Udaipur New: Street Food

A large mild green chilli is slit and stuffed with spiced mashed potato. The chilli is dipped in gram flour batter, then deep-fried. It is served hot with tamarind or mint chutney. The snack is a Jodhpur invention that spread across Rajasthan. Most Udaipur stalls sell it through the monsoon and winter.

Hung curd is drained overnight until it is firm enough to shape. It is bound with gram flour, chopped onion, chilli and cardamom. The patties are shallow-fried so the crust holds and the centre stays soft. The kebab came out of vegetarian court kitchens that wanted the texture of meat.

A round of flour pastry is filled, sealed, then fried at low heat until it puffs. Rajasthan makes two standard versions. Pyaaz kachori carries a spiced onion filling. Dal kachori uses ground moong. Both are cracked open and topped with chutney. It is the default Udaipur breakfast with tea. Both versions are sold by the piece.

Spiced potato patties are griddled on a flat pan until both faces crisp. They are broken open and layered with curd, tamarind chutney and mint. Sev, onion and chaat masala go on last. Every stall runs its own chutney recipe, so the same snack tastes different across two carts. The patty should stay hot underneath.

Sliced bread is filled with spiced potato, dipped in gram flour batter, then deep-fried. Some stalls fry the bread plain without a filling. It is cut into triangles and served with green chutney. The snack belongs to the morning tea trade rather than to the evening chaat carts. Stalls sell it by the piece.

Spirals of fermented batter are fried in ghee, then soaked briefly in sugar syrup. The coil should shatter rather than bend when it is eaten. Street vendors sell it by weight straight from the pan. In Udaipur it is a breakfast item, eaten hot beside kachori or poha. Ghee frying carries the deeper flavour.

Flattened rice is rinsed, then steamed with turmeric, mustard seed and curry leaf. Udaipur serves it topped with fried sev, raw onion and a squeeze of lemon. Many stalls sell it alongside jalebi and cutting chai. The dish sells out by mid-morning at the busier breakfast counters. A glass of chai usually comes with it.