Introducing Chattanooga to the delights of Indian street food
I am an unabashed street food enthusiast. The vast majority of my favorite flavors, dishes, and dining experiences came while standing on a busy sidewalk or precariously perched on a tiny plastic stool beside a well-worn street food cart. Imagine the joy that burst forth from the depths of my street food-soaked amygdala when I discovered the Indian street food counter at Desi Brothers on Brainerd Road.
This, of course, prompts a series of questions. “What is Desi Brothers?” “What street food counter?” “What is Indian street food?” “Are you sure you didn’t see this in a curry-fueled fever dream?”
First, yes, I am certain I didn’t dream this after a night of Bollywood films and chugging bhang lassis. Second, “Desi Brothers” is the answer to the question, “Does Chattanooga have an Indian mini-supermarket?” Desi Brothers isn’t the only Indian market in town but they are the largest and thus far, they are the only place in town to get ready-to-eat Indian street food.
If you like Indian food, you will love the street food. If you’re not a fan of Indian food, you should try the street food anyway because it is a whole new world of flavors.
India is the seventh largest country in the world with an incredibly dense network of a billion people from thousands of heterogeneous subcultures, all with their own foods and their own take on nationally eaten dishes.
If your exposure to Indian food consists of your local Indian buffet’s color-coded, flavor-impaired gravies and the microwave samosas your college roommate used to perfume the dorm with on movie nights, then prepare your mouth for a flavor riot.
Desi Brothers’ street food counter is just to the right after you enter their doors. Remember, this is street food, so don’t expect a maître d’, salt sommelier, or Flora Danica place settings. The ten-dish menu hangs unpretentiously protected in plastic, along with color photos of each dish.
For the uninitiated, these photos are comforting—allowing a preview of what you’re getting. But that comfort quickly fades to confusion and concern when you realize very little of what’s in those photos is familiar. With no menu descriptions in sight, these colorful plates of food seem fraught with risk and potential disappointment.
I could ramble on about how tasty all of the dishes are, how every bite was an explosion of deliciousness bursting with flavor rainbows, and how eating this food elevated my consciousness to give me a deeper understanding of the nature of reality.
I could do that.
But it seems more helpful to give you a little guide through their menu and in turn, some of India’s most popular street foods.
Let’s start with the puris. Puris are small breads that crisp and puff up when fried. For panipuri, the cook punches a hole in the puri and typically fills it with potato, pani (green sauce made with cilantro, mint, ginger, chilis) and sweet tamarind sauce. Ragda panipuris are similar, but are filled with cooked white peas (ragda) instead of potato.
Of the puris, my favorite is the ragda puri chaat. Puris are filled with ragda and topped with a blizzard of chutneys, red onion, tomato, yoghurt sauce, and sev (crunchy chickpea flour noodles) making every bite a bold mouthful of what makes all food irresistible—sweet, sour, spicy, tangy, and crunchy.
(Pro tip: don’t get puris to-go, they get soggy very quickly.)
Next up are the chaats. Chaat is a generic Indian word for street food, but they are generally a crispy carb base layer, such as samosas or puffed rice, followed by a dose of cilantro-mint and tamarind chutneys. Then they pile on a vegetable like potato, onion, and/or tomato, some crunchy stuff like sev or fried chickpeas, and finally a sprinkling of chaat masala (spice mix) and maybe some fresh herbs.
Finally, there are the pav dishes. Pav is an eggless bread, shaped like a dinner roll with a golden crusty top and soft, spongy center. They are served hot and buttered alongside a vegetable curry (pav bhaji) or filled with a fried, curried potato fritter (vada pav). Dabeli is a Krystal burger sized sandwich made from a pav roll stuffed with spiced potato, onions, coriander, coconut, peanuts, sweet and spicy chutneys, and a sprinkling of sev on top.
Pour yourself a $1 cup of some of the city’s best masala chai from the thermos at the end of the counter, pull up a folding chair, and enjoy your chaat, puris, and pavs. Then tell your friends, because no one should be deprived of a good chaat.
Mike McJunkin is a native Chattanoogan who has traveled abroad extensively, trained chefs, and owned and operated restaurants. Join him on Facebook at facebook.com/SushiAndBiscuits