- Coming up for all you food rangers out there,
we're going deep into Varanasi's street food scene
to discover some of the most unique
and delicious street foods in all of India.
Starting out with a beautiful boat ride
along the world-famous Ganges River.
Alright, check it out guys, it's Trevor James
hanging out with my buddy Anubhav Sapra
from Delhi Food Walks.
Today we've made our way specifically
to Varanasi to go on a big street food tour.
- Yeah, we are going to many street food places in Varanasi.
- [Trevor] It's just so beautiful here,
and we are up 6:30 in the morning
for a morning boat ride on the Ganges.
- Yeah, overlooking the temple.
- Overlooking the temple, and this water is holy water,
is that right?
- It's the holiest water in India
and mostly for the Hindus, they come in here
and they take a dip to purify their body and soul.
- So it's purifying, and you can see the people behind us,
they're doing that right now.
- Yeah, they're bathing, they're taking a dip.
- It feels like such a spiritual city here.
- Yeah.
- Awesome, let's go check it out.
- Let's go on tour.
(upbeat Indian music)
- [Trevor voiceover] This is Varanasi,
the holiest city in India.
It's said here to be the best place to die in all of India,
as the constant cycle of rebirth and suffering
is ended if you're cremated here.
This spirituality is everywhere,
and the scenes that you can see in Varanasi
bring you into a different world,
as you're gonna see things that you've never seen before.
All you have to do is go deep in the back lanes,
and you'll experience one of the most
unique travel destinations in the world.
And as a holy city,
we went for a full-on vegetarian street food tour,
eating a delicious five street foods
deep in the alleys of Varanasi
that you're not gonna wanna miss.
So make sure to watch all the way until the end
so you can enjoy them all with us.
Let's eat!
So beautiful here.
- It's like a maze. - It's like a maze, yeah.
And what's up first?
- We're going to start with this first place
and the traditional breakfast of Varanasi.
- Oh wow, look at this!
So we're having some puri? - Puri with sabzi.
- With Sabzi. - Yeah.
- Anubhav brought us to a true breakfast gem in Varanasi.
This joint had rich potato sabzi, aloo kopi cauliflower
and potatoes, and potato-stuffed kachoris,
all wafting their aromas deep into the street
and covered in a selection of different spiced chutneys.
- Aloo kopi. - Aloo kopi, oh yeah.
Potato and cauliflower, and then he's topping it with--
- Chickpeas. - That's great. Thank you.
- Let's get some jalebi with, jalebi--
- Awesome, so we got it all here for breakfast,
the puris, ohhh yeah.
- [Anubhav] And the puris are also stuffed with lentils.
- Really? - Yeah.
A lentil-stuffed puri.
- [Trevor] Lentils on the inside of these puris.
And what I'm lovin' is how they put that chickpea
on top of the aloo kopi. - Aloo kopi.
- Great.
- Just break it from one corner.
- [Trevor] Ohh, and then, okay.
- And then you'll scoop it.
- You go right in. Ohh yeah.
- Mmm. - Is that good?
Bright and early.
Ooo! - It's good?
- Oh yeah, oh it's so flavorful!
- Yes it is.
- Oh you can taste is, there's actually quite a lot
of spice in there.
- Mhmm, take it from the side. - From under.
- [Anubhav] That's how they eat, the locals eat here.
- [Trevor] With one hand.
- With one hand, just hold everything in one hand.
- Yeah. - And eat.
- [Trevor] And just go right in.
- [Anubhav] Yeah.
- [Trevor] Wow, that is so flavorful.
Oh yeah, it's just got a nice,
spicy tomato, smooth potato fragrance.
I love how we're chillin' with the cows here.
- The cows are part of our ecosystem.
- Part of the ecosystem.
(Trevor laughs)
There he is.
- He's coming to get some food.
- He's coming, he's hungry.
(Anubhav laughs)
He wants some guh-lay-bee.
[Trevor Voiceover] Next up, Anubhav brought us deeper
into the lanes of Varanasi to try
a special milk froth loved by the locals.
