Street food of Chennai

Idli and Sambhar, a common dish in Chennai

Street food, as in other areas of India, are popular in Chennai,[1] despite the common belief in India that street food is unhealthy.[2] The Idly Sambhar is a popular dish, which is served as breakfast or dinner. Apart from regular South Indian street food, the city's streets are also filled with several North Indian street food outlets, most of them established by North Indian migrants themselves.[3] Gujarati[3] and Burmese[4] are also available. Street food in Chennai is so popular that a game had developed based on the TV show The Amazing Race where contestants have to follow clues to Street-food spots in the city.[5] [6]

Varieties

Idli Sambar

Idli Sambhar is a common food in South India. It's a delicacy made by steaming a batter consisting of fermented black lentils (de-husked) and rice. Sambar is a lentil based vegetable stew or chowder based on a broth made with tamarind popular in South Indian and Sri Lankan Tamil cuisines adapted in each to its taste and environment.[7]

It is also served with coconut chutney.

Dosa

Dosa is a type of pancake made from a fermented batter. It is somewhat similar to a crepe but its main ingredients are rice and black gram. Dosa is a typical part of the South Indian diet and popular all over the Indian subcontinent. Masala Dosa is served hot along with sambar, stuffing of Potato masala(Aloo Masala) or Paneer masala and chutney.[8] It can be consumed with idli podi as well.

Dosai Chutney Hotel Saravana Bhavan

Uttapam

Uttapam or ooththappam or Uthappa (Tamil: ஊத்தாப்பம் ) is a dosa-like dish made by cooking ingredients in a batter. Unlike a dosa, which is crisp and crepe-like, uttapam is a thick pancake, with toppings cooked right into the batter.Uttapam is traditionally made with toppings such as tomatoes, onion, chillies, capsicum and cabbage mix; other common choices are coconut or mixed vegetables. It is often eaten with sambar or chutney. It is popular in South India.

Onion Tomato Uttapam
Pongal with chutney,sambar,vada

Pongal (dish)

Pongal is a dish made out of rice and very famous dish in Chennai. It is usually served for break fast with sambhar and coconut chutney.

Paniyaram

Kuzhi paniyaram (Tamil:குழி பணியாரம்) or Gunta Ponganalu (Telugu:గుంట పొంగణాలు) or Paddu/Guliappa/Yeriyappa (Kannada:ಪಡ್ಡು/ಗುಳಿಯಪ್ಪ/ಎರಿಯಪ್ಪ) is an Indian dish made by steaming batter using a semi sphere mould. The batter is made of black lentils and rice and is similar in composition to the batter used to make idli and dosa. The dish can also be made sweet or spicy depending on the ingredients jaggery and chillies respectively. Paniyaram is made on a special pan that comes with multiple small fissures. It is known by various names in South India, including kuzhi paniyaram, paddu, appe, guliappa, gulittu, yeriyappa, gundponglu, gunta ponganalu.

Paniyaram or Ponganalu or Paddu

Poori

Puri (also spelled poori) is an unleavened deep-fried Indian bread, commonly consumed on the Indian subcontinent. It is eaten for breakfast or as a snack or light meal. It is usually served with an aloo curry or aloo bhaji, as in Puri bhaji. It is also served with vegetable korma, chana masala and with gravies like paneer butter masala. Puri is most commonly served at breakfast.

Poori with Chana masala

Vada

Vada [vəɽɑː] is a common term for many different types of savoury fried snacks from India. Different types of vadas can be described variously as fritters, doughnuts, or dumplings. Alternative names for this food include wada, vade, vadai, wadeh and bara. The various types of vadas are made from different ingredients, ranging from legumes (such as medu vada of South India) to potatoes (such as batata vada of West India). They are often eaten as breakfast or snack, and also used in other food preparations (such as dahi vada and vada pav).

Vada sambar chutney

Samosa

Samosa is a fried or baked pastry with savory filling, such as spiced potatoes, onions, peas, lentils and sometimes ground lamb, ground beef or ground chicken.

Bhaji

A bhaji, bhajji or bajji, is a spicy Indian snack or entree dish similar to a fritter, with several variants. It is often served with chutney.

Milagaai Bajji or Chilli Bhajji

Pakoda

Pakodas are a kind of fritters and an all-time favorite snack in India. There are endless variations of pakodas. Mixed vegetable pakodas as the name suggests are made with a variety of vegetables. Pakodas are great as an appetizer or snack for any type of the gathering. They are perfect for a rainy day, and even more delicious paired with a cup of hot spicy chai.

Boli

Boli in Tamil Nadu is a golden yellow sweet pancake from South India. It is eaten during a traditional Sadhya along with Payasam. Several varieties of boli are prepared including thenga (coconut) boli and jaggery,sugar. Boli is especially famous in the southernmost districts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, India and northern Sri Lanka. Boli is eaten mostly after lunch or as an evening snack. Boli is golden yellow in colour.

Murukku

Murukku
Kara sev

Murukku and its many varieties are used in several street food dishes such as the Murukku Sandwich: slices of tomato, cucumber and mint chutney are enclosed by two small, coiled, crunchy Murukkus.[5]

Jigarthanda (drink)

Jigarthanda is a cold milk beverage and cold dessert that originated in the South Indian city of Madurai in Tamil Nadu. It translates to "cool heart" in English. It is generally prepared and served at roadside stalls as a refreshment during the Indian summer. The basic ingredients include milk, almond gum, sarsaparilla root syrup, sugar and ice-cream.

