Street Food in Varanasi - VEGETARIAN CHAAT HEAVEN + HOLY Indian Street Food in Benares, India!

Welcome to another episode of Chopstick Travel. I'm Luke Martin and today we are in India. In this episode we are exploring the city of Varanasi, the holiest city here in India and one of the oldest inhabited cities in the entire world. Everything we eat here in Varanasi is going to be pure veg. This is a food lover's paradise and we woke up bright and early to take a little cruise on the holy Ganga river, the Ganges, one of the holiest places in the entire world right at the Ghats of the city of Varanasi. I'm so excited to be here, I've been looking forward to coming here my entire life so let's enjoy this boat ride and then we'll get some breakfast. Let's go. at the morning I definitely recommend waking up for the sunrise so you can take a cruise on the river Ganges when you're here in Varanasi that was only 250 so do a little bit of bargaining we went for about an hour so pretty good deal so this city is said to be over 3,000 years old the layout is quite unique it doesn't really make a whole lot of sense there's all these twisting and turning back alleyways but it is a really nice change because the rickshaws and cars can't get back in here so the honking is not so present you can kind of hear it off in the distance but that's a nice change from all the big cities that we've been visiting so far in India since this is an ancient city the wiring isn't so good here in fact this might be the worst wiring situation I've ever seen but somehow in all of its chaos it works we are at our first stop this place is called the Ram Bandar completely packed out with locals they are serving a couple different things one is the jalebi which is a traditional Indian sweet he uses this cheese cloth with a semolina dough inside and kind of makes these little swirly twisty doughnut type things that he's deep-frying and then he dumps them in a huge bucket of syrup sugar syrup mixed with some spices and then he'll let that kind of graze in the sugar for a little bit they also have kachori that they serve with chana masala chickpeas which we're gonna order up for breakfast first try both these two items that they are super famous for here so this is breakfast today we've got a beautiful bowl of chana masala there are some chickpeas in there there's some potatoes there's something called kushka which is a milk solid and then it's just covered in this curry and a bit of mint chutney on top and then underneath here we have the kachori which are actually very similar to puri because they're a thin type of kachori and one of my favorite things here is that they serve it in this really cool leaf bowl and it's totally biodegradable totally sustainable I just think that's a really good thing so let's dig into this all right let's dig in get a big serving this is a very classic Varanasi breakfast oh that looks great so that is quite spicy I think it's the chutney on top there's a lot of green chilies in there soft potatoes and then that puri is actually a little bit crispy it is so crazy here we've got a friend coming to join us we've been eating a lot of chana here in India a lot of dishes are very similar but what they say here in India is every 50 kilometers you move the flavors completely change and that's true here in Varanasi there's those kushka inside of this chana which is a little bit of a sweet milk solid and then the bread a little bit crispier and harder than before and I also noticed that in that sauce in that chutney there are some tamarind there's a little bit of tamarind so it gives it a sourness which you definitely didn't find in other parts of the country when we were trying chana this one's quite good this is the jalebi it looks like a golden pretzel a little bit and it is just covered in sugar it's almost hard on the outside but I think it's going to be nice and soft on the inside did you hear that crunch oh my gosh you know this one actually tastes a little bit like sweet popcorn but when it melts in your mouth it's almost like cotton candy so good good little breakfast that's pure veg that's all you're gonna find here in Varanasi simple but delicious and really popular with the locals do you like it so we just spotted this guy on the side of the road selling malayo which is a winter only dish it's a dish of saffron milk that is left overnight to settle when the dew settles it is finished and it is this big pot of yellow milky frothy bubbly delicious looking dessert we just ordered one up this looks so good check this out this is the malayo look at the texture of that I don't know if you can tell but it's got this weird kind of foam bubbly texture almost like micro bubbles I don't really know what to compare it to I've never had a dish that is quite as foamy as this and you can see it's just bright yellow with all that saffron there's some pistachios coconut almonds some spices on top there and there's some sugar mix in as well let me try it Wow that is awesome the texture of that just completely disintegrates in your mouth instantly you can't even feel it you can definitely taste that saffron it's got a little bit of a floral flavor and then all of that nuttiness and a little bit sweet that takes the word airy to another level this is like nothing you could like inhale this stuff crazy texture right yeah there's gonna be like a million bubbles in there yeah it's almost like if you were going to eat shaving cream that was delicious yeah or like shampoo yeah so when you're finished off with your malayo you can actually go over to this guy here and he'll fill you up with some saffron milk all right let me give this a sip oh that is nice and cold super refreshing same flavor though that was the perfect sweet if you are really full or you're watching your weight then that's a good dessert for you because it literally feels like you ate nothing at all it's so light and airy we're gonna keep going there's so many things to try here in Varanasi so what do you think so far the city the city is incredible I don't know my way around and I don't think it's possible to use