I love my mother's cooking,but i have always refused to take a dinner tiffin to eat on the train to bombay.Ever since my mom was made to sample dinner a la konkan kanya,she stopped even offering the tiffin.
The pantry service of the konkan railway is a real revolution in railway catering.Good food,lots of food,and cheap.When you board the train at about 6,you can sip your tea with batatawadas or onion pakodas that smell like heaven.
Around dinner,the options increase with fries,veg methi kababs and (gasp!)chicken lolipops.The fries are soggy,the lolipops OD on batter but the methi kababs have quite a fan following-a british lady once ate 3 plates of the kababs for dinner.You also have the option of tomato soup with a dainty breadstick.
Keep space for dinner.Today i braved a grumbling tummy and bird flu fears for the chicken thali.The chicken is melt in your mouth,the gravy is spiced with lots of onion,garlic and ginger paste and good ol garam masala.Most importantly,they get the trick to a great gravy right-the chicken is cooked in the gravy,not just boiled and thrown in.
The thali has 6 compartments-2 for the chicken,one for 2 tough chapatis,one for slightly undercooked rice,one for sour pickle and one for even more sour curd.Cut them some slack,its the railways!The veg biriyani is outstanding too-long grained rice cooked till just right with crisp but cooked vegetables and a delicious spice paste with fried onions.The whole spices are not to be missed!I find the chicken in the biriyani too tough though my dad loves it.The veg thali is usually good but today when i peeped at my neighbours thali it looked like a whole lot of dal to me...
The pantry service of the konkan railway is a real revolution in railway catering.Good food,lots of food,and cheap.When you board the train at about 6,you can sip your tea with batatawadas or onion pakodas that smell like heaven.
Around dinner,the options increase with fries,veg methi kababs and (gasp!)chicken lolipops.The fries are soggy,the lolipops OD on batter but the methi kababs have quite a fan following-a british lady once ate 3 plates of the kababs for dinner.You also have the option of tomato soup with a dainty breadstick.
Keep space for dinner.Today i braved a grumbling tummy and bird flu fears for the chicken thali.The chicken is melt in your mouth,the gravy is spiced with lots of onion,garlic and ginger paste and good ol garam masala.Most importantly,they get the trick to a great gravy right-the chicken is cooked in the gravy,not just boiled and thrown in.
The thali has 6 compartments-2 for the chicken,one for 2 tough chapatis,one for slightly undercooked rice,one for sour pickle and one for even more sour curd.Cut them some slack,its the railways!The veg biriyani is outstanding too-long grained rice cooked till just right with crisp but cooked vegetables and a delicious spice paste with fried onions.The whole spices are not to be missed!I find the chicken in the biriyani too tough though my dad loves it.The veg thali is usually good but today when i peeped at my neighbours thali it looked like a whole lot of dal to me...
6 comments:
Sounds interesting even though I am a veggie.
It has been a while since I travelled by rail but I spent the best part of my first thirty years using Indian Railways thrice a year from Delhi to Madras.
As a kid I'd insist upon "train food" including the "platform goodies" much to my mother's consternation.
That was the way I eneded up tasting my first omlette (in the dining car of Taj Express in 1968 or 69) and have been a fan of the hot puri-subzi with kullad chai at Jhansi station at 2.00 am in the morning/night.
The last time I travelled was in a Rajdhani to Hyderabad in 2003. The food and service was terrific. But yes, the wafer-thin chappatis can be unwholesomely leathery.
Hey Soulberry,
Train food certainly has its own charm. Experienced travellers even know what you should buy at each station. For instance, the Biriyani at Daund Station is an institution in itself. But since you are a veggie, if you're ever on the Konkan route, don't miss the veg biriyani.
And when you think about it, its amazing how pathetic airline food can be :)
Isn't it? I really wonder why airlines can't do a little better with their food.
Train food beats them if you know what to eat where!
The Delhi-Madras journey always had amazing points of reference as regards food.
Close to Madras, the train would often halt at unscheduled stops...small stations...because it would either be early or late. Back in those days, one could get a skin-cooked banana preparation there which were wonderful. The bananas themselves were large...really large and their skins were orange coloured.
It has been more than 15 years since I travelled to Madras on this route.
Then I'll never forget the skin-roasted cashewnuts at Kazipet jn. Coupled with black grapes available there...whoo...I'd look forward in anticipation since the train would leave Wardha.
Down south...any station serves some very good idlis and coffee on their platform cafes.
that thali looks pretty good given it's train food! my exp on food from the Pantry was never good though. back in the college days when i travelled a lot to and fro from Bengalooru, the delicious hoggable items were always imported from the house!!
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