ghatiya
It’s been a little over 3 months since we got back from India and my wife and I recently got a hankering for some of the dry snack foods we ate while we were there. I have known of these foods forever, but they were new to my wife, and her enthusiasm for and interest in them got me more into them as well. I sort of took them for granted, and often refused them when offered. But we recently took a trip to the nearest Patel Brothers Indian grocery store to see what we could find.

Pictured above was ghatiya, which is by far our favorite thing. I believe it’s made of chickpea (aka chana) flour (aka besan or gram flour). It’s got this really sort of bland flavor at first but then the genius of it hits you and it’s really addictive. Whatever mix of spices they put in it kind of takes a bit to be noticed and it’s kind of earthy, salty and spicy. Good stuff.

We also got some stuff called Bombay Mix, which is a combination of sev, lentils and some other types of dried things. I was pretty disappointed with the brand we got. I didn’t think anything in the Indian snack food genre could be so bland and tasteless. There was nothing about it I liked. I’ll probably end up throwing the rest of it away. I’m pretty sure Bombay Mix (or chevda) isn’t supposed to be like that.

Khakra was another thing we got. These are thin flat crispy versions of rotis or parathas basically. We got the methi (aka fenugreek) version, and they’re very good. These too are very addictive. The methi is a great flavor, kind of bitter, but the saltiness of khakra offsets it.

We also got Haldiram’s dried moong dal, which is dry, salted, spiced lentils. I really like these, D doesn’t really. Or she’s not sure yet. This is eaten in a bowl with a spoon and I’ve had a few small cups so far and enjoyed it. Can’t find a link to this one.

We also got a can of gulab jamun, which I am not a huge fan of, but D is. She says it’s OK, but not as good as having it fresh at a restaurant. I think I agree, though I’ve only had a bit of this. Since I’m not a huge fan. Overall, I’m not really a big fan of any Indian sweets, but end up eating them a lot of time due to the nature of the sweets in Hindu culture (often used in temple activites).

In other Indian food shout-outs, we also tried Swad’s frozen malai kofta, which was really really good! It was creamy and had the right consistency and flavor. I went into it expecting nothing special, but I was surprised. This was accompanied by some frozen paratha (the maker of which I have forgotten, maybe it was Swad) that was really easy to make (heat in hot skillet, flipping every so often, for 5-6 minutes) and came out almost restaurant quality. That entire meal was great and will cause us to explore the frozen foods section of the store some more next time we go.