Delhi New: Local Foods

Tandoori chicken finished in a tomato, butter and cream gravy, mild and lightly sweet. The dish was created at Moti Mahal in Daryaganj shortly after Partition, when leftover tandoori chicken was simmered in a makhani sauce to keep it moist. It travelled from there to menus across the world. Eaten with naan or kulcha.

Red kidney beans stewed with onion, tomato and garam masala, served over steamed rice. The dish is Punjabi home cooking rather than restaurant food, and it functions as Delhi's everyday comfort meal. Beans are soaked overnight and cooked slowly until the gravy thickens. Usually served with pickle and raw onion on the side.

Spiced chickpeas paired with a deep-fried leavened bread that puffs as it cooks. The chickpeas are darkened with tea or dried amla and finished with amchoor for sourness. The combination arrived with Punjabi migrants after 1947 and is eaten at breakfast as readily as at lunch. Served with onion, green chilli and pickle.

Whole or jointed chicken marinated in yoghurt, ginger, garlic and red chilli, then cooked in a clay oven over charcoal. The tandoor sears the outside while the yoghurt keeps the meat moist. Moti Mahal is credited with bringing the dish to Delhi from Peshawar in 1947. Served with onion rings, lemon and mint chutney.

Slow-cooked mutton stew, simmered overnight with bone marrow, wheat flour and a spice blend that includes long pepper and fennel. The name derives from the Arabic for morning, and it was historically eaten at dawn after prayers. The gravy is thick and heavily spiced. Eaten with khameeri roti, ginger juliennes and lemon.

Rice and marinated meat layered and cooked together, sealed so the steam carries the aromatics through. Delhi's version sits between the Lucknawi and Hyderabadi styles, lighter on chilli and scented with kewra and saffron. The Mughal court kitchens established it in the city. Served with a raita or salan on the side.

Minced or cubed meat spiced and grilled over charcoal, in forms that range from seekh to the melt-textured galouti. The galouti was developed for a Nawab who had lost his teeth, using raw papaya as a tenderiser. Old Delhi's lanes grill them in the open through the evening. Eaten with paratha, onion and chutney.

Layered flatbread cooked on a griddle or deep-fried, stuffed with potato, cauliflower, paneer or dried fruit. Paranthe Wali Gali in Chandni Chowk has sold fried versions since the 1870s, with several shops still run by descendants of the original families. Served with pickle, tamarind chutney and a vegetable curry.