Hello friends! Welcome to visa2explore!
I am your host Harish Bali.
If you missed the episodes of Surat Breakfast, or Veg food 1 or Veg food 2,
please find the link for those videos in the description of this video.
There are some street food dishes here which you cannot think of missing at all.
These are – Coco, Sai paratha and lots more.
Surat is the commercial capital of Gujarat and it is famous for its textile and diamond businesses.
Right now, we are passing from in front of the textile market.
Our next food destination is samosa.
I’ve had to stand in a long queue to get this samosa.
The good thing is that they have crushed it in the middle and filled the whole with chutney.
That is a very tempting way to serve.
Also, just by looking at this samosa, I can vouch for the fact that it is going to be tempting too.
The samosa I am eating right now in Surat is one of the good samosas I’ve eaten in a long time.
Hmmm! The chutney is sweet!
I’m talking about this tamarind chutney, which has tamarind as well as sugar, the latter on a higher side.
My observation while eating this samosa – they’ve not put too many potatoes in the filling.
Usually, people stuff lots of potatoes in a samosa, which makes the dish less desirable.
The amount of potato in the filling is just right& the filling is delicious too!
If I am asked to label this samosa, I would call it a “Rajasthani Samosa” because of high spice content.
It is in Gujarat that I’ve seen such thin, crispy jalebi being more popular.
The jalebi we eat in North India is usually thicker in size.
This jalebi is sold for Rs. 400/kg, probably because it is fried in desi ghee.
However, the best part is eating this jalebi in combination with the samosa. Awesome!
In the Bhagal area, I’ve come to this shop which is a century old.
I’ve come to this shop for this thing in particular – Surati Bhusu.
There are other varieties of Farsan (Gujarati snacks) available too.
I’ve asked them to give me some samples for tasting.
This is Surati Bhusu that they’ve given me to sample.
This would taste delicious with a cup of tea.
It has sev, sweet chiwda (flattened rice flakes), boondi (chickpea flour pearls), etc.
This shop is open from 7 in the morning to 10 at night.
I got myself a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top, though they also have the option of chocolate ice cream.
Let me eat a bite of this ice cream first.
Quite a thick drink!
They heat chocolate and milk together then shake the mixture in ice to chill it.
Now, you can drink it without the vanilla ice cream but that only makes the taste better.
If you drink this whole glass, then you won’t be able to move around for a couple of hours.
So, I will have to give a serious thought of how to move around after such a heavy drink.
The A-One Coco is the no. 1 shop of Surat.
And you can assess the quality of their drinks by looking at the crowd outside the shop.
And once you drink Coco here, you won’t be satisfied with the quality anywhere else in India.
Yes, the taste is delicious, no doubt!
There is a famous bakery shop in Nanpura area called Dotivala.
I’ve heard their nankhatai (type of baked biscuit) is quite famous!
There are so many bakery items sold at this shop but I’ve ordered a nankhatai for myself.
This nankhatai has been baked with pure ghee and this one uses dalda (type of refined butter).
These two biscuits that you are looking at are called “Surati Batasa.”
If you want to enjoy these biscuits thoroughly, you need to dip these in a cup of tea and
eat before they melt completely.
The Surati biscuit is made with refined flour and the prominent flavor comes from caraway seeds.
I haven’t seen caraway seeds before, so I asked them to show me some.
Here it is, let me eat some to know its taste.
I cannot tell you about its closest match, though it is a great flavoring agent, for sure.
My whole mouth is filled with flavor and aroma.
Completely different taste!
Since this nankhatai is made with pure ghee, that is one of the reason for its overpowering taste.
Although I liked both the varieties of biscuit but I liked nankhatai better!
I’ve reached the 100-years-old shop of Jamnadas Ghariwala in Chautha Bazar to eat some Ghari (local sweet).
I’ve ordered two varieties of Ghari for myself.
I had heard a lot about this sweet, which is a famous local specialty.
Let me get it sliced into smaller portions.
You can even ask them to top it with some sliced dry fruit.
This is Kesar (saffron) flavored Ghari that I’m going to eat first.
The white layer on top is that of ghee.
Really this sweet is very rich in taste.
What makes this sweet rich in flavor is addition of lots of ghee, besan (chickpea flour),
mawa (dairy product) and dry fruit.
And, of course, saffron flavor is there as well.
This Ghari variety is also full of the combined flavors of mawa, besan, ghee, almond & pista.
It is delicious too and the only difference is that it doesn’t have saffron in it.
You need good quality mawa, milk, to make a good quality Ghari and
both these ingredients are available in and around Surat in surplus quantities.
We also add shredded coconut to it, which makes its taste even better.
Our shop was set up in the year 1899 and this picture was clicked in 1947.
He is the driver who takes me around in Surat and he has brought me to this interesting temple,
where the Ram Dhun (devotional song dedicated to Lord Rama) has been continuously played since past 5 years,
non-stop for 24 hours.
My driver is a regular visitor to the temple and I am going in too to see the temple from inside.
(Ladies singing Ram Dhun)
Inside the temple complex, a herd of Gir Cows also lives.
It is believed that the milk of Gir cows is highly nutritious.
And the ghee made from their milk is very rare to come by.
