As our first outing as RoamingFood group, we decided to start with authentic Indian street food. We went onto Chandni Chowk on 22nd Aug, 2011.
The first parantha shop in the gali is Pandit Devi Dayal’s (established in 1886). Then the next one is Kanhaiya Lal Durga Prasad’s Parantha Shop (established in 1875). The last one was Pt. Gaya Prasad Shiv Charan (established in 1872). As we found last one as the oldest shop, we decided to move into this one. Some 50-60 years back there were around 15-20 shops in this street, but now only 4-5 have left. All of these shops had photographs on the wall that showed Nehru, Indira Gandhi or Ranbir Kapoor dining in the shop.
Gaya Prasad Shiv Charan Paranatha shop
50 years back the paranthas were just of 3-4 types aloo, gobi and matar (potato, cauliflower and peas). But now-a-days, you can try 24-25 varieties of paranthas. Apart from normal aloo, daal, methi, gobhi etc, there were special paranthas like papad, parat, gajar, kaju, rabri paranthas.
Types of paranathas available
Out of the above list, I can remember of eaten Papad, Roll, Mirchi, Mewa, Badam, Rabri, Khurchan, Kela, Karela and tamatar 🙂 My favorites among these are Rabri, Papad, Mirchi and Tamatar.
All of these are fried in pure ghee in cast iron pans (kadhai). This reminded me “The most enjoyable things in this world are either immoral, illegal or fattening !”
Deep fried paranthas
All paranthas are served with Mint-Pudina Chatni, Imli-Kela Chatni, vegetable pickle, Seetaphal and Aloo Subzi.
Paranathas serving
Another good part is malai wali Lassi, which you can order apart from paranthas, it will help you digest the stuff.