Special Food Post: Oil, Spices and Potatoes - Why We love Indian Street Food!

This entry of our blog won't be about a specific place. Instead, it will be dedicated to one of the reasons we love India so much- the delicious (and inexpensive) street food!  

A little about us:

• I'm a vegan for the last 5 years and though vegeterian food is easy to find everywhere in India, I discovered that India is probably one of the hardest places to be a vegan, on the account of dairy products which are a basic ingredient in many Indian dishes.
• Maya is kind of a vegetarian (eats fish).

So as a result we will only cover dishes that we eat.

There will be an oil scale for each dish ranging from
1 = almost healthy to 
4 = possible heartburn.

We'll start with the most famous item that basically you can get anywhere in India (north to south) and any time: the humble Samosa!!!!

Price: 3-10 Rs.
Main ingredients: dough, aloo (potato), green chili, green peas and spices.
Oil scale: 3-4

Variations: you can get two different types of dough (Goan is more crispy than the common Punjab), different vegetables inside and different sizes. The biggest change is if your samosa vendor has a pot of chola(chickpeas in gravy) you can have your samosa crushed by the hands of your vendor then topped with: chola, corriander sauce, ketchup, fresh onions and curd (yogurt).
*vegans try to say "no curd" in advance- sometime it works.

Veg burger (!) Definitely  not a traditional dish but a dish that a lot of Indians learned to love. We found stalls of it all across India.

Price: 10-30 Rs.
Main ingredients: bun, potato, ketchup(they put a lot so try to stop them).
Oil scale: 2

Variations: You can find places that deep fry the bun (like Tunisian fricasse), add fresh vegetables (don't expect pickles), or garnish with bhujia (shredded potato chips) and the main patty can be aloo tikki (see below) or a vegetable cutlet.

*Vegans: because most stalls cater to the commom pure-veg diet (which means no egg), the only problem here will be to check that they don't add a slice of cheese.

Dal vadda a great deep-fried lentil patty that you'll often find next to the samosas in the southern states (though we did see some in the north).
Price: 5-10Rs.
Main ingredients: Dal (lentils), onion, corriander (cillantro) and spices
Oil scale: 4

Puri bhaji a popular Indian breakfast item, sometimes called Puri Sabji.

Price: 10-20Rs.

Main ingredients:fried dough with potato gravy on the side.

Oil scale: 2-3

Chilly bhaji it has many different names across India and different kinds of batter but still pretty similar everywhere: a deep-fried green chili.

Price: 5-10 Rs.

Main ingredients: green chili and some kind of batter.

Oil scale: 3

Aloo tikki a mashed potato patty

Price: 10-20

Main ingredients: potato
Oil scale: 2

Variations: you can get it in a sandwich, or just with a kind of sweet sauce but the best way to have it is mashed and mixed in chola, corriander sauce and fresh vegetables.

Pakora- deep-fried vegetables.

Price: 10-20 Rs. depending on the amount you want.

Main ingredients: chickpeas flour, some kind of vegetable and spices.

Oil scale: 3-4

Variations: it can be any vegetable like cauliflower, onion, green pepper etc. (different vegetables chopped and mixed together or pieces of individual vegetables), paneer, sea-food, chicken, rice or even bread. 

Rice pakora

Parantha- or paratha, a fried flat bread usually stuffed with veggies and served for breakfast in north India.

Price: 15-40 Rs. per peice

Main ingredients: flour, some kind of stuffing and spices

Oil scale: 3

Variations: the most common parantha is aloo (potato) paratha but you can find also: paneer, cheese, masala, gobi, mix veg and butter parantha. You can also get it plain or sweet.
*for vegans please note that it usually comes with curd (yogurt) so try in advance to ask for no curd.

Kerala Parotha or parotta a.k.a מלאווח a lovely fried flat bread that's common in the south especially in Kerala. 

Price: 10-20 Rs. per piece, usually comes with a side korma (a coconut based gravy) or sabji (potato gravy)

Main ingredients: dough and oil

Oil scale: 4

Veg puff a.k.a בורקס  is a great snack for the road. You can find it mostly in train and bus stations

Price: 10-20 Rs.

Main ingredients: a puff pastry filled with potatos

Oil scale: 3

Variations: some vendors open your puff and add fresh vegetables and bhujia.