Atho

Atho is a variant of Burmese noodles. It is made from thick round noodles, shredded cabbage and onion garnished with tamarind, salt, fried onions, chili flakes, garlic and Monosodium glutamate (rarely) with hot soup poured over the cooked Burma noodles. It is of Burmese origin and served by Burmese refugees working as vendors in Chennai.[4]

Parotta

A parotta, porotta or barotta, is a layered flat bread of parts of Southern India, notably in Tamil Nadu made from maida flour. This is a variant of the North Indian Lacha Paratha. Parottas are usually available as street food[9] and in restaurants across Kerala, Tamil Nadu and parts of Karnataka. At some places it is also served at weddings, religious festivals and feasts. It is prepared by kneading maida, egg (in some recipes), oil or ghee and water. The dough is beaten into thin layers and later forming a round spiralled into a ball using these thin layers. The ball is rolled flat and roasted.[10] There is one more special dish made out of parotta called Kothu parotta or mutta parotta which is widely available in mostly all Chennai hotels serving parottas.

Kothu Parotta

It is popular dishes in small country side hotels. The idea is to make the hard chewing parotta and also ease eating using only right hand. It is prepared by cutting regular poratha into pieces & mixing it with egg,onion,green chillies & garam masala. It is also famously had with alcoholic drinks.

Chili parotha

It is a variation of poratha which is popular as dinner. It is prepared by cutting the parotha into small pieces and frying it in pan with lot of chilli powder, tomatoes, capsicums & onions,the dish usually appears in bright red colour & parotha roasted as chip crisp.

Chapati

Chapatis are made using a soft dough comprising Atta flour, salt and water. Atta is made from hard Gehun (Indian wheat, or durum). It is more finely ground than most western-style wholewheat flours. Traditionally, roti (and rice) are prepared without salt to provide a bland background for spiced dishes.

Pani Puri

Pani Puri is a popular street snack in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal. It consists of a round, hollow puri, fried crisp and filled with a mixture of flavored water ("pani"), tamarind chutney, chili, chaat masala, potato, onion and chickpeas. It is generally small enough to fit completely into one's mouth. Originating from central India, this food has penetrated into the south, too.[11]

Bhel Puri

Bhel Puri

Re-affirming the North Indian penetration into Chennai's street food is Bhel Puri: a savoury Indian snack made out of puffed rice, vegetables and a tangy tamarind sauce[12]

Idiyappam

Idiyappam, or string hoppers, is a traditional Tamil, Kerala, Kodava, Tulu and Sri Lankan food consisting of rice flour pressed into noodle form and then steamed.[13][14]Idiyappam is served with korma or Coconut milk.

Muttai Dosai

Muttai Dosai is a variant of Dosa. Dosa is a fermented crepe made from rice batter and black lentils. It is a staple dish in South Indian states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. It is also popular in other parts of India, and other countries like Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Singapore (All countries with significant Tamil population live. Muttai Dosa or simply, Egg Dosa, is simply a dosa with egg added.

Biriyani

Biriyani

Biriyani is a hugely popular food in Chennai.[15] It is a mixed rice food with vegetables. It is popular amongst Muslims, and so there is a theory that the Mughals brought it with them. However, this is unclear and there are other theories that suggest that the Biriyani is an Indian invention.[16] Several Variants of the Biriyani are available. Kushkas are Biriyanis without meat. Other variants include Chicken Biriyani, Mutton Biriyani, Egg Biriyani, etc., for which no explanation other than their names themselves are needed.

They are usually served with side dishes like Brinjal gravy(Baghara baingan),chilled raita.

Kulfi

Kulfi has similarities to ice cream in appearance and taste; however it is denser and creamier. It comes in various flavours. The more traditional ones are cream (malai), rose, mango, cardamom (elaichi), saffron (kesar or zafran), and pistachio.

Pista Kulfi

Others

Several other street food varieties thrive in Chennai, Some of them are listed here:

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Chennai street food". The Hindu. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  2. ↑ "6 Reasons Why Street Food Is Unhealthier Than You Thought?". FitHo. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  3. 1 2 "On the Chennai food trail: Sowcarpet". The Hindu. 18 August 2014. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  4. 1 2 Singh, Chowder (13 November 2014). "The Discovery of Chennai's Most Unusual Street Food". NDTV Cooks. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  5. 1 2 Street Food Around the World. Retrieved 29 November 2014.
  6. ↑ "Chennai Organic Food". Thirukkural Unavagam. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  7. ↑ "11 Famous Street Foods From Top Indian Cities". Retrieved 29 November 2014.
  8. ↑ "Homepage". HungryForever Food Blog. Retrieved 2017-08-08.
  9. ↑ T.SARAVANAN. "Flavours from the footpath". The Hindu. Retrieved 29 November 2014.
  10. ↑ Sinha, Vipasha (21 August 2013). "Street food in Chennai: hot without the haute". The Hindu. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  11. ↑ SIDDHARTHYA SWAPAN ROY; SWATI DAFTUAR; NEHA MUJUMDAR; ASHA SRIDHAR. "Those vendors of snacks". The Hindu. Retrieved 29 November 2014.
  12. ↑ Kitchen Classics. Retrieved 29 November 2014.
  13. ↑ 50 of the Best: 30-minute Meals. Retrieved 29 November 2014.
  14. ↑ Chettinad kitchen. Retrieved 29 November 2014.
  15. ↑ Panikker, Rohit (11 May 2012). "Chennai is a foodie's fantasy". The Times of India. Bennett, Coleman & Co. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  16. ↑ "Vir Sanghvi". Retrieved 29 November 2014.
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