We passed by a few on the way, but found one special one
with a few different special flavors.
- [Trevor] What do we have here?
- Here we're going to have malai.
- Malai. - Yeah.
- Oh look at the colors!
- Winter delicacy.
- Oh yeah, so what is this here?
- This is just milk.
- Milk. - Yeah.
Yeah, it's mixed with a milk, the buffalo milk.
- OK.
- And the dew settles down, like, the dew.
- What's on top of it here?
- Mixed with saffron, pistachios, almond,
and some milk solids, you can see.
- Oh, it looks good!
So there's a few flavors as well?
- This is like I've seen for the first time.
They have pineapple flavor, and then
they have a strawberry flavor.
- So what should we try?
- We'll try the classic one. - OK.
- The classic and also here is, I've seen it's interesting,
they also serve them milk.
- Ohh.
- So when it melts, you have a milk form at the bottom.
- So on the bottom it's liquid.
- Liquid, so they collect that liquid
and serve it in a clay cup.
- So it's over top of ice usually, right?
- [Anubhav] Yeah, but here, surprisingly
there's no ice here. - Oh, OK.
- Because everywhere, you go to Delhi or Lucknow,
they keep it with a bucket of ice.
- Yeah, it's cold, it's cold.
And it's in a clay cup. - Clay cup.
- Saffron, pistachio, oh nice.
(Anubhav speaks quickly)
- It's interesting, like nowhere else
I've seen this come in a clay cup.
- Thank you.
So what's the orange stuff on top?
- It's saffron. - Saffron?
- Yeah, they add the water on the saffron,
they soak the saffron in the water, and then they add it.
- [Trevor] Oh looks great.
And it looks so frothy and creamy.
- That's right. - Let's try it out.
- So light. - Yeah.
Mmm, oh it actually tastes a little bit like marmalade.
- Yeah.
- It looks like an orange flavor.
- Yeah! - But it's the saffron.
- That's the saffron. - Yeah.
(man in striped shirt speaking quietly)
- [Trevor] Nice, so that's how you finish it off.
- [Anubhav] Yeah, you drink that milk.
- You drink it. - Yeah, like that.
Mmm. - Mmm, oh it's so sweet!
Oh he's just loading it up here.
- Yeah.
(background noise drowns out Anubhav talking)
- Back with the family.
- Cool.
[Trevor Voiceover] Next up, to fill up
a little bit more before a huge lunch feast,
we went for another classic sweet
and refreshing street drink, the Varanasi lassi.
(gentle Indian music) (Anubhav mumbling)
- There really is, yeah!
These alleyways are just so packed.
(horn honks)
Where are we going?
- Now we will go to a lassi shop.
- OK.
- And we'll try different flavors of lassi there.
- So you should try lassi in every city in India.
- Yeah, where we go,
it's like any old city in India,
like Dewas, Bhatpara, Bhimavaram,
Delhi, anywhere, Old Delhi,
anywhere you go, you must try the lassi.
The milkman.
- The milkman.
It's just so crazy here.
(honking)
Okay, here we go.
The Blue Lassi shop.
Oh.
It's very blue.
- It's very blue.
- So what do we have here? - Fresh yogurt.
- Fresh yogurt, oh yeah, look at that.
- The fresher layer of cream on the top.
- Nice.
So you put that into your jug?
Oh, lots of sugar.
- Lots of sugar.
Then that's the saffron.
- Saffron water.
That's a hand grinder.
- Hand grinded.
- Otherwise it becomes very thick.
- Oh, so you need to add the milk.
So that's milk, and yogurt, and saffron water.
- And sugar. - And sugar.
Sounds good.
Oh, I just love the clay cups.
It looks like mango, but it's saffron.
- Saffron.
- Oh.
- Lots of pistachios.
- That's a ton of pistachios.
- Now it's mixed together again.
- It's good that you get the crunch of pistachios
in all of it.
- Oh yeah, it's full of pistachio.
