living up to its name, Dhaba at The Claridges is doing a special promotion of bestsellers from the famous dhabas along NH-1. Navneet Mendiratta embarks on a gastronomic journey aptly called Truck along the Trunk
For someone who has her roots in Punjab, Delhi-Chandigarh route along NH-1 is perhaps the most frequented one, where I am concerned. Before each trip, the foodies in my family list out their favourite halts along the route and we do a toggle among the favourites for final selection. So if it is a stopover at Jhilmil dhaba near Murthal for stuffed paranthas served with white home produced butter, the lunch would be settled at Puran Singh’s dhaba at Ambala for his special butter chicken, nevermind the detour that we have to take around the highway to get there.
Master Chef Jyot Rana at Dhaba, the North Indian cuisine restaurant at The Claridges, New Delhi went a little further on the GT Road to Amritsar and inspired by the bestsellers at some of the really famous dhabas along the route came back to design a special menu that is sure to send many a regulars at the restaurant on a gastronomic nostalgia trip.
Called ‘Truck along the Trunk’, the menu offers preparations like pudina aur akhrot di tikki, keema champ, battaley da maghaz masala; redi wala soya bean masala and sukhe moong ki dal that are now fighting for space in the original menu of the restaurant following the great response these have atracted from the diners.
The reactions were hard to miss. Even as Rana and Anoop went about explaining the concept and inspirations to me, it was interesting to see other guest about me ordering their personal favourite from the original dhaba. If it was tari da kukkad from Puran Singh’s dhaba for one, the other was ordering Chajju da bhuna meat or Giyani da keema kukkad. Surjeet di tali macchi was like a must order for all fish lovers.
“It is not only about non vegetarian food,” Chef Rana said to me. The region churns out some amazing vegetarian varieties using soya and paneer for the vegans,” he said. Take pudina aur akhrot di tikki for instance. This shallow fried mint flavoured smashed cheese and walnut preparation is a great take on the mint and cottage cheese combination as is Jalandhari paneer tikka, a specialty from Jalandhar which has fresh cottage cheese marinated with fresh ground spices and cooked in tandoor.
In the non vegetarian variety, keema champ and Veera de dhabe da kukkad along with Surjeet di tali macchi make for great recommendations. “Often we are faced with this challenge as to what new to serve and how do we turn around the old favourites, especially the classic preparations. This trip was an eye-opener on how rich the flavours can be using the same ingredients,” said chef Rana. For instance, he cited the example of langar di dal. “This is a lighter version of mah ki daal but equally tasty. It is also mixed with chana daal and tempered with ginger and garlic, but is thinner in consistency as it is not cooked overnight,” he explained.
One dish that is sure to catch the diners’ interest (though one can not be sure of the number of hits it is getting) is battaley da maghaz masala. This is lamb brain cooked with onion, tomato, green chilli, ginger, green coriander and garlic.
Equally recommended are redi wale soyabean masala. “This dish is a tawa preparation like kesar dhabe ka baingan bharta. A lot of dry preparations are cooked/shallow fried on tawa and that is what lends it the smoky,” the chef informed.
To be honest, I would not have been able to sample all these with out the help of Jeera tini, the sorbet style lemonade with heavy cumin flavouring served in a martini glass. Those who can’t think of Punjabi food without lassi should try their variation — coconut lassi. It’s an interesting take.
The desserts are equally interesting. For that authentic taste, I recommend do try roh di kheer, badaaman da halwa and khasta pinni. My personal favourite was roh di kheer which is actually rice cooked with sugarcane juice. It’s a delicacy from my childhood and cooked only in the traditional households of Punjab.