WHEN IN INDIA YOU MUST try the street food. But if you can’t visit, here are the 26 Best Indian street foods with recipes you can make at home. The street food of India is one of the main tourist attractions and can’t be missed! From Bombay vada pav to samosas, and from kebabs to dosas, Indian street food changes from place to place but this is Indian delicious food at its best. Below is a list of Indian snacks, arranged by region.
Also included are tips on where to eat the famous snacks of India, and recipes so you can make them at home. If you can’t travel to India for street food, at least you can recreate these popular foods of India in your own home. Make a cup of steaming masala chai, watch a Bollywood movie, burn some incense, and munch on these famous Indian snacks and you will be whisked away to India in no time!
# Samosa
No list of Indian street food can be complete without the samosa! These little pyramids rule the hearts of Indians. The samosa was brought to India from Central Asia, but we have truly made it our own. Piping hot, straight from the cauldron, is how we love it here. Samosas, too, have regional variations, but in North India, it is mostly stuffed with a spicy potato mix. The addition of cauliflower makes an appearance in the winter.
# Chaat
The word chaat is derived from the Hindi word, chaatna, to lick. And that is exactly what you do after you finish your plate of chaat, you lick your fingers. These sweet-salty-tart-hot snacks are ubiquitous all over India, but you can find the best in the serpentine gullies of old Delhi. There are too many variations to be documented, but do not miss the aloo tikki chaat (smashed fried potato patties topped with tamarind chutney, mint chutney, and yogurt), papdi chaat (fried discs of chickpea flour batter topped with disc of boiled potato, onions, tomatoes, and chutneys), and shakarkandi chaat (cubes of boiled sweet potato sprinkled with lemon juice and chaat masala and topped with sliced star fruit).
# PaanSongs have been written about the famed Benarasi paan! In the ancient city of Benaras (now, Varanasi), the paan, betel-leaf, is given the royal treatment that elevates it from a simple mouth-freshener to a concoction of epic proportions. To the leaf, areca nuts, tobacco, slaked lime to which other ingredients like gulkand, saffron, candied cherries, cardamom, candied fennel, etc. are added and the leaf is then rolled into a cone. It is often garnished with silver foil, or varq. In the alleyways of Varanasi, you can get a variety of paans like the Benarasi meetha paan and the Benarasi navratan paan. Prices can range from INR 15 to INR 500
# JalebiOne could describe a jalebi as a fried pretzel doused in sugar syrup, but there is so much more to this Indian street food than just that! In the streets of Delhi, and all across India, jalebis are made in massive iron woks. It is mesmerizing to watch the cook create coils of batter, using a muslin cloth, in the hot oil. Once done, the cook slides them into a bath of sugar syrup, from where they go straight into your mouth! Jalebis are best paired with samosas or with rabdi (clotted milk garnished with saffron and nuts).
Though jalebis are now as Indian as it gets, they are said to have originated in Turkey, from where they travelled to Tunisia, and then to Iran where zalabiya became a festive treat relished during Ramzan. From Iran, it travelled to India and is now an iconic street food of India.
# PhuchkaThe phuchka by any other name would taste as delicious! It is the darling of the street foods of Kolkata, and you absolutely can’t just stop at one. Or, 10. Known as panipuri, golgappa, fuska, gupchup, or pani batasha in different parts of the country, a puchka is essentially a hollow ball of fried dough (often a mix of flour and semolina) that is stuffed with a spiced potato mix. It is then lowered in a bowl of tamarind water redolent with the aroma of mint and gandhoraj lime leaves and served to you on a leaf plate. Pop it whole into your mouth and experience nirvana as the fried ball breaks and the savoury – sour tamarind water waltzes with the spicy mashed potato in your mouth! Nowadays, you can order phuchkas with fillings as diverse as aloo dum or chilly chicken and topped with beaten curd, sweet tamarind chutney, or an itsy-bitsy shot of vodka!
# Kathi RollAn iconic Kolkata street food, the Kathi Roll is a parantha filled with kebabs and garnished with pickled onions, lime juice, and green chilli sauce. The most popular item is the Egg Roll, a parantha and omelette wrap stuffed with pickled onions. According to local folklore, the dish came into existence when a bunch of royals demanded parantha and meat that they could eat without their hands getting stained with oil. An enterprising cook rolled the meat into the parantha, then wrapped the roll with paper and served it to his royal patrons and tada! the roll was born. The word kathi become part of the nomenclature when Nizam’s, an eatery in Kolkata, made a switch from iron skewers to bamboo sticks (locally called kathi) to grill kebabs in 1964.
# Jhaal muriEssentially a poor man’s dish that originated in rural Bengal, the jhaal muri has now reached the streets of Great Britain! Puffed rice is tossed with sliced onion and green chillies, toasted ground cumin, toasted peanuts, salt, and pungent mustard oil. Add some spicy, crunchy chanachur (that addictive spicy mix of fried bits and peanuts that is only available in grocery shops in Kolkata) and top with a slice of coconut and you have a snack to remember. Usually, vendors serve it in a rolled paper cone called thonga which adds to the charm of the jhaal muri.
# Bombay Vada PavYou can’t visit Maharashtra and not have a vada pav. The Bombay vada pav is the beloved Indian burger is as simple as it gets: A potato patty squished between two slices of buttered bun that are slathered with dry garlic chutney. If you are brave, take a bite of the fried green chilli it is served with! Mumbai (formerly Bombay) is a well known street food destination in India.