a map to get around you just kind of have to know the city and I love that feeling when you're walking around just being absolutely lost it really helps to ask people where you're going if you don't know where you're going because only the locals really know their way around here and the only place that this reminds me of our other ancient cities we visited like Jerusalem like Fez in Morocco the old Medina's in Morocco are quite similar it's just twisting alleyways really confusing so we're at the famous blue lassi shop one of the most popular shops here in Varanasi with foreign tourists especially it's been recommended by Lonely Planet all kinds of different places and he's got an extensive menu of lassi's which is the curd yogurt sweet Indian drink so we ordered up a couple different kinds we're gonna all try one and see how they taste so I have my pomegranate banana lassi this place is really popular mostly with just foreigners though to be honest you can see he's sprinkled lots of pistachios on top some pomegranates and then little slices of banana and he actually mixed the pomegranate into the lassi itself so let me get some of these toppings some of the lassi and try it all together oh man look at that it's pretty good I love the crunchy pomegranates taste nice with the banana too it's almost like strawberry banana but pomegranate banana and then crunchy pistachios the lassi is really sweet though too sweet to be honest all right the taste test time for me now so what so my lassi has a little bit of papaya pineapple and a very very thick lassi that you can see so let's try this I'm very excited you can feel the papaya you can feel the pineapple the thick curd I think it tastes amazing last but not least this is the final lassi this is apple with pistachios sprinkled on top a little bit of saffron milk and that a thick thick lassi so let's give it a taste with some of that apple on top the apple in there it almost tastes like it's pickled very very sour and the pistachios add a little bit of texture to that creamy lassi and everything else underneath is just extremely sweet and fluffy it is like heaven finish off with our lassi that was pretty good definitely not the most authentic shop and I found that mine was really really sweet how about yours mine was okay the apple made it quite sour so it kind of tasted more like a normal lassi yeah a little bit too much sugar in mine but pretty cool shop and really pretty lassi so Varanasi is definitely an intense place one thing I just want to say that I'm not going to be filming but I wanted to point out is that they have funeral processions that go through the small streets here and they are carrying the bodies not in a casket just covered with blankets and also there is a whole ghat here that is dedicated to cremation so it's wide out in the open you can see it I'm not going to be filming that but it's believed in Hinduism that if you're cremated and then your ashes are put into the Ganges you can go on to the afterlife so that is why this is happening here that's why the Ganges is such a holy river and we're just gonna go down and check out the ghats and check out the river now check out this little shop right here there are tons of places like this in Varanasi really that is the definition of a hole in the wall sitting down here on the ghats is taking people watching to the next level everything you see down here all the street life all the people bathing all the boats going by people flying kites animals lots of colorful outfits it's quite a sight to behold you could sit down here all day and just people watch really this is like the ultimate people-watching destination it kind of reminds us of Venice but almost like Venice on crack because it's crazy here super busy and the waterways are just packed full of boats too but it is beautiful and it is probably the most peaceful place we've been in India nice place to relax in the sun there are a ton of touts that may kind of spoil your scenic walk along the ghat here in Varanasi just ignore them or say no politely and they should leave you alone so I think we're done exploring the ghats here we're going to head to another place to have some famous chats so this is the special chat bhandar that we were looking for they're serving all different kinds of chats here in India chat basically defines anything that's fried and served on a small plate almost like a tapa and they are seriously pumping out these chats here there is about one two three four five guys making chats all in a very small area they have all the different ingredients laid out they're famous for their tomato chat they also have aloo tiki that they're really famous for their potato chat and I'm not exactly sure what we're gonna order yet we're just checking out the whole process of all these different things and it is crazy this place is insanely psycho we're trying to get all of our shots and there's no room to move Sabrina is standing on a table or something and there's just so many people here wow it is crazy I gotta say I'm super thankful to have Gaurav swat official here with us check out his YouTube channel down below because otherwise without him I don't know how I would get to the front to order there but we've got our tomato chat this is what this chat bhandar is famous for you can see there are so many things in here he loaded it full of different ingredients there's a tomato puree there's all kinds of desi ghee there's some peas there's some crunchy bits fresh coriander I think there's onions in there and there's definitely some lentils as well so I'm just gonna go in for a huge bite here served in the clay pot with a little wooden spoon Wow that's crazy that's like concentrated tomato super tart super sour there's a little bit of a spice going on in there for sure but wow that's not like anything else we've tasted here in India that caught me off guard I kind of thought it's gonna taste like doll like lentils but it really doesn't it's got a very strong tomato flavor geez it's almost like ketchup our next chat has arrived this is called chura matar chura is puffed rice and the