In today's episode, we are on a gastronomic tour of Patna City's locality. It is a small neighborhood in the capital that is full of stories from the past. Patna city is the birthplace of Guru Gobind Singh Ji, the tenth guru of the Sikhs. Moreover, it is home to one of the most sacred gurudwaras in the country named Patna Sahib Gurudwara or Takht Harmandir Sahib. The place is of great significance to the Sikh community. We had stopped by this place for a brief food exploration to discover its prominent street foods.
Before starting our food tour, we visited the peaceful precinct of Patna Sahib gurudwara to seek divine blessings. It is one of the most important shrines for Sikhs from all over the world. We partook the kada prasad and the food served at the langar.
We then started our food tour with kachori and ghugni from Nandu Lal Kachori shop. The combination of crisp small-sized sattu stuffed kachoris with an equally amazing kala chana sabzi called ghugni was simply brilliant. The shop has been there for around 100 years. No wonder the deep-fried snacks available here are phenomenal. We also tried crisp fritters made with khesari dal. The kick of garlic and chilli made them a fun treat.
While going to our next destination we stopped by a small tea stall to gulp down a cup of milk tea. It was quite impressive. After that energy shot, we went to have aloo puri with aloo dum. This is again a much-loved street food in the locality. The sight of the crisp and puffy aloo stuffed puris served with a ladle of aloo dum made us restless. From the very first morsel we knew how amazing it was. Ramesh bhaiya puris are a hit with the locals.
This thumbs-up combo was followed by a crisp and juicy Imarti which is a traditional sweet made of urad dal batter. Don't confuse it with jalebi even though the process looks similar, the tastes of the two are starkly different. Urad dal adds more body to the taste and texture of these Imartis. If you ever feel like trying it, always go for the fresh and hot Imartis.
The next thing we tried was the laktho. These are jaggery-coated deep-fried sweet treats made with maida. They are great for short-term hunger.
We then tried some ubiquitous samosa from the renowned Tandon Ji Ke Samose shop. The taste was very familiar to the ones that are available in Bengal. Along with a great crust and a humble yet lip-smacking potato filling, it had its own charm.
Our penultimate eating destination was an old sweet shop that is famous for its pure milk and ghee-based sweets. Our pick from the moderate varieties of traditional sweets was khurchan, peda and gajar burfi. Among the three the khurchan was nothing less than a piece of art. It was a stack of pure malai layers that were lined with bhura and cardamom powder. The sweet and rich milky taste delighted the milk lover in us. The peda and gajar burfi were quite good too.
Finally, we ended our food tour with some ber which is a highly nutritious and sweet tropical fruit. The food journey in the sleepy and holy lanes of Patna city stirred up some divine emotions that we carried back with us.