Home Chefs Of Mumbai – Part 39 – Sneha Senapati

Believe it or not, street food is always delicious.

 Everybody is aware that the food cart parked at the street corner is covered with dust, there may not be clean water to use,  its not even hygienic on many levels, but the taste is really unique that cannot be replicated at the food court in any fancy malls.

And if you thought that this trend of street food is new, then let me tell you that it has been there since 79AD and it has been proven by archeologist, who have made extraordinary find of frescoed hot drink and food shop that served the equivalent of street food (like salty fish, baked cheese, lentils, spicy wine) to poor residents who had no proper cooking facilities in their homes in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii.

So what makes street food so tasty?? Very clearly,  it is authentic, cooked according to the local taste of the city and moreover, the food is made by the owner of the stall or food truck. It is readily available, easy on the pockets, and you can have it anytime on a go. 

During the pandemic, street-food was missed the most. Specially during those first three months, when nobody dared leave their security net to venture out, but many women got busy in their kitchen trying out various dishes to please their family. 

There were many home chefs who excelled in street food, and Sneha Senapati is one of them.

 Sneha Senapati's journey began in 2006 when she came from Bhubaneswar, Odisha to study in TISS in Mumbai. Since then, Mumbai has been home to her. Like anyone living away from home, there were times she would miss home food immensely, but there wasn’t a single restaurant in Mumbai that served food from her hometown. So, as we say, necessity is the mother of all inventions that’s when she started cooking on her own (under the guidance of her mom). She became a chef by passion while managing a full time corporate job. 

Sneha Snehapati specialises in Odiya cuisine. While her aim is to make Odia food popular she has a free style of cooking where she likes to create stuff using less oil.

She has hosted brunches by partnering with restaurants in Andheri West (Versova) under the name of ‘Odiya Bhoji’. So far, She has done about  five pop-ups in the past 2yrs  serving only Oriya Food to a crowd of 120-150 people. She is also empaneled with Authenticook.com where she does home meals.

 "During the lockdown I was doing home deliveries across Mumbai which have been published by CNtraveler, Midday and Mumbai Mirror." she informs.

"Odia Bhoji’ Creates Buzz In Mumbai!  @MyCityLinks - is the link to one of the brunches I did." she continues to talk about the excitement she felt when she read about the mention of her cuisine

Sneha Senapati is fond of good food and likes to explore the local food of the city that she visits. She clearly remembers her visit to Hell’s Kitchen by Gordon Ramsay at Las Vegas, where she enjoyed the set meal, "I specially loved chicken wings." she says.  But of course she still misses her mom’s food the most, whose memories lives with her through her recipes.

Sneha Senapati is happy to share Bhubaneswar style Chaat

Method 

1. Soak 150gms (clean and washed) Chana dal (white peas) in water for 4-5 hours. 

2. Boil the soaked white Peas in Salt and 2 small tsps Garam Masala powder in a pressure cooker 

3. Cook uptil 3-4 whistles on medium flame 

4. Once done keep the pressure cooker on the side turn off the gas and wait till the pressure cooker cools down 

5. Meanwhile, take a pan, heat it on low flame, once heated add 4tbsp oil to the same

6. When oil is heated add 2 chopped Onion and cook till it turns transulent. 

7. Add  2 chopped tomatoes, 7-8 chopped green Chillies, 4tbsp ginger garlc paste and stir well 

8. Add Salt and 3tsp Turmeric powder, 1tsp Garam Masala powder and keep stirring till the mixture starts leaving oil 

9. Add 2tsp red Chilli powder and further mix well. 

10. Remove the boiled white peas and drain them separate from the stock. 

11. Save the stock for later use 

12. Add the boiled white peas, 

13. Add 1 boiled potato to the masala mixture and mix well 

14. Once the white peas and the masala mixture have blended well. add the stock and let it boil on medium flame with covered lid. 

