spice |

After the rainy coast and mellow vibe of Goa, Shefali and I made our way to one of the more picturesque and well touristed states of India: Rajasthan. Rajasthan translates to the Land of Kings (or kingdoms) so, every couple days we went to another city (formerly it’s own kingdom) and checked out the old forts and palaces that these Rajput kings built over hundreds of years. I will remember this part of our trip as Rajasthani Fort Tour 2011 (RFT 2011). (Please view scores and scores of fort and palace photos.)
Our first stop was the capital city Jaipur which was decidedly less mellow than Goa. Known as The Pink City, Jaipur could also be known as That Crazy City Where People Hustle You All The Time (especially if you’re a tourist). Don’t get me wrong. I would have hustled me too if I could have seen how clueless and touristy I looked half the time. Once you pass the city walls and enter the Old City, Jaipur is a feast for the eyes, the ears and the nose: women in bright colored saris buy produce of all sorts, cows amble by sharing the road with cars, rickshaws, scooters, bikes and people and vendors sell everything you can imagine from mountains of chilis to sewing machines and salvaged and “refurbished” umbrellas. Though a bit jarring, especially coming after mellow Goa, Jaipur was in retrospect a good entry point into Rajasthan because it’s where we fully embraced our tourist status and took to site seeing like it was a full time job visiting all the major attractions (Juntar Muntar, Amber Palace, Jaigarh Fort, Nahargah Fort, etc) in just two days. From Jaipur, we took a train (an interesting experience in and of itself ) to the desert city of Jaisalmer where we toured the old city fort and went on one of those touristy camel tours which actually ended up being super fun. Then we trained it to the Blue City of Jodhpur which turned out to be my favorite city in Rajasthan because most of the forts and monuments were within easy walking distance – thus no haggling with a rickshaw driver – and I enjoyed navigating the narrow alley ways of the old city. Our final stop on the Rajasthani tour was the picturesque lakeside city of Udaipur, most well known among Westerners – and touted by all the hotels and guest houses in town – because much of the action of one of the best James Bond movies starring Roger Moore was shot there. I’m of course speaking of “Octopussy“.

It’s fair to say that by the end of RFT 2011 tour I had pretty serious case of fort fatigue. I mean they were amazing places to behold, but after the umpteenth viewing of the various Rajputs’ dedazzled private chambers or ornate public meeting hall, I just couldn’t find it in myself too get excited. But fortunately, we had ample food to fuel us on our site seeing adventures. I can’t necessarily put my finger on what Rajasthani food is and how it differs so much from other Indian cuisines. We ate a lot of thali dinners with their combindation of dhal, rice, chapati or naan and veggies. Sometimes we’d seek out nonveg places to get our fix of chicken tikka or lamb saag (spinach). While it didn’t blow me away, there were some stand out meals. I especially enjoyed the all you can eat thali dinners at a very local restaurant called Chandan Shree, in Jaisalmer and which became our go to spot in the desert town. I also enjoyed the spicy lamb and chicken at Kashmiri Spice Dhaba, a dive joint in Jodhpur where I stuffed my face sweating into my food while Shefali got more and more heated (pissed off) by the unwanted oggling of a drunken customer seated behind me. Also, the snack foods (samosas, aloo tikki and other deep fried treats) were really good. Please enjoy the following photos of some of the more memorable meals.

: A cyber cafe in Jaipur that serves deep fried snacks!

: Fresh produce in the old city of Jaipur

: Bags and bags of chilis

: This guy has a strong neck.

: The ubiquitous street snack, pani puri.

: Snack shop in Jaipur

: Samosa and aloo tikki stuffed with lentils.

: Our first thali dinner at an all veg restaurant called the Four Seasons.

: I orderd this massive thali dinner at Chandan Shree in Jaisalmer.

: Chandan Shree: our favorite restaurant in Jaisalmer.

: Shef poses with our regular waiter at Chandan Shree.

: Camel riding in the Thar Desert outside Jaisalmer.

: This was where we stopped for lunch.

: Amaan, our resourceful camel guide and cook.

: Desert linch: spicy vegetables, Maggo noodles and freshly made chapati.

: Amaan prepares a dinner.

: Laal maans (spicy mutton) and butter chicken at Kalinga restaurant in Jodhpur

: Kashmiri Spice Dhaba: total dive but tasty food

: Kashmiri spice was no joke. This food was off the hook spice-wise.

: Perhaps you want a little lamb wit your chili oil?

: I’m feeling the spice!

: Deep fried chili pepper: what’s not to love? (my mouth waters as I type).

: Shai Samosa: these guys know how to fry!

: These samosas were the best we had on our entire trip. So fresh (and hot!) and so good.

: I wait patiently for a coconut lassie.

After Bombay, Shefali and I spent a few days days visiting her cousin who teaches at a school at an ashram about an hour’s drive outside Coimbature, Tamil Nadu. Spending time in an environment dedicated to the spiritual teachings of a single guru was “enlightening”, to say the least, but the communal eating part of the ashram, while enjoyable – like one enjoys school cafeterias – left me wanting. Specifically, I was wanting to eat meat. Fortunately, our next stop was Goa where we hoped to chill on the beach and eat delicious food. We were fifty percent successful in our plan. You see, while we knew traveling in India during the monsoon season would make for some rainy and wet weather, we did not quite anticipate how much the seasonal storms would affect the normally crystalline waters and tranquil beaches for which this Indian state is known. The ocean was rough and choppy, with dangerous riptides. So while there was a pseudo-romantic walk or two on the beach ( view more Goa pictures), there was no beach lounging or swimming. We had to drown our sorrows, by snacking a lot. We ate plenty of regular Indian fare or course. For example, we found the best kathi roll of the entire whole trip in Candolim at the only restaurant we could find open (it was surprising how many businesses were closed during the monsoon season). But as a former Portuguese colony, Goa has a rich culinary traditional blending the bold flavors and wine and vinegar marinades of Portuguese cooking with the spice of Indian cuisine. So we made a point to seek out Goan dishes and order them if we could. We didn’t always strike gold but that could have been due more to where we were eating (again, it was tough to find open places during the low season), but there were definitely some stand out fantastic dishes. Unfortunately I didn’t document them so well, but they were (in no particular order of preference: pork vindaloo, chicken cafreal, pork balchao. The high point was eating at Viva Panjim in Goa’s capital city of Paniji. It’s run by this wonderful woman named Linda D’Souza who retired from teaching in Bombay to open up her restaurant in her family home and based many of the dishes on family recipes. She was super cool. Please enjoy the photos below for more visual stimulation. Be sure to click on the thumbnails for full sized photos and more in depth descriptions.