Khaana Khazanna- the place is a brisk 15 minute walk from home, located right next to a vegetable shop. Open only in the evening, sometimes I'd stop by and pick up piping hot aloo parathas. A generous amount of stuffing encased in dough and cooked in very little oil. The lady at the stall would give a packet of watery curd, what she calls raita, but back home, we'd eat it with thick curd and mango pickle. One paratha was just right for one person.
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| The making of a phulka |
The enterprising couple that runs this stall, Narendra and Archana, are a treat to watch. The stall itself is on an 8 foot by 4 foot platform. With ease of practice, Archana rolls out the dough, Narendra cooks it on the tava and their helper whips out a plate, lines it, places the paratha on it and hands it over to the customer with a cup of raita. Between serving customers who have come there to eat and packing take away orders, Archana tells me they had set up shop at the Besantnagar beach. It was a popular stall but eventually they had to close down. For the next 4 years, they were supplying packed lunches to corporates located on the Old Mahabalipuram Road. Nine months ago, they moved to the present location at Thiruvanmiyur.
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| Stuffed parathas on the tava |
They have a kitchen nearby where they do all the preparatory work during the day - fillings for the parathas, samosas, kachoris and the cutting and chopping necessary to set up shop in the evening. She makes her own chaat and garam masalas. No ready made wheat flour for them- they buy the wheat and get it ground. The dough for the phulkas is also made ahead and brought to the stall in the evening.
We ordered a paneer paratha. Nothing like eating it hot off the tava. Soft and delicious.
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| Piping hot paratha |
Next, there was a phulka with vegetable curry. It was devoured in a minute, the curry was mild flavoured, with diced potatoes, cauliflower, carrot and peas and thankfully not overcooked. Then we ordered a spicy samosa chaat. So glad we did, the samosa was crisp in places and soft where the tamarind chutney had soaked through. My non spice-eating son loved it so much that he ordered a second one!
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| Paneer paratha and yummy samosa chaat |
In between orders for phulkas and vegetable curry and pau bhaji, I learnt that cooking is in Narendra's blood- his father and grandfather were great cooks who could add the perfect amount of masalas to a dish even when blindfolded! Archana has completed a 3 year diploma course in Food Production from SRM University. Her brother used to lend a hand in running the stall but now works in another line.
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| The menu |
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| Always a crowd in front of the stall |
| Rice kheer as there were no gulab jamuns |
I thought the prices were very reasonable- our total bill for the evening was Rs. 95/-
We went to the Ibaco store next door for ice cream. For 2 ice creams with no toppings, the bill was 172/-
Nothing like a brisk 15 minute walk back home.
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