Historic Bali Yatra has kick-started at the Gadagadia Ghat of the Mahanadi river bed in Cuttack City on Monday on the occasion of Kartika Purnima.
From the very first day of this week-long festival, visitors were seen thronging the fairground and hopping the stalls. And, the food connoisseurs of them enjoyed the typical delicacies of Odisha. It is unlikely that any visitors coming to Bali Yatra return without relishing ‘Dahi Bara and Aloo Dum’, which is synonymous with the Millennium City.
Though there are many food stalls on the fairground, a specific ‘Dahi Bara and Aloo Dum’ stall was seen as unusually crowded. It was learnt that the stall was selling the popular food prepared without using onion and garlic.
Monday being the Kartika Purnima, the last day of the Panchuka when most people, particularly women, abstain from eating food prepared from onion and garlic, visitors crowded the stall.
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“Today is Kartika Purnima as well as Monday. So we have gone for ‘Dahi Bara and Aloo Dum’, which is prepared without using onion and garlic. And, there is another reason why we preferred this item, the city is famous for this particular food item,” said a woman visitor.
When asked, the food stall owner said, “For the past 25 years, I have been selling ‘Dahi Bara and Aloo Dum’ without onion and garlic on Mondays, Thursdays and Sankranti days. On the remaining days, I sell the normal ‘Dahi Bara and Aloo Dum’."
The stall sells half and full plates of 'Dahi Bara and Aloo Dum' at Rs 50 and Rs 60 respectively.