three samosas on a serving plate

snacks

Snacks or starters are often bought from street vendors, but many of these can be easily made at home. These recipes are some of the common, and not so common, dishes used to precede a meal, or as a snack, or even a light meal.

onion bhaji

onion bhaji

Onion bhaji are one of the great starters or snacks. The trick to making vengaya bhaji is to ensure there is more onion than batter.

spinach chaat

spinach chaat

A dish from the street-vendor tradition of Delhi. Palak chaat is made from crispy fried spinach leaves and chaat dressings.

chickpea, tomato and onion salad

chickpea, tomato and onion salad

Chole chaat is a street food favourite, made from chickpeas, tomato and onion. Chaat masala, chutney, and the crunch from the sev make this special.

tandoori chicken

tandoori chicken

The classic North Indian way to prepare chicken. Originally from Persia, tandoori chicken is not hot, but has a gentle and subtle spice background. Part of the flavour comes from the slightly charred outside of the chicken.

egg chaat

egg chaat

Take some boiled eggs, onion, tomato and a few spices and you have egg chaat, or anda chaat, another great street food from Delhi.

Parsi scrambled eggs

Parsi scrambled eggs

Scrambled eggs done the Parsi way. Akoori can be served at breakfast, as a snack, for lunch, or for a light evening meal.

masala dosa

masala dosa

Masala dosa - spiced potato in rice and lentil crepes - are one of life's great joys. Simple, easy, fast and ca be served as a starter, snack, lunch or as a light dinner.

lentil dumplings

lentil dumplings

These are savoury fried snacks, originating from the south of India. They can be described variously as fritters, cutlets, doughnuts, or dumplings. This recipe for medu vada is our family recipe for a simple lentil-based vada.

Goan prawn cake

Goan prawn cake

This Goan dish, apa de camarao, has a wonderful taste combination - a hot, savoury and slightly sweet filling of prawn, baked inside a sweet coconut cake.

chicken kathi roll

chicken kathi roll

From the street food vendors of Kolkatta comes this spiced chicken, wrapped in an egg soaked flatbread. Kathi rolls are quite possibly the world's best snack.

paneer kathi roll

paneer kathi roll

Spiced paneer, wrapped in an egg soaked flatbread; paneer kathi rolls could be the world's best vegetarian snack.

fish tikka

fish tikka

This fish tikka, or maachi tikka, is simple fried marinated fish dish. Easy to make and can be prepared overnight then finished just before serving.