India Travel Tidbits - Savory Things

flavor explosions for all the senses

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Perhaps you already know from my X/Twitter activity, I am currently traveling in India. This post is a continuation from my Travel Tidbits - Sweet Things. Here I highlight some of the delicious Savory Things I have enjoyed so far.

Pani Puri - the Queen of North Indian street food, also known as gol gappe. A small puffed semolina or wheat flour puri is filled with spicy potatoes and then dunked in sweet and/or spicy and/or tangy paani (spiced water). You consume this whole and drown in the bliss that comes along with the flavor explosion in your mouth. Before this trip, the last time I got my paani puri fix was the gol gappe at a street cart in Southall, London last year.

Chaat - savory, spicy, tangy, sweet, all-in-one flavor & texture packed dishes that are popular street foods in India. It’s a combination of crunchy things like fried wheat crackers (papdi), soft things (boiled potatoes & chickpeas), layered with cooling yogurt sauce, spicy mint chutney, sweet and tangy tamarind chutney, and topped with more crunchy things (bhujia) and/or sweet things (pomegranate). Sometimes it’s also made with fruit. People, myself included, flock to these dishes for the ultimate savory sweet tangy satisfaction of the taste buds. In this trip, I savored palak chaat (crispy spinach), papdi chaat (crispy wheat), raj kachori chaat (crispy lentil stuffed wheat), and a savory spicy vada beverage (dumpling). This was my first time trying many of these chaats - they were lip smacking good!

Tandoori Grill - Tandoor is a clay oven for roasting meats and cooking naan. Tandoori foods are quite popular in India. At home I often prepare meats or vegetables in a tandoori marinade, consisting of yogurt, lime juice, and various Indian spices, and cook them in the regular oven or the stove top. Homemade tandoori styled dishes do not compare to the flavor and char imparted by a real tandoor. It was a must that I consume some delicious tandoori meats in India. I chose a restaurant that offered a mixed grill of chicken, minced lamb, white fish, & shrimp served over a grill at your table. Each type of meat was marinated in a different spice mixture. Each was juicy, succulent, spicy, and satisfying!

Aam Papad - An Indian fruit leather made from mango pulp that is combined with sugar & spices and then dried in the sun. I got to try two kinds of aam papad, meetha (sweet) and khatta (tangy), both wonderful.

Have you experienced the phenomenon that is Chaat?