Birthday lunches are typically heavy affairs — filled with particular dishes cooked in elaborate methods. And that’s the reason I bear in mind particularly a birthday meal with a quite simple menu hosted by a pal a few years in the past. She had invited us to lunch on the Nagaland House on APJ Abdul Kalam Road. Our meal consisted of frivolously steamed greens, rice and dal. And there was pork, cooked with hardly any spice or oil — however among the many most scrumptious pork dishes I had eaten.
So, it was with some sepia-tinted pleasure that I went to Nagaland House a few days in the past. The canteen is small and tidy, and has a restricted menu. I requested on the reception if there was pork, and I used to be glad to know that it was out there that day. The server knowledgeable me that the menu included a pork thali and a rooster thali. We opted for each, and shortly there was an array of dishes in entrance of me — rooster curry, pork curry, boiled greens, masoor dal, steamed rice and a small bowl of fiery chutney.
Naga dish
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SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
The meals was merely cooked — and very good. It was not as gentle because it was the final time, however scrumptious nonetheless. The pork, as an illustration, was lined with delicate fats, and got here in gravy tempered largely with chillies. The boiled greens — cabbage and beans — have been crisp and mildly candy, and ably complemented the chillies within the gravy. The rooster, once more, was properly cooked. The items have been giant and tender, however the gravy was the identical: skinny and scorching. The masoor dal was cooked the way in which we put together it at residence, well-mashed, and with simply a few primary spices.
The server instructed me that it will be advisable to name earlier than going there for lunch, in order that the kitchen might put together the dishes prematurely, otherwise you would know what was on the menu that day. The menu contains such delicacies as pork ribs, however you gained’t at all times discover these dishes prepared — so it’s good to offer them discover.
I paid ₹800 for the 2 thalis. Pork ribs are for ₹600 a plate. There’s a Nagaland House in RK Puram, too — however there once more you need to e book prematurely.
I bear in mind the time when there have been no Naga meals retailers in Delhi. I had some good Naga pals who made a scrumptious chutney with roasted birds, and that was my introduction to Naga meals. Then, the chums would convey smoked pork from Nagaland — and I bear in mind how delectable that was.
Now, in fact, there are lots of massive and small eateries unfold throughout town. Nagaland’s Kitchen in Green Park is thought for its meals (it has a Naga part with dishes comparable to rooster with bamboo shoots wrapped in a banana leaf and crisp pork stomach with dry fish chutney). Humayunpur in South Delhi is a hub of North-Eastern meals. The chilli quotient is excessive, and the ultra-hot bhoot jolokia or ghost pepper is sort of a favoured chilli. The meals of Nagaland heats up the abdomen, little doubt. But it additionally warms the cockles of the center.
Nagaland House; 29, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Road; 7am to 9.30am, 12pm to 2.30pm, and seven.30pm to 9.30pm; Call 8800134093
Published – February 27, 2025 10:13 pm IST
