Taste of India
India is the foodie’s paradise. Food - both street and posh - from seafood of Kolkata to ganja lassi of Varanasi and dry rotis at a hut in Thar desert… Hunting street food is an experience: the smells, people, walking through alleyways…
This post combines food from my solo backpacking across North India in 2020 and my trip through North-East India in 2019.
Roadside Snacks
Making of Chaat
Street food can be dangerous. I followed my mom’s rule of thumb: eat from places where many others were already eating. Those, despite looking dirty, tend to be fresh and tasty af, with a higher turnover of food. Like 90% of the food I had in India was from roadside. Just 10% are from bigger restaurants.
1,2. Chaat; 3. Chow-mein; 4. Chicken roll
Chicken, being cooked by the street. Jaipur
North-East Indian Snacks. Momos (bottom)
Breads
Naan, Chapati, Tandoori Roti, Paratha, Puri
Parathas, curd and coffee… Looks posh, but a tiny place by the street, Udaipur
Tandoor roti (top right)
Dosa, Idly
Roadside shop of Idly and fried Idly
North Indian Dosa
Thali
Combo meals of each state
- Bengali Thali
Thali means plate. Each culture in each state present rice and their own kind of curries in a circular platter. Bengali, Rajasthani, Assamese, Meghalaya… there are hundreds of types of Thalis.
Assamese Thali
1,2: Assamese Thali; 3: Meghalaya Thali
Biriyani
- Kashmeeri Biriyani
Drinks
Hot chai, cold lassi
Making of lassi. Regular lassi, still divine. I was drinking this in every city
Lassi is made by diluting yoghurt, adding spices and toppings. Regular lassi is a cheap, heavenly drink found all across India. Lassi is a cold drink, India is notorious for its bad quality of water. So, if you are health conscious, it could be a problem. I didn’t mind, and didn’t get seriously sick as well. I carried a pack of Imodium tablets and used them once or twice.
Several flavors (chocolate, nuts, banana) of lassi (sweet yoghurt) in Varanasi.
Vrindavan, where Krishna is said to have grown up. This heavenly Badam milk is said to be his favorite.
Chai (tea) is India’s lifeblood. You can get tea for about 5 INR (0.067 USD) in a cute little use-and-throw clay pot.
Chai walas (tea vendor)
Sweets
- A sweet given in Gurudwara, the Sikh temple of worship (Delhi) 2,3,4: Kolkata; 5.NE India
Free Breakfast
From the hotels where I stayed
I stayed mostly in backpackers hostels, for about 100-200 INR per night. Even those provide great, but simple breakfast such as these.
Other
Top right: South Indian kichchadi (uppuma variant)
Some of the best meals I had in India… 1. Cooked by our Camel guy during camping in the desert (Jaisalmer); 2,3: at my homestay (Khuri Village)