mmmm good

[Richie111]

(First of all, apologies in advance if I posted this in the wrong place. Wasn't sure if I should add a reply to a 2 year old topic or start a new one here, or in New York, or some other forum like "Adventures in Eating"...)

Anyways, being new to this forum and to eGullet, I have had the pleasure of reading posts you all have had available to you for years. I was fascinated with the threads about Chaat (Indian Street Food) which I had heard of but never eaten. After a few days of reading and salivating, I just couldn't wait anymore, and decided to take my GF to an early dinner this evening at Dimple on 30th St. in NYC.

I am just now recovering from a 3 hour food coma I went into immediately after our meal. I don't think this is necessarily a heavy food, we just ordered way too much and it was way too good to apply moderation once everything started coming.

With me, I brought a list of dishes to order, based on recommendations from this forum. Here is what I tried:

Bhel Puri - This was an amazing dish. I really don't know how to describe it except that the texture and tartness reminded me ever so slightly of the Chinese Chicken Salad I'd eaten at Chin Chin Cafe in Las Vegas (without the chicken of course). My GF is very averse to heat and actually thought this was a little too spicy for her taste, but to me it was just a little tangy with no heat at all. It's also surprising to me that this is sold by street vendors. I think of street food as something eaten without utensils and that is often pretty greasy. In any event, now I'm hooked!

Chana Bhaturas - The deep fried puffy bread was so light and and delicious. The chickpeas were spiced to perfection and topped with chopped onions and cilantro. Raita and some sliced onions with a couple of mango pickles were served as an accompaniment. I typically love raita and tend to smother it on everything, but I didn't eat it much with this dish. I was enjoying all of the other tastes, especially the mango pickles!!! I thought the tiny bit of heat in the chickpeas would bother my GF, but surprisingly she didn't seem to mind. Is this also sold on the streets in India? I coudn't find it on the menu, I was ordering from a piece of paper on which I had handwritten notes. (Which was actually very helpful to our server as I am sure I butchered the pronunciation of everything! )

Butter naan - I don't think this is considered chaat, but I noticed in another thread that Fat Guy recommended it so I ordered it. Wow. This was amazing. I'm glad I had the Bhaturas before this because the bar just kept being raised with each dish. (Not to take anything away from the Bhaturas -- they were incredible.) I had some chick peas left over that I ate some of the Naan with, but I could have just eaten the naan all night. It was so fresh and hot off the tandoor. And it had brown spots, not the black burnt spots that I have come to expect. Definitely the best naan I have ever eaten, period.

We also ordered a tomato/potato curry dish for my GF fearing she may not fill up on some of these dishes (boy were we wrong) as she tends to be more of a meat and potatoes girl. That dish was barely touched because we were about to explode. In fact, I was sitting there, so stuffed, and I was debating whether I should order another naan to-go and try to eat it when I got home. Then all the sudden I gasped in horror as I remembered we still had one more dish coming. I had no idea what it was, just that I had jotted down faloodas and something about there being some type of "worm-like" noodles in it. I frantically asked the server if there was any more food coming (praying he forgot about this last dish or that possibly he didn't hear us). He informed us the Faloodas was on its way, and I envisioned a huge pasta-like dish was about to be served.

Faloodas - We were pleasantly surprised to see that this dish is an ice cream dessert. Two scoops of rose flavored ice cream with some sweet rose flavored syrup water. It also had what I believe were vermicelli (I could be way off on that) and some little things that reminded me of pomegranite seeds but seemed smaller than I remembered. My GF, a Filipina-American, pointed out it was kind of like Halo Halo - a Filipino treat with ice cream and a hodgepodge of all kinds of fruits and little tapioca balls. With minor effort, together we managed to spoon and slurp our way down to the bottom of this delightful way to end a perfect (and very large) meal.

Final note:

Pani Puri - I wanted to save this to last because I didn't want to spoil all the positive and wonderful things I felt about the rest of the meal. Unfortunately, I was really let down. One of my very dear friends has been raving about this dish for years, and after reading all good things about it here, I could not wait to try it. The puri was just not that great to me. It was not hot (not even lukewarm) and I think it had been sitting around for a while. The texture was almost like pork rinds that you can buy in a bag by the potato chips. All the other ingredients (potatoes, tamarind sauce, lentils) were marvelous and the pani water (although I have nothing to compare it too) was a treat. It was really an intriguing mix of flavors in my mouth. I also noticed that most of the recommendations here were to go for lunch so perhaps they would have been much fresher if I we had gone around noon. Anyone have any suggestions on where to get some good pani puri in NYC? Or perhaps I just caught them on a bad day. I don't want to give up.

In any event, I would recommend Dimple and chaat in general to anyone who hasn't had the pleasure. I will defintely be back there.

