Mumbai’s Famous Street Food Snacks (Chaats)

Did you know that a lot of Indian dishes just happen to be vegan?

📍Mumbai, India
I’m diving deep into India’s food capital to explore its famous chaats, a huge range of street food snacks eaten all throughout the day. From the ultimate flavour bomb (Pani Puri) to an incredible combination of stuffed potato fritters and vibrant chutneys (Ragda Pattice), this episode is packed with traditional Indian dishes that are naturally vegan.

With me on this tour is Aditi Dugar (https://www.instagram.com/aditidugar/), proud Mumbaikar and first female restaurateur to be featured on Asia’s 50 Best list for her restaurant Masque (https://www.instagram.com/masquerestaurant/), which was voted Best Restaurant in India in 2025!

📚 My book Naturally Vegan (includes recipes and stories from my travels): https://geni.us/NaturallyVegan

CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
01:43 Ragda Pattice
06:29 Dabeli
10:44 Sev Puri
13:22 Veganism in India
14:14 Pani Puri
16:59 Bhel Puri
20:20 Recap
22:00 End

MUMBAI FOOD TOUR

We kicked off our tour at Ram & Shyam Chaat (https://maps.app.goo.gl/cC3wxuJzGjsHj2vi8) with the underdog of Mumbai’s street food scene: Raga Pattice. It’s a complex dish made of flavoured, stuffed potatoes (called Pattice) that are pan-fried until crispy golden before being served with a wholesome white pea curry (called Ragda) and several chutneys. There are so many layers of flavour, it blew my mind!

Next up was Dabeli at Kapil Famous Dabeli Centre (https://maps.app.goo.gl/ztMrKq6T6cxGEWY9A). Here, chef Kapil doesn’t only serve Dabeli, he puts on a show. His speedy moves earned him the Limca record for serving 80 Dabelis in under 10 minutes. Though not officially part of Mumbai’s Chaats, it’s a delicious street food snack made with a fragrant Aloo Masala (potato curry) that is packed into the city’s famous soft bread rolls (Pav).

Continuing our Chaat tour, we visited Bholenath Sev Puri (https://maps.app.goo.gl/gwsTwK5FtCEoqa458) to try their namesake Sev Puri. These are crispy Papri, also known as flat puri, topped with potatoes and aromatics, and flavoured with aromatic chutneys.

Then my friend Romy Gill (https://www.instagram.com/romygill/), an incredible chef, author and broadcaster based in the UK, joined us. Together with her we tried one of Mumbai’s most famous street foods at the same hawker stall. It’s the ultimate flavour bomb known as Pani Puri. For this crispy, puffed up dough balls (known as Puri) are filled with a mixture of potatoes and mung beans, before being flavoured with a sweet and tangy tamarind chutney and a refreshing but spicy mint water (known as Pani). The fun thing is that you can balance the flavour to your liking, going for either sweet, medium spicy, or spicy – or change it up as you go because you get 6 of these served per order. My favourite was medium spicy, where you get the perfect balance of sweet and spicy, tangy and fresh, all in one bite.

In the evening, our final stop was at Jacky Bhel Puri (https://maps.app.goo.gl/ykV4HZhNuqcQrjdr8) to try a last icon of Mumbai’s Chaat culture. It’s puffed rice that is flavoured with aromatics and either wet chutneys (which are chutneys that are liquid) or dry chutneys (which are dry chutneys similar to a spice rub). This takes puffed rice to the next level and I was surprised by how flavoursome the dry chutney version was. Definitely worth a try!

THE MISSION

Vegan food is not a modern invention. It’s a modern label. We’ve been eating plant-based dishes for thousands of years, be it for religious reasons, out of poverty or simply because of what was available naturally. This show is about discovering these kinds of dishes – dishes from around the world that just happen to be vegan – so that we can embrace them for a more sustainable plant-based diet.

📣 Let me know in the comments which country I should visit next and what dishes I might find!

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CREW
Edit: Tiep Tran
Cinematographer: Chintan Ashar & Team (https://www.instagram.com/redwine.productions/)