Chetna Makan - Chai, Chaat & Chutney: a street food journey through India

Food is a big part of Indian life. Just as the weather is a common talking point in the UK, food is a popular subject of conversation in India. It is said that while Indians are eating breakfast, they are discussing what they will eat for lunch, and when eating lunch, dinner is the topic. This idea always makes me laugh, but its mostly true!

Street food is a huge and important part of Indias food culture. I love the fact that it is such a leveller no matter what your background might be, standing at a popular street stall next to the other customers, you are all simply people enjoying the food. Some turn up in luxury cars, others on bicycles, but theyre all there to experience the food made by that vendor.

Most street food is freshly prepared to order, served very quickly and, best of all, extremely cheap. Not only can you buy snacks and light dishes to keep you going, but you will also find on offer amazing meals, complete with a variety of flavours and components. And, yes there are also sweets to enjoy!

Life has been an incredible journey for me from Jabalpur, the small town in central India where I grew up, hoping to go to fashion college one day. That dream came true when, at 17 years of age, I went to study in Mumbai. I loved the whole process of creating the concept that a simple thought passing through my mind could be developed as an idea and realized as a beautiful garment, but Mumbai was a big jump from the comforts of home.

At home, my mother cooked every day. She was always trying new things and encouraged me into the kitchen at a very young age. She would make birthday cakes for the family and slowly I joined in and eventually took over that role. It was nothing fancy just simple sponge cakes made with love, but my friends and family enjoyed them.

At times, my family would go out for street food. Our favourites were the chaat (sour and spicy street food snacks) bhel puri, pani puri and papdi chaat. The stall that made the best chaat in Jabalpur still exists! The next generation of stallholders gradually learned the tricks of the trade, so whenever I visit my parents, I make sure to go there and enjoy some more of what I consider to be the best chaat Ive ever tasted.

Another favourite type of street food my family loved to eat was South Indian food, especially the dosa (crispy south Indian crpes made from fermented rice and lentil batter) and sambhar (south Indian stew made from lentils and tamarind). My dad would always have vada (fried snacks made from lentils, potatoes or vegetables) and sambhar, my sisters, plain dosa, and my mum and I would order masala dosa. To this day I remember what each of us ate, because every time we went out for this meal, we each had exactly the same thing!

Papa would also take us out for late night treats after he came home from work. He had a two-wheeled scooter and the three of us sisters would pile onto it and go to a special stall for cashew nut and raisin ice cream. Sadly, that place no longer exists, but the taste of its wonderful ice cream is still very fresh in my memory.

Food-wise, Mumbai was very different from Jabalpur. Our college canteen served an amazing breakfast of poha (flattened rice flakes) and masala chai (Indian tea brewed with spices), which I used to enjoy, but the rest of my daily meals tended to be street food. There was a stall just outside the college that served tea and coffee with lots of little snacks all day. That is how I got hooked on tea and biscuits and, to this day, that is what I have first thing every morning.

As I moved through college and shifted to working as a designer, I lived in many different parts of Mumbai, which gave me the opportunity to discover more incredible street food. I would visit markets to search out unique fabrics and accessories, and so found more great places to eat at the same time.

Thats how I discovered Mumbais best falooda (popular Indian dessert made with syrup, basil seeds, glass noodles, milk and ice cream) in a tiny shop in the Crawford Market. It sold nothing but falooda, and the flavours, of which there were many, included delights such as saffron, rose and mango. When I recently returned to the city I sought out this shop and realized once again just how wonderful their falooda is.

After many years in Mumbai I moved to Kent in the UK, which was once again a big change for me, especially when it came to food. Of the many things I missed about Indian cuisine, street food was top of the list. I did try to cook a few of those dishes in my early days in England, but found it tricky to get the right ingredients at the time. Fortunately, things have changed.

Of course, coming to Britain introduced me to a whole new world of baking. Slowly I found myself baking for friends and family and absolutely loved it. This led to my appearance on the TV show The Great British Bake Off, which gave me all the confidence I needed for my baking experiments. And that, in turn, led to my first book, The Cardamom Trail, which is full of amazing spices and other flavours that will transform familiar sweet and savoury bakes into showstoppers.

But when it came to writing this book, what I really wanted to share with all you food lovers out there was my early passion for Indias street food. The subject is so vast I couldnt possibly cover it all in one book, so the question was where to start. Then it occurred to me that the four biggest cities in India broadly represent the four corners of the country, and the street food culture from each city offers distinctive, mouthwatering dishes.

For this book, I have chosen my favourite street food dishes the food that has stood out for me on my travels. All of them have a memory or flavour that is special to me, but Ive been careful to select recipes that are easily made in home kitchens. You should be able to find most of the ingredients locally, apart from a handful that are required for special dishes, which should be readily available online.

The key to cooking great street food is to prepare everything in advance. Get all the ingredients and other things you need together, do all the chopping and other prepping, have your chutneys ready then, finally, bring the dish together when you are ready to eat.

I do hope that you will give these recipes a go and enjoy them as much as I do. They represent my own take on a wonderful branch of Indian cuisine that has not only proved popular all over the world but also provides a daily lifeline for many Indians.