Spice route to chaaps
This is one advice that everyone listens to. When doctors and dietician say that include soya in your diet, most of the people agree and make a beeline to the nearest outlets dishing those soya delicacies. So far, it is true that soya has made an inroad into capital’s food street and looking at the number of outlets serving soya dishes, you can probably say that soya is the new substitute for non-vegetarian food.
Though we find soya in many forms — biscuits, milk, namkeen and more recently soya nuggets, chaaps seems to be the hot favourite option out of all. There is probably not a market left where you won’t find an outlet of Wah ji Wah, famous for its soya chaaps. Wah ji Wah alone has 35 outlets in Delhi and NCR. Another one, The Soya Express has opened up nearly 10 outlets since 2010 when it entered Delhi market. Fairly recent Pindi Soya – Wah Bhai Wah already has 5 outlets and is opening up many more in coming months. And they all are famous for serving variety of chaaps.
These number of outlets point towards growing craze for soya items, especially those spicy chaap variety. Ankur Bhargava, businessman, stops by any outlet serving chaap at least once in a week to satiate his taste buds. “I am a vegetarian and started eating soya chaaps recently. It’s not just a health reason but also a personal choice. I actually like the taste of soya rolled on an ice cream stick and marinated in spices or cream. I am a huge fan of Afgani chaap and many of my friends who are non-vegetarian tell me it tastes very similar to mutton,” says he.
And there is a variety of chaap to choose from — stuffed chaap, masala chaap, malai chaap, pudina chaap, achari chaap, tawa chaap and Afgani chaap.
Neeraj Kawatra, owner Gulshan Chaap Centre in Rohini sector 7, says many staunch vegetarians have started eating chaaps. “We started 5-years ago when soya chaap were not that well know. It was limited to raw chaaps available in the market and very few people will cook it at home. But of late, chaaps have become really famous and many people look for corners serving different variety. We introduced dry chaaps around the time when other outlets were servicing gravy chaaps,” says he. Gulshan chaap corner gave a twist to the existing delicacy by stuffing chaap with paneer or other filling before baking it in a tandoor. Once baked, they top it with some dry masala, tangy green chutney and lot of onion. “It’s the best substitute for non-vegetarian food and since we don’t fry it, people know it is a healthy option. We serve it with rumali roti,” adds Neeraj.
The Singla brothers, who started Eating Corner in Model Town in the 60’s, still dish out some of the best chaap varieties in Delhi. They have added mughlai and pudina chaap in their menu. “Our shop is famous for malai chaap and we make more than 35kg of chaap every day,” informed Surinder, one of the owners.
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