Niharis and Paaya!!

People who are well acquainted with me know how far I can go to just please my taste buds. Ever since I landed in Delhi and had first heard about Nihari and Paya, I was intrigued. Nihari is meat cooked overnight and Paya is the feet of goat. I had made quite a few plans but none materialized. The main factor being that Nihari and Paya are typically served as breakfast and me being a nocturnal animal, waking up early was never easy.

So after a long shift, instead of heading to our caves for some much-needed sleep, we were off to the metro station for a trip to Karim's. Upon reaching Karim's at 7 am, to our utter dismay we found that it hadn't opened yet. An employee responded in his sleepy tone that they would only open at 9am. As we stepped out of the little alley, I was, "Darn! this can't happen. I can't go back without a taste of those niharis." There were couple of vendors selling tea. We checked with them about other restaurants serving nihari, a guy countered, "bade ka khana hai ya bakre ka?"(buff or mutton). We opted for mutton and the guy pointed to Al Jawahar which is next to the entrance to Karim's. There are 2 Al Jawahars on either side of Karim's. The one on the left hand side as you enter Karim's was the one open for Niharis. As we entered the restaurant, we were abruptly and albeit a little rudely shooed away as they were still cleaning.
Lesson 1: This is Chandni Chowk. Do not expect any five star treatment here.

To while our time away, we went back to the same tea vendor and ordered 3 cups of tea. We were handed over 3 conical glasses of milk tea. Before I tasted my sip, my gaze suddenly darted towards a pot and a slightly pink liquid boiling in it. The vendor told us that it was Kashmiri salty tea. I quickly handed back my regular milk tea and instead asked for the Kashmiri tea. The first sip didn't taste very good. It was simply the taste of salty milk. As i took more sips, I realized it wasn't made for my liking. I asked for a plate of suji ka halwa and it was a magnificient combo with the kashmiri tea. The sweetness of the halwa complimented the saltiness of the Kashmiri tea.

After waiting for another half an hour, we were finally permitted to take our seat. We ordered for a plate each of Nihari and Paya. The nihari was garnished with ginger julians and some sliced green chillies. Paya is in fact very popular in Nepal as Khashi ko Khutta but this was nothing like what I had tasted before. It was cooked so well that the meat was falling off the bones as I tried to hold it between two of my finger tips. The first bite of nihari with plain naan had my mouth filled with a combination of spices. It had hit all the senses. We felt rejuvenated. It was worth every ounce of the journey and trouble we had undertaken to get here. Simply speaking it was bliss. No wonder I keep saying, "I live to eat."

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