Pani puri an interesting dish that's made from a hollow ball of crispy dough filld with a spoon of stuffing and swimming in pani (a watery sauce that is usually sweet and sour) 

Price: 10-20 Rs. for 4 pieces

Main ingredients: the stuffing is made from vegetables and chikpeas. The sauce called pani (literaly meaning water)is made with water and different spices and herbs.
Oil scale: 1

Veg momos steamed Tibetan dumplings that resemble Chinese dim-sum, popular all over India.

Price: 10-30 Rs. per 3-6 peices

Main ingredients: dough and different vegetables, most commonly cabbage, carrot, onion, and ginger.
Variations: fried momo, spinach and mushroom momo, cheese momo, chicken momo, seafood etc. Usually served with a spicy tomato sauce or sometimes with a clear soup.
Oil scale: 1 

Bhel puri/ Alu chat a popular street snack most commonly consisting of a mix puffed rice, legumes, and vegetables.

Price: 10-20 Rs. for a plate.

Main ingredients: Bhel(puffed rice),any type of legumes, vegtebles and spices.

Oil scale: 1

Poha- flattend rice dish eaten for breakfast or as snack, popular in Rajasthan. 

Price: 10-20 Rs.

Main ingredients:flattened rice, curry leaves and spices.

Oil scale: 2

Variations: sometimes vegetables or chickpeas are added. 

Red fish or any living thing that comes from the sea. You can find vendors selling them anywhere in India that's close to the sea.

Price: 10-50 Rs. it all depends on size and availability.

Main ingredients: fish, shrimp and crab marinated in a mix of spices and fried.

Oil scale: 3-4

Chola bhature- a tasty dish common in Rajasthan made of a type of puri (see above) and chickpeas gravy.

Price: 15-20 Rs. for chola dish and two bhature

Main ingredients: flour, chickpeas, spices and vegetables.

oil scale: 2-3

Variations: Sometimes you can find the chola served with kulcha (in the photo below) instead of bhature (for me kulcha is the better option).

Uttapam- rice pancake

Price: 20-40 Rs.

Main ingredients: rice, urad dhal, salt, fenugreek seeds, water

oil scale: 2-3

Variations: you can have it plain or with onions or veg topping. You usually get it with coconut chutney and sambar (spicy vegetable sauce) on the side.

Dosa- a south Indian rice crepe.

Price: 10-20 Rs.

Main ingredients: rice, urad dhal, salt, fenugreek seeds, water

Oil scale: 2

Variations:the most common variation is masala dosa that is filled with a potato stuffing. It is usually served with coconut chutney and sambar on the side. You can also get it with onion or cheese and in touristy places you can find sweet versions like banana coconut dosa. 

Pav bhaji a bread roll with a tomato curry on the side.

Price: 10-20 Rs.

Main ingredients: roll, onion, garlic, lemon, tomato and spices

Oil scale: 3

*Vegans- try to stop them before they add butter to the bhaji.

Veg katti roll- a parantha rolled with vegetables and sauces.

Price: 10-20 Rs.

Main ingredients: parantha, vegetables, ketcup, chilli sauce 

Oil scale: 3

*Vegans- sometimes they really want to add paneer (fermented cheese) to your roll so beware!

Veg chowmein - a Chinese dish popular in India and widely adopted as a street food as well as in many restaurants.

Price: 10-20 Rs.

Main ingredients:noodles (uselly spaghetti in India), cappsicum (green pepper), onion, garlic, cabbage and salt.

Oil scale: 2-3

Kachori- deep fried dough with lentil stuffing.

Price: 5-10 Rs.

Main ingredients: chickpeas flour dough filled with a stuffing of yellow dal or urad dal (white lentils) and spices.

Oil scale: 3

Variations: you can have it as is or crushed and topped with corriander sauce, sabji (vegetable gravy) and fresh veggies.

Fresh fruit 

Price: 5-20 Rs. depends on which kind of fruit and the size you want.

*Warning: in India they uselly add masala spices or red/black salt to the cut fruit on the street (!?),but i find it refreshing when they add chilli to your pinappale or mango (that's just me).

Lemon soda stalls

price: 10-15 Rs.

main ingredients: soda and squeezed lemon juice.

