Tadka maar ke

Punjabi food sans the oil and ghee? Quite possible. Go to Barakhamba Road

Oodles of butter, copious amounts of ghee, enormous quantities of oil in which one might just be able to swim -- these are but the few images that comes to one's mind when we say Punjabi food.


The decor betrays nothing Punjabi

In fact, the cuisine is notorious for its generous use of spices and oil. Something that most of us relish having in roadside dhabas when we are out on road trips, or simply when we want some good old comfort food. And I will not even get started on butter chicken.

But wait a minute, you are one of the health-conscious breed? One that watches and weighs every calorie that goes inside? Then obviously Punjabi food is not to be touched even with a bargepole? Wrong. We tried the good old Punjabi food sans its usual mega calories and loved it. And no, the lack of oil, butter and ghee did not take away from the taste.

Fly away
We were at The Lalit which is currently hosting a Punjabi food festival. But hang on, if you are looking for trappings which are distinctly Punjabi, you will be disappointed. Coz there is no kuri serving you in her traditional salwar suit, no group of dancers doing balle balle.

But there is the matki, which serves chhach and lassi on demand. We stuck to very fresh watermelon juice, but that's another story. The elaborate meal began with chicken shorba which was hot and spicy and all that all right, but where was the chicken? The soup was happily devoid of the bird after which it was named. And it was served with breads, like you would have with Continental fare. Negative marking there.u00a0
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Take off time
Starters comprised Amritsari fish made from very fresh pomfret sourced from Delhi markets but which could have been better had it been boneless. Imagine trying to get past the fine bones with a knife and fork and you would understand the plight. Then there were some very juicy Seekh kebabs, not as spicy as you would get in your local kebab corner, but delicious all the same. The chef says he kept it less spicy deliberately keeping increasing awareness about health in mind.

In fact, the entire menu has been designed keeping in mind the fact that people are getting more health conscious by the day. For the main course, we were overwhelmed with choice and since all of them looked very tempting, we thought of going for a bit of everything. So we nibbled at some extremely soft Dhabe wala paneer which was spicy enough not to make you head for the loo. The Maa ki daal, though, was nothing writing home about.u00a0

Do not miss the Palak chicken, which is totally worth double and triple helpings. The same goes
for the Rara gosht which was tender and cooked with just the right amount of spices. Team these
with some delicious Wadi Pulao and Meat wale chawal and you are all set for a mind-blowing dinner.

At: 24/7 Restaurant, The Lalit, Barakhamba Road
On till: January 23
Timings: 12.30pm-3 pm (lunch) and 7.30 pm-11.30pm (dinner)
Ring: 4444 7777
Price: Rs 1,850 plus taxes