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Tawa gurda kapoora - aka Taka tak
While the world is talking about the weirdness of
Beijing style food, I thought of highlighting the position of Lahori food on the chart of bizarreness. I am sure it stands somewhere in the top 10. So here we go:
Roughly translated, Tawa gurda kapoora means kidneys and testicles in a large frying pan. To avoid the embarrassment of associating such words with food, most of us now call it Taka tak. It refers to the sound made by the skillful chef while frying these organs and hitting the pan with two sharp slicers in a captivating rythm. He keeps slicing and frying them until the kapooray (testicles), gurday (kidneys), dil (heart), maghaz (brain) and chaampain (ribs) become a homogeneous mixture of meat and thick masala curry. You can make your pick and choose which parts to include in your serving. It is DELICIOUS.
One of the most famous spots to try this out is Butt taka tak at Lakshmi chowk,
Gawalmandi. It is
located right next to
Butt Karahi that has been reviewed earlier. Not only will you enjoy the typical outdoor dining experience in the heart of Lahore, you will also find a bunch of live chickens to give you company while you listen to the magical beat of taka tak. Not to mention all those large tables smothered with uncooked goat organs (as you can see in the above picture) giving you a feeling of being part of a massive autopsy project.
What? .. Yikes? .. No! The moment you take the first bite of this scrumptious meal, will be the time when everything else, such as traffic noise, diesel smoke, smell of chicken shit, autopsy tables, etc., will stop bothering you. So dive in and give it a try...................
