CurryUpNow-The Bay Area’s first Indian Street Food on a Mobile Truck is inspired from street foods in India and Indian foods popular in other parts of the world. We aim to bring the street foods of Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi, Chowpatty, Mumbai, New Market, Kolkatta, elite boarding school (Sem, Sherwood, Sonn & All Saints) town of Nainital, Uttarkhand to you, on our truck. The food we are serving are foods that we have grown up eating and; we hope you like the food as much as we do.
Most Indian states and some cities specialize in their own kind of street food. Kolkatta has an amazingly rich diversity of street food. One of its outstanding specialties is the Kathi roll made famous by Nizam’s. It comes with a choice of fillings – paneer, meat or chicken and served with sauces. Delhi enjoys its rolls as Roomali Rotis with Kababs with green chutney.Delhi specializes in Kababs where the seekh, shammi, burra and gola kababs can be eaten at throwaway prices in and around the Old Delhi area, classic indian street food in Chandini Chowk and tons of Indo-Chinese carts all over the city.
Andrew Zimmern roamed the streets of Chandini Chowk for his Delhi show in 2008. He sampled Aloo Tikki Chaat, Daulat Ki Chaat, a sweet, exotic and rare street dish made from the froth of milk by keeping the milk on rooftops in the winter and created with the help of the Delhi dew. He also sample Nihari, a dish from the feet, brains and thighs of a buffalo as well as some other Mughali dishes at El Jawahar’s in Chandini Chowk. At the Chawri Bazaar, he had a fruit sandwich with chopped fruit and pomegranate seeds, another Old Delhi speciality.
A much sought after family of street food in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttaranchal, Chattisgarh, Punjab, Bihar and West Bengal, Chaat is one of the most mouth-watering delicacies within the street food family. It was prepared and eaten by Banias (money lenders and commodity businessmen) known for their inactive lifestyles. Chaat of any variety is a lovely blend of four tastes – sweet, sour, pungent and spicy known as chatpata. This chatpata taste and can never tire your taste buds provided you have a stomach strong enough to digest the stuff.
Calcutta street food includes phuchka also known as Pani Puri in the West, Gol Gappa in the North, Bataashaa in Uttar Pradesh & Gup Chupp in other areas jhal mudi, kathi rolls as described above (mainly egg, chicken and mutton), mixed vegetable and potato chops, groundnuts, popcorn, and fritters.
Doubles is to Trinidad & Tobago as Chaat is to most of Northern and Western India. People in T&T have been enjoying the island version of Chola Bhatura since the mid 1800’s after being introduced to the food by laborers from India. It has now become one of the most sought after street foods in the island along with Roti.
Kerala has its own “thattukadas: a covered cart or van with stoves and utensils. They offer “thattu dosa”—a light rice-flour crepe fried in coconut oil and served with coconut chutney. Thattukada menus include indo-chinese dishes, omelettes, spicy pork fry, and parottas.
Tamil Nadu has its “thalluvandis similar to Kerala’s “thattukada”s and popularly referred to as “Kaiyendhi Bhavans”, where traditional and neo-traditional menus are common.
Karnataka has its own food items such as idli, masala dosa, vada, chakkuli, ragi rotti, jolada rotti and churumuri.
Chicken Tikka Masala, now voted and verified as the most popular food item in the UK must now be the most ordered Indian dish all over the globe. The origins of this dish are in dispute after a restaurant in Glasgow claimed to have invented CTM in the 1970’s. We feel that the origins of this dish go back centuries to the Mughal Empire which once ruled all of South Asia.
Lucknow’s most famous food joints adopt the smartest advertising strategy of all times. No sign-board, no phone lines and no marketing gimmicks – this works well for Idris Biryaniwala at Patanala Chowk, Rahim kulche-nahari eatery at Chowk, Tunde kebabs at Akbari Gate, top it off with Naushejaan, Sakhawat, Daal mein Kaala, Dasterkhwan and you have eateries that are pocket friendly and find a place in national and international food guides.
When bad-boy chef Anthony Bourdain went on a culinary journey through India two years ago, he said the vada pav — a humble street snack usually sold for about ten cents — was the best thing he ate. The vada pav is a glorious carb-on-carb overload. Similar to a burger, a spicy potato patty is encased in a gram flour coating, then sandwiched in a buttered bun and bathed in tangy garlic chutney. Unpretentious street food such as the vada-pav — preferably bought from a surly bhelwala (Mumbai slang for street food vendor) — is part of the great Indian travel experience. Still, it takes a brave tourist to sample the wares of a bhelwala who is casually mashing potatoes with his bare and grubby hands, as flies buzz happily around. Luckily, a slew of restaurants are sanitizing street food, serving it in clean (if not always pristine) surroundings. At most places, you can eat like a king for less than US$ 2.
In Kolkatta, Bourdain sampled Lucchi Allo (Poori Alloo Kolkatta style) from a street vendor, Jhal Muri (Spicy Puffed Rice) after trying his hand at cricket and went on to try some other local favorites.
Students like many in our family who attended boarding school at St. Joseph’s College, Sherwood College, All Saints College and St. Mary’s Convent in Nainital, Uttranchal usually had 2-3 hours a week for town walks where students would be allowed to visit the town for a few hours dressed up in their school formals. Nainital had two decent restaurants at the time, Embassy & Capri along with two Dhabas, Negis and Sher-e-Punjab. When the pocket money ran out which was usually in the first week of the month, Bun Tikks, Bun Samosa and Bun Ommies (omelette) along with Bhutta (Corn) from street vendors were a great alternative to restaurant and dhaba food.
