A Foodie's Paradise: Indore's Sarafa Bazaar | Experience Indore | StarLit Eyes!

 Sarafa Bazaar

I discovered my love for food late. Growing up eating food was a chore. Something I had to do in order to survive and perform the other activities I was actually interested in! My nonchalant attitude towards food was in complete contrast to the avid love my sister showed to (both eating and cooking) food. She's a true blue foodie! I still remember her love for Indian cookery shows. At the age of six, she would watch Sanjeev Kapur demonstrating the perfect way to roast garam masala with a seriousness and zeal way beyond her years. She was the prodigy chef of our family, baking her first (might I add awesomely delicious) cake at the age of 10. She's also our food encyclopaedia. Her vast knowledge of world cuisines, recipes and the best restaurants in town as well as globally is  unparalleled! I think with time my sister's food love started to rub off on me. However, the turning point in my relationship with food came when I shifted to the US. Eating daal chawal and roti becomes mundane after some time. In order to spice up my food life, I started to experiment with different cuisines. One by one, I tried as well as cooked several Italian, Mexican, Mediterranean dishes successfully (this can be verified by my husband, the original subject of all my cooking experiments!!). Today, I can without a shadow of doubt call myself a foodie (my sister would be so proud 😜)!

Indore's Enigmatic Night Street Food Market

Now as a certified foodie, let me take you to a foodaholic's haven, Indore's Sarafa Bazaar! This was my first visit to the famous night street food market in Indore. Sarafa Bazaar dons different avatars according to the time of day. A silver and gold jewellery market (thus, the name Sarafa Bazaar) in the day, it's filled with the rich aroma of decadent delicacies in the night. The bazaar starts at 10 pm and continues until the wee hours of the night. Teaming with countless food stalls, vendors and enthusiastic food adventurists, the liveliness of Sarafa Bazaar is intoxicating. So much so, that it makes standing under the midnight moon eating butter laden parathas feel perfectly normal!! The food market offers "chatpati" plates of common street food items such as pani puri, channa chor, Indo chinese, masala pappad, pav baaji etc. However, the bazaar is known for it's scrumptious local specialities. These are my top five must try Sarafa Bazaar delicacies.

1. Khopare Ki Patties

Made with a ball of mashed potatoes with a centre of shredded coconut topped with cilantro and sweet tamarind chutney. This is a melt in your mouth local goodie. A must try in your Sarafa Bazaar adventure!

Mouth watering coconut filled centered potato patty

2. Joshi Dahi Vada

Eating Dahi Vada (lentil patty topped with yogurt) at Joshi's was a "starlit" experience! The dish is delectable. However, what truly captures your attention is the theatrical flare with which it's served. A bowl of patty filled with yogurt and chutneys to the brim is flipped in the air to mix all the ingredients before being placed in your hand. The beauty of the act lies in throwing and catching the bowl in such a way that not even a drop of yogurt is spilled! Watch the video below to see this "kalakari"!!

3. Sev Paratha 

Sarafa Bazaar was the first time I heard of a dish called "sev paratha". Paratha is an Indian flat bread which can be either plain or stuffed. Though there are a multitude of stuffings that are used.  I'm pretty sure that apart from the foodies in Indore, no-one in India has ever eaten a sev paratha. True to its name, sev paratha is a paratha stuffed with Indori sev (deep fried Indian snack). I truly enjoyed the dish and recommend trying this variant of our beloved paratha!

4. Jaleba 

An Indori counterpart of the delicate jalebi is Jaleba!! This is literally a giant version of jalebi with double the sugar and calories of a jalebi. The taste however makes up for the inches it adds to your waistline!

Death by Sugar: The Formidable Jaleba!

5. Paan 

Never heard before flavours of paan makes the Sarafa Bazaar Paan a must try! I tried the smoking paan and it was a lot of fun!!

Varities of Paan

Having had so much food left little space in my stomach to try the other Sarafa Bazzar favourites such as Bhutte ka Kees, Garradu or Ratalu, Malpua and Kulfi!

I had a great time exploring Indore's food culture! Till our next adventure, Happy Eating!!