COLONIAL COOKIES, LAUKI LADDOOS IN DEHRADUN
Four years ago, a small group of heritage enthusiasts from Dehradun started an organisation called Been There Doon That. “The city was being modernised,” says Lokesh Ohri, a cofounder, “so we started conducting walks to help people discover hidden treasures.”
Food soon got woven in too. The walk now starts at Dehradun’s Paltan Bazaar. “When British platoons began arriving here in the 1850s, they camped here and this market grew up nearby,” says Ohri.
The first dish to be sampled is the green and distinctly Dehraduni lauki ka laddoo at Kumar Sweets, whose family is originally from Rawalpindi in Pakistan.
Like them many people came to the Doon valley and settled here after Partition. Apart from food, some of them sell things like dry fruits, says Ohri. They then proceed to Chaatwali Gully, familiar from the many times it has featured in stories by Doon’s much-loved resident author, Ruskin Bond. Next is one of the oldest bakeries in the city, Sunrise Bakers, whose pista cookies are legendary. “We move on then to the katlamba, originally from Pakistan and a special delicacy in Dehradun.” These are thick, large, deep-fried and multi-layered puris served with dry chole and a fermented carrot pickle. Chetan Puriwala is the next destination where people eat aate ka laddoo, a traditional sweet made with wheat, jaggery and dry fruit.
The walk ends in the middle of the bazaar with Bolti Bandh paan, so big that you can’t talk while eating it!