What my father did for me, i would never be able to repay him.
Henceforth what i'm doing for my kids, they won't be able to do it for me.
The way he cooks Bhatura is unmatchable..
Mainly its stuffings
Here's mustard oil..
and stir it properly.
Its Chickpeas curry, adding fried vegetable balls and potato
and onions at the top.
I want this business to continue and prosper forever,
I want my kids to grow my business,
and it should not be defamed at all..
My father expired when i was just 14 years old..
They have served Taro pickle (kachaloo k aachar) alongwith chole-bhature.
as well as the whitepeas (chole) look irresistible
*asking the customers about the spice levels
(calling the helper)
Dates chutney (khajoor ki chutney)
*Giving it to customers to check spice levels as per their taste..
If the customer doesn't proactively mention their preferences, i generally go with the mild spice levels,
otherwise i go as per their preferences..
Various people from bombay  specially come to our stall and appreciate by saying
that they haven't ever had such bhelpuri as good as this in Mumbai.
Its all depends upon the mixture of spices and variety of chutneys you use.
Otherwise anyone can make it .
The major issue is that vendors start selling bhel without
the proper knowledge of different spices and chutneys.
The whole game depends upon your knowledge.
As I have come from old Delhi 6,
and this is the most popular area in terms of food
like Maan Singh Halwai,
Chotelal Halwai
and many other (famous food outlets of Old Delhi).
Bhel is a mixture of crisps,
 
Potato chips
Wheat flour crust (maida papadi) ,chickpea lentils (chana dal),
peanuts and  flattened rice ( chirwa/chiwda),
chopped onions as well as potatoes
and some coriander leaves. Now, adding the mixture of spices and garlic chutney,
mint chutney and mix it well.
Making savoury chutney and maintaining the accurate spice level is not everyone's cup of tea.
That's the reason why my business is still running from last 50-55 years
Also, we've been able to retain customers to our outlet irrespective of stiff competition.
My father told us when he used to work here, there was an old odeon..
quite ancient that father has seen but i haven't..
I've seen the new one which is built in 20th century,
which is now known by the name of Carnival.
Now it has double screens while in the earlier days it used to be and old school single screen theatre.
where they only used to play English movies back then..
The construction of new odeon at the place of older one,
lead to the addition of hindi movies alongwith the english
Connaught place was fully constructed in 1932
There were flats built in the upper area
as you can these are still there But now Indians have started living in it.
On all these roads, their horse carts were parked.
Jhaal Muri is a mixture of crisps,
peanuts,
bhujia ( a popular crispy snack)
 
Also called as sev bhujia..
(repeating the above mentioned ingredients)
Generally, coconut is also added in it
but it is not much liked by people of Delhi, 
So, we avoid adding it.
Baked chickpea as well..
(explaining baked chickpea)
Coming to batata Puri, It includes peanuts, sweet potato (batata),
coriander leaves, green chillies ( as per customer's taste),
mixture of spices (prepared by us)
salt
And add  mustard oil ( sarso ka tel )
Depending upon customer's preference..
Then little bit of lemon juice
just to add taste to it.
Mixing all the ingredients properly..
 
 
 
What my father did for me, i would never be able to repay him.
Henceforth what i'm doing for my kids, they won't be able to do it for me.
That's the fact.
In my childhood, i used to go to school in minimal clothes and an ID around my neck.
and our parents never lent any money to us at that time for school,
we used to walk to school.
My father got allergy on hands
which made it difficult for him to work
Then we, his sons took over his business.
He used to get allergy on hands while using lemon and we couldn't see it
so we stopped him from working,
and asked him to take rest at home.
My grandfather, earlier used to sell chole bhature ta stall,
and we used to live in a small house in Sita Ram Vihar (Delhi).
He used to cook it at home and bring to stall to sell..
In those days, we used to sell Matar kulcha (an Indian snack),
slowly we added Chole Bhature to our menu.
I was just 14 years old when my father expired.
At that time, our old workers helped in handling the business as  i was quite young
and then i started coming to the shop.
I was completely unaware about the cooking and other related tasks.
So, at the age of 14 i started coming and learning about all this.
(conversing with customers)
Its Chickpeas curry, adding fried vegetable balls
Further, putting onions and taro (kachalu) at the top.
It's a rare kind of Chickpeas curry that you'll not find anywhere.
The recipe of cooking Chickpeas curry (Chole) is similar
the only secret behind this is Our Mixture of spices
The Spice blend that we use to cook food
has a combination of 20-22 spices..
These enhances the taste of every dish.
Even if you'll use these spices to cook any other basic dish, these will make it fancy.
I want this business to continue and prosper forever,
i want my kids to grow and expand the business
and it should not be defamed at all.
Just the way we are maintaining the goodwill of our father and grandfather
I expect the same from my children.
As earning money is not that difficult
as earning respect and creating goodwill in the market is..
Therefore, just to retain the customers and respect
i never make any kind of compromises with the spices or the quality of food.
One of our customers is from Bombay,
came to our shop 2-3 years back
has been coming to our outlet since 1958
(when the outlet was handled by my father)
even though he was not able to walk properly,
he still insisted and came to our shop to eat after 2-3 years
Earlier when used to be our daily customer when used to live in Delhi.
Then i realised how efficiently this business was handled by our forefather
Although i thought 1962 was its year of commencement.
The entire senior staff that used to work with my father
were not very enthusiastic about teaching me how to do stuff.
They used to make me do little things like picking up soiled utensils and wash them.
I still followed and did all these little tasks.
Initially, I did all these works.
Then I began to come early and to notice how things are done
and i learnt a lot from it.
Since I was the eldest son,
i got all of my young brothers and sisters married.
My father expired after my only elder sister's wedding.
So, i fulfilled the responsibilty of getting the rest of my siblings married.
And also made my younger brothers to join the business.
Firstly, i taught them how to cook
as its the basic requirement
which further makes it easier to handle the business
and also to cope up in certain situations like in the absence of any employee.
The way they cook Bhatura is completely unmatchable and unbeatable.
 
The flat bread rises like an oven baked bread.             Also, they've used the right amount of yeast and bread
Alongwith the chichpeas curry, they've served taro pickle
and the curry looks too savoury.
The environment over here is really calm and peaceful unlike most of the areas of Delhi
Here's the first bite..
 
 
 
 
Now trying the fried vegetable balls with chickpeas curry
(expressions are enough to explain its taste)
I noticed while shooting that some people were just eating the taro pickle and onion with bhatura
that too has its own unique taste
 
 
 
 
 
It's so delicious that i can't stop myself from finishing the whole meal.
I'll do extra workout to burn the calories though.
You can never find such Chole bhature anywhere.
The savoury taste of Chole Bhature of Delhi,
its spices as well.
It is enriched with different spices
as they told that they use around 22 spices in cooking.
It's really a tough job to get such rare taste..
However, they have been making it from last  58 years.
Finally, after getting recommendations from so many people, I've got the chance to try Bhel puri, Jhaal Muri here
I would call it a Perfect Start of the day.
 
 
I'll be going to try Jhaal Muri as
i am curious to know the difference between Jhall Muri and Bhel Puri.
He has also explained the way to eat Jhaal Muri ..
You should never eat it with spoon,
it is meant to be eaten by hands like this
Mustard Oil has added an extra flavour to it
 
Delhi is full of variety of food with its own unique tastes.
Mustard oil leaves an after taste in the mouth which is really flavoursome just like that of Pakora ( an Indian snack)
 
It's very refreshing.
coriander leaves have their own speciality and onions add another crunch to it.
We use different knives to cut different vegetables.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
