Gali Paranthe Wali[1] or Paranthe wali Gali (गली पराँठेवाली),[2] (literally "the bylane of fried bread") is the name of a narrow street in the Chandni Chowk area of Delhi, India, noted for its series of shops selling paratha, a fried Indian bread, and now a popular culinary destination.[3][4][5]
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Chandni Chowk was established in 1650 and was built along with the Red Fort under the Mughal Emperor, Shah Jahan.[3]
Earlier, this lane was known only for its silverware shops, before the Parantha shops moved in, first in the 1870s,[6] though many sari and jewellery shops are still in this lane.
Paranthe Wali Gali ("lane of parantha-makers") in Old Delhi is a famous gourmet locality in the world. The famous Mela restaurant in the UK has imitated this famous [[Gali|gali] and in Bombay the "Only Parathas" restaurant group is trying to copy the ambience of the Delhi lane.[7]
Of the 20 parantha shops in the late 1960s (all belonging to branches of the same family),[8] three remain: Pt Kanhaiyalal Durgaprasad (estd 1875), Pt Dayanand Shivcharan (estd 1882). Pt Baburam Devidayal Paranthewale (estd 1886). By 1911, this area, known as Chota Dariba or Dariba Kalan, got the name Paranthewali Gali.
In the years just after the independence, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, and Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit came to take their parantha meals in this gali. The "Pandit Dayanand Shivcharan" shop proudly displays the photograph of the Nehru family eating in their shop. The late Jayaprakash Narayan was a regular visitor.
In the late 1980s many of them closed shop and moved out, though today this place is experiencing a revival and some shops are being run by the sixth generation of the same family.[9]
The food is old fashioned, "strictly" vegetarian, and cooked dishes do not include onion or garlic, since the owners are brahmins, and traditionally their clientele has included Jains in the neighborhood. Varieties include exotic fillings like Kaju, Badam, Matar, Mix Paranthas, rabri parantha, etc.[10] The parantha is usually 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 (sitaphal).