Chai

Location: Gujarat

Description: Whilst chai exists all over India in one form or another I think some note should be paid to the unique form it takes in the state of Gujarat. It is not just that the standard of chai here is very high (with the spicing of ginger and cardamon always being just right). It is that the Gujarati's seem to take chai very seriously with shops exclusively dedicated to the stuff (sans samosa, sans fried snacks, sans everything).  On top of this the chai is always served in cute little cups and saucers (picture to follow). All of these things make chai in Gujarat a thoroughly charming experience.

Patra

Location: Bhuj 04/02/11

Description: This is a most bizarre thing. It is sold out of stands that sell both this and a form of lentil bread which I totally failed to try. The body of this dish was made up of a sort of roulard that was made by wrapping a sort of leaf around a thick paste of chickpeas.  It was flavoured with coriander seed and had a most unusual texture. This as I said was rolled in a sort of swiss roll and then cut into slices and in true Gujarati style doused in a sweet, sour, spicy and sticky sauce. This was then put on a plate with more sweet sauce yogurt and crisp fried vermicelli and coriander leave. This was definitely and interesting if not particularly pleasant breakfast experience.

Pav Bhaji

Location: Bhuj 03/02/11

Description: This was a soft white roll filled with potato curry (tomatoey, heavy with mustard oil and slightly sweet). This was slathered with sweet chilly sauce and finished with crushed peanuts. This made for a sweet and spicy experience.

Pani Puri (Gujarati style)

Location: Admedabad 30/01/2011

Description: This snack is traditionally associated with Mumbai and Chowpatty beach but never being one to bend to convention I tried them in Gujarat. For the uninitiated a puri is a small hollow ball of batter (well in this context, as previously referred to in my post about puri and chutney they can also be much larger). This ball is filled with a potato mixture and then the wallah dips the whole thing into a peppery soup with fills the ball. This is then passed to you and you have to pop the whole thing in your mouth at once and chew. This experience was described by a friend as an extremely unpleasant alternative to oysters. Whilst I can claim to love this experience I do like the ritual of the whole thing as you stuff the whole thing into your mouth and you get a sudden explosion of spice.

Fried Snack (Namkeens I think) Samosa, methi balls, aloo & chilli pakora

Location: Ahmedabad 30/01/2011

Description: This breakfast (picture to follow) of fried snacks was both familiar and strange. The samosa was beautifully made, light and flavoured (as so much is in GJ) with mustard seeds. But paired with this was an unusual little snack that I've not seen before of methi (or sweet) balls of batter dough flavoured with coriander leaves. The meal was rounded off with what appeared to be fearsome chilli pakora which instead of being firey was instead friuty and bitter like a green pepper. This was all accompanied by salted green chillies and a cucumber salad.

Beef Xacuti

Location: Margao 28/01/11

Description: This curry was a fantastically eye-watering experience. I leapt at the opportunity of eating it though as it is straight down the line Goan food and my last chance to eat cow for a few months (as cow hating Goa are good with beef) and it was quite a last hurrah for my bovine friends. The gravy was bold and meaty and beautifully spiced. In this gravy as well as tender pieces of beef there were floating what I can only describe as a multitude of green chillies. The result was that I sweated from every part of my body but it was worth every firey mouthful.

The worst cookie in the world

Location: Gokarna 25/01/11

Description: I don't know whether it was the fact it was horribly stale or the fact that it tasted vaguely of soap but this was undoubtedly one of the worst baked goods I have ever attempted to eat. I'm not sure there is much else to say as the trauma relives itself in my mind...

Musing on India Food

Food in India is eponymous it pervades every aspect of life. As an outsider I can only perceive the tiniest portion of this relationship, yet even so one feels the its importance. If one takes a street in India of any reasonably sized settlement you will be faced with a sometimes bewildering array of places to eat, places to buy food and above all people eating. This feels like a constant regardless of the time of day. The food denotes both a sense of place and a continuum of overarching foods that seem to run the length of this country. So idlys and dosa, accompanied by firey sauces spiced with curry leaves tell you you are down south, in the same way that the richer greasier fare of the north give you a sense of that place. However as I say there are constants, take for example the somosa, which from town to town and state to state is reinterpreted and reinvented to each areas taste but yet keeps its essential form.

This I think is why as a foreigner you are so intrigued with the Indian relationship with food because put simply it is everywhere. However, do not think that because of its commonality that its quality ever suffers. Yes, I am not naive enough to say that no bad food exists in India yet overall the care and attention that seems to given to each item seems to be of such a high standard so often. So that from a greasy pakora to an intense curry all seem to have had a degree of skill and care employed in their creation.

