Poha - Kachori of MP - Just amazing !

MP has always been unique in its food.... Different from the Punjabi or North indian Food you get in the North and much different than the North Indian food you get in Mumbai.... One Common background to the MP Food is the SPICE !!! One needs to carry a Mineral Water bottle along while relishing any MP Food.

Keep visiting MP for my Wildlife flicks at Bandhavgarh, Kanha etc, but when it comes to snacking for an MPite...one can not miss POHA & KACHORI at any MP Home or even Road side stalls. Its like the "STAPLE BREAKFAST/MINI LUNCH/SNACKS" for an MPite, like you get Vada-Pav or Misal in Maharashtra, Jaal-Muri-Poochka in Calcutta, Aloo Dum-Vada in Bhubaneshwar, Dahi-Bhalle or Chole-Samosas up North and Jalebi-Ganthiya in Gujarat !

While on my way from Ujjain to Bhopal, on a strong recommendation of my friend Rahul Gupta, we stopped by a Mini Road side Dhaba...were amazed to see the Heap of Sev (must be of 3 feet of height, as you can see in the picture) , a huge Kadai (pan) of Poha with lots of corriander on it and the man serves you on a piece (1/4th of a full page of a Hindi Newspaper, if you seem to be from the city ...looking at you, you might get a glossy paper leaf to hold your breakfast.) They sprinkle the Spicy Sev on top of it.

2nd item which I was asked not to miss was the KACHORIs....absolutely fab.... which ideally you get at most roadside food / tea stalls....                                                                                    

Poha-Kachori is a daily diet for the MPItes....rich or poor and one need to taste this to find the difference between the Maharashtrian Poha (Onions, Peanut & Cocunit based), Gujarati Poha (Sweet tasting sprinkled with what not- pomegranate, peas etc).



MP Store selling Dry Spicy Chakhnas



And MP is famous for "CHAKHNAs" (what do you call them in English?? Well, dry starters fried-non fried which could be had just like that and tastes better with alchohol than the cheese-cheery-pineapple). Walk into any Sweet-Meat (Sweet Shop) and you would find not 10, but minimum 50-60 varieties of Salted Chakhnas....and if you are the weaker soul, than you may need to precisely tell the person on the counter to give you "less spicy-less teekha" stuff..

Well, Rahul says.... Come with me to Indore and I will show you what you get to eat.... So does my friend Ashish Srivastava...who insists on a Road drive from Mumbai to Indore savouring the delicious food of MP right from the Highway to the towns !