Birthday lunches are usually heavy affairs — filled with particular dishes cooked in elaborate methods. And that’s the reason I keep 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 evenly 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 comfortable to know that it was accessible that day. The server knowledgeable me that the menu included a pork thali and a hen thali. We opted for each, and shortly there was an array of dishes in entrance of me — hen 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 excellent. It was not as mild because it was the final time, however scrumptious nonetheless. The pork, as an illustration, was lined with gentle fats, and got here in gravy tempered largely with chillies. The boiled greens — cabbage and beans — had been crisp and mildly candy, and ably complemented the chillies within the gravy. The hen, once more, was effectively cooked. The items had been massive 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 fundamental spices.
The server advised me that it might be advisable to name earlier than going there for lunch, in order that the kitchen might put together the dishes upfront, 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 provide 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 it’s a must to guide upfront.
I keep in mind the time when there have been no Naga meals shops in Delhi. I had some good Naga mates who made a scrumptious chutney with roasted birds, and that was my introduction to Naga meals. Then, the buddies would deliver smoked pork from Nagaland — and I keep in mind how delectable that was.
Now, in fact, there are a lot of large and small eateries unfold throughout town. Nagaland’s Kitchen in Green Park is understood for its meals (it has a Naga part with dishes resembling hen 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 kind of a favoured chilli. The meals of Nagaland heats up the abdomen, little doubt. But it additionally warms the cockles of the guts.
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
