How Indian are country’s favourite street food snacks? Samosas may have come from Arabia, the pav in pav bhaji is Portuguese, but puri is pure Indian
- Indian street food, known as chaat, can be found all over the country and is enjoyed by all sectors of society
- We look at the history and regional varieties of three favourites: samosas, puri and pav bhaji
It could be a scene from a street corner almost anywhere in India. People throng around a cart laden with a basket full of small, fried hollow flour balls called pooris, a large earthen pot insulated with layers of red cloth and filled with cold, spiced water called paani, and an assortment of steel bowls brimming with spiced boiled potatoes, boiled chickpeas, yogurt, mint and tamarind chutneys.
The street vendor, or chaat wallah, is busy. Picking up a puri with one hand, he quickly taps a hole in the top of the hollow ball with his thumb, then fills the puri with potato and chickpea mash. Dipping the puri into the earthen pot, he fills it with paani and gives it to a customer who eagerly puts the entire ball into her mouth.
The crispy puri breaks and a myriad flavours explode on the palate. Cold and hot, spicy, tangy and sweet, all at the same time. This is one of the stars of Indian street food – the paani puri.
Indian street food, called chaat in northern India, from a Hindi word that means “licking”, literally leaves patrons licking their fingers.
An all-encompassing term for a sweet and savoury range of dishes, chaat includes fried or boiled potatoes, fried flour balls, puffed rice, and mashed chickpeas, all of which are served with chopped onions, tomatoes, yogurt, mint, tamarind and various other chutneys and spices.