as the title suggest- its been a long time overdue trip to jama-masjid area to grab a bite of the famous dilli ki nihari. not that i've been to jama-masjid area for the first time. the problem is nihari is supposed to be had in the early morning as a breakfast. some how everytime i land up early in chandni chowk by default i had been going to parathewali gali. and in the evenings when i go to jawahar or karim's its past the time to get nihari.
last night i took a pledge to get up at 6:00 in the morning and reach jama masjid by 7:30. good that i kept my promise to myself got down my car near jama-masjid and took a few steps to reach jawahar.
soon a plate of hot nihari was served to me in the cold winter morning. ordered two tandoori roti's along with it. it took them a while to get the roti's as they had to get it from a nearby restaurant since there was still some time to have their tandoor ready.
till my roti's would be served i thought i better take my mind off the plate full of nihari. or else nothing would have been left by the time the roti's arrived.
the people in the restaurant where friendly one sitting behind the cash counter and the other one on a higher pedestal behind big handi's of nihari etc...
on asking these guys told me that they start cooking the nihari a night before and it gets cooked over a slow fire for the whole night. so that it can be ready by breakfast. it is also said that the whole concept of having nihari in the morning was that one doesn't need to be worried about his second meal as its good enough to last the whole day. and people involved with manual work gets enough nutrients to help them last a day.
in a place like jawahar its said that the original recipes had been well kept and strictly followed till date. the shop dates back to 1911 probably a bit older than karim's.
the roti's are there and i must dig in to the slurpy syrupy gravvy with chunks of meat resembling some group of islands in google earth. overnight cooking makes the gravvy a bit thick and syrupy as a lot of the meat and marrow gets mixed into broth giving it the texture. even the chunks of lamb meat become really really tender with the overnight cooking, and all juicy till the core. with every bite i looked forward to the next one. i was very tempted to go for a second serving but didn't risk, as i'm not too sure of my digestive system. it was one of the most interesting breakfast i ever had. though its a bit too much to be had as an every day breakfast but surely once in a while its a great indulgence.
