Life & Style | Travel
Sand, surf and sizzling bites
Beaches in India are big crowd-pullers for the delicious and affordable food choices they offer
- By Vijaysree Venkatraman, The Christian Science Monitor
- Published: 23:32 September 26, 2008
Beaches the world over have a charm of their own. There is foot volleyball in Brazil's Copacabana and surfing at Sydney's Bondi Beach. But beaches in Indian cities have one big draw — food.
In my hometown, Chennai, fishermen set off in rudimentary catamarans from the Marina Beach while early risers stroll on the sandy shores. But the place truly comes alive in the evenings as vendors cook up a storm.
In the food stalls, the jalapeño pepper-like malaga bhaji sizzles in huge iron woks, hissing invitingly. This is a definite crowd pleaser.
Hot and tasty
First, the seaside cooks slit the local green chilli latitudinally to scoop out the insides.
Then they stuff the deseeded chilli dish — like a toothless tiger — should still be treated with respect because it is not entirely without bite.
The accompanying chutney, made mostly of grated coconut, blunts the edge — but only a little.
Those who prefer something tamer, pick from an array of vegetables on display — onions, eggplant, potatoes or cauliflower. The cook fries the slices to tempura-like perfection.
The other beach favourite, the benign sundal, comes packed with protein. This salad, made from boiled legumes — garbanzos, black-eyed peas, green peas or peanuts — is cooked to dryness with spices.
On the beach, it is served in supple bowls made of dried lily leaves.
Slices of tomato and slender crescents of green mangoes cut in wide, toothy grins decorate the mounds of sundal in wooden carts.
The aroma of the spices, wafting in with the salty breeze, is what draws people to the stalls when they tire of walking along the beach.
Only young lovers on a romantic rendezvous, engrossed in each other, remain oblivious to the food.
Up north in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), along the Juhu Beach, the signature dish is the pao bhaji- — cooked, mashed vegetables eaten with Portuguese breakfast rolls.
Palate pleaser
Served with a spritz of lime, red onions and fresh tomatoes, the bhaji revives even the most jaded of palates.
In the distance, children and some adults ride camels brought in from the deserts of Rajasthan.
Beach fare in India is diverse and distinct from any other, although you will also find the usual bright-pink cotton candy, soda and ice-cream on sticks.
The one common characteristic that all of these different beach foods share is that they don't taste as delicious inland.
Maybe the molecular gastronomists have it right: Perhaps the roar of the ocean in the distance and the salty air of the sea do add to the taste of the food on the beach.
Share this article
More from Travel
Bringing you the world at your doorstep
Popular in Travel
Life & Style editor's choice
-
Basque inflavour
Etxebarri restaurant, on the list of the 50 best eateries in the world
-
BMW X5 M brings a smile to your face
What the X5 M can do that the standard X5 can't with many sports cars
-
Things to see and do in Abu Dhabi
Explore takes a lap round the vibrant and ever-changing UAE capital
-
Destinations
Colonial Cousins
Rediscover life's simplest truths by riding on some of the highest tracks in the world
