A guide to snacks and street food in Pushkar for vegetarians!

As a holy place for Hindu religion, in Pushkar the meat is banned as also eggs, so is easy to find delicious vegetarian snacks in the small local eateries as also in the many street food stalls, that at different hours of the day pop up along the Pushkar streets!

Kachori… crunchy and spicy

Kachori can be pointed as a gastronomic icon of Rajasthan snacks. This deep-fry dough fills with a mix of lentil (dal) and species can be found in many places in India. The filling can change a bit from place to place, but the hollow crispy dough is a must from any kachori…. yes!

These patties have a small quantity of dal inside and get hollow when are dipped in hot oil. When served, the kachori is slightly smash and topped with a big spoon of a sweet and spicy sauce with a reddish colour.

In Pushkar, the kachori can be found in many places, but my favourite one is a small eatery that only has this snacks and samosas (not so special) a couple of minutes from the square where every morning fruits and vegetables hawker gather.

Address: behind Sri Raghunatha Swamy Temple, in a corner about 2 minutes walk from the Market Square, walking in the opposite direction of the lake. Close around 5 p.m.

Poha… my favourite breakfast

My favorite street-food in Pushkar and also my favorite breakfast: light, spicy a delicious… without oil or much deep-fry stuff!

Poha is basically flattened rice that after gets dry looks like flakes. The poha can be cooked is different ways, as eaten in the morning as breakfast or during the day as a snack, and can be found a bit everywhere in India.

In Pushkar, a popular street stall serves poha cooked with an aromatic mix of cumin, chili, coriander seed, mustard seeds and curcuma that give the yellow color! Then, over this rice mix, is added fresh tomato, onion, cilantro and a big spoon of a creamy and delicious dal (lentil soup). The aloo bhujiya on top gives a crunchy texture to this tasty and healthy meal.

The phoa with dal is be served in a bowl, but if not the phoa can just be served over a newspaper or over a deep-fry cracker, crispy but oily. This wafer can also be cracked and used to top the poha and dal mix.

Address: “Pushkar Breakfast Corner” at main market square (a small where every morning fruit and vegetables hawker gather). Every morning until the food finish usually before 10 a.m.

Paratha… best paratha ever!

… thick, rich in vegetables, spicy and not too oily… yes, the best paratha that I ever try in India!

This treat can be found after 5 p.m. in the Lala Ji stall that only make parathas: from the classic aloo (potato) to cheese, onion, vegetable and paneer… but the one that wins is the cheese-vegetables! All are served with a green mint sauce and raita (a yogurt made sauce)

Everything is made at the moment so you may need to wait a bit, and you can eat just there on the street or ask for parcel.

Address: Lala Ji stays along Main Street of Pokhara (Main Market Road) not far from Nagar Palika Ghat.

Baati

This a typical Rajasthan bread, made from whole wheat flour, semolina, chickpea flour, seasoned with cumin, turmeric, coriander seeds and cooked in wood oven. Just before being served the bread balls are put over the burning coal to get a roast look and the grill taste, and generously soaked in ghee (clarified butter).

From this mix of flour results a rustic bread, dense and with a dry texture, so the ghee put over the warm baati give a more moist and soft texture. In Rajasthan, the baati is eaten soaked in dal, the so-called dal baati, but can also be a filling snack.

Dal Baati

Dal Baati (or dal baati churma) is a typical Rajasthan meal: basically, a dal served with the baati, Rajasthan style bread. The dal is made with a mix of different kinds of lentil, resulting in thick gravy, where are visible tomato and onion finely chopped, aromatized by cumin, coriander, turmeric, cloves, bay leaves and ginger.

In Pushkar, at the Shree Karni Maa Restaurant, the dal baati is served with rice and some achaar (a salty and spicy pickle)… a very filling meal. The rice here is not the traditional way to serve dal baati, because in more dry areas, like in Rajasthan the rice is a rare cereal.

Address: Shree Karni Maa Restaurant, you need to walk a bit further from Brahma Temple, and turn left.

Thali… in Rajasthan style!

Thali means plate and is referred to a complete meal, that include, rice, vegetables, curries, dal, bread, changing from one region to the others, that is served in a metal plate.

