Today if any body ask where does the heaven exist on earth, I would say heaven exist in the roads of Sarafa Bazaar, Indore.

By: Bhukkad (Foodie) Abhijeet , #travelandfoodstories 😛

Many of you were now thinking how the roads Sarafa Bazaar (Jewellery Market) can be streets of heaven?????

So today I would take you on board to my new story on Indore Sarafa Bazaar and trust me you too will feel as a heaven.

Sarafa Bazaar Indore : Food Walk

I was at Indore the commercial capital of Indian state Madhya Pradesh. I was on for my priority work, my day ended around 23:30 Hours. So after my work my bhukkad & ghumakad keeda (foodie and wanderlust) woke up. I asked few locals, where I can find some good food as it was already close to mid night. Everyone pointed towards the Sarafa Bazaar. I was at Vijay Nagar Chowck, around 23:45 hours I took a ola cab which charged me around 140 Rs and 30 mins to reach the destination.

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When I reached the place and entered inside the market. I paused and could not move. It was around 12:00 a.m and what i saw that there are more than 60 food kart selling wide variety of food to more than 1500 people enjoying the food.

Guys it was 12 at night with jam packed gali fo sarafa eating No…no…… rather enjoying the lip smacking Indian street food; chat, gupchup, dessert, tikka’s and many more.

Isn’t the bazaar is heaven for enjoying the food, Indeed true

Tnf-Pedia: Sarafa Bazaar, Indore

The story started nearly around 100-150 years ago with a motive of jewellery shop owners to secure their own shops at night. With this in mind, they willingly started offering space in front of their shops to food vendors so the place will remain live and busy thought out the night and so, Sarafa Bazar came into existence. It is India’s unique and only Night food bazaar where everyday more than 2000 people (local + tourist ) visit the Sarafa Bazaar.

Lets start the food Walk:

Now I would give me few must have food/snacks when you visit here. But be cautious you need to have a big tummy to hold the food as your tummy will say, “Bhai bas kar” par dil bolega “Chal ab kuch aur khate hai” 😛

Chole Aaloo Tikki/Chaat – Sharma Ji Chaat Wale :

Sharma Ji Chaat Wale serves some mouth watering Chaat’s from more than last 40-50 years. He serve 3-4 type of Chaat like, Chole aaloo tikki chaat, Plain chaat, aaloo chaat.

For my foreigners readers Chaat is the famous Indian Savory snack which you can find in every streets of India, but here it was something special.

I took a Chole Aaloo tikki Chaat, the chaat had a mashed boiled potato dumplings which was been fried on a Tawa (pan) with Desi Ghee ( Clarified butter). The tikki then was crushed and served along with cooked Chole (chickpeas), with sweet and chilly chutney( Indian Sauce), chopped onions and Indori Sev (fried snack).

Truly Old is gold but here old is gold and tasty too. The tikki was crisp and had an amazing aromatic flavour, the chole and chutney all in one bite was like a flavour war inside my mouth.

Talking about the price : One plate of Chaat cost @40 Indian Rupees.

Bhutte ki Kees – Suresh Chaat Centre

Bhutte ki Kees is yet another famous snack of Indore, where grated corn is cooked with milk for hours until it become tender and then few Indian spices is added to give a final flavour.

Suresh Chaat Bhandar is serving bhutte kis kees from last 45 years. The dish is served in a bowl topped with green corriander and lime juice and grated coconut. The dish was truly lip smacking, the sweetness of corn and tang of lime gave amazing taste.

Talking about the price : One plate of Bhutte ki kees cost @40 Indian Rupees.

Dahi Bade – Joshi Dahi Bada House :

Joshi ji is a food artist, I have heard about him from many sources, but when I went there the crowd in front of his shop was enough to tell the story. Joshi Ji is famous for his food delight Dahi Bade (Indian lentils dumplings served with curd) and for his style of preparing the plate.

Joshi ji actually plays (throws up) the plate while preparing the dish is the major attraction of the shop. Talking about the taste the plate of dahi bada is soft and has a sweet taste of curd and tamarind chutney/ sauce and tingle of masala like red chilli and rosted jeera powder and chaat masala.

Talking about the price : One plate of Dahi Bada cost @50 Indian Rupees.

Sabudana Kichdi – Shri Dev Narayan Falahari :

Sabudana Kichdi (sago/tapiocal pearls cooked with potato, peanuts and tossed with Indian spices ) is a very common Indian dish eaten during fasting.

Shukalal Gujjar is originally from Bhilwara Rajasthan and from past 20 years he is serving the sabudana kichdi at the sarafa bazaar. It is served with pre-cooked kichdi then on demand Gujjar Sahab toss and mix it with lime juice, falahari chuda, and green corriander.

I am very fond of the sabudana kichdi so I loved it, the mixture added the crunch and the tang of lime juice gave mouth watering flavour.

Talking about the price : One plate of Sabuadana Kichdi cost just 40 Indian Rupees.

Rabri Malpua – Shri Bhairavnath Misthan Bhandar

If you are at Indore Sarafa Bazaar, dont miss the shop of Shri Bhairavnath Misthan Bhandar. They are famous for serving sweet tooth from last 70 years. They have wide variety of Indian dessert like shrikhand, malpua, gulab jamun and much more. I jumped for my favourite Malwai dish Rabdi Malpua.

The taste was really balanced, the malpua( Indian Pancake) had a crunch and the rabri (Indian concentrated milk) added the sweetness. Overall I loved the plate of sweet tooth.

The price : One plate of Rabri Malpua cost just 50 Indian Rupees.

Gundi Pan – Annapurna Pan Bhandaar :

To end up my food walk at Sarafa bazaar, I went to this 54 years old Annapurna Pan Shop to eat Pan (betel leaf).

The shop serve many types of pan like chocolate pan, oreo pan, fire pan, nitrogen pan and many other flavoured pan.

But the pan which surprised me or rather I would say rockstar for me at Sarafa Bazaar is the Gundi Pan.

It is rightly said cooking is an art, whether it be a biryani or be a mouth refresher Pan.

Can you believe a pan can need 8 hours for its preparation :-O :-O Yes Gundi Pan requires 8 hours for its preparation. Talking to the man behind the shop Rakesh Kumar yadav, he told me the recipe of the Gundi Pan. The Pan is prepared in to segments, on one part pan chutney is applied and refrigerated for 5-7 hours and in the other part pan chutney is applied and kept over fire for a second so as the pan leaf can absorb the chutney flavour. Then both of the parts is filled with sweet pan masala, a pinch of mint is then added and then finally the Gundi Pan is ready to eat.

Trust me the pan had a burst of juicy flavours, haha still while writing this story my mouth is watering. Unlike other sweet masala pan the leaf does not dissolves soon, as of its preparation (burning + refrigerating) gives a texture to leaf, and the mint adds an extra freshness to it.

Overall, it was a rock-star for me for the night.

The price : One Gundi Pan will cost you 40 Indian Rupees.

It was all about my food story at Sarafa bazaar Indore. There are many more food counters, I have tried to cover major and the famous joints.

I would also suggest you to spend 2-3 hours and enjoy the place and food, the bazaar opens at 10 P.M up-till 2 P.M. The Place is safe for everyone (family, girls and boys) and is also under surveillance of The Indian Police Officials.