Postcard from Delhi: The ‘snack of wealth’ keeping a city warm in winter

On a freezing winter afternoon, Adesh Kumar stands surrounded by eager customers who throng to the old quarters of Delhi to try his delicate, cloudy milk-based dessert – a winter delicacy – garnished with nuts and slivers of dried fruit that he sells on a humble cart.

The foamy, buttery, sweet dish called Daulat ki Chaat, or the ‘snack of wealth’ is one of the most popular winter delicacies in the Indian capital and is available only during the chilly months of November to March.

The origin of the melt-in-your-mouth dessert is unknown but it is believed the sweet dish came to India from present-day Afghanistan. Mr Kumar, a fourth-generation confectioner, said the sweet was served to Mughal kings – the Muslim Turco-Mongol kings who ruled the subcontinent for more than three centuries until 1857. Delhi was their capital for a significant time.

“My family has been selling it since 1912,” Mr Kumar, 26, told The National. "My father, grandfather and great-grandfather have been selling Daulat ki Chaat here in Delhi. My family said there was no ice cream when the Mughals came to India, there was only butter so that’s how it was invented. They used to get this made specially, it was a substitute for ice cream."

The whipped dessert is made after churning buffalo milk and cream with a wooden churner called a mathani. It is infused with saffron and sugar, and takes up to six hours and 40 litres of milk to make a large bowl of the dessert, Mr Kumar said.

“We use about five litres of milk to make the foam, while the rest of the milk is used to make condensed milk,” he said.

The foam is then collected in large vessels and kept on blocks of ice to retain its freshness, taste and foamy texture for the morning, when it is sold with coarsely powdered sugar and roasted condensed milk.

The popularity of the dessert is such that despite tough competition from a range of ice cream and other sweets, there are dozens of traditional confectioners who have been making and selling the dessert for generations on a cart.

“We start making the chaat in the evening,” said Sumit Kumar, another confectioner. "We get milk at 8pm when we mix it with sugar and keep it to chill. Then we start churning it from 2am. The process continues for four hours. It is very famous. We get up to 80 customers a day. A small bowl is sold for $1.16 while 250g is $5. We are even selling the dessert online now,” he said.

The dessert has over the years become popular because of social media and food bloggers but for many residents, it is the sweet’s legacy and sentimental value that draws them to the walled city every winter.

“It is light and less sugary," said banker Faiz Naqvi. "I come here every winter without fail, at least three or four times, to eat this."