Variations: well there's not a lot of options here, but usually its drunk (by locals) as a salty drink but you can get it sweet (add sugar, but be prepared to stop the vendor from adding masala spices (?!) to your soda.

*If there is a mistake regarding price (which means somebody overcharged us) or a missing ingredient, I'll be happy if you'll write to us and we will fix the mistake.

Interesting websites about Indian street food:

-11 famous street foods
-Kolkata street food:

Orissa's Eastern Coast, the Land of Jagganath - Feb 7-18 2015

From the rural tribal land of southwest Orissa we crossed the state and arrived at Gopalpur-on-Sea, a former British port and nowadays a sleepy somewhat-deserted beach town which I suppose has a certain charm to it, but we didn't find much to do around there except eat at some food stalls and walk along the rather dirty shoreline looking over a rough unswimmable sea. The only thing worth mentioning is the nice Krishna restaurant where we had a tasty and very inexpensive lunch. 

We stayed one night and continued to Bhubaneswar the capital of Orissa, one of the dirtiest cities I've seen and home to some of the largest and most alarming-looking cows and bulls roaming the streets. There are quite a few temples and of course knowing us (Daniel) we attempted to visit all of them though in my opinion only a few were worth the visit. More impressive were the rock-carved Buddhist caves of Udayagiri and Khandagiri just outside the city. We also took a short  day trip to the small town of Dhauli where we visited the Japanese white stupa, and to the "artist village" of Pipli which is actually just a bazaar selling, among other tourist favorites, pieces of the local craft which incorporates small mirrors on fabric.

Daniel with a group of promoters for a new movie 

A vendor selling stencils for Rangoli paintings

a colorful temple in Pipli

A short two hour ride from Bhubaneswar is the holy city of Puri, a former hippy-hangout and now home to a crowd of mainly older western tourists, Hari-Krishnas and loads of Indian pilgrims who come to worship Orissa's favorite deity Jagganath (the famous Jagganath temple is unfortunately off limits to non-Hindus, so we had to suffice with seeing it from the outside). Our plan was to settle in Puri for about a week until our train to Rajasthan and use it as a base to explore other sights around. In town we took a recommended cycle-rickshaw tour sponsored by Heritage Tours who established this initiative called Green Riders to support the local cycle-rickshaw pullers who are being greatly overshadowed and pushed aside by the numerous auto- rickshaws around. Our dedicated driver took us through the old city of Puri on an interesting journey visiting a few temples, a Buddhist stupa and the famous burning ghat by the sea. We passed our time in Puri drinking tea on the beach, again pretty dirty (often used as an open air toilet by the local fisherman) but still nice to hang around in the afternoon enjoying a nice breeze and watching the fisherman returning from sea with their fresh catch. At night we delighted in walking around the market at Marine Drive, a popular spot for Indian tourists especially honeymooners from Kolkata, where we stopped to eat some great-value food at the local stalls including veg momos for 30 Rs and fried shrimp for 60!

We hopped on a crowded 1-hour local bus to visit the famous Sun Temple in Konark, where we hired a guide to take us around and though he was knowledgeable he seemed most interested in pointing out the erotic Kama Sutra Carvings scattered around and fiercely encouraging me to take photos of them. We had a nice lunch at Suntemple Hotel (great eggplant curry) and visited the museum which was surprisingly well-maintained and also interesting, before getting caught in a storm and enduring a very long and cold rickshaw ride back to Puri. 

We caught another crowded local bus to the nearby heritage craft village of Raghurajpur whose residents are artisans known for their impressive and impossibly intricate Pattachitra paintings, an ancient art form depicting scenes of Hindu mythology on special cloth called patta or on dried palm leaves. Despite the hassling by the pushy locals to visit their houses and of course buy something it was a nice visit. Prices of the paintings vary according to size and quality and can be quite expensive (perhaps over-priced) but we did manage to buy some cheap bookmarks (10 Rs) which make a nice souvenir or gift and one painting engraved on a palm leaf (300 Rs).

