foods of fun, large and small

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the variety and genius of indian foods is unrivalled. i love the many complicated medleys of spices employed, vastly different from region to region, although the main types can be eaten in any main town as there will be both north and south indian restaurants, as well as vendors specializing in local snacks, sometimes reflecting their personal flair. tourist restaurants serve everything and menus can be 20 pages long, as they try to appeal to the palette of every visitor from italy to korea. some tourist places make decent kim chee, many do a vast array of isreali-tourist inspired dishes. please enjoy photos of food.

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Photos

greasy crap in kaza
this stuff just wasn't good. the snacks here are often deep fried, samosas just a cheap greasy little bite. they can be good, for me the chutney served with it makes all the difference.

Parantha
parantha is good breakfast or snack. wholemeal flour chapati stuffed with potato or cauliflower and spices. it is lightly pan fried and served with chutneys. (or pickle) sometimes it is way too greasy.

tea tent on way to ladakh
chapatis and dal, a perfect cheap meal available at every stop. filling and nutritious. little sweet cups of spiced tea are a constant companion throughout the day.

Maggi noodles
maggi noodles are all the rage in ladakh, served at every pit stop while trekking or bussing. they are just ramen noodles made by nestle, sometimes they are disturbingly good.

sesame cakes at muslim bakery
the muslim bakeries near the mosque in leh bake fresh yummies all day. from these little sesame hard cakes for dipping in chai to delicious flat breads. they cost next to nothing and the stalls are fun to visit.

Apricots being weighed
apricots are plentiful in ladakh late summer. they are heavenly, but these old ladies always overcharged us obscenely. it put us off eating as many as we'd have liked to.

Norlakh restaurant, leh, ladakh
maybe the best momos in the world. the old tibetan lady at norlakh offers a wonderful variety of fillings too. the spinach momos in soup there is one of the best meals in asia. it must be.

sick dosa
what is wrong with this dosa? everything. just wanted to show a dosa gone wrong. this one was in ladakh though, far away from south india where they hail from. terrible yellow flour, eggy taste, texture all wrong

Chow mein
at tenzin dickeys, another of leh's great tibetan restaurants, cheap and tiny with friendly family.

Khumbir
ladakhi bread, or khumbir, is filling and heavy. i liked it at first then got tired of having to chew my breakfast for over an hour. but good trekking food.

Vegetable sizzler
our after 8 hard days of trekking treat, at tenzin dickeys in leh. a yummy mix of veggies, noodles and french fries comes out on a sizzling hot plate, adding pizzazz to the meal, attracting jealous eyes.

oven at mulim bakery
these bakeries had the coolest ovens, in circular chambers below the bakers, the dough is rolled out and the flat breads stuck on the hot sides, they bubble up and bake in seconds. have wonderful flvor

the baker at work
at the bakery stalls around the mosque, leh

cows eating trash
india has a foul rubbish problem, everywhere. cows feast on the rotting crap, eat tons of plastic bags which kill them.

what is this weird, unsightly squash?
the taste is good, but i don't know what it is.

popcorn vendor
so nice to be able to buy little freshly popped bags of popcorn all over. it turns a mundane day into something festive.

halva-like sweet
indian sweets are too sickly sweet for western palettes generally, but some are delicious. this stuff, full of nuts and dried fruits can be a treat.