-Richie

here are a couple of relevant links:

Dimple Chaat, It kees getting better in India and Indian Cuisine forum

Bhel Puri, Should one try making it at home? in India and Indian Cuisine forum

[Edward]

It sounds like you had a good time. You are well on your way to become a die-hard Indian Food lover. Thats a good thing!

Don't give up on Paani Puri just yet. Maybe you could try it at another place or, better yet, try making it yourself.

[Episure]

Richie,

Your report is vivid enough to make me feel I was there too.

Bhel puri is very easy to make as there is no cooking involved, I am sure you all get Bhel Puri kits which can be 'assembled'. Yes, I see there is mention of ready mixes in other link. The trick is to mix everything and consume it immediately before the chatnis soften the puffed rice.

Chana Bhaturas are rarer than Bhel Puri/Pani Puri as street foods except in North India where they are prolific. However they make their way on restaurant menus all over India.

From your description, it sounds like your Pani Puri had indeed sat around for a while, the Puris are supposed to be crisp and shatter when you bite them.

Below is an amazing description of eating Pani Puri posted by bhelpuri( yes we have one here!) excerpted from Crazy Bombay by Gangadhar Gadgil.

Regards

PS. Take my unsolicited advice and stick to the GF.

QUOTE 

The bhelpuri stall consists of a low wooden platform draped in red cloth on which are displayed in various pots, pans and jars the puris, sev, puffed rice and several other ingredients. The display not only makes the mouth water but is also aesthetically very satisfying. The piled-up sev has the lustre of broken pieces of gold thread, and the crisp, puffed puris look like exquisite golden brown balloons of edible delight waiting to float lightly out of the jars and into the expectant mouths of discriminating Bombayites.

The dahivadas that lie heavy and somnolent in jars filled with water have the shape, form and feel of primordial contentment which is experienced when teeth sink into them and they melt imperceptibly into nothingness. The ragda – peas cooked in spicy gravy – emits a heady aroma as it simmers gently on a charcoal stove, and the throbbing peas seem to be squealing with delight. Even the boiled potatoes invite admiration for the gold of their bodies, while the red, green and amber-coloured chutneys carry in them a hint of the morbid pleasures secretly enjoyed by the Emperors of Baghdad in the heyday of their medieval glory.

There is nothing mild and subdued about the taste of bhelpuri preparations. They are hot stuff – as hot as a raging prairie fire. Therefore people who are brought up on mashed potatoes (mashing a potato seems to me to be the worst insult to which it can be subjected!) and who have eaten nothing hotter than hot dogs, should not venture to taste them without expert guidance.

But once they learn to enjoy the ecstasy of setting their tongues on fire they will realize that bhelpuri preparations are not merely hot. They are also sour, pungent, peppery, salty, spicy, creamy, crisp, fluffy (and believe it or not) sweet. All these tastes annoy, tease, titillate and soothe the tongue while the fire continues to rage on.

Eating panipuri is an art, an achievement and heavenly bliss. It takes a lot of character, courage and training to eat it. It has to be performed in the company of friends, if for no other reason than to avoid choking oneself to death by eating panipuris in too quick a succession.

The panipuri eaters have to stand in a semi-circle near the stall and strike the proper stance. This means that everybody has to plant his legs wide apart, bend forward a full sixty degrees, raise his chin, half open his mouth and hold his hand ready to snatch the proffered panipuri and shove it into his mouth.

A stranger who happens to see the panipuri-eaters in such a stance may feel puzzled, but a true Bombayite would know how necessary it is to take such a stance and would even advise the persons concerned to roll up their sleeves, tuck up their trousers, unfasten their collar-buttons and bend several degrees more to avoid any mishap.

When the customers are thus ready, the assistant serving panipuris picks up a crisp, puffed puri about the size of a ‘B’ grade egg in a San Francisco supermarket, pokes a hole in it with his thumb, stuffs it with sprouted and cooked moongs, dips it in spiced water and offers it dripping to one of the customers standing in the semi-circle. He then offers the puris in quick succession to all the customers and by the time the first one has managed to swallow his first panipuri, he gets another.

Whatever the state of suffocation of the customer, he cannot afford to wait and waste even a second when the panipuri is offered to him. It must be shoved into the mouth before the precious spiced water oozes, drips or squirts out of it. At the same time care has to be taken to prevent the water from squirting on the shirt front, dripping on the trousers, running down the arm into the shirt sleeve or past the chin and down the throat into the collar.

Not everybody can handle the panipuri with such dexterity as to avoid these mishaps, and one sees at Chowpatty many a shirt and sari telling tales of eventful bouts of eating panipuri.

