Puri bhaji: Food for the Gods and commoners in Haridwar

Mathura Walo Ki Pracheen Dukaan has been catering to wide-eyed children and nostalgic adults for the past 92 years. The man who started it all was not a businessman or a halwai. Pandit Murlidhar Sharma, a native of Mathura, came to Haridwar in search of moksha.

The original plan was to give up everything and lead the life of a sadhu. But a chance meeting with a ‘guru’ changed the course of things. “He advised my great grandfather not to become a sadhu as he was a family man with children. The guru asked him to bring his family to Haridwar and set up a business here to make ends meet. Since my great grandfather had no expertise in any sort of business, he started selling puri kachori on the streets. Soon, the simple combination of puri and aloo subzi won people’s hearts. It was a quick and cheap meal for people who came to Haridwar to offer prayers or conduct the last rites of family members,” says Ankit Sharma, the fourth generation owner of MKPD.

With time, popularity and money, Sharma was able to set up shop in the busy street of Moti Bazaar in 1930. 

Simple and satiating

The puri (locally called kachori) at MKPD is stuffed with split black lentils. This is accompanied by three side dishes – a spicy, dry potato subzi and another gravy-based potato subzi. The star attraction, however, is the ‘meetha phal’. This sweet pumpkin relish adds another dimension to the simple meal. “It acts like a cooling agent when you are having hot puris with spicy subzi. Pumpkin is also a great digestive and helps to balance out the meal,” says Sharma. The intensity and comforting familiarity of flavours matches the cacophony and commotion of Moti Bazaar. 

There are no plates or cutlery involved at MKPD. Local malu leaves are used to serve the puris, while the subzi is sent out in a dona (cups made with dried leaves). The price? A reasonable Rs 90.

“Puri subzi is a staple breakfast in north India, especially in Haridwar and neighbouring areas. The locals prefer to have a heavy breakfast which fills them up for the rest of the day. Puri subzi also has a religious connotation, as it’s offered as bhog in the temples. Even the bhandaras (community meal places) serve puri subzi as prasad to people. So it’s an integral part of life in Haridwar,” says Gautam Verma, a local who is also a naturalist and tour guide with Pilibhit House - a hotel by the Taj Group in Haridwar. 

Guarding a legacy

While Mathura Walo Ki puri subzi recipe has remained untouched since its inception, Sharma has added new items to the menu such as soda shikanji and chocolate barfi, to entice the younger crowd.

The descriptions of dishes are endearingly open-hearted and involve recalling childhoods spent kneading dough and stirring pots of aloo subzi.

“When I started working in the shop, a plate of four puris and subzi used to sell at four annas. Families would come with their kids and enjoy freshly made kachoris and chandrakala. The same people come with their grand children now. But the puris are now priced at Rs 90,” says Ankit’s father Shri Krishna Sharma.

Chandrakala at Mathura Walo Ki Pracheen Dukaan. (Photo: Nivedita Jayaram Pawar)

Next door is a sweet shop by the same family. “To uncomplicate matters, my grandfather split the business among his two sons. He assigned the ghee-based business (kachori, puri, samosa and some sweet items) to my father, while the milk-based business (mainly the sweets) was handed to my uncle. This has ensured a smooth running of the family business,” says Ankit.

Aluminum trays filled with handmade traditional sweets are weighed out on old-fashioned scales. Among a supporting cast of pedas, barfis, laddoos and the softest gulab jamuns is the star performer - chandrakala, an original creation of Murlidhar Sharma. Shaped like a flower this deep fried sweet is stuffed with dried fruits before being dunked in sugar syrup.

Then there is the hugely popular malai samosa, where the samosa is stuffed with mava/khoya (evaporated milk solids) and then glazed with a layer of fresh malai. The secret ingredient is pure ghee, reveals Sharma. “We make everything in ghee, including the puri and the aloo subzi, just like it was done by my great grandfather. Even now when ghee prices have sky rocketed we can’t even think of replacing it. That’s one of the reasons people love us and continue to patronize us,” says Sharma who is looking to expand the business with a shop on the highway.

Puri subzi will remain the hero, he assures me. As I pay up, and walk out through the throngs of people and beyond the shiny new shops selling toys, puris continue to bob in the wok. Thankfully, some things never change.