15. Keep cooking for 10-15mins. checking occasionally on the consistency. 

16. The same should be thick gravy and not too runny. 

17. Now garnish with 2tsps roasted cumin powder, coriander leaves 

18. Take some in a serving bowl top it up with chopped onions, tomatoes, green chillies, bhujia sev and julienne ginger, some chaat masala, tamarind pulp, hot n sweet tomato sauce – 

19. The chaat is ready 

Sneha Senapati can be reached on her Watsapp no 75066 43020

Follow her on her insta at @snehasenapati

Pani Puri Is The Favourite #StreetFood of India

Pani Puri is the favourite snack of Mumbaites. It is a fried hollow and round puri filled with sweet and spicy water along with tamarind chutney, potato, chickpeas and chaat masala. in Mumbai, you get to see ragda (the mashed white beans) stuffing with sweet tamarind chutney.

Many people will complain of bad stomach but still they cannot resist it. It is actually favoured all over India although it is know by different names in different cities.

In North India it is known as Gol Gappa and is made from a mixture of potato, chickpea, chutney and served with tangy water. The puris have the extra crunch that will leave you wanting for more.

In the Eastern states of India like Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal it is known as Puchka. A Puchka is made with a mixture of boiled gram and mashed potatoes as filling, the chutney is tangy and the water is spicy. It is slightly bigger as compared to our normal puris. It is made of wheat flour.

 In the interior parts of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh it is known as Pakodi. Green chillies and lot of mint is added to the water and sev is an interesting addition to it in some places.

 In Aligarh, UP it is known as Padaka.

In Odisha, parts of Bihar, Jharkhand Chhattisgarh, Hyderabad, and Telangana they are called GupChup. White peas or chickpea is added as a stuffing along with spicy-tangy water and boiled potatoes.

In Uttar Pradesh it is called Pani key Patashe

 In Central India, including parts of UP and Rajasthan it is called Paani key Batashe or Patashi. It is the regular Golgappa with essential potato filling.

In Hoshangabad in Madhya Pradesh pani puri is referred to as Tikki though it has no relation with a tikki. The puris of Hoshangabad's tikkis are slightly smaller.

In Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Nepal it refers as 'Phulki'. There's no difference in the preparation and it is only the name that differs.

During the years when I lived in Canary Islands, I would spend hours making small size crispy puris that would take just minutes to finish. I would make at least 100 puris in one sitting, shaping each puri with a small round steel bowl. It was a fun activity although it would take too much time..sometimes all afternoon. Family enjoyed it so it was worth an effort.

In India there is really no need to spend so much time in the kitchen because it is available at every street corner. But my family who live abroad still don’t have this luxury of eating this snack on the roadside, although at many private meetings and family gathering, it is a common snack. So it’s a blessing if you can find somebody to get a packed version

Therefore I was very happy to see this product in the market.

This is very well packed container and it includes puris, fried bhoondi, tamarind chutney and a packet of spices that can mixed in the water to make pani puri water.

I immediately opened the packet. Everybody made their own serving of breaking each hollow puri, stuff the pocket with bhoondi, tamarind chutney and filled it to the rim with pani puri water and immediately pop the whole puri in one go into the mouth.

The puri breaks apart flooding the mouth with spicy, sweet and sour water, for a minute you might  even look like a monkey as you begin to swallow, you might even choke at small crisp pieces of puri, tears fill up the eyes but overall effect is pure pleasure. We all loved it.

This product is available in Pune. I have placed an order, waiting for it to arrive, I am planning to send this box to Spain for my family who love this a lot,

There is legend associated with the origin of pani puris. This is how it goes:

In the epic Mahabharata, a newly-wedded Draupadi returns home to be given a task by her mother-in-law Kunti. The Pandavas were on exile and Kunti wanted to test if her new daughter-in-law would be able to manage with the scarce resources. So she gave Draupadi some leftover potato sabzi and just enough wheat dough to make one puri, instructing her to make food that would satisfy the hunger of all five of her sons. It is believed that this was when the new bride invented pani puri. Impressed with her daughter-in-law’s ingenuity, Kunti blessed the dish with immortality.

Source: The Better India