Good eats on the Rickshaw Run.

“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.”

— Luciano Pavarotti and William Wright

Before leaving for India, a friend who did the Rickshaw Run last year sent me a few emails with advice, tips and [un]cautionary tales. One of the things he said was that while I should go veggie to avoid getting sick, it wouldn’t be a decision I’d regret–that the food was some of the best he’d ever had.

And guess what…he wasn’t wrong.

So here we go with the top ten meals consumed whilst rattling our way across India in a tin can–I just hope you’re not hungry.

1. Aloo paratha with kurd in Shillong

On our third morning in India, having transferred from the Pinewood Hotel to a local guesthouse, we explored a new part of Shillong and discovered Grazia Restaurant. There we feasted on a spread of aloo paratha–paratha essentially being a savoury pancake and “aloo” meaning curried potatoes–with kurd.

The first time Citlalli ordered this I was somewhat frightened to see what arrived…only to find it’s just plain white yoghurt, which happens to go splendidly with the crispy, salty pancakes.

2. Veg biryani in Falakata, West Bengal

After a morning of breakdowns [epic quote coming from Hisham #1: “The rickshaw must know we’re Arabs…why else would we keep running out of petrol?”], we pulled into this roadside hotel in Falakata, for lunch. I went with what has become my classic stand-by: a mix of roasted vegetables and rice with just the right mix of spices for some kick. The spices are what take a biryani one level up from fried rice.

3. Dal and curried potatoes with chapati in Ballia, Bihar

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJXBpL51h68

What swiftly became my favorite part of our days on the road were lunches at a dhaba, the Indian equivalent to a roadside diner or truck stop. While mostly Punjabi drivers snoozed on rope beds in the shade, we devoured cheap, filling meals of dal (a sort of thick lentil stew… “I don’t ever want to see another lentil again,” joked another team) and chapati. I fell in love with this dhaba cook named Mohan as he made our flour tortillas right in front of us one day–take a look at the video and you will, too.

4. Masala chai in Ballia, Bihar

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heTXcDypPn4

Okay, so I know this isn’t technically a meal, but I think we all drank enough chai throughout the run to equal one (or even two or three…). After Mohan made us lunch, his ten-year old son Deepak brewed up some of the steamy, spicy, milky-sweet tea for us. While Tariq of the Blue Camels insists it’s unhealthy (“It’s all milk…there’s barely any tea in it!”), I couldn’t and still can’t get enough of it.

5. Matar paneer outside Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh

If there is one food I have absolutely fallen in love with so far it is paneer–a fresh, unaged Indian cheese [kind of like cottage cheese] that is most often served in thick cubes. The paneer section on a menu normally features at least ten different types–chilli paneer, paneer pakora [fried], paneer korma–but what this cook stirred up is matar paneer, or paneer with green peas.

6. Aloo paratha [round two] in Tikait Nager, Uttar Pradesh

Setting out towards Agra halfway through the run, we eventually stopped for a mid-morning chai break. As we sat down in the shade, we all realized how hungry we were.

And so we turned to possibly the sweet dhaba cook ever named Akhilesh–and his son Mahesh–to cook up some paratha for us. But why feature it again? Rather than keep the pancake and potato separate like it was in Shillong, Akhilesh rolled all the filling into the balls of dough before frying them.

7. Puri bhaji in Dubbhi, Rajasthan

Nambi, one of the guys from the Illegal Immigrants, made us try chaat, typical Indian snacks, at this restaurant on the way to Jaipur. Puri bhaji is one type of chat, a mix of boiled potatoes and spices served with miniature rolls that tasted exactly like warm buttered hamburger buns.

8. Lattes outside Jaipur

Yes, I’m cheating again, but I thought I’d counter all of our more authentic meal experiences with a trip to Coffee Day–essentially the Indian Starbucks. The Immigrants insisted on stopping here for a half-hour break outside of Jaipur to have their first real coffee all trip. If it helps our credibility at all, Citlalli and I at least drank chai…

9. Cheese-tomato-onion omelette in Jodhpur

You can’t go to Jodhpur without eating an omelette–or so it seemed as they suddenly exploded onto menus. We opted for a roof-top restaurant at a small guesthouse where Mr. Prakesh himself cooked our omelettes…one by one by one. It only took an hour and a half to get us all fed that morning, but at least they were worth the wait.

10. Rajasthani thali in Jaisalmer

A thali is a traditional Indian way of serving a meal (thali meaning ‘plate’). All are presented on large steel circular trays; some will then have small bowls lining the perimeter with different dishes in each, or the tray itself will have built-in compartments.

This Rajasthani thali featured (and I’m going clockwise here): rice, ker sangari vegetable (which looked like twigs), kadi pakora (ground chick-pea flour deep fried, then put into yoghurt and mustard), gatta curry (more fried doughballs), and chapati and poppadom, with a little kurd in the middle to top it all off.

So when my mom asks, “Have you lost weight yet?” I think we all know what the answer is…