Gali Paranthe Wali or Paranthe wali Gali (, literally "the bylane of

flatbread A flatbread is bread made usually with flour; water, milk, yogurt, or other liquid; and salt, and then thoroughly rolled into flattened dough. Many flatbreads are Unleavened bread, unleavened, although some are leavened, such as pita bread. A Se ...

") is a narrow

street A street is a public thoroughfare in a city, town or village, typically lined with Building, buildings on one or both sides. Streets often include pavements (sidewalks), pedestrian crossings, and sometimes amenities like Street light, streetligh ...

in the

Chandni Chowk The Chandni Chowk (meaning Moonlight Square) is one of the oldest and busiest markets in Old Delhi, India. There is another location in Pune with the name Chandani Chowk. Located close to the Old Delhi railway station, the Mughal-era Red Fort ...

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, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its right bank, Del ...

, noted for its series of shops selling

paratha Paratha (, also parantha/parontah) is a flatbread native to the Indian subcontinent, with earliest reference mentioned in early medieval Sanskrit, India. It is one of the most popular flatbreads in the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East. ...

, an Indian flatbread.

History

Gali Paranthe Wali is located in

, which was established in 1650 during the reign of the

Mughal Emperor The emperors of the Mughal Empire, who were all members of the Timurid dynasty (House of Babur), ruled the empire from its inception on 21 April 1526 to its dissolution on 21 September 1857. They were supreme monarchs of the Mughal Empire in ...

Shah Jahan Shah Jahan I, (Shahab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram; 5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), also called Shah Jahan the Magnificent, was the Emperor of Hindustan from 1628 until his deposition in 1658. As the fifth Mughal emperor, his reign marked the ...

, and designed by his daughter,

Jahanara Begum Jahanara Begum (23 March 1614 – 16 September 1681) was a princess of the Mughal Empire. She was the second and the eldest surviving child of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal. After Mumtaz Mahal's untimely death in 1631, the 17-ye ...

. Previously, this lane was known only for its

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

ware shops, before the Parantha shops moved in, starting in the 1870s, though many

sari A sari (also called sharee, saree or sadi)The name of the garment in various regional languages include: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * is a drape (cloth) and a women's garment in the Indian subcontinent. It consists of an un-sti ...

and

jewellery Jewellery (or jewelry in American English) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment such as brooches, ring (jewellery), rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the ...

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 Dariba Kalan (Hindi: दरीबा कलान, English: ''Street of the Incomparable Pearl''), is a 17th-century street in Chandni Chowk area of Old Delhi or Shahjahanbad. It lies within the walled city of Delhi, and connects the Chandni ...

, got the name Paranthewali Gali. In the years just after

independence Independence is a condition of a 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 status of ...

Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...

, and

Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit Vijay Lakshmi Pandit (''née'' Swarup Nehru; 18 August 1900 – 1 December 1990) was an Indian freedom fighter, diplomat and politician. She served as the 8th President of the United Nations General Assembly from 1953 to 1954, the first woman a ...

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, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

actor

Akshay Kumar Akshay Hari Om Bhatia (born Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia; 9 September 1967), known professionally as Akshay Kumar (), is an Indian actor and film producer working in Hindi cinema. Referred to in the media as "Khiladi Kumar", through his career span ...

used to live in the area. Flight lieutenant Tapan Kapoor of the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the air force, air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during armed conflicts. It was officially established on 8 Octob ...

who martyred 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'' , from Latin ), 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 onion which was classifie ...

garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plants in the genus '' Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chives, Welsh onion, and Chinese onion. Garlic is native to central and south Asia, str ...

, since the owners are Brahmins, and traditionally their clientele has included

Jains Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion whose three main pillars are nonviolence (), asceticism (), and a rejection of all simplistic and one-sided views of truth and reality (). Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and ...

in the neighborhood. Varieties include exotic fillings like '' kaju'', '' badam'', '' matar'', Mix Paranthas, ''

rabri ''Rabri'', Rabdi or Rabidi (IAST: Rabaḍī) is a sweet, condensed-milk-based dish, originating from the Indian subcontinent, made by boiling milk on low heat for a long time until it becomes dense and changes its colour to off-white or pale ye ...

'', ''

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 Dahi (curd), yogurt–based beverage with a smoothie-like consistency. It has been called "the most popular and traditional yogurt-based drink" in India. It has also been described as the form in which yogurt "is most cherished ...

'', often served in

kulhar A ''kulhar'' (Hindustani language, Hindi: कुल्हड़ and Urdu: کلہڑ) or ''kulhad'', ''matir bhar'' () or simply ''bhar'' (), sometimes called a ''shikora'', is a traditional handleless pottery cup from South Asia that is typically ...

s, is also a specialty of this place. Lassi at paranthe wali gali

References

External links

History of Paranthe Wali Gali

Best Paratha Restaurants

Trip to the Gali Paranthe Wali
Culture of Delhi Tourist attractions in Delhi Streets in Delhi Restaurant districts and streets in India {{Coord, 28, 39, 21, N, 77, 13, 47, E, display=title