In today's episode of 'COMMUNITY & FOOD STORIES' series we have set out to explore the Marwadi cuisine at the restaurant and home of our gracious host, the Budhia family from CWG Village, Delhi.
Marwadis are an Indian ethnic group that originate from Rajasthan. Although present all throughout India, historically they have been most concentrated in Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Nagpur, Pune and the hinterlands of central and eastern India. They are also a highly successful business community.
During this particular exploration we met our host at their restaurant Nibbana. Run by the mother and daughter duo from the Budhia family, this amazing takeaway restaurant serves traditional dishes in a contemporary avatar. The main focus of their eclectic menu is Indian breads.
Going by the ethos of this series, they had planned a simple Marwadi menu for us. Since it was a busy day for Somya and her team, we decided to shoot the cooking part in the restaurant kitchen itself. The kitchen was spick and span and very well organised. Somya, her mother and her teammates took turns to prepare some Marwadi specialities like pyaz ki kachori, suhali, panchmel dal, papad mangodi kadhi, matar paratha and kooba roti.
Of these the kooba roti and the papad mangodi kadhi seemed the most fascinating. The former was a whole wheat flour based artistic tandoor baked flatbread and the latter was a tangy and spicy curry made of papad and mangodi.
After the cooking was over, we went to their home to savour the meal spread along with the whole family. Here we met Somya's grandmother and her sister. While the table was laid out, granny shared some basic cultural anecdotes and a lot of fascinating food memories most of which were related to Old Delhi where they earlier resided.
The meal was quite light and gratifying. Desserts included a traditional aate ke ladoo and fusion halwa papad. The Marwadi food experience in Delhi was quite an intriguing journey that acquainted us to their unique food tradition