutes walking from dal gate. There are two restaurants with similar name, the real one is on first floor..

They also serve portion for one person but then you will miss grandeur of this treat.. so go in a group and enjoy...
Apart from this, you can also try yakhni, kashmiri pulav, chicken kanti, Kabarghah (Mutton Chops)...

So.. when you are in srinagar.. apart from shikara ride dont miss on this SHIKAAR.. 
Bon Appetit 

What to Eat - Rajasthan - Jaisalmer

This is not a desert... at least for food lover.. For me being in Jaisalmer was like being in Oasis & not in dessert.

When you are in Jaisalmer, along with beautiful Sand dunes & Haveli's & Fort , the most enjoyable thing is variety food served here.

Dont give miss to any of these as you wont find them in other part of country and more importantly they are very different.

Ker Sangri:
Ker sangri in its raw form looks like this. Its mostly found in desert and requires very less water to survive.

After preparation, the final dish looks something like this:

Apart from Ker sangri, you should also try Gatte ki sabzi, papad soup.

Ghotma Ladoo is another such delicacy from Jaisalmer, it is different type of Bundi laddu. You can enjoy this laddu  in a Bhatia Shop inside Jaisalmer fort. You can pack them with you as well as they will remain good for around 15 days even without refrigerator.

Rajasthani Kadhi is another interesting thing you can enjoy it across Rajasthan. and even in Jaisalmer most of restaurants serve Rajasthani Kadhi.

What to Eat - Rajasthan - Jaipur

Travel and Food cannot be separated.
If you travel without trying local food and talking to local and taking a stroll in local market.. you better travel on google maps or google streetview. This is my belief please dont feel offended & at least dont stop reading.

I am starting this new segment in blog from Rajasthan as thats the place where I found dishes from different segments all together. So here I bring you step by step guide to eating in Rajasthan while you are travelling to Rajasthan.

Jaipur:
     Its a capital of Rajasthan and all famous cuisines here are really very very reach in all aspects. So if You are very cautious about calories, burn some extra fat before going on rajasthan trip.

    I will recommend Chokhi Dhani if you dont have much time to explore various places in Jaipur.
    Daal bati Churma is the must have when you are in jaipur .

  Bati is made in shuddh desi ghee and if that not enough, they pore some additional ghee when it is served. The real fun is, when you break the bati, then pour Daal & lots of ghee on it and enjoy.. Its amazing...

   Churma is sweet crushed form. You can enjoy it as a dessert after finishing your daal baati.
   If you have sufficient time, you can explore this dish in Dhabas near Sindhi Camp.

   and for those friends who think rajasthan is all veg... Laal Maans is must try. In Jaipur, On MI road, you can try Handi restaurant for amazing spicy laal maans.

You can enjoy this dish with Missi Roti. Missi roti is made of mixture of various flours and with added some ajwain.

If you are not visiting entire Rajasthan then you can try some Pyaaz kachori, Mirchi Pakoda, mawa kachori, ghevar, gajak, gatte ki sabji as well. but if you are visiting entire Rajasthan visit my individual city wise posts to know what to try wherever you go.