India GOWhat to eat in Varanasi
Malaiyo
Only from the first cold morning to the last: the milk sits overnight under the dew and is whipped at dawn, and the foam collapses by ten. Miss the season and there is nothing to substitute.
Kachori Sabzi
Banaras eats it at six in the morning, standing, before the ghats fill.
Tamatar Chaat
A Banaras invention and nothing like the chaat of Delhi: tomatoes crushed hot in a kadhai, served in a clay cup, eaten with a leaf.
Banarasi paan
The city grows the softest leaf in India and built an etiquette around it; this is where paan is a subject, not a habit.
Malai Lassi
Varanasi lassi, served in an unglazed clay cup under a thick layer of clotted cream. Dense enough that it arrives with a spoon.
Choora matar
Eight weeks a year, when the winter peas come in.
Launglata
A stuffed pastry pinned shut with a clove (the clove is the name and the seal both), fried and steeped in syrup.
Palak Chaat
Spinach leaves in a thin chickpea batter, fried until they shatter, then topped with yogurt, tamarind and chutney. A Varanasi speciality: the old chaat shops around Godowlia built their name on it.
Thandai
Milk ground with almonds, melon seeds, fennel, pepper and rose, served cold. In Braj it is the drink of Holi, and the shops that make it properly grind the paste fresh every morning.
Bedai
A thick puri stuffed with spiced urad dal, fried dark and served with a watery, peppery potato sabzi. Mathura and Agra eat it at seven in the morning; by noon the shops have shut.
Rabri
Milk reduced for hours over low heat until it thickens and the skin is folded back in, layer after layer. Sweet, but mostly it tastes of patience.
Jalebi
Spirals of batter fried and then soaked in saffron syrup. Eaten hot, when the outside still cracks and the inside is molten sugar.
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