After devouring an entire box of Indian sweets with my roommates I feel the need to discuss how delicious the food is here.
We have a cook named Dinesh who makes every meal for us. His assistant cook is a 16-year old boy who we nicknamed Flip-flop. Whenever it’s meal time flip-flop brings the bowls of food upstairs to our dining area and FLYS down the stairs in his flip flops creating a loud slapping sound as his shoes smack every step. The obnoxious sound has become our “food is ready” indicator.
Both cooks were new when I got here, and I’ve noticed a significant improvement with their English. The only words Dinesh knew when he started was ‘yes’ and ‘sorry’. Now he can respond to ‘how are you?’, ‘what’s for dinner?’, and he understands our compliments on the food. Flip-flop didn’t know any English when he started. Then he started repeating words. For example, I would say: ‘good morning!’ and he’d go: ‘morning, morning, morning, morning’. Now, when we ask him: :”how was your day”, he will respond ” good, and you?”. It’s awesome.
We are provided three meals a day. Breakfast is from 8-9:30am, lunch at work is around 14:00 for me, and dinner is from 19:00-20:30 (they use military time here…I’m getting use to it I guess). There’s a filtered water machine at the house, and chai tea is usually available.
Breakfasts consist of chai tea, fruit and toast, and then eggs in varied forms, or French toast, or porridge. French toast and bananas is the best—there’s no syrup so I use the chai instead. It’s awesome.
Lunch is pre-packed in a lunch box before we leave for work. They have four canisters- one is always filled with 4 or 5 chipattis (India flatbread- it’s a staple), another filled with sliced cucumbers and tomatoes, the third is either sliced fruit or eggs, and the fourth is either dal, paneer, chole, rajma, curry or Gobhi aloo. Almost everything is eaten with your hands and chappatti, and there are never napkins. It was challenging at first and I would get food everywhere, but I’ve got the tactics down. I use a chipatti as a napkin sometimes. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do.
Dinner is always good, and it’s the meal everyone at camp typically eats together. Always good conversation at dinner time.The food is similar to the lunches. There’s always chapattis, basmati rice, and sliced cucumbers & tomatoes, and usually two main courses. Friday is pizza and fries day. Either Monday or Thursday will have a meat dish. I tried it the first week and was okay with the jagged bones thrown in. Then I found a lung, an entire pelvic bone, and possibly a liver… I haven’t gone back to the chicken ever since. It’s great that they don’t waste any of the animal, but the surprise organs are scary. I’ve been vegetarian for two months now, but i don’t mind. i miss buffalo sauce and bbq sauce which typically accompany meat, but the meat itself i don’t crave, surprisingly. Occasionally there will be a dessert- kheer (rice pudding), fried donut ball things, or coconut halwa.
Everything is so flavorful and delicious. Our cook started out with very little spicyness in the food, but has slowly been kicking it up a notch. I love it. The spicier the better for me! My favorites would probably be paneer, yellow dal, gobhi aloo, and of course the SWEETS.
There are sweet shops all over town, and conveniently (dangerously) a nice clean one by our house. The first time I went there I was extremely overwhelmed and a little freaked out by how everything looked. White and brown balls floating in a mysterious jelly syrup. Dense bars with crumbly colored bird food stuff on top. Some are so bizarre looking, I don’t even know how to describe them. I’ve found the appearance to be deceiving, because the ones i’ve tried have been delicious! My favorites are gulab jamun, barfi, and milk cake.
When we travel on the weekends we are able to experience other Indian food that we don’t get at the house. Thali is popular- it’s a hodge podge of many indian dishes, all on one plate. Its always way too much food, but its a great way to try things. Garlic naan is a favorite of mine. Malai Kofta is good too. Chocolate balls, and nutella pancakes are often on the menus for dessert. Lassis are also yummy. They’re a yogurt drink and come in many fruit flavors. A liter bottled water costs 15 rupees (30 cents). The lowest price i’ve seen on a Thali was 120 rupees (~$2.00) and it was goooooood. It’s not going to be easy paying $8 for a meal at Chipotle when I’m home.
When we’re craving western food we go to Anokhi Cafe or to the Big Bazaar. Anokhi Cafe is a rare find in Jaipur. It has salads that are safe to eat, pizzas, western desserts, sandwiches…etc. Big Bazaar is a supermarket near our house. They have a few western snacks-pringles, oreos, baked lays, nutella, peanut butter. They also have India versions of western snacks for much cheaper. We go there every once in a while if someone has a killer craving.
I am definitely going to miss the food when I’m home in Minnesota. It looks like the Indian restaurant near my house will have a new regular.