This gentleman is telling me that the ghee made from this cow’s milk is sold for Rs. 3000/kg (41.62 USD).
Inside the cowshed, you can also see a unique breed of cow called “Swarn Kapila.”
If you look carefully, its nose, horns, hooves, tail, etc all are brown in color.
This is considered to be a very rare species of cow.
I am going to finish this food journey with this temple visit.
Tell me your opinion about this video.
Like always, I shall wait for your comments.
Surat food continues after this.
Thanks for your time!
We are at our Surat meet up today.
The meeting started at 4 pm and it is 5.45 pm now.
For the past quarter to two hours, these people gave me a lot of feedback regarding my YouTube channel.
I’ve even noted down the whole interaction points over these two sheets of paper.
They have given me references regarding the places I may have missed out on in Surat or that I need to cover still.
I want to thank you all for taking out time to come and meet me here as well as give me these inputs.
Please keep supporting Visa2Explore like you’ve been doing in the past.
Thanks for your time! Thank you!
Right now, we are going from Adajan area to Dumas beach, which is 22 kms away.
This route passes from in front of Surat Airport.
This beach is believed to be a haunted location.
All the shops on this beach close by 8.30 pm and the tourists also leave the beach by then.
During day, as well as in the evening, you can see a lot of food stalls operating here.
You can see a lot of kids playing around here on the beach, enjoying camel ride.
The food stalls sell snacks items like roasted corn on the cob, etc.
But I am here specifically for Rataloo (yam).
The stall that I am going to visit is famous for Rataloo as well as tomato bhajiya (fritters).
Rataloo is called garadu in Madhya Pradesh.
Large slices of Rataloo are sprinkled with masala,
dipped in besan batter and further sprinkled with black pepper powder & then deep fried.
And Rataloo puri is ready!
You can identify the Rataloo puri with this crushed black pepper on top.
They have served this puri with chutney made of besan, which looks more like kadhi.
I had eaten garadu chat in Sarafa Bazar, Indore.
After that, this is the first time I am eating garadu again.
This crushed black pepper adds spice to the puri.
Well, I enjoyed this puri on its own too but dipping it in chutney makes it taste better.
Especially if you like your food sweet, you will like this combination, otherwise, it is not for you.
Rataloo puri can be eaten for breakfast or as a snack.
Just like the Rataloo puri, this is my first time to eat the tomato puri.
This is made by adding a dollop of chutney to a tomato slice, then dipping it in besan batter and deep frying it.
Look at this tomato slice inside.
This puri tastes delicious with tomato and chutney inside the thick layer of fried besan.
I don’t need to add further chutney to it.
There are 3-4 food stalls, with seating arrangement in the back.
But I am not eating there because it is dark out there.
I am eating my snack here in front of a stall with some light here.
I would have enjoyed this better during daylight.
I enjoyed eating both tomato puri and Rataloo puri.
The only thing is that to enjoy such a meal, the weather needs to be conducive as well.
Therefore, I think, we would enjoy these dishes more during winter.
Host: “Sir, you’ve made a good dish. Especially this tomato puri is very delicious.”
From Dumas beach, I’ve come to Piplod to eat paratha.
There are about 40-50 stalls selling parathas here.
What a unique culture!
People have spread out mats on the roadside, on the footpath, and are enjoying paratha meals.
I am surprised to see this.
I have not seen such a culture anywhere so far.
It is Sunday today, so maybe that is why there is a large crowd here.
I’ve also ordered a paratha for myself.
See, how they have cut up the paratha and arranged it like a flower on the plate, topped with cheese.
The paratha has mixed vegetables and paneer (cottage cheese) in it.
The style of serving this paratha is good and it also helps cool down the hot paratha.
You can also pick up one piece, dip it in ketchup or yogurt served on the side, and bite into it.
The paratha has a decent taste and it has become too cheesy with all this cheese on top.
If you ask me, this place, its ambience, the cool breeze,
weather and the crowd around you is much more of an attraction than the paratha itself.
You can come with your family and enjoy this paratha.
Now I am going to eat this bite with some ketchup.
Host: “Sir, when do you close this stall?”
Owner: “11.30 pm sir.”
Host: “11.30?”
Host: “So you open this stall everyday here?”
Owner: “Yes Sir.”
Host: “These mats on the footpath, are these yours or do the families bring the mats with them?”
Owner: “We provide these mats.”
Host: “You provide these! Since when have you been running this stall?”
Owner: “It has been 4-5 years now.”
Host: “So, there are so many Sai Paratha stalls here?”
Owner: “No Sir. Sai is just part of the title. Each stall has a different name.”
Host: “Sai is the title of each stall but the name is different.”
This is a clarification I was looking for because wherever I go in Surat, I am seeing stalls selling Sai paratha.
Host: “Sir, you have made a delicious paratha.”
Owner: “Thank you Sir.”
Host: “It tastes delicious with all the cheese too.”
Host: “I am also enjoying the weather with this paratha.”
In the next episode, you will see ‘Ratri Bazar’ (Night market) of Surat and Khaudra Gali (Eaters’ Lane).
If you have any experience related to Surati food, please share those in your comments.
As always, I shall wait for your comments.
That’s it!
See you soon!
Bye for now!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
