The Best Street Eats of Northern India
Writing and cooking: Taylor Holmes
Photography: Katelyn Marnoch
Every so often along the road outside of New Delhi we would end up going through small towns and villages. All of these villages always had at least one small shack set up where you could stop for food along your drive. Some were larger, and offered seating, others were no bigger than a shed (barely able to provide enough space for the vendor to even cook in!). One thing always remained a staple, and that is a huge Indian Wok, used for frying plenty of delicious roadside mini-meals.
Among these on-the-go snacks, were katchoris, jalebi, and of course, samosas! All of these were served as standalone items, occasionally served with a chutney that varied based on the area and their local available produce. I decided to recreate as many delicious Indian classics at home as I could. Here are some of the results.
-Katchori-
Moong dal katchori with a green chutney.
-Katchoris are a fried, flour based, dumpling. The dough is often stuffed, molded in to a ball, squashed, and deep fried in a sort of Frisbee shape (in Gujarat, it is not uncommon for them to be fried in ball form without being flattened). Depending on the filling used, the personality of the Katchori can vary greatly. Commonly filled with moong dal (mung bean), urad dal (A small, black, lentil-like bean), onion, or even not stuffed at all, the katchori, as with so much of India’s delicious cuisine, can change region to region.
Flavour: Moong and urad dal filled katchoris tend to have a spicier side to them. the beans on the inside are boiled and mixed with many spices (often ground chilis) and flour to make a paste-like filling, while retaining some of the former texture of the beans. Onion katchoris can be spicy as well, but from my experience, tend to be much more mild. The onions are somewhat sauteed beforehand, so they are softer and sweeter than the raw counterpart. The hollow, or plain katchori tends to be served in partnership with breakfast items, such as chole bhature. Typically used in the same way as naan, the plain katchori is a vessel for what you eat it with, as opposed to a standalone dish.
The pastry itself is typically crisp on the outside, and softer on the inside, while remaining particularly flaky. It has the slight nutty taste that you would expect to come from deep fried dough; however, the plain katchori are often softer, and less crumbly.
-Jalebi-
-Jalebi is a form of fried dough, soaked in a sugary syrup. The jalebi is made by piping wet dough directly in to the hot vat of oil, typically in swirly and looping designs.
It’s a very popular treat around festival time’s such as Holi and Diwali, where you will find tons of people out and about, with vendors pumping these sweet sticky treats out en masse!
Flavour: The jalebi when first made, is light, crispy and airy fried dough, but is rarely (if ever) eaten this way. It is always served after having soaked in a very sweet sugary syrup. Orange food colouring is commonly added to the dough before frying. Combined with the glossy glaze of the sugary syrup, the jalebi comes out a vibrant orange colour.
Once soaked in the sweet syrup, the jalebi becomes much softer, and chewier. As with almost all Indian dishes, it is traditional to eat the jalebi with your hands. Be well prepared, as this delicious sweet treat will leave adult and child alike. Sticky, messy, and roaring on a sugar high!
-Samosa-
Spinach and cheese samosa with date chutney
-Samosas have become a world famous snack, since the partition of India. They have become synonymous with Indian cuisine worldwide, and you will rarely (if ever) find an Indian restaurant outside of the subcontinent that doesn’t tote these on their menu!
The samosa, like the katchori is a type of fried dumpling, made from a flour shell, and stuffed. The stuffing can differ largely from one region to the next, or even from cook to cook. The most commonly found stuffings for the mighty samosa are any combination of Peas, Lentils, Potatoes, Cheese, or Onions. The filling is usually a medley of several veggies, boiled together, and mashed together in to a mildly textured paste, seasoned with cumin and other spices.
Unlike what we would be familiar with in the west, samosas are most commonly found / served as a sort of street food or on the go meal. They can be found in restaurants here and there, but they tend to be overpriced, and not of much better quality. It’s very common for samosas to be served with chutneys. There are several kinds of chutneys that samosas may be paired with, but some of the most common are tamarind chutney (thick, brown, and sweet) and coriander or mint chutney (thinner, lime green, savoury, bitter, and spicy). If you want to try your hand at making your own chutney, here’s a link to my Date Chutney recipe!
Flavour: Depending on the region and filling, the flavours may differ, but a few things are consistent. The shell is always a crispy triangular prism, Cumin is almost always used, and the filling is always soft. The samosa’s contrast of crispy and soft textures compliment each other wonderfully. Regardless of whether or not the samosa is spicy, the pairing of a chutney of any kind is a great way to accent the snack in a beautiful way.
Although these were some of the best street eats we had, they aren’t all India has to offer. With such massive diversity region to region, or town to town, you’ll never have the same exact snack twice!