Eat your heart out Little Bo Peep – Lunch at Ashutosh’s place

After leaving the Red Fort, we headed back down to South Delhi to grab some lunch with Ashutosh. Traffic was as expected, hectic and teeth grinding, but we made it safely. We arrived starving and unable to get a hold of Ashutosh, so we grabbed a snack of mushroom cauliflower curry at a small restaurant down the street from his flat. After food, Ashutosh called us back, so we headed up to his place to meet up with the Bihar brothers and Ashutosh at his flat. He rents a flat in an area heavily populated by students, as the rates are quite manageable, even for students.

Student housing is quite simple, even compared to standards in the States. It is not uncommon for students to move every couple months, sometimes to a flat just across the street, so the arduous task of moving furniture is mitigated by just not purchasing it in the first place. Ashutosh pays around 60 US dollars for a studio sized apartment with a small kitchen off to the side and a shared bathroom. The flat is shared between the two roommates, who, with a lack of beds and furniture, find the space to be plenty large for them. Even with the five of us occupying the majority of the floor space for lunch and chatting, more on that in a few lines, there was plenty of space for several more to have joined in. It was quaint but comfortable, and I sincerely thank Ashutosh for sharing his place with Rahul and me.

We hung out for about an hour, catching up with each other, and sharing a bit about India versus the US. Thankfully most of the conversation today was in English, I really wish I could speak Hindi fluently, this trip would be much smoother for me. Rahul offered to cook some food for us, as the three we met were hungry, and our snack was rather small in terms of lunch proportions in India. The Bihar brothers hung out with me while Rahul and Ashutosh ran to the market for ingredients.

While gone, the Bihar brothers and I shared a few jokes, flipped through photos of Facebook talking about my life in the States and my recent studies. It was nice getting to know them a bit better. Shortly after leaving, Rahul and Ashutosh returned from the market with lunch ingredients, and everyone pitched in to help cook, minus the guest, myself. I would have liked to help out, but all the jobs were filled up. Monu chopped the onions, Sonu crushed up the garlic, Rahul prepared the main ingredients, and Ashutosh walked outside to have a cigarette. With Rahul behind the wheel, I trusted lunch would be good.

Served up for lunch was mushroom fried rice and a dish composed of mutton hearts. That is right Little Bo Peep, mutton hearts. Mutton is lamb over the age of 2 years, a bit hard to find in the States unless you know where to look, and definitely not as popular as in most other countries. The fried rice was on par with what Rahul usually cooks, meaning delicious, and the mutton heart, although a bit dry and chewy, as heart usually is from what I was informed, was an interesting new dish for me. For the first time that I had heart meat, I was pleasantly surprised. Eating commonly fattier meats, the dryness took me back a bit, but I just slapped on a bit more gravy and dug in. I do not know if I would say heart is my favorite meat, but I am willing to try it again in the future. Finishing the meal with a cold drink, Thumbs Up, which is similar to Coke but not as sweet, we started to discuss plans for the evening.

Next culinary exploration, the kidneys?