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When in Mathura, eat like the locals do
Here’s all that you can gorge on in the famed city of UP, which is synonymous with Lord Krishna and is known for its traditional fare
Our collective greed for food, somehow, could never match the appetite of our cousins in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh (UP). We could never match their four-gujiyas meal, which makes it, 16-a-day routine. My elder brother tried to compete once and after six in a day, he was on medication. It was only after a visit to my aunt’s place that I could see how we would never be able to match — leave alone beat — the sweet tooth of people in and around Mathura.
SWEET NOTHINGS
There would not be many places where you would see desserts becoming the whole meal. The palpable excitement in the air rubs on you too and you inadvertently find yourself waking up early in the morning, not for exercise, but to line up for the kachorisabzi breakfast. What initially to me was an overdose of heeng (asafoetida) in the potato curry accompanying the crisp kachoris with a filling of daal became a flavour I craved for in this combo elsewhere. A visit to Dwarkadhish temple would be followed by a walk down the street to the popular Brijwasi sweet shop.
While many would just go for its Peda, it was always its Gulaab laddoo that satiated my sweet tooth. A bite through the outer layer of gourd cooked in sugar syrup lead to the filling of gulkand. This layering of flavours and varying level of sweetness is still my go-to desert. Shankar Mithai Wala would be our lunch stop, and the thali of bedhai-pumpkin-chutney our staple.
The evenings were best spent gorging on crisp desi ghee aloo tikki, with a topping of boiled peas, sweet and sour chutneys, ginger, coriander and masala, after a round of thandai in the hot afternoon. It definitely is the time-taking ritual of grinding the thandai ingredients on a grindstone here — just like our grandfather used to — that makes it so flavourful and different from the bottled ones. Some days, we would skip the thandai for this dessert made of crushed ice, rabdi and rose essence, served in a kulhad. Despite abusing our system to such treats the whole day, while marvelling at the locals’ appetite in comparison (the polish off a 250gm bowl of gajar halwa or a dozen of gulaab jamuns so effortlessly), there was nothing that a round of golgappas could not settle or help in digesting. The magic again being the asafoetida here; all the chaat vendors serve golgappas with spicy water mixed with asafoetida.
TRADITIONAL ROUTE
Still, if the days of overeating start weighing heavily on the system, a quick trip to
Govardhand, around 20km from Mathura, for the 21-km parikrama (see box) should come handy. But let me warn you, the temptation would follow you there too. There you would be feeling proud of your fitness when you suddenly succumb to this aroma and then the taste of aloo jalebi near Jatipura. Made of mashed potatoes, unlike the regular flour version, these jalebis would haunt you if you see them and ignore. But, be assured, you won’t be able to. Equally fragile would be your willpower once you finish the Parikrama by the evening and see milk with dry fruits being boiled in huge woks and served in kulhads. Yet there won’t be a moment spent in regret; each delicacy you taste is an experience in itself. And, if it’s Mathura, limits are best left at home.