The Wonders of Street Food

We're just chillin and waiting for our train to Udaipur, so I think ill take this time to give you all a little update on the wonders of Indian Streetfood. Ive already gone on at length about the delicious fare that you can gwt at a Roadside Dhaba, but there are still a myriad of other options out there that I havnt even touched upon. And this doesnt even include the readily available Samosas, Pakoras and Mitais that we all get in Canada. Street food in India, is some of the best in the world, and provided you can stomach the inevitable gastro-issues that occasionally follow these forays into the street, itll leave you wanting more.

My favorite, and the one I stare at longingly everytime I see on the side of the road is: Pani Puri! My Mom and aunts used to make these for us growing up, and it is as fun to eat as it is delicious. Basically Panipuri (or Gol Guppa, for my punjabi peeps) is a crunchy and inflated chip (called a puri) that has had a hole punched in it, that has been filled with chickpeas, potatoes, onions and cilantro. You then take the Filled puri, drizzle various chutneys on top of it, and then submerge it in a bowl of pani (water flavored with various spices including tamerind, chilli, cumin, cilantro and mango powder). As soon as the puri is filled with the pani, you try to stuff it into yiur mouth before all the tasty water drips out. Of course when youre eating them, you get covered in the water that inevitably spills out as you try to shove them in your face, but you honestly dont care cuz it tastes so good. In fact, I dont know anyone who doesnt love these crunchy little snacks. Every so often my family tries to have a pani puri eating contest to see who can devour the most number of puris, but so far noone has even come close to my dad. He can out eat just about anyone I know!

Another awsome street food is Chaat Masala. This is another one of my favorites. Its made up of a handful of fried wheat chips that have been covered in chickpeas, potatoes and onions (this is a common trio for street fare) and then drizzled with mint and coriander chutney, tamarind chutney and spiced yogurt...pretty tasty stuff! The fried wheat chips can be replaced by bhel (puffed rice) or sev (fried noodley chips) to give a different flavor too.

My dads favorite street food is Chole Bhatura! This consists of a delic bowl of Chole (aka Channa masala) served in a banana leaf bowl, eaten with a thick fried piece of bread, similar to naan. Its phenomenally flavorful, hearty and def leaves you in need of a soft comfy bed to sleep off any impending food coma...so good.

Apart from the typical food fares available, there are also loads of snacks and drinks that are totally unique to the indian subcontinent. 

One of these is Narial Pani, or the juice of a large green coconut. Although you can find these in most of asia, and even central and south America, the variety you get here is absolutely sweet and tasty. The coconut-wallah chops the top of the young coconut off and sticks a straw in the top for you to suck the tasty water right out. The water is incredibly refreshing and keeps you hydrated even in the 35degree weather. And if youre lucky, once the water is all drunk up, the coconut wallah will use part of the husk to scrape out the malai or young coconut flesh for you too eat. I absolutely loved this stuff.Its no wonder that they recommend this stuff during hot yoga.

India also has a variety of snacks that are produced by companies we've all heard of, butare unique to this region.

CocaCola makes drinks likr Mirinda (like orange crush, but less sweet), Nimbooz (like 7up, but with fresh lime juice and a hint of salt), and my absolute favorite, Limca. Limca is like lemonade, but with a hint of fresh ginger flavor. Its fizzy and refreshing, but with a bite, that makes it closer in flavor to Ginger Beer than Sprite. It comes in these old usually scratched glass bottles that are sent back to the Cocacola factory as soon as you drink it. Its actually a nice way of doing things, as the glass bottles really reduce the amount of plastic that is being thrown out, and are actually reused without much reprocessing and energy consummption. The cost of a glass bottle of pop is also less than a can or bottle, as the incentive to recycle the bottle is placed on the vendor rather than the consumer to return the bottle to the factory to be cleaned and refilled. The vendors recieve a larger profit by using the glass bottles as the cost only reflects the refill cost. So if you do buy a glass bottle of pop, the vendor will prob make you drink it on the spot so that they dont lose the glass deposit.

Anywho our train is just about here, so ill end it there....

Stay Tuned for my Jaipur Update!

 - kirti

p.s. I know im making a ridiculous face in thst photo with the Narial...but try not to laugh...My aunt was telling me to just show how much i was enjoying it, and not make weird faces, and this was the best I could come up with...ba says I look weird....but whatevs...thx ba