Visual Diary
- a BOMBAY street food adventure
A street food adventure
My friends from high school and I decided to eat our way through the streets of Bombay. We drove around in rush-hour traffic to eat some iconic street food inventions and only spent around £2.00 each. This is a bi-weekly hobby, that illustrates our friendship so well. We may be past our lazy high school selves and childhood, but there is always something magical and nostalgic about eating piping hot street food in my friend Rohini's mom's beaten-up Honda. We giggle over the loud Hindi music about some old gossip and dust the crumbs onto the floor for her dog to eat on his next trip to the vet. I remember the conversations more than the taste of the food, but it is always the food that brings us together after weeks of college and homework. This my visual street food adventure that represents me the most.
Video
The 'Frankie'
A Frankie is an Indian street food snack. It consists of an unleavened, charred flatbread called Roti which is stuffed with a spiced mixture of anything you want. When I say anything, I mean it. I usually get the spiced chicken or potato, Frankie. Even though it sounds simple, its novelty lies in a special secret. The street food vendor that serves up this delicious treat stuffs each roll, with a packet of crisps in almost any flavour you like. It's a bizarre concept, but it takes the very culinary principles of salty, sweet, sour, spicy, crunchy, savoury and umami, into account. The Indian Lay's crisps add a textural and flavourful pop to an otherwise straightforward food. It's quite literally an explosion in your mouth, as your tastebuds try to decipher the different flavour profiles hiding under a simple everyday Roti.
The Vada Pao
This one is hard to pronounce, try -
VA-DAH POWWWW! It's India's answer to the hamburger from Mcdonald's. It is essentially a soft bun with a spiced potato patty that is coated in a batter of bright yellow chickpea flour. It is slathered in the spiciest green chilli chutney known to man, along with some more crispy fried batter bits. It is a competition in our friend group to see who can finish more than 3 bites without tears rolling down their face. Even medium spicy is known to numb your taste buds. India's street food has primed and fostered my love for spice. I find that there is a certain thrill in trying the spiciest of foods, and I associate flavour with spiciness. My habit of adding dried chilli pepper flakes, hot sauce and extra green chillies to all my food can be easily explained by my love for Indian street food
Chai and Biscuits
We ended our adventure with a cheap 5 Rupee masala milk chai. What it lacked in price, it made up for in its bold flavours. It was spiced with nutmeg and cardamom, with a kick of ginger. The sweet milk biscuits complimented the warm spices in the tea.