To find a typical Indian food in Pushkar you need to find the local restaurants more focused on pilgrims and Indian tourists! The Shree Karni Maa Restaurant is one of my favourites that despite a big choice of food with some Rajasthan dishes have a very tasty and rich thali.

The thali comes with a tasty light curry, a thik and rich dal, sabji (mix of vegetables), curd (yogurt), achhar (a salty and super spicy pickle), papadum (crispy thin cracker) and a small bowl of rice… all the time are coming freshly cooked roti, roasted over the fire. Delicious!

Address: Shree Karni Maa Restaurant, you need to walk a bit further from Brahma Temple, and turn left. There you’ll see on both sides of the streets lots of restaurants side-by-side… the Shree Karni Maa Restaurant is on your left, and his for me one of the best thali in Pushkar… but not the cheapest! The thali costs 200 rupees, and have an unlimited refill, except the curd (yogurt).

Lassi, sweet lassi

If you going to visit India, you must try the lassi!!! Is a drink made from yogurt, thick, fresh and nutritious… unfortunately with quite some sugar! The lassi has the origin in Punjab state, but is spread all over the north of India as also in Nepal and can also be salted and seasoned with cumin.

There as many lassi places in Pushkar… on of my favorites is at L.M.B…. is creamy, topped with pistachio and served in clay pots!

Address: Hotel L.M.B. is not a hotel in the way that id doesn’t have a place to sleep, but in same parts of India, “hotel” means a restaurant. This place has the same name as a famous one in Jaipur but I think that has nothing to do with each other, as this one in Pushkar is a bit dodgy. Near Main Gau Ghat.

Chai

Chai, a tea mix with milk… and sugar, is everywhere in India, but in Pushkar you can find hawkers that walk along the street with their movable stalls. These stalls are something!!! In a fragile metal structure, a kind of tripod, there’s a shinny metal pan that is kept warm with burning coal, and around lays the clay pots. The chai is served in the traditional clay pots, disposed after used.

But for me, the best ones can be found just at the main square of Pushkar, in a small stall easily identify by some bamboo stools near the road where many travellers gather. The chai here is amazing! Dark, rich in spicy flavours and with a touch of ginger, this is more a masala tea than a chai, and is difficult to drink just one… just the location of the stall, near the road, is annoying due to the noise and pollution.

Address: Main Market Square, in a small stall, mix between grocery and chai shop, with some stool outside… when you pass by the owner will tell you to try the “best chai in Pushkar!”.

For a vegetarian diet, all the Northeast Indian states visited were a tremendous disillusionment, capable even of taking out the appetite. With the exception of the state of Assam, whose population is mostly Hindu, meat consumption is a constant presence in the states of Nagaland and Meghalaya, which dominates Christianity.

So this text is only a pale sample of the Northeast States cuisine, but it serves as a guide to those who choose not to eat meat or fish and planning to travel in these remote places.

In the states of Nagaland and Meghalaya is clear the influence of Asian cuisine, often coming up the noodles and chowming, while in Assam is clear the influence of Indian cuisine, specifically from the Punjab region. But the more than 2300 kilometers that separate the two regions, cause a diminish in the intensity of the flavours and reduced the range of ingredients.

Assam and the parathas

In Assamese cities are easy to find the classic Indian dishes, such as the dal (lentil curry) as the vegetable and beans curries. The samosas are also very popular as also some other deep fry stuff as the puris. Being a state crossed by the gigantic Brahmaputra River, which floods the plains and creates an ideal place for planting rice, a cereal essential in any Indian meal.

What stood out in Assam were the parathas, a flatbread made from wheat flour that can be found almost in any part of the country, but in Assam have a kind of twist: are thicker and more oily, pale and without the toasted look, resulting in a compact and undercooked dough. These parathas can be stuffed with potato masala, or more often plain, served with simple curries, usually made from potatoes and yellow-peas. The parathas can be found in most of the restaurants and dhabas but are often available in street stalls, being a popular street food in Assam.

The classic Indian thali, a meal based on rice, dal and vegetables, is also a bit different in Assam, with a very watery dal, a tasteless curry and over the rice a piece of steamed cabbage… yes! just a plain steamed cabbage without any seasoning. Very healthy, fills the stomach but don’t leave a good memory.