We stayed at the friendly Lotus Hotel the first 2 days whose owner is absolutely lovely then decided to check out the popular Z Hotel where we somehow found ourselves taking charge and managing the place for a few days at the request of the friendly manager who had to leave to attend a wedding. Before embarking on our short-lived but successful hotel management career we took another day trip this time joining an OTDC government tour to Chilika lake, Asia's largest brackish lagoon at the mouth of the Daya river and flowing into the Bay of Bengal. We joined local tourists in an AC mini-bus to the town of Satapada on the lake, visiting a few temples on the way. The trip included a  long and rather boring 3-hour boat ride on the lake where we spotted some wild dolphins and stopped at the mouth of the lagoon for a walk on the beach and tea. The highlight for us was of course lunch at Panthanivas where we had an excellent veg pullao, pakoras and my favorite mushroom masala curry, and surprisingly also the short film at the visitor center explaining about the history of the lake which was very interesting. 

While Daniel took care of business at the lovely Hotel Z located in an old maharaja home and frequented by many interesting foreigners including some Puri veterans, I read books and watched tv on the huge plasma in the hotel lounge. It was nice to relax for a few days and not do much considering our usual fast-pace travel and keeping in mind the 36-hour train waiting for us from Puri all the way to Jaipur. We said goodbye to our loyal customers, the guests of the hotel who became our friends like Rosa from England and Helen from Scotland, and boarded the early morning train heading west on a long and tiring journey across the nation. 

A Taste of Tribal Life in Southwest Orissa - Feb 2-6 2015

Reading about the less-travelled eastern state of Orissa or Odisha, we became interested in visiting the Koraput valley, home to about 60 groups of Adivasis or indigenous tribes who make up 1/4 of the state's population. We soon learned that it is almost impossible to do so without an organized tour or at least a guide and a special permit which is required for visiting certain places, among them the famous Thursday market at the village of Onkadeli, where men and women of the protected Bonda tribe, known as the "naked people" for their minimal clothing, trek many hours to sell their fruits, vegetables and homemade alcohol.

Searching online for a place to stay in the town of Koraput which makes a good base for exploring the area, we luckily came across Desia, a rural tourism initiative near the small village of Lamtaput, established by the veteran Heritage Tours, the Bantalbiri village community and the local NGO Barefoot, who employs tribal men and women and makes it its mission to provide and promote responsible and respectful eco-tourism while supporting and developing the local tribal communities. Impressed with their vision and attitude we decided to book a four-day package including accommodation and meals although it was way (way) above our budget, hoping for an interesting and unusual experience (which we ultimately gained).  

We reached Koraput after a spectacular scenic train ride on the Kirandul Passenger train from Vizag in Andhra Pradesh, passing through the imposing Eastern Ghats. 

In koraput we stopped at the tourist office in order to acquire the official permit required to visit vulnerable tribal areas and after some difficulties in communication and much confusion were assured it will be taken care of (which in fact it wasn't but it worked out in the end). Waiting there we also met the endearing Chiku, a passionate social worker and activist with a big heart who soon became our friend and invited us to his home. We settled at the Raj Residency in town for one night before moving on to Desia, delighting in a mouth-watering lunch of curries bursting with flavor and a hearty garlic naan. We visited the Jagganath Temple in town, dedicated to lord Jagganath (meaning the lord of the universe) who is widely worshipped in Orissa and considered to be an avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu, and later stopped by our new buddy Chiku's for tea, Indian sweets (which are a bit too sweet and heavy for me but we had to finish everything afraid to offend our kind hosts) and a lively discussion of life in India vs Israel, religion and our travels, aided by the translation of Chiku's son and the friendly neighbour Rosie. 

Jagganath in black with his
brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra

We woke up early next morning and were picked up by a driver from Desia reaching the charming rural guesthouse an hour later, where we were greeted by the smiling Guso who whipped up a quick breakfast for us while we settled in our uniquely designed room. The great thought put into the architecture and design along with rare attention to detail was evident in every corner, including a beautiful pebble-filled bathroom  and colorful wall paintings. 

Squeezing on the back of his motorcycle we later rode with Guso to a nearby vegetable market, catching a first glimpse at tribal life and noticing the difference of appearance of the people, with the women wrapped in a simple cloth rather than colorful extravagant saris and sporting very large and sometimes multiple nose rings as well as black geometric tattoos. We were astonished to see the barter system still in use, with many people trading grains of rice or lentils for vegetables. We also first tasted the local alcohol drink, a homemade brew made of fermented rice or  derived from palm trees. We came back to Desia and enjoyed a delicious fresh lunch cooked with vegetables Guso just bought at the market, including an excitingly tasty dish of bamboo shoot. 