It is not easy to shove into the mouth a stuffed and dripping puri of the size of a ‘B’ grade American egg. The flexibility of the facial muscles is sorely tried in the process and at that time the parties concerned with their contorted faces look remarkably like characters in a Hitchcock film who are in the process of being murdered. Once the panipuri is securely wedged inside the mouth, there follows a moment of agonizing and tantalizing suspense. The jaw, which is on the verge of being dislocated, refuses to move. The muscles of the throat want to swallow but dare not, and for good reason. An invisible lid is securely fastened on the windpipe and lungs scream for fresh air. The eyes pop out. The temples are about to burst because of loud and incessant knocking from inside, and the spiced water acts on the tongue like vitriol. In other words, one goes through the thrilling experience of being about to be choked to death.

Just when it seems all is lost the puri is pushed into the correct position by automatic muscular movement and then the jaw sets working, the throat starts swallowing, air gushes through the windpipe, the charred tongue is bathed in saliva and happy tears trickle out of the eyes. But the ecstasy is shortlived. For one suddenly becomes aware of the protesting convulsions of shocked intestines, and at the same time one has on hand another dripping puri that brooks no delay.

After partaking of panipuri, there is an instinctive urge to quench the fire in the mouth with several glasses of water. But to do this is really to miss the point. The fire must be kept burning, and in fact must be stoked judiciously by eating other bhelpuri preparations. What should be changed is the intensity of the fire. The initial blaze should be subdued by eating dahivadas or other preparations where dahi (yoghurt) is used; and then in the subdued fire must be released multicoloured flares of varied flavours of the chutneys and other ingredients of bhelpuri. Once this principle is understood, everyone can fix for himself the order in which he would like to eat the varied preparations.

Finally, when the whole spectrum of flavours has been sampled, the bhelpuri addict drinks a glass or two of water. That, however, is not the finale but the prelude to the grand finale that soothes the tongue and lubricates and quietens the exacerbated intestines. The grand finale comes in the form of kulfi,which is, or at least ought to be, creamier than cream itself and cool as cool can be. Two fat luscious cones of this kulfi, allowed slowly to melt in the mouth in all their rich creaminess are just the things to end the orgy of eating fire. As they melt in the mouth the temples stop throbbing, the taut nerves relax, contentment seeps into the intestines and a reflective somnolence spreads over the mental faculties. One enters into a state of beatitude and comes as close to nirvana as is possible in Bombay.

In that state of beatitude, the Maharashtrians stop being surly, the Marwaris look at the millions of stars without being reminded of their own millions, the Sindhis admire the horizon without any intention of selling it, the Gujaratis speculate on the moon instead of the scrips they should have sold, the North Indians dream of things other than Hindi as the official language of the United Nations, and even the Parsi ladies stop nagging their husbands.

[bague25]

Richie111

Other Indian interesting street food:

Ragda pattice (potatoes dumplings + dried peas curry)

Pav Bhaji (mix veggies mash with toasted buttered bread)

Zunka Bhakar (a chapatti of millet or sorghum with a chickpea flour preparation) Can anyone help with a better explanation?

Vada pav (a potato dumpling served in bread with chutneys)

Sev batata puri (my fav) – hard puris topped with potatoes, sweet & spicy chutney, etc

Dahi batata puri – sev batata puri but with some yoghurt

[Episure]

Richie111

Zunka Bhakar (a chapatti of millet or sorghum with a chickpea flour preparation) Can anyone help with a better explanation?

Oui Madame,

Eet ees a millet/sorghum pancake served with a roux of red chilli and chanadal flour.

It's a very spartan (@ 10 cents) workers meal and the chapati is made with millet flour and water served with a red chilli+chana dal chatni

Edited May 12, 2004 by Episure (log)

[bague25]

Episure

Please spare me... I have hubby and daughter speaking English weeth ze frensh accen ALL day long. Give me a break

Thanks for the more precise explanation though

[Episure]

I'll never forget Peter Sellers, he did French and Indian too with equal ease.

[Monica Bhide]

what a nice way to start the day! We are hosting an Indian street food dinner in DC at Passage to India.. you can read more about it in the DC forum.. gosh I am getting hungry

[Monica Bhide]

I adore Dimple. We will be back there in two weeks! Yippe!

[Modern Day Hermit]

A friend of a friend makes the best pani puri, I know it involves beer, mangoes and who knows what else. So fresh and delicious, I can taste it now.

Faloodas, Chana Bhaturas...oh my, my mouth is watering.

My favorite chat is with chickpeas, potatoes, the crunchy stuff on top...if I could find some here in Phoenix, I would be in heaven. Or, if someone had a recipe for the chaat masala...I've never tried to make it, probably best that I don't, haha.

[Monica Bhide]

A friend of a friend makes the best pani puri, I know it involves beer, mangoes and who knows what else. So fresh and delicious, I can taste it now.

Faloodas, Chana Bhaturas...oh my, my mouth is watering.

My favorite chat is with chickpeas, potatoes, the crunchy stuff on top...if I could find some here in Phoenix, I would be in heaven. Or, if someone had a recipe for the chaat masala...I've never tried to make it, probably best that I don't, haha.

Jenn - store bought Chaat masala is really quite good.. try MDH