Before delving into the magnificent ruins of Orchha something of paramount importance needs to be experienced. Yup, for a foodie nothing better than encountering mouth-watering Indian chaat in an old city. Walking down the walkway from Orchha main square to Ram Raja temple, you will encounter a lot of sweet shops selling fudge like white sweet which they referred to as the milk cake. The sweet was very light and is recommended, however we later found out that it was for the consumption of Ram Lala who presides in the Ram Raja temple as a king having arrived as a toddler. Whole heartedly apologizing to Ram Lala, there was no option but to continue the culinary journey forward. May be this blog is our repentance on having eaten a child’s milk cake. Think of it the child was no one else but Ram Lala, revered most by Hindus.
Just directly opposite to the sweet shops was the real surprise. The culinary surprise tossed by Orchha was the aloo tikki – a very different way to prepare the familiar chaat. The aloo tikki is lightly cooked over a flat griddle (tawa) with a thin oil layer and set aside on the periphery for further cooking . Whenever the customer approaches, the tikki is commandeered to the action arena in the middle of the large tawa and broken into three or four big pieces. Other ingredients such as boiled safed vatana (white peas), finely chopped onions, cumin seeds, garam masala and a bit of coriander leaves are added. Sizzling smoke accompanies the wonderful aroma wafting out of this tempting meal-in-cooking. The entire mixture is thoroughly blended on the griddle (tawa) and transferred to a leafy dona (the chat serving bowl made of leaves). The final finishing touches are addition of the green and tamarind chutneys which are blended into the mixture, the chutneys are thin and coat the chaat very well . The net result is a light aloo tikki well blended with other ingredients served piping hot in a traditional dona made of leaves.
This is as mouth-watering as a dish gets. The flavors blended wonderfully and it was a very satisfying dish. At INR 15(~25 cents USD) it was tremendous value for money and repeated helpings over couple of days brought my food bill down a lot in Orchha. My mouth still waters as I write this post. It was quite a site as along with us, we had Germans, Croatians and people from other nationalities devouring the dish as hungrily as we did.
The fact that the chaat was really tasty was additionally testified by a goat which was happily roaming around the street treating herself on the leftovers. Her well-fed physique sang paeans to the flavors of the chaat. I wish she gets on a tough exercise regime in the mornings to shield herself from the typical lifestyle effects of the modern oily unhealthy food.
And yes, we need to remind ourselves to check with the sweet sellers about the offerings to the Gods first, lest we keep on consuming God’s sweets.