Today's episode is going to take you on a fascinating food trip between Amravati and Chikhaldara, the enchanting hill station in the region. Accompanying us on this is our gracious host Apurv and one of his friends. The idea behind this trip was to explore the food scene across this stretch. Our first stop was a chai stall near Amravati District Court. Here we energized yourselves with a cup of cocktail chai which is basically a perfect mix of chai, milk and coffee powder.
Next stop was Puna Nagar, where we first had some peda from Sheetal Peda followed by vada from Sankat Mochan Upahar Gruha. The peda is a specialty of this place. Luckily when we reached there, a fresh batch of khoya was being rolled into small peda balls so we got to eat soft peda that had a creamy taste. There were quite a few peda shops on this stretch and this one was Apurv's favourite.
The adjacent vada shop was a bustling eatery serving fresh fried snacks like vada, bhajia, samosa etc. to the locals and travelers. We took a plate of vada or lentil fritters. It was crisp from outside and soft inside. The red chutney accompanying it enhanced its spicy flavours.
After this, we straight away stopped at Semadoh to try rabri dahi at Bhumka Baba Hotel. Anubhav was really excited to try this unique combo since rabri is one of his favourite desserts. We got ourselves a plain rabri and the one with a topping of plain yogurt. The light brown coloured rabri looked really tempting. As proclaimed by Apurv, the rabri dahi was really divine. The rich sweetness of the rabri went very well with the tangy flavour of the yogurt.
After polishing off two servings of this we headed off to Chikhaldara coffee estate at Mariampur. Chikhaldara is the only coffee growing region in Maharashtra. Here we met Father Simon, who is in charge of the coffee estate. He gave us an overview about the background of this place and the kind of coffee that grows there. The estate employs local workers and follows eco-friendly coffee growing practices. It is a serene and picturesque place that lets a coffee lover unwind with his favourite beverage. Unfortunately it wasn't the time of coffee harvesting so we got to see only the green underdeveloped pods. The estate directly sells the produce to the coffee merchants who mostly pick the dried seeds known as green coffee. After tasting a delicate brew we drove to Sampoorna Bamboo Kendra at Lawada.
About the host:
anubhavsapra.com/
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Text by Swetaleena Nayak