Old Delhi - Part Two: Spices!

By late morning Day 3, we had survived the bicycle rickshaw ride, mostly through the alleys of colorful wedding shops, and then followed Sanjit on foot for a closer look at the spice market. 

Spice Market

First we passed the flower market, where sacks of bright marigold tops sat around waiting to be strung into garlands to decorate statues and images.

Weaving our way past shops selling colorful decorations, or around a pile of almond sacks from California, or just in front of a horn-blaring motorbike (they all beep constantly), Sanjit led us into the wholesale spice market.

Making any progress along the crowded narrow lane between stalls requires confidence, some aggression, but also courtesy (make way for the guy with 3 heavy cases on his head) and patience (Cart jam! How can we get through?)

Rock salt

Sanjit led us up a narrow passage to the 2nd floor stalls and terraces crowded with sacks of goods

We found a few spicy souvenirs

Next on the agenda: Old Delhi Food Tour

Or do I mean: 

Thrilling Street Food Quest

perhaps 

College Student Offers Wandering Aunts All the Fried Foods?

or

Tour Guide Laughs Wickedly As Women of a Certain Age Try to Ingest Just One More Thing?

OK

Street Food for Tourists. LOL

Our food guide and Enlish Lit student, Archandra, helped us navigate the streets and alleys of Old Delhi in search of Indian delicacies. And when I say "helped" I mean "moved briskly along the packed streets while dodging all manner of obstacles, showing us how it's done."

First stop: dessert? We tried a creamy confection called daulat ki chaat. It's only made in the northern states during the winter months.

Then samosas at a VERY popular stand with a pretzel-looking thing fried in ghee and soaked in sugar syrup: jalebi! I only managed to remember because it sounded like jellybean.

How popular is this stand?

In Old Delhi, traveling on foot for a few blocks involves pushing, weaving, stepping off the curb to move faster than obstacles (don't step on anything awful, don't step into the path of a car/rickshaw/tuk tuk, watch out for that motorcycle!) and generally hoping you can keep sight of your guide while not tripping over sidewalk pavers or turning your ankle into missing ones. And then, she tells you to cross the street!

Archandra finds another hot snack, which I will also attempt to ID.

Every sauce seems to include a complex mixture (masala) of several spices. Indians know how to mix spices!

Side alleys were also hopping 

This is some sort of shortbread- like cookie.

I missed the full name of this famous family restaurant - now run by its 6th generation.

Menu on the wall but this place is way smaller than it looks in the picture. Archandra ordered a couple of different dishes for us, but I forgot to note what we ate. Fail.

Monkey threat! I was trying to get a picture of the macaque monkeys for the kids, but didn't realize there were more above me, eying my phone. I got a lousy pic but at least they didn't get my phone.

Another wild rickshaw ride - this time in a 4-person electric version. 

At some point we had dal and a few other dishes, most of which were also fried in ghee. Finally, dessert again: Kheer, which tastes like rice pudding, and a warm, very sweet, carrot-based dessert called Gajar Ka Halwa that I'm tempted to try making at home. It's also usually made in the winter months, and with red carrots.

That was quite a day. Old Delhi was full of risks, adventures, sights, sounds (beeep! Beep!) tastes and smells, just as you'd expect.

- Christine