Chaat - One bite explosion
Indian street food = chaat. At least that’s how it is in my head. While I realize that chaat is only a subsection of a multitude of Indian street food items, I think this association is rightly justified. When Bollywood movies have actors eating street food in India, it often involves all sorts of chaats. So what is chaat? To put it plainly, it’s finger food. But not just any finger food and definitely not plain- chaat is a true psychedelic experience in each bite. It plays mind games with you. Hot and cold? Spicy and tangy and salty wait wait sweet too? Crunchy and mushy? How does one bite really do it all?
The chaat world is a big and varied one. In my opinion, in the centre of it all, sits the queen - pani puri. Pani means water and puri means a fried crunchy hollow dough ball. The pani, made of cilantro, mint and lemon, brings with it freshness and coolness. Whereas the crunchy puri offers itself as a vehicle for potatoes and the pani. The puri differs depending on what it is made of. Essentially there are 2 types - either made of all purpose flour or rava (sooji/semolina). I prefer the latter. Pani puri can be found all over India, but this queen goes by many names depending on the region - gol gappa, gup chup, puchka, patashi, pakodi and so on. Now, each variation is slightly different depending on the additions. There are certain restaurants across the country that even do different types of panis - garlic, cumin, tamarind etc etc. I prefer the most basic one, but that is maybe because it reminds me of home!
Another favorite of mine is sev puri. Here, the puri is a flat round crunchy disc. Hmmm, I realise now how some Indian food names can be confusing… This puri is topped with potatoes, onions, chutneys and sev. Sev is fried vermicelli noodles. It ends up being a little hill of goodness and the least messy way to consume it is to have it one bite with your hands!
This chaat blog can not be complete without chaating (haha) about my mom. While pani puri might be the queen of the chaat world, she is the chaat queen of our home. With her roots being in Bombay, she often reminisces of her times eating chaat with her friends after school. Her favorite still remains a tiny chaat stall in Marine Lines, Bombay. A regular after-school spot meant that the owner knew my mom personally. She might’ve moved states, but the puris and sev and chutneys from the stall can be found in our kitchen. She refuses to eat her chaat if it isn’t made with those ingredients and growing up on that deliciousness myself, I definitely do not blame her!
Dahi puri, bhel, ragda pattis - here’s a few other chaat recipes that I have posted on the website. I hope that you find the same totally crazy, confusing and psychedelic experience as I do everytime I have my first bite!
