Soya Chaap - Lesser Known Jewels of Delhi

Summer time, time for our annual visit home. The vacations are getting shorter and the Delhi summers warmer. Hotter , I should say.

Roomali Roti and Soya Chaap

And everytime I return, there is a new fad in town.

Chaap has been a fad for the longest time now...but it's been made over quite jazzily in this part of town.
Now if you're from any other city, the food available is similar throughout the length and breadth of the city.
But North and West Delhi have different palates as compared with the rest of Delhi.
Here its the greasy ,spicy ,butter chicken type street food.
A little Ghaint- punjabi for stylish... those of you from south Delhi would definitely not understand the stuff.
They don't have our Chola Bhaturas or Dahi Bhallas or Soya Chaaps.
No sir, they know not what they are missing. That's why the North Campus area and Kamla Nagar have such amazing good joints. Not fine Dine, just fine dining... happy ,spicy ,healthy food.

Soya Chaaps were available in the Som Bazaars or weekly street vegetable markets earlier.
Weekly markets are a greta tradition in Delhi where vendors selling fresh vegetables,fruits, pickles,cheap plastics and ceramics, street food , small scale cottage industry type bakers etc come together one day of the week.
Its an infectious atmosphere,to be seen to be believed.

 Soya flour kneaded and stretched and wrapped on ice cream sticks and boiled.

Then these were bought from the exotic veggie vendors and cooked with copious amounts of tomatoes and cream.
Now the new food stylists have begun stuffing the soya chaaps with paneer or cottage cheese and roasted in tandoors and then tossed in a plethora of spices, ready gravy and ghee or butter or cream.
Oh and they are marinated in similar spices as the non vegetarians use for chicken and meat.

So one of the lesser know jewels in my neighborhood is this outfit called BABA Chaap Wala, Shalimar Bagh.
A clean kitchen, with a chef that literally has hands coated with silicone... doesn't need a dish cloth to hold a hot dish.

He places a seekh of stuffed Soya Chaap over the tandoor,as the high heat will burn the soya.
He cuts them and tosses them in spices and ghee or butter and serves them with Roomali Roti.
Home Delivered fresh and piping hot.
A healthy specialty of North West Delhi.
Mind it, you'll get chaap other places, but you'll never get this taste and flavor.

So the next time you're in Delhi, do come up north and try these lesser known jewels.
Oh and if you are in Shalimar Bagh, do try Baba Chaap, BP Market .

He's one of the best in this locality. Vouched for by many.

Disclaimer : The soya chaap was purchased, eaten ,purchased again and re ordered ,all in the space of three hours. Repeat orders ,Stuffed Soya Chaap and Roomali Roti.