matar is the peas so basically it's just rice and peas but of course not we're in India so there's tons more ingredients there are cashew nuts there are dried fruits like little raisins and grapes hiding in there tons of fresh coriander these little crispies on top there's cumin tomatoes yeah you name it it's pretty much in here this looks really interesting completely different than the last so let me try this oh yeah chase it with a little cashew it is so much different than the last one Wow this is such a fresh flavor it's almost like grassy and earthy how do you actually order here oh my god you have to have contacts like I told you to God last but not least this is the palak butter chat which is a fritter made of spinach that has been dipped in gram flour and deep-fried to perfection covered in masala spices and curd as well as pomegranates coriander and a ton of radish there on the side it looks incredible let me go in for the first bite I'm gonna go in from this side I don't even know how you're supposed to go in and eat this but let's give it a try oh this is gonna not be very pretty that was very messy but for one extremely extremely crispy you can't even taste the spinach in that it doesn't taste like any vegetable just like crispy deep-fried and then all that curd on there is quite sweet and then the coriander adds a little fresh kick to it and of course try a little bit of it just pops citrus delicious those chats were really good here in Varanasi chats are particularly famous we only tried three but I think that this stall serves hundreds more I'd have to give it up for the tomato chat it was invented at this place Kashi chat bandar so that was definitely my favorite tomorrow I think we're gonna be trying a couple more chats but there's something around the corner that Gaurav has told me there is something that I'm surprising you with and I'm sure you haven't seen that ever in your life all right come let's explore let's go see so Gaurav has taken us to this kind of roadside factory where this guy is producing a lot of different milk products so behind me here he's just stirring some milk which he'll turn into rabri which is sort of like a sweet cream you have with dessert he's also making fresh cream anything else yes so he says the hot milk also in the winter and in summer he says lassi is very famous you have to try all the three things the malai the rabri and the milk all right let's try them so he just took some of the hot milk and started pulling it or frothing it up using these two big jugs and exchanging it between the two of them and it wasn't a simple process he was reaching well over his head I don't know how far that stream of milk was going but I'd say at least four or five feet and now he served it to me in this little clay cup he put a little bit of the malai on top which is the clotted cream some of the frothy milk too and then it's just hot milk underneath with a little bit of sugar let me try this oh man that is lovely it's like a cappuccino without the coffee flavor super frothy on top a little bit sweet and all those chunks of malai or clotted cream in there really good oh I love that so we've got his other two specialties the first one is the malai the cream it's covered with a ton of sugar it's pretty simple it's just the top cream and then the second one is this this is the rabri right this is the rabri and it's topped with a cream but this is a very special cream not the one that you have in your hand so this cream is takes a longer time than this one and this is 950 rupees a kg okay and the one you're holding in your hand is 550 rupees a kg okay well you can make sure how hard it is to make this one yeah so why is it brown so we have the rabri because you see the milk so they take a lot of milk at least 50 kg of milk together okay and then they reduce it to allow 15 kg yeah you can see right here it's starting to turn brown actually as we talk we've only been here for a few minutes and it's starting to reduce so it takes one hour for them to make the rabri and it takes them two hours to make them the big the cream all right let me try start with this cream oh yeah that's so good it's just clotted cream it's very reminiscent of kymek in Turkey and also of all the cream we have when we were in Mongolia crunchy bits of sugar I want you to try the rabri. Try it with that special malai with this special malai the special cream all right oh wow it's crazy what you can do with the same ingredients just buffalo milk but cooking it into a different process that does not taste like this at all if I was blindfolded I would never guess that these are the same thing it's very rich very it's definitely a lot more sweet and then that cream was almost like chewy which is not like this this is very soft I just want to stress again that all of those different dishes we just tried come from the same thing just buffalo milk there is sugar added to taste but the difference in textures and even flavors is totally made just from the cooking process alone so you can just taste the differences even though it's the same thing it's very very weird but very delicious and they were all completely different all cooking over wood fire this guy starts at 11 a.m. and he doesn't finish until some nights 4 a.m. so it's a big long day he's serving kgs and kgs of all of his products that was really cool alright guys that's it for today's episode I know what you're thinking if you're familiar with Varanasi that we missed some things like the RT the ceremony on the Ganga we're gonna be doing that tomorrow so stay tuned subscribe and hit the bell icon so you're reminded when we post our video what was you guys favorite thing we tried today I love the malayo and I love the rubbery the rubbery I love the tomato chat that we just had a cashew vendor honestly I'd have to say that hot milk that I just tried it was so frothy it was literally like a cappuccino I loved it so make sure to check out Swaad's YouTube channel go rubs YouTube channel down in the description box give them a subscribe and we will see you on another episode of chopstick travel bye bye