In spring, red semal flowers bloom around the Subz Burj monument on Mathura Road. In summer, golden-yellow amaltas flowers bloom along the entire length of Hailey Road. In early autumn, pale-green saptparni flowers dress up tree-lined portions of the India International Center. And every year for a month, parts of Old Delhi bloom with the khajlas.
Khajla is no flower. It is a delicacy that looks like a giant raj kachori. Some might even confuse it with the Kwality restaurant’s bhathura. Khajla is so huge that a single person cannot finish the entire thing alone, definitely not in a single sitting.
Made of maida and ghee, the crispy crackly khajla surfaces during the ramzan when Muslims fast from dawn to dusk. This year’s fasting month began in the weekend, and on Friday evening, during a tour of Old Delhi lanes around Chitli Qabar Chowk, the mithai shop counters were already laden with giant baskets containing the giant khajlas.
Resembling any random Lodhi tomb gumbad (dome), khajla gives enduring tenacity to a stomach on fast, and is also said to keep thirst at bay. It is customarily consumed during sehri, the pre-dawn meal after which the fasting starts. A piece of khajla is first broken into shards, the shattered pieces are then added into a bowl of sweetened milk in which it slowly softens. Many people soak the khajla hours in advance.
To be sure, khajla isn’t limited to Old Delhi, but the historic quarter has the most number of khajla shops. A Purani Dilli khajla walk must necessarily include the following landmarks: Kallan Sweets and Kamaal Sweet House in Matia Mahal Bazar, Lala Mithai Shop in Gali Suiwallan, Bundu Sweet House as well as the facing mithai shops of Bhai Ashraf and Bhai Ghaffar in Bazar Chitli Qabar, Ameer Sweet House and Naseem Pakodi Wale in Haveli Azam Khan, and Durga Sweets Corner in Kamra Bangash.
Visually speaking, the aforementioned Ameer Sweet House flaunts the most instagram-friendly khajla display. A finely balanced tower of khajlas stands on a gigantic basket, which lie perched on the shop’s street-facing counter; the khajlas themselves are shrouded in a white cotton cloth to protect them from flies and dust. It all looks very surreal.
And now the real thing—the award for the city’s best khajla goes to…. it is in Bazar Chitli Qabar—Sheeren Bhawan! The historic mithai shop’s khajla is also the costliest at 800 rupees per kg.
Khajla season ends with the sighting of the Eid moon.
PS: The photo shows khajla cook Naresh.
