Indore is a city that prides itself on food. The street food here is heavily influenced by the neighboring states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Maharashtra. The diverse street food culture here is a testimony of the food-crazy locals and also the quintessential Indori ingenuity that is visible in the quintessential dishes found here. In this episode, we bring you some of the wide variety of must-try delicacies from different pockets of the city.
Our first stop was Head Sahab ke Pohe, where we tried the Usal Poha or poha served with a spicy chole and other accompaniments. It was quite spicy yet zesty. Even in the rainy weather people had thronged the place to enjoy a plate.
The second stop was Rasgulla house, a place enormously famous in Indore for their softest and yummiest rasgullas. It is run by an enthusiastic and agile granny who proudly showed us the process of making rasgulla. Watching the tiny cottage cheese balls puffing up into spongy and bouncy delectable spheres was a thing of joy. They were irresistible that I had to stop myself at 4 only because we had the whole food trail to complete.
After this, we headed to Ghanshyam Chaat House to gorge on some big-sized gol gappas. The ones that you get here are bigger than the cavity size of your mouth and stuffing inside along with the spiced water makes it more difficult to handle it but it's fun to devour it. The masala and the water were perfectly zesty. We also tried the dahi puchna which was a fountain of flavours.
From there we headed on to try the unique corn ladoos from Sharma Ji’s cart. Made from dried and desiccated fresh corn paste, this sweetmeat is both delicious and filling. Tastewise it resembles the besan ke ladoo, a seasonal fare that one should try.
We then went to Sindh Bakery, a very special bakery run by a gentleman who is immensely fond of old hindi songs and the stalwarts who sang them. This place has the best bakery items in the city. We loved their rusk and baked samosas. The samosas were more like puff pastries. Do pay a visit to this place for the irresistible sight and aroma of various traditionally baked cookies, biscuits, puffs, etc, old music, and endearing company and stories.
The next stop was Sri Krishna Gujrati Kadhi and Fafda, a place famous for Fafda and Kadhi. The combination was decent although among the two we liked fafda the most.
Soon it was the turn of some luscious Kaju shake. It was a simple yet divine concoction of milk, cashew paste, and sugar. It’s a must-try place for thandais.
From there we went to another popular spot, the Lal balti kachori shop. The potato stuffed kachoris were quite decent but what made them special and delicious was a super-spicy chilli chutney coriander chutney.
Next was the turn of a popular veg hot dog from Lala Chat Bhandar. The crisp pan-fried buns smeared with chutney and stuffed with chole, paneer slices, potato patty, onions sev, etc was zesty and very appetizing.
Our final stop for the day was the iconic Lakshinanayan Doodhwala. This place is hugely popular for its flavoured milk. Apart from the hot luscious milk drink, another noteworthy thing about this place is the humongous Karai or pan in which the milk is boiled. It is deemed as the largest pan in the whole state. With this, we wrapped up our first day at Indore. Apart from the food, this place has also earned laurel for being the cleanest city in India.