In the late afternoon, after some rest we  walked with Domuti, one of the girls working in the guesthouse, to visit her village of Bailapada 3km away. We met her family and some other curious neighbors who came to spectacle at the foreigners, and noticed that most of them especially the children seemed a bit suspicious of the new visitors, though they later warmed up to us. We were offered cookies and cups of the local drink and tried to engage in a friendly conversation. Communication proved difficult as no one spoke English except for Domuti whose vocabulary was also limited, so we resorted to smiling politely most of the time and accepting more drinks, to everyone's delight. Domuti's father was very friendly and invited us to stay for dinner, to be made of a chicken he had just slaughtered in what we understood was a daily puja ritual held every night at the village. A bit horrified as we both don't eat meat, we appreciated the gesture but were rather grateful when Domuti dismissed the invitation saying dinner will only be several hours later and we should return to Desia instead. Back at the guesthouse we had a lovely dinner with two new guests who had just arrived, Brigitte and Joelle from France and their lovely guide Samar of Heritage Tours who are a part of the Desia team.  

On our second day we had a nice walk through another small village and later were invited to eat lunch in  the village of Bantalbiri at Pano's house , another woman from the Desia team. After finishing our  tasty food and another cup of local drink we were invited to a neighbour's house for more drinks. The friendly host wanted to treat us to some chicken from last night's puja, and we attempted to politely explain that we don't eat meat.  Just as we thought we were properly understood this time and succeeded in the almost impossible task of conveying the concept of vegetarianism, we were served a plate of what we identified as inner parts of goat. Left with no way out we began what turned out to be the difficult task of eating (and chewing) this local delicacy,  wishing to show appreciation of this gesture of hospitality and not wanting to disrespect these friendly people. After recovering from this ordeal we drove a few kilometers away to the impressive Dudoma Waterfall, spending an hour or so taking in the views and watching a beautiful sunset, returning in the evening for another lovely home cooked meal.

The following morning we finally made it to the much-hyped Onkadeli market, leaving our cameras in the car as no photographs are allowed (the ones below are from the web) as part of the new regulations regarding tribal communities who have been declared particularly vulnerable by the government. It was fascinating to see the strong Bonda women, with shaved or short hair, adorned in the traditional colorful beads covering their bare chest though most of them had recently added a shawl to their attire, adjusting to modern times and perhaps influenced by the many tourists and other local villagers attending the market. With the help of Samar the guide we were thankfully able to interact with some of the people. We spoke (through Samar's translation) to one extraordinary woman who has been walking for nearly 7 hours from her home to the market, carrying a large pot filled to the rim with her home made local drink on her head. We bought a few cups from her along with traditional bracelets the Bonda women make out of a dried local plant. We stuck around for a while longer, sampling more local drinks which are apparently the highlight of the market, as we were told ( though didn't stick around late enough to see for ourselves) that after a few hours in the morning of buying and selling vegetables and fruits, they get down to the real business and basically everyone gets drunk- supposedly children as well!

Returning from the market we once again walked over to the village of Bantalbiri for a wonderful afternoon. I joined the women and young girls in a traditional dance and Daniel was dancing with the boys and playing games with the children, while some men from the village played great music. Though it was obviously not a spontaneous celebration and was in fact constructed for us, the visiting foreigners, at the request of the people from Desia, it was still a lovely experience and a rare chance  to meet and connect with the local people, who were genuinely friendly and exceptionally welcoming. When we left the village they saw us off in a touching traditional ceremony blessing us with a dab of rice on our forehead, putting flowers in our hair and walking us out hand in hand. 

After saying an emotional goodbye to the sweet girls of Desia, we visited another local market selling everything from vegetables to clothes and I bought some ridiculously cheap jewelry (ring 5Rs, earrings 10 Rs). Back in Koraput we squeezed another good lunch at Raj Reidency and a visit to the tribal museum in town which was interesting though the place is run down and in need of some maintenance, before boarding a night train to Gopalpur-on-Sea on the eastern coast of Orissa.