JOIN USMonsoon has finally arrived and so has our desire to snack on lip-smacking samosas, hot bhajiyas or pakodas with green chutney or munch roasted bhutta rubbed with lemon.
The list is endless...
During this season, it is absolutely heavenly to gorge on tasty snacks along with a cup of hot coffee, tea or a bowl of soup. With the arrival of the rainy season also comes those street food stalls serving piping hot fried crispy treats, steaming hot and spicy foods and popular hot beverages like masala chai. These comfort foods give you that warm feeling inside and make any rainy day perfect.
Arguably, one of the most common Indian snacks is the samosa. Traditionally, samosas in India sport a triangular or conical shape. Savoury samosas are usually served with a spicy green or sweet brown tamarind chutney and are perfect monsoon treats, best eaten hot so that when you bite into the crispy buttery pastry you are greeted by a steaming potato filling! Samosas are often served in chaat, along with the traditional accompaniments of yoghurt, chutney, chopped onions and coriander sprinkled generously with chaat masala.
Ashish Joshi, executive chef, Jaypee Siddharth, says, “People like to have fried food items during monsoon and so we have a variety of fried dishes like palak pakodas, aloo tikki, tofu tikki, steamed sprout chaat along with soups. In sweet dish, jalebi and malpua become quite popular, other than the regular gulab jamun, during monsoons.”
Bhajiyas also known as pakodas are also quite popular during this season which are made from a batter garnished with vegetables like potato slices, eggplant, onion, spinach, paneer, capsicum or even whole green chillies. The most popular varieties are palak pakora, made from spinach, paneer pakora and pyaaz pakora, made from onion. They are best served with green chutney made of mint, coriander with chillies and ketchup.
Chef Arati Fedane from Vegit, which makes ready-to-cook food items, said, “Tandoori cheese balls Sticks can be made during the rainy season. It is a creamy cheesy delicacy that melts in your mouth and can be prepared easily by making small cheese balls and rolling them in bread crumbs, deep fried to be served hot with tomato sauce or mayonnaise. One can also spice up the regular cheese balls with a tandoori twist. Just add the flavour of pepper and spice up with ginger and garlic to make a difference to the dish.”
Talking about monsoon, how can one forget the bhutta on the cob? One can find bhutta vendors on every street corner, roasting them over red hot coals on their sigdis. To enhance the flavour, salt, chaat masala, chilli and lemon is rubbed over them to make a quick mouth-watering monsoon snack.