I think that the reason for this quality is that at their hearts the Indian people are gourmands and gourmands in the truest sense of the word. This might seem to be an absurd thing to say in a country in which millions of people regularly do not get enough to eat but if we put the issue (and please don't think I'm being flippant about this it is just that the issue is too big for the narrow focus of this piece) of poverty to one side it seems to be a truth that an Indian when they can will always eat well. To give an example of this I was on bus during my last travels in India (I can't remember exactly where but I guess somewhere in West Bengal) when suddenly the bus came to a halt in a tiny village and everyone got off. When the passengers returned each was carrying a small brightly coloured box. When I asked what was in those boxes I was told that this one village produced the very finest version of a particular typeof Bengali sweet. This is a dedication to food that rivals the French and even the Italians and goes along way to explain the incredable availabity and quality of Indias food.

Tasty Doughnut Balls (could get the name from the man)

Location: Hampi 20/01/11


Description: These crunchy little snacks of sweet banana and were wonderful with some of the best chai I've had in India (spiced with cinnamon and ginger). They made a perfect post Varcalla Temple snack and also held a place as the first fried food I was able to ingest after a 48 hour fast.

Gopangala (fried Idly)

Location: Hampi 19/01/11

Description: These little rice dumplings are similar to Idly but are fried. They are filled with onion, coriander and chilly and accompanied by a spicy chutney. According to my friend Ally they were very good however as I had not eaten for 24 hour I sadly couldn't comment.

Fresh Chickpeas (Channa)

Location: Mysore 15/01/11

Description: It is surprising given our western predilection for all things raw that we haven't caught onto these. For me the real novelty of these was to try something so often tinned or dried in its fresh form. They taste a little like fresh broad beans but with a slightly more sour note and I've noted them for their sheer curiosity if nothing else.

Puri, Sambar and Chutney

Location: Hampi 17/01/11

Description: This may seem like a terribly banal and obvious thing to post about but these were truly special. Part of why this was such a notable food experience was that it was the first chance that I've had to watch someone drop rounds of dough into a pan of boiling (and I mean boiling) oil and extricate them at exactly the right moment. The result can sometimes be heavy and greasy but these were wonderfully light and had barely a drop of oil on them. Complete with a firey sambar and very savoury chutney this was a great breakfast.

Badam Milk

Location: Chitradurga (between Mysore and Hampi) 17/01/11

Description: This sweetened boiled milk is slightly spiced with cardamon and coloured a violent shade of yellow for good measure. At 3am on a bus journey it may in fact be better then chai.

Sugar Cane Juice (Mosambi Juice)

Location: Generally over India (this one was in Mysore 15/01/11)

Description: I think part of the joy of this is the whole ritual that goes into its manufacture. The sugar cane are passed through a mangle again and again and again and again (and again) you get the idea)) and then finally passed with lime. The result is a sweet and surprisingly refreshing drink (that I can't help might be improved by the addition of a little rum and some mint). But despite my alcoholic speculations this is a great drink none the less.

Guava with salt and chilli

Location: Bangalore

Description: This is absolutely and indescribably horrible. On eating this fruit smeared with masala you are simultaneously hit by three things all at once; first cool refreshing guava (which is nice), next a massive hit of salt (which is nasty) and finally a blast of chilli (which I think is the worse part of it). This leaves your lips both chapped and burning. Definitely not an experience to be repeated...

Mysore Pav

Location: A never to be found again shop in Bangalore and Mysore

Description: We think this combination of gram flour, sugar, a tiny bit of cardamon and alot of ghee is great. It has a biscuity to fudgey texture depending on where you get it and how much ghee is involved. It is horribly moreish to the point where it made us both sick. 

Maddar Veda (Little Biscuits)

Location: Madre (between Bangalore and Mysore)

Time: 8.30

Description:  (No picture I’m afraid)  Hard and heavily fried these seem to be a breakfast snack best washed down with some eyepoppingly sweet coffee. The biscuit has little pieces of crisp fried onion running through it and is made out of either semolina or some sort of polenta. Nothing but nothing starts your morning off better then onion breath.

Introduction

I am a glutton. Pure and simple, I plan my days around what I wish to eat and take every opportunity to sample something new. So on coming to India for the second time I was hit with the idea I could attempt to document some of the street food I have found here. This is not an attempt to produce a definitive guide (as I fear that would be beyond even my powers of gluttony) but instead look on this as a gentle ramble through some of the best (and worse) things I've eaten and will eat on my travels. Please also feel free to comment on my posts, question them, agree with them or tell me I'm an idiot. So let the eating commence.