New Delhi: Old Delhi’s favourite shahi tukda, mouth-watering nihari and biryani, plates of dahi bhalla and papdi chaat were up for grabs at a recent food festival here.
With over 15 stalls at the Old Delhi Food Festival, visitors were spoilt for choice as they gorged on lip-smacking dishes from the ‘nukkads’ of the walled city.
Serving glasses of ‘gud ka sharbat’, Aqueel and his son were one of the many vendors who inherited the trade from their fathers and grandfathers, who passed on the traditional recipes to the following generations.
“My family has been in this line for 75 years. My father and his father served fresh drinks for the people, and now my son is with me, continuing it,” Aqueel said.
Established in 1932, Yunnus Khalifa’s paan shop based in Matia Mahal has been an Old Delhi favourite, serving specialities like ‘shahi gulab paan’.
“My father opened his shop sometime in 1980, and our shahi tukda has been a crowd favourite everywhere. On the first day of the festival, we got one pot of the sweet, but we had to bring two pots the next day. It is not something that is available easily,” said Cool Point’s Mohammad Zuhaib.
Organised by Focus India, an NGO that works with children, the festival was put together to raise funds for their educational programs, organisers said.
“We also wanted to bring back the glory of Old Delhi through this festival,” they said.
–PTI