Traditional recipes

Tandoor-roasted chicken simmered in a smooth tomato, butter and cream sauce, the dish that made Delhi's Punjabi restaurants famous.

Whole black urad and a little rajma, slow-cooked for hours and finished with butter and cream; Delhi's richest dal.

Chicken marinated in curd and spices and roasted in a clay tandoor until smoky and charred at the edges.

Mutton shank stewed overnight with a special spice blend into a thick, silky gravy, eaten early in the morning around Jama Masjid.

Spiced minced meat pressed onto long skewers and grilled over charcoal, sold from the busy kebab stalls of Old Delhi.

Large mutton chops marinated in spiced curd and roasted in the tandoor until smoky and tender.

Mutton braised in curd, browned onions and whole spices into a rich, oily gravy; eaten with khamiri roti in Old Delhi.

A soft, slightly sour leavened flatbread baked in the tandoor, the usual bread with nihari and qorma in Old Delhi.

Spiced dried white peas topped with onion, tomato and lemon, eaten with soft, toasted kulchas; a favourite Delhi street meal.

Stuffed parathas deep-fried in ghee in an iron kadhai, served with potato-pumpkin sabzi and banana-tamarind chutney, as made in Chandni Chowk's famous lane.

Small, crisp puris of semolina and flour eaten with sweet suji halwa and spicy potato sabzi; a winter breakfast of Old Delhi.

Flaky, deep-fried kachoris stuffed with spiced urad dal, served with a thin, tangy potato curry; a classic breakfast of Old Delhi's halwais.

Crisp fried wafers topped with potato, chickpeas, curd and sweet and green chutneys; the best-known chaat of Delhi.

Soft urad dal dumplings soaked in water and smothered in sweet curd, chutneys and spices.

Small, hollow, crisp puris filled with potato and chickpeas and dipped in tangy, spiced mint water; Delhi's favourite street snack.

Crisp moong and chana dal fritters topped with grated radish, green chutney and lemon; a winter street snack of Delhi.

Potato cubes fried or roasted until crisp and tossed with chaat masala, lemon, chutneys and coriander.

Sweet potatoes roasted over coals, sliced and tossed with lemon, chaat masala and black salt; a simple winter street snack.

Hollowed-out fruits and vegetables such as cucumber, tomato, potato and banana, filled with chickpeas and pomegranate and sprinkled with spices.

A cloud-light froth of sweetened milk and cream, whipped in the cold winter night and topped with saffron, khoya and nuts; sold only in winter in Old Delhi.

Ghee-fried bread soaked in sugar syrup and covered with thick, saffron-scented rabri; a royal Mughlai dessert of Old Delhi.

Chilled milk with rose syrup and small cubes of watermelon, a pink summer cooler sold from carts in Old Delhi.

A tangy, cooling drink of cumin, mint, black salt and tamarind or dried mango, sold from earthen pots in Delhi's summers.

Milk simmered for hours in a wide iron kadhai, sweetened, flavoured with saffron and served hot with a layer of malai.

Goat liver stir-fried with onions, tomatoes and spices until dry and dark; an Old Delhi favourite, especially on Eid-ul-Adha.

Milk reduced slowly in a wide pan until thick, with layers of cream folded in, flavoured with cardamom and nuts; a favourite sweet of Old Delhi's halwais.