Gali Paranthe Wali or Paranthe wali Gali ( hi, गली पराँठेवाली, literally "the bylane of
flatbread") is a narrow
street in the
Chandni Chowk
The Chandni Chowk, also known as Moonlight Square is one of the oldest and busiest markets in Old Delhi, India. It is located close to the Old Delhi Railway Station. The Red Fort monument is located at the eastern end of Chandni Chowk. It was b ...
area of
Delhi, India
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
, noted for its series of shops selling
paratha
Paratha () is a flatbread native to South Asia, prevalent throughout the modern-day nations of India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, Fiji, Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad a ...
, an Indian flatbread.
History
Gali Paranthe Wali is located in
Chandni Chowk
The Chandni Chowk, also known as Moonlight Square is one of the oldest and busiest markets in Old Delhi, India. It is located close to the Old Delhi Railway Station. The Red Fort monument is located at the eastern end of Chandni Chowk. It was b ...
, which was established in 1650 during the reign of the
Mughal Emperor
The Mughal emperors ( fa, , Pādishāhān) were the supreme heads of state of the Mughal Empire on the Indian subcontinent, mainly corresponding to the modern countries of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The Mughal rulers styled t ...
,
Shah Jahan, and designed by his daughter,
Jahanara Begum
Jahanara Begum (23 March 1614 – 16 September 1681) was a Mughal Empire, Mughal princess and later the Padshah Begum of the Mughal Empire from 1631 to 1658 and again from 1668 until her death. She was the second and the eldest surviving child o ...
.
Previously, this lane was known only for its
silver
Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...
ware shops, before the Parantha shops moved in, starting in the 1870s, though many
sari
A sari (sometimes also saree or shari)The name of the garment in various regional languages include:
* as, শাৰী, xārī, translit-std=ISO
* bn, শাড়ি, śāṛi, translit-std=ISO
* gu, સાડી, sāḍī, translit-std ...
and
jewellery
Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry (U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a wester ...
shops remain.
Of the 20 parantha shops in the late 1960s (all belonging to branches of the same family), three remain: Pt Kanhaiyalal Durgaprasad Dixit (established 1875), Pt Dayanand Shivcharan (established 1882). Pt Baburam Devidayal Paranthewale (established 1886). By 1911, this area, known as Chota Dariba or
Dariba Kalan, got the name Paranthewali Gali. In the years just after
independence
Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...
,
Jawaharlal Nehru
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat—
*
*
*
* and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...
,
Indira Gandhi, and
Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit
Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit (''née'' Swarup Nehru; 18 August 1900 – 1 December 1990) was an Indian diplomat and politician who was the 6th Governor of Maharashtra from 1962 to 1964 and 8th President of the United Nations General Assembly from 19 ...
came to take their parantha meals in this gali. In the late 1980s many of them closed shop and moved out, though today the street is experiencing a revival and some shops are being run by the sixth generation of the same family.
Bollywood
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...
actor
Akshay Kumar
Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia (born 9 September 1967), known professionally as Akshay Kumar (), is an Indian-born naturalised Canadian Quote: "(Former prime minister Stephen) Harper campaigned in 2011 alongside one of Modi's biggest celebrity backer ...
used to live in the area. Flight lieutenant Tapan Kapoor of the Indian Air Force who died in a rescue operation at Uttarakhand on 25 June 2013 was also a resident of Paranthe Wali Galli.
Food
Cooked dishes do not include
onion
An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onio ...
or
garlic, since the owners are Brahmins, and traditionally their clientele has included
Jains
Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...
in the neighborhood. Varieties include exotic fillings like ''
kaju'', ''
badam'', ''
matar'', Mix Paranthas, ''
rabri'', ''
khoya
Khoa, khoya, khowa or mawa is a dairy food widely used in the cuisines of the Indian subcontinent, encompassing India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan. It is made of either dried whole milk or milk thickened by heating in an open iron pan. It is l ...
'' parantha, ''
gobhi'' parantha, and parat parantha.
[http://www.chillibreeze.com/articles/ACulinaryCruise.asp . A culinary cruise down Chandni Chowk] The parantha is always served with sweet tamarind chutney, mint chutney, mixed vegetable pickle, paneer and potato curry, potato and fenugreek curry, and a sauteed mash of sweet pumpkin.
Drinks
Sweet ''
lassi
Lassi () is a regional name for buttermilk, the traditional dahi (yogurt)–based drink, consumed in the South Asian region. Lassi is a blend of yogurt, water, spices, and sometimes fruit. Salty lassi is similar to doogh, while modern sweet l ...
'', often served in
kulhars, is also a specialty of this place.
External links
History of Paranthe Wali GaliBest Paratha RestaurantsTrip to the Gali Paranthe Wali{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211023140723/https://www.shalusharma.com/parathe-wali-gali-old-delhi/ , date=23 October 2021
References
Culture of Delhi
Tourist attractions in Delhi
Streets in Delhi
Restaurant districts and streets in India