indian street food
pani puri is a type of snack that originated in the Indian subcontinent.It consists of a round or ball-shaped, hollow puri (a deep-fried crisp crepe), filled with a mixture of flavored water , tamarind chutney, chili, chaat masala, potato, onion or chickpeas. Being born and brought up in Mumbai, its street food has always been my favorite, both then and now. Hence thought of compiling a post with all the street food I have grown up having. Of course pani puri and pav bhaji tops the list as its one of my favorite street food since childhood.
You can easily make these veg recipes at home and they are not difficult. Just a little planning and you can enjoy them with your family and friends. The collection list mostly covers snacks, a few main course recipes and some beverages. I have tried to include all the popular ones. in case I have missed any famous snack, then do let me know.
35 Best Mumbai Street Food Recipes
1. Pani puri – a popular street food of India, where crisp fried dough balls are stuffed with potatoes, sprouts, spicy tangy water and sweet chutney. With so many burst of tastes and flavors in your mouth when you have pani puri, you just cannot have one :-). To make puris at home, you can refer this post on Puris for pani puri recipe. I have also shared Mumbai style pani puri recipe where moong sprouts are added.
2. Pav bhaji – it is one of the most popular street food from Mumbai. It is basically spiced smooth mashed mix vegetables, served with lightly roasted buttered bread.
3. Misal pav – a popular Mumbai street food of usal (sprouts curry) topped with onions, tomatoes, farsan (fried savory mixture), lemon juice and served with pav.
4. Bhel puri – a crispy, soft, sweet, tangy, spicy mixture of many edibles like puffed rice, roasted peanuts, sweet chutney, green chutney, onions, tomatoes, sev etc. A snack that can be made in a jiffy if you have all the ingredients ready.
5. Sev puri – a spicy, sweet, tangy chaat with so many different textures and tastes mingling in your mouth. Its easy to assemble sev puris. Just that some of the ingredients need to be prepped up before you start assembling them.
6. Ragda patties – another popular street food where potato patties or Aloo tikki are layered or topped with Ragda, which is a spiced dry peas preparation. Then topped with onions, sweet and spicy chutneys and sev.
7. Falooda recipe – a layered summer dessert beverage made with milk, rose syrup, sabja seeds, falooda sev, dry fruits and ice cream. A popular North Indian summer drink which is now equally popular in Mumbai and Pune.
8. Mumbai veg sandwich – sandwiches are very popular in Mumbai. One gets to see so many sandwich stalls. what adds spice to this veg sandwich is the spicy coriander chutney, black salt and chaat masala.
9. Dabeli recipe – dabeli is a street food which originated in kutch region. Dabeli is also called as kutchi dabeli or kachchhi dabeli. Its a very popular street snack and can be easily found in Mumbai as well as in Gujarat.
10. Chole bhature – spicy chickpea curry served with leavened fried bread (bhatura). This delicious snack is equally popular in Punjab and parts of north India as well.
11. Samosa recipe – a classic and popular Indian snack stuffed with spiced potato peas filling. Samosas are a favorite with many of us. Wherever you go, you will be able to get samosas in India. They are a popular street food in India. In Mumbai, there are street food snacks of samosa-pav and samosa sandwich.
12. Dry Veg manchurian – an Indo Chinese starter dish of fried veg balls in a spicy, sweet and tangy sauce. If you are looking for gravy version then here is the link for Veg manchurian gravy recipe.
13. Vada pav – this is one of the most humble street food of Mumbai, yet it is tasty and delicious. It basically has Batata vada which is sandwiched between two slices of a pav, along with sweet chutney and green chutney.
14. Tawa pulao – a popular Mumbai street food of rice and vegetables sauted together with pav bhaji masala and other spices-herbs. the street side vendors use a huge Tawa and they make Pav bhaji, Masala pav, Tawa paneer masala and tawa pulao on this huge tawa. For home cooks, this recipe can be made in a frying pan or even in a kadai
15. Khaman dhokla – khaman dhokla or khaman as its called, is a savory steamed cake made from gram flour. Khaman is soft and fluffy, mildly tangy-sweet and a great snack anytime of the day. Few more popular Gujarati recipes
16. Poori bhaji – this is the Maharashtrian version of potato curry with pooris. this poori bhaji is very different from the Punjabi aloo poori that I make. A classic example of the variety & diversity of Indian cuisine using the humble potato and Indian spices-herbs. You can also check this Poori masala which is the South Indian style potato masala which goes well with pooris and dosa.
17. Batata poha – we used to simply call this dish pohe. Potato poha used to be quite a regular breakfast recipe at my place. Its a quick, easy and healthy dish to make. Its also a popular breakfast recipe in Maharashtra. Other popular variations of poha recipe which you can make at times are:
- Kanda batata poha (onion potato poha)
- Poha recipe (onion poha).
