The Snack Of Wealth

Come winter, and our collective mouths long for all the season's delicacies Delhi has to offer. Among them, the most sought-after is also the most elusive. Daulat ki chaat, which translates to the snack of wealth in English, is perhaps what most people associate with Delhi winters. What originated in some obscure lane of some small town in Eastern UP has now become a staple street food of the capital. The process is painstaking and time-consuming, with the crucial ingredient being night dew. If you venture out into the narrow bylanes of old Delhi at night, you might spot several cauldrons full of milk being carried out by vendors. 

Raw milk is taken out in the open and churned until dawn. As dewdrops keep falling on the milk, it is churned into clouds under the moonlight. The froth is then collected in a large, flattened vessel or "paraat" and mixed with saffron, cardamom, khoya, and sugar. It is then left out in the open overnight on a slab of ice.

The fluffy melt-in-the-mouth texture, which takes hours to perfect, gets devoured in mere seconds. This cloud dessert comes with a ticking clock, only available from November through January, which makes it even more enticing. After the dish is prepared, it must be consumed within a couple of hours before its foam flattens into liquid milk.

Now, with the weather perfecting itself for the preparation of this mystical dessert, here is a list of places in the city you can go to for the best bite into the nothingness of daulat ki chaat.

Babu Ram Rakesh Kumar

One of the two sects of daulat ki chaat vendors in Delhi, Babu Ram's cart at Dariba Kalan boasts of one of the finest preparations of this dewy delight. Garnished with crushed nuts and kewra and served in donas, regulars swear by Babu Ram's creation.

Address&nbspIn front of Sriram Jewellers, Dariba Kalan

Hemchandra

Another famed seller of the dessert, Hemchandra, sets up shop in Chawri bazaar. Taste the kewra and jaggery accented flavours of his foamy sweet while browsing the silver market.

Address&nbspIn front of Standard Sweets, 3510, Chawri Bazar

Jaspal & Sunil Kumar

Loaded with crushed nuts, chenna and powdered sugar, Jaspal and Sunil Kumar's cart has one of the airiest preparations of daulat ki chaat. "It's as light as consuming snowflakes, which melts as soon as your tongue touches it," says Sonali Ahuja, a regular customer. 

Address&nbspOutside Shyam Sweets, Chawri Bazaar

Khemchand Adesh Kumar

Aadesh Kumar's father, Khemchand, started this business nearly four decades ago, and they can still be found standing next to their cart with a heaping plate of golden snow covered with a generous drizzling of nuts. Theirs is among the most famous Daulat ki chaat in the bylanes of the old city.

Address&nbspNai Sadak, Chawri Bazaar and Kinari Bazaar