Nagaland and the “puris”

If at Assam the cuisine proved uninspired, at least in what concern vegetarian option, at Nagaland state every meal was a challenge for a vegetarian traveler. At mountain areas dominates the meat, present in all markets at Nagaland, as also smoked and dry fish.

At the entrance of small towns, there’s always an area where animals are gathered waiting to be slaughtered, while other pieces of meat are sold to those arriving by motorbike or car or to the ones that are traveling by bus, and use the stops for pick passengers to do the shopping. At the cities, the slaughter of animals, mostly turkey and chicken, is made at the markets, where birds wait in cages. Though the air spreads the smell of blood and animal shit that create a sad and heavy atmosphere.

In Nagaland cities, you can find some vegetarian options such as the so-called “rice”: a rice-based dish, with dal and vegetables, or noodles soup or stir-fry noodles. But in the small villages or in more remote areas as Mon, there is not much more to eat than rice and some boiled greens, seasoned with a fermented and spicy vegetables.

An option that can be found a bit everywhere, and along the day, are the puris, a small flatbread, fried in oil and served with a potato and a small bowl of yellow-peas curry. The puris are excessively oily, here more than usual, soaking the newspaper where they are served, and the curry is spicy but watery. This results in a highly caloric but little nutritious meal, yet quite popular among the local population at Mon, Kohima and Mokochung.

Meghalaya and the Asian influence

Despite the proximity to Bangladesh, the state of Meghalaya is visible the influence from the Asian cuisine by the noodles (rice flour pasta) served in soups or stir-fry. From Tibet came the momos, a small bun stuffed with meat or vegetables.

Shillong, the capital of this state is very modern and cosmopolitan, so it’s easy to find restaurants of the international chains of fast-food, but due to a large number of Indian tourists, there is a wide range of restaurants with traditional Indian dishes.

A breakfast at Northeast India

As this is a region with little international tourism that make almost impossible to find the so-called “continental breakfast” outside the more fancy hotels.

But breakfast usually is not a problem, as the local options reveal almost always a good choice, but in Northeast India this option proved daunting. At Assam was a paratha, served with potato curry and accompanied by a jam. At Meghalaya, in the village of Sohra, the only option available, without meat, was a plate of rice with chickpeas and mint sauce with chili… by chance a simple but tasty combination. At Nagaland, along one of the long bus trip, was time for a chai and a samosa… very tasty and popular combination. At Mon, before starting a journey of 8 hours by sumo (shared taxi), there was an opportunity to taste a very popular breakfast among the local population: deep-fried dough served with a potato curry… a very oily option to start the day!

Sweets

The only experience with sweets along this trip through Northeastern Indian states was been in Assam, where beyond the classic Indian sweets, there was something new for me: a kind of puff dough, deep-fried and drizzled with a thick sugar syrup that after cool down become solid. This syrup results in a yellow-brown color with a bright and appealing look, sold in different shapes, but with a monotonous and boring taste of sugar.

Markets

Markets are always a place that awakens the senses, sharpens the curiosity and stimulates the imagination to try to identify the products sold and their use in the gastronomy of each region.

Kohima, in Nagaland, definitely stood out by the markets, where the exotic and diverse food supply reflects the originality of Nagaland cuisine that includes a lot of meat, eggs, dried fish, eels, snails, worms, mice, frogs… and wasp larvae, still sold in the hive.

Regarding vegetables, these markets show a mix of tropical and mountain products. From the warm plains of Assam come the papaya, and the banana. But, as also in Burma, beyond the fruit, the trunk and the flower of the banana tree are also used for cooking. From the cool mountain air of Nagaland arrive a wide variety of mushrooms and bamboo that are eaten in sprouts. There’s also a big range of veggies, many of them totally unknown to the European taste.

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As a conclusion, it can be considered that the gastronomical experience offered in the visit to the northeastern states of India wasn’t enjoyable, left a memory of monotonous and tasteless food, where the potato was a constant ingredient in almost all meals over the 22 days trip… but of course this is a point of view of a vegetarian, who can not do justice a cuisine of such a large area.