Food glorious food
What is there more handsome?
Gulped, swallowed or chewed,
Still worth a KINGS RANSOM!
Magical food,
Wonderful food
marvelous food,
Beautiful food,
Food, Glorious food glorious food 🎶🎶
Lets talk about food!
This was one of the things I was most excited about, during this trip, was to try all different kinds of food, and I have to say, India did not disappoint. This is one of the few holidays where I didn't lose weight, I may have even gained a bit, either that or the hot Indian weather caused me to expand like an old tin roof. Yeah, we'll pretend it's that.
I'll start by talking a little about health. Every single article I read, and every person I spoke to said to prepare for a bit of "Delhi-belly". I don't usually get sick while away, and I wasn't planning on it this time either. How discouraging to be in a country full of fabulous spices and tastes and to not be healthy enough to eat. I decided to start taking large doses of pro-biotics about 2 weeks before I left. I chose Florastor.
Saccharomyces boulardii lyo has been used as a probiotic, or "friendly bacteria," to prevent the growth of harmful bacteria in the stomach and intestines. Saccharomyces boulardii lyo is likely effective in alternative medicine as an aid in preventing diarrhea and upset stomach.
So I quadrupled the dosage for two weeks before I left and doubled it up during the time I was there, and I have to say, I was one of the very few who didn't have an issue of any kind. Obviously I used common sense about general cleanliness as well, hands washed super-frequently, although washing with the very water you're trying to avoid ingesting sort of defeats the purpose. After a few days I just brushed my teeth and rinsed my mouth with tap water, making sure to not actually drink it.
I didn't get any inoculations at all. I had the Hep A and B ages ago because I'm not totally foolish, and it lasts up to 20 yrs. Some folks got the whole kit & kaboodle.....cholera, typhoid, diphtheria as well as the malaria pills. It's all about what makes you comfortable while you travel, but sometimes you have to do your own research. The travel clinic here recommended all the above, espeically malaria pills, but not only are they expensive, they're hard on the gut.
I checked out the World Health Organization and they state that malaria is not endemic in the area where we were, especially during this time of year, and malaria meds were not recommended . The CDC (Centre for Disease Control) as well as Public Health Canada said the same, and I felt that those three have more experience and knowledge than a local nurse any day....not to diss the nurse, but, well....I don't know where her info came from. Anyhow, it doesn't matter, you need to be in your own travel comfort spot and mine was to not pump myself full of chemicals for this particular trip.
There were no health warnings or typhoid/cholera issues going on in India, my tentanus is always up to date, so my medical supplies were Advil, bandaids, a tube of antibiotic polysporin, Imodium (just in case!) and a prescription for Cipro because someone always seems to spread a strep type of thing on planes and buses, but all was well, and I really believe that the Florastor was the reason that my gut behaved awesomely. That, and hand sanitizer.
We had to walk a lot in barefeet in various temples and mosques, so that's another reason I made sure I had a good antibiotic cream....yikes, the amount of cowpoop and germs floating around, not to mention all those other dirty feet, god knows what sort of weird diseases are on the ground just waiting to find a tiny cut in the sole of my foot. After a while I had a pair of "dedicated temple socks" on temple days, but even those were probably a seething mass of ick after one wear. Hard to decide whether cleaning your bare feet with a wet-wipe was more sanitary than wearing socks...I tossed out more socks on the trip, like Hansel & Gretel, leaving a trail behind me....
Anyhow, that's the health aspect. I find it worked for me, so let's get on to food!
I can't even begin to tell you how good it all was, and spicy. I'm not a big fan of mouth-burn-spice, so I started by asking for medium, and even then it was often too hot. As in "mouth being on fire" for a long time after the food was gone. I often asked for mild spice.
I tried to have something different every day, but often different regions had different names for the same dish, so it was always a surprise.
Paneer shahi and naan. Oh my god, the naan....so fresh and chewy.
Roti stuffed with potato, turmeric and curry. Kind of like a quesadilla.
Butternut and pumpkin soup with black truffle, Parmesan cheese and oddly enough, crumbled amaretto cookies for some crunch. Like a crouton, but much more flavorful.
I was excited to try a new fruit, commonly called a "mud apple" and it looked exactly like an old, soft apple but tasted like sweet applesauce with brown sugar.
Dum aloo Kashmiri, which is a potato stuffed with dry fruits in a cashew gravy.
A vegetarian lentil dish on the left, and curried potatoes on the right.
Curried chicken.
Mouth-burning tandoori chicken with an even hotter sauce.
Saffron and cream flavored chicken chunks roasted in a tandoori, called kesari malai murg.
Chicken biryani.
Oh my god, these things. I'm not sure what they're called, but they were like paneer and cream cheese with spices rolled in a cornmeal sort of stuff and deepfried, and they came with a spicy coriander sauce. Sooooo rich and yummy.
Another type of chicken tandoori.
And yes, because who doesn't want pizza now and then?
Butter chicken and butter drizzled naan....my mouth is watering right now.
A buffet with a fabulous selection of rice, noodles, chicken, breads and lentils and vegetables.
A type of Indian spring roll with tomato chutney (which was actually just ketchup)
A noodle dish.
A typical breakfast for me. A bit of date bread, a type of curried porridge, a mud apple hiding in the back, banana lassi and a deep fried spicy donut thing called a vada. Always a banana and an orange too, to keep the innards healthy.
Any menu that has meat on it will have mutton. No beef, not ever, chicken quite often and mutton very frequently. My mum used to cook mutton a lot when I was kid and it was disgusting, but I figured that as an adult my tastes have changed and plus, I'm sure Indians know how to cook mutton, what with all their amazing spices. And besides, I'm here to try the foods! So, how was it? Ummm. Nope. As chewy and vile as I had recalled.
But the deserts....oh my god, so sweet and good.
This is called Kheer and its like a rice pudding with nuts, raisins, cardamom and saffron.
This one is rasmalai and its cottage cheese dumplings simmered in saffron flavored milk.
But this....this became my daily treat....gulab jamun...a delightful doughy ball of goodness milk fried and then poached in sugar syrup and rose water. Oh. My. God.
So, so sweet and good.
I even ate them from street vendors. How can a deep fried anything contain bacteria? Impossible!
Samosas, also safe to eat from the street.
Veggie pakora, another safe and deep fried food.
A little street ice-cream.
Lots of lentil dishes at this restaurant.
And with only a few days left, lets try some unpasturized camel kefir (#2) and a bit of also unpasturized camel milk in sos coffee. It was honestly really good, very rich and creamy.
I have no complaints about the foodnin India at all. Lots of flavors I hadn't really tried a lot of, cardamom and saffron were the two main spices that I haven't used a lot of. So many different curried that I lost track of them all, but there were lots of items on the menus for those who may have a tummy that doesn't do well with foreign foods, lots of soups and every single place had grilled cheese sandwiches and of course there's always rice and naan. Something for everyone in Incredible India.
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