We have been covering some of the foods that are very typical of Mumbai. We last covered Vada Pav and the next item we are covering is Bhelpuri or Bhel. Bhelpuri is a puffed rice dish with potatoes and a tangy tamarind sauce. It is a type of chaat or small plates of savoury snacks, particularly identified with the beaches of Mumbai (Bombay), such as Chowpatty.

Bhel Recipes typically consists of 3 parts
 - The Bhel is made using rice puffs, tomatoes, potatoes and onions.
 - Chutneys - There are two popular chutneys used, a dark purple sweet one made mainly of dates and tamarind, and a green spicy chutney made of coriander leaves and green chillies. Different chutneys impart a sweet or spicy flavour.
 - Puri and Sev - A Puri is fried piece of wheat dough just like a pringles chip only thicker. Sev is a fried snack shaped like thin noodles (see picture below).

These three groups of ingredients are mixed in a bowl as per the eater's preferences. Some prefer it more sweet while others prefer it spicy. Bhelpuri is best consumed as soon as it is made. If left for a while, the juices from the tomatoes, chutneys, etc. combine to render the sev and puffed rice soggy.

Another variation is to sprinkle the chat with chunks of diced sweet mango. The finished snack is often garnished with a combination of diced onions, coriander leaves and chopped green chilis. It is sometimes served with papri puris, a deep fried small round and crispy wheat bread. The result is a sour/pungent/sweet tasting evening snack that is a treat for the taste buds and a good source of carbohydrates and minerals.

There are many variants of Bhelpuri:

1. Sevpuri - a mixture of bhelpuri, chutney, papdi and sev
2. Dahi puri - a mixture of bhelpuri, chutney, papdi and savoured with lot of youghurt.
3. Sev papdi chaat - a lot like sevpuri but with 2-3 types of chutney, potatoes, chana masala
4. Bhelpuri is called Churu Muri in Bangalore and Jhaal Muri in Kolkata (meaning "hot puffed rice").
5. In Sangli, a dry variant of Bhelpuri popularly known as Bhadang is consumed after garnishing with onions, corriander and lemon juice. 

One of my favorite items growing up was the "Vada Pav". Vada Pav, sometimes spelled wada pav, is a popular vegetarian fast food dish native to the Indian state of Maharashtra. It consists of a batata vada (potato fritter) sandwiched between two slices of a pav (bread). Batata is potato in Marathi and Pav refers to bread (or bun).

Finely cut green chilies and ginger and a phodani (tempering) of mustard seeds and turmeric are added to a mash of boiled potatoes, and after dipping patties of the mash in an herb-seasoned batter of gram flour, the patties are deep-fried.

Vada pav is typically served with a chutney (sauce) which is commonly made out of shredded coconut “meat”, tamarind pulp, and garlic.

Vada Pav is typically sold on the street corners of Mumbai. Each vada pava vendor typically has a small cart with a large frying wok to make the vadas. The carts are similar to the hot-dog carts seen in New York. The Pav is typically sourced from local bakeries. Some of the vendors have bigger shops as well. The buyers normally eat their vada pavs near the cart (see image alongside). You typically find a lemonade or sugarcane juice stand near by. 

Vada pav was supposedly devised by snack vendor Ashok Vaidya outside Dadar station in 1971. 

To celebrate the 1000 Fans mark, we are giving away 1 autographed copy of Hari Nayak's Modern Indian Cooking book. The book is a collection of easy to prepare contemporary Indian recipes created for the modern living and entertaining. The recipes are very approachable which explores how wide world of Indian cuisine has fused into other cuisines around the world. The food has an international twist on the traditional flavors of Indian food.

In order to win this cookbook, you have to do the following 

• You must be a Facebook Fan of our website. You can sign up as a fan by visiting the Indian Foods Guide.com Facebook Fan page and joining as a fan.
  
• Click on the "Like" Button when we post a message about this giveaway. 
• You will get 1 entry for every time you click Like on our posts. 
• We would greatly appreciate it if you would help spread the message (by sharing this link with your friends) and get others to sign up as fans too. We will announce more giveaways, such as cookbooks, dinners etc as we hit new milestones.
  

Thank you for being a fan and supporting our effort to help build a better site dedicated to Indian food. 

First, a very big Thank You to everyone who participated in the content. We ran the contest for 1 month and in that time we managed to add 200 fans. The winners were picked by our VIP guest (my son) this morning. You can see the pictures below. We had a lot of fun picking the winners this morning.  

The lucky winners are

1. Andrea Giunta
2. Elaine Cartlidge
3. Stephanie Blaising
4. Sehra Bindal
5. Zarana Karbhari
   

We will send you a message via Facebook and if you are interested in the prize, please mail us your address and we will have it sent to you shortly. If we don't hear back from the winners, we will give it away to another fan. We will announce our next contest later this week.