Shift in the city: From tawa to tandoori

Jaipur: Along the busy stretch between Jaipur railway station and Sindhi Camp bus stand, several restaurants and dhabas have stopped serving tawa roti, shifting instead to tandoori roti, which can be prepared in traditional clay ovens using coal or wood, the only fuels left in the absence of commercial LPG.TOI Saturday spoke to owners of such eateries to know how they were coping with the LPG crisis. Kishan Samtani, who owns a restaurant at Sindhi Camp bus stand, said, "We had to alter our menu and are no longer serving tawa chapati. Insead, we are cooking rotis on the tandoor." Also, restaurants at many places have stopped the option of à la carte and offer only a composite meal, such as a thali. "We are now making limited food and are mostly banking on a fixed thali, which has a curry, a dal, raita, and tandoori roti," said Mohan Singh, who owns a dhaba at 200 feet bypass near Ajmer Road.The LPG shortage has also changed cooking practices in households. Appliance retailers in the city report a noticeable rise in sale of induction cooktops. "There has been a sudden spurt in the demand for induction cooktops in the past week. We are asking our distributors to increase supply as we are getting 20 to 30 customers daily who ask for induction cooktops," said a retailer of home appliances at Jayanti Market.At the same time, the demand for traditional choolahs has increased, especially in older neighbourhoods and on the city's outskirts, as families adopt temporary alternatives to manage daily cooking needs. "People are asking for iron-made choolahs for which coal is needed. Some of our customers said they were making one meal of the day on choolahs and another meal on LPG," said Inayat Khan, who sells traditional choolahs and utensils at Loharon Ka Khurra in the walled city.