Immersed in yet another Bollywood movie, this one called "God Made the Couple," and there was one scene that left a particularly strong impression on me. The couple was eating golgappas in a street-side restaurant, and decided to challenge each other and see who could eat the most. The man one, and both were incredibly full afterward. I was particularly intrigued because I had never encountered any Indian food quite like the golgappas. They look almost like a combination between a samosa and a pekora, but with a little opening at the top where I assume the filling is placed.
I decided to look into the food, embarking on an online culinary adventure. After perusing Google, I found a charming website called Padhu's Kitchen, a blog written by an Indian housewife which has everything from recipes to beauty tips to yoga positions. According to Padhu, this food is only called a golgappa in northern India, and is called a poochka in West Bengal. It is a common street food or chaat (savory item/snack), and Padhu's recipe involved puris (unleavened, deep-fried Indian bread) stuffed with potatoes, sprouts, chickpeas, and spicy masala water. These snacks are also called panipuris--the word being a combination of pani (water) and puri (fried bread). The pani mix involved chutneys, chili powder, masala, cumin, and boondi (flour, butter, and chili), and the puris have chili, potatoes, chaat, cumin, and salt.
These are just one of the many types of Indian snacks out there, but definitely an important addition to my foodie and cultural vocabularies! The attached link leads to recipes and pictures of the treat.
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