Dabeli

Another tasty Indian snack food. Dabeli comes from the Gujarat region and can easily be termed as another version of an Indian burger. It is a Spiced Potatoes and Pomegranate Sandwich in Raghavan Iyer's words.

This spicy potato mixture enclosed between a burger bun, smeared with a sweet and tart tamarind chutney and a spicy hot garlic chutney and garnished with pomegranate arils and spicy peanuts is a combination of different flavors and textures to form an extremely delicious and addictive snack. The crunchiness of the spicy peanuts, the unexpected burst of sweet and tart pomegranate juice and the heat from the chutneys will leave you wanting for more. I have adapted this recipe from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer.

This is another weekend dish that does not take long to prepare at all. As they were showing a marathon of House Hunters International on HGTV, one of my favorite shows ever. I quickly assembled these and the sat in front of the TV to see all the people buying beautiful homes across the world. It feels wonderful to live vicariously through the buyers pretending that I am buying a pied-a-terre in Paris, or a countryside home near the Alps or a cottage in the English countryside or maybe even a vacation home in the Caribbean. I love this show.

Ragada Patties

Another popular Indian street food is the Ragada Patties. I love the different flavors and textures in this dish. This ragada is my favorite. I adapted this dish from Raghavan Iyer's book 660 Curries. I love this book and the extensive index of Indian recipes it  contains. The only thing I would say is to taste the dish as you make it, as Raghavanji does like his dishes a tad on the milder side. So when he adds things like butter and cream to his dishes, do go easy on it and adapt it to your taste.

The ragada should not be too thick as you want the gravy to kind of soak into the patty. Also do not make the patties too thick.

Gol Gappa aka Pani Puri

What are you all having this weekend? We are having a Gol Gappa aka Pani puri fest. And you are all invited...

Mention Gol Gappa in India and you will be hard pressed to find someone who says ' I don't like it '. It is loved by all: young and old. We all love it in our home, even my 5 year old loves it.

In India the best way to have it is at a street vendor's cart. They are famous for making these and serving multiple customers at the same time. Once you place your order, you and your party huddle around the cart or wherever else you get space and the vendor can reach you with his hand. He hands you a small plate and asks your preference, whether you like it a little sweet, tart or full blown spicy hot. Everybody has their own request and be sure that he will remember it. Once all the requests are heard he starts puncturing the puris and stuffing them with your requested stuffing - mine being always potato and channa - and dipping them in big ceramic vats containing the different 'panis' (water). Then he rapidly places it in your plate and repeats the procedure till he has served the rest of your party and then it is your turn again. He is so fast that you do not have to wait at all, in fact sometimes you are still finishing the first and he has served the next, then you hear everyone asking him to slow down. The fun of having it at the street vendor's cart adds to the taste and excitement of eating pani puris.

At home you can adopt that style and serve everyone, as for me I do not have that patience to watch everyone eat while I just serve. So I place individual bowls of pani next to the 10-15 stuffed puris in a plate per person . Thus everyone can fill their own puris with pani and stuff them in their mouths. The way to eat it is to place the whole thing in your mouth in one go, no hesitation or else you have have a wet crumbly mess in your hands. Just pop them in your mouth and the puri bursts and your whole mouth is flooded with the pani. It is an amazing sensation, try it and see, you will love it. Just be sure to make the puris just small enough so that they will fit right in your mouths.

For those of you who want to enjoy these savoury snacks without going through the hassle of rolling 60-80 small puris, you can get ready made pani puris at your local Indian grocery store. I decided to make mine as the ones that I get here have a very stale smell to them. I, however, used ready-made pani.