- Indori poha (popular street food from Indore city)
- Poha upma (made with mix vegetables)
- Chooda matar (from Uttar Pradesh)
18. Upma recipe – savory South Indian breakfast dish made with rava. Making upma does not take much time and can be done in 15 to 20 minutes.
19. Sabudana vada – its crispy and delicious and can be made as a morning or evening snack. Sabudana vada is served with sweet curd (yogurt) in maharashtra and this combination tastes great. Sabudana is a common ingredient used during the religious fasting or vrat.
20. Idli recipe – idli is also a popular Mumbai street food snack. Idli is a traditional breakfast made in every South Indian household. This is a tried and tested method to make soft and fluffy idlis at home.
21. Mumbai style Masala Dosa – crisp dosas served with potato masala in a mix of onions, coriander leaves, garam masala powder and butter. few more popular Mumbai style dosa recipes are Mumbai style mysore masala dosa, Sada dosa and Schezwan dosa.
22. Ganga jamuna juice – sweet lime and orange juice medley. Try this juice this summer and you will love it.
23. Dry fruits milkshake – rich in iron and calcium, this milkshake is a healthy beverage as well a great energy supplement for anyone who wants a quick boost of energy. good for occasions when you are low in energy levels and quickly want to super charge your energy levels.
24. Masala uttapam – you can easily make the uttapams with leftover idli or Dosa batter. you will need to make the potato masala separately. Then preparing these sandwich uttapams is very easy.
25. Momos recipe – steamed dumplings stuffed with a lightly spiced vegetable filling. A tibetan recipe which is now a popular street food snack in most Indian cities including Mumbai. indian street food
26. Kathi Roll – delicious wraps stuffed with a spiced mix veg stuffing. These mix veg kathi roll are also known as veg frankies. These make for a good brunch, lunch or tiffin box snack. preparing kathi rolls from scratch takes time. If you have the atta dough ready, then these are more quick to prepare. Few more similar recipes on blog are paneer fankie and frankie
27. Cutting chai – cutting chai is half a portion of chai (tea). Its served in special kind of glasses instead of cups. The tea is boiled for a long time so it becomes a really strong chai and has a dominant flavor of cardamom followed by ginger.
28. Hot and sour soup – spicy and hot soup made with mixed vegetables. Another similar spicy and hot soup recipe is Manchow soup made from mix vegetables. For more soup recipes, you can check this collection of soup recipes. most popular soup in india
29. Piyush recipe – smooth and creamy beverage popular in the Maharashtrian and Gujarati cuisine of western India. Piyush is a bit similar to the popular beverage Lassi. But in comparison, piyush is thick, creamy and sweeter than lassi. Obviously, as shrikhand is added to it. Shrikhand is thick, creamy and sweet.
30. Kanda bhaji – They are fried onion fritters. These crisp fritters are prepared mainly with onion and gram flour (besan). bhaji is also known as pakoras in north India & bajji in south India street food
31. Ragda chaat – easy and a delicious chaat made with ragda, spices and herbs. Ragda is a preparation made with dried white or yellow peas. If you have boiled the ragda earlier then this chaat can be made in less than 5 minutes. Assembling the chaat is very easy. If you skip the puri and sev, then this chaat is low on calories and yet tastes good. You can also check this Masala puri recipe which is a popular street food snack from bangalore and is also made from dried white peas.
32. Kanda bhajji pav – It is a crispy, tasty and popular Mumbai street food snack where onion fritters (onion pakoda, vengaya bajji) are stuffed between pav (bread rolls) and topped with spicy and sweet chutneys. Basically these are like onion fritter slider with a tangy, spicy and sweet taste. Few more similar recipes you may like are pav sandwich, samosa sandwich and batata bhaji pav.
33. Jini dosa – popular and delicious dosa variety from the Mumbai street food scene. In jini dosa a stuffing of mix veggies like cabbage, carrots, capsicum are semi-cooked in schezwan sauce, chilli sauce, tomato ketchup and a few Indian spice blends. Grated cheese is also added.
34. Chinese pakoda – these are crisp and spiced fried vegetable fritters. Chinese pakora is one of the inventions from Mumbai city and is popular there. Chinese pakoda largely resemble Vegetable manchurian balls. since cabbage is one of the main veggie used here. There few more fusion recipes on blog which are made with mix veggies like schezwan dosa, schezwan masal dosa, chinese toast.
35. Samosa pav – like Vada pav, samosa pav is also one of the street food snack from Mumbai. In samosa pav, Samosas are stuffed in pav (bread rolls) along with green chutney, sweet tamarind chutney and dry garlic red chilli chutney.