All right.
Makin' one more.
- And then a layer of cream on the top.
- It's so elegant.
It's so beautiful.
Oh, and then top it with more pistachio.
And saffron water on top.
(Indian music)
It's just covered in those pistachios.
And that cream, they put cream on top, right?
- Yeah, a layer of cream on the top.
- Let's try it out.
(Indian music)
Oh yeah. - It's so thick.
- It's so thick.
It's quite sour.
- Yeah.
- Sweet and sour.
And the pistachio, mmm.
Oh yeah. - Good?
- That's good.
- I think it's sweet, saffron-y, slightly sour.
It almost tastes just like yogurt.
- Yeah.
- It's like a very traditional Indian flavor.
Saffron, pistachios.
You get a good smokey flavor with the yogurt.
- Yeah, a little bit, yeah.
Next up, Anubhav brought is to try
a classic Varinasi style vegetarian lunch,
with wheat balls stuffed with paneer,
and cooked in cow dung.
So what are we getting for lunch?
- We are going for lunch at a very famous restaurant
Padlipachopa, and it's a traditional dish of Varinasi.
- Classic Varinasi, it's all veg, right?
- All veg.
- Great, let's try it out.
What are these?
- These are the dumplings I was telling you about.
- Dumplings.
- We don't exactly call it dumpling,
we call it likti.
- In coal.
- In ash.
- It's roasted in the ash.
- Roasted in the ash.
- Yeah.
- And what are these made from?
- It's made up of the wheat flour.
- Okay.
- Wheat flour, and it's got roasted chickpea flour.
And then they add in the roasted chickpea flour,
they add some spices,
and then they put them in this ash.
- Oh that's so unique.
So these dumplings are all cooked in the cow dung here.
- Yes, they are in cow dung cooked.
- That is unique.
And they're over here cooking with cow dung.
They're about to make some stews?
- They get some nectar, boil the lentils,
and the clay pot, there's plenty of water there.
- They're just starting.
So that is all.
So this is the holy cow dung.
(laughs)
- In fact in India, we clean our house
with cow dung cakes.
- Really?
- We clean our house to we have something of purity,
to make your house pure,
we put some cow dung cakes on the floor.
- And then it's pure.
Good.
Cool, let's go try some out.
After a quick walk upstairs,
Anubhav and I were sitting in a beautiful restaurant
being served a huge spread of Varinasi delicacies.
There was dal stew with cumin, coriander,
and clarified butter.
A green coriander and mint chutney,
some mashed potatoes with eggplant,
onion, tomatoes, coriander, and garlic,
along with a tomato and onion chutney.
And some pickled chile,
a sweet lentil pudding, a rice pudding,
and all served with buttermilk to drink.
All this was incredibly delicious and flavorful,
but the real treat was the dumplings cooked in cow dung.
So you take the cow dung dumplings.
(laughs)
You take the cow dung,
you take the cooked dumplings.
- Cooked dumplings.
- With cow dung.
- Yeah, in cow dung.
- You take dumplings cooked in cow dung,
full of chickpea flour.
- Roasted chickpea flour.
- And then...
- And then you have the other one with cottage cheese.
- Oh it's crispy, it looks like it's crispy.
- [Anubhav] This one is with the roasted chickpea flour.
- [Trevor] The chickpea flour, oh yeah, look at that.
And then he's gonna bring the ghee.
Oh nice.
Oh fresh, warm ghee.
So that's the, oh that's a lot.
So that's the chickpea flour.
- [Anubhav] This is the cottage cheese.
- [Trevor] And these are cooked in the cow dung.
And that's the cottage cheese,
look at that, paneer, with some greens in there as well.
Do we dip this in which one?
- [Anubhav] You start with this one.
This is choka, what we call choka.
Yeah, put it on the plate.
Then we scoop it out like this.
- [Trevor] And then you just go right in.
Oh yeah.
That's like you're having a roasted
stuffed whole wheat bun.
With paneer and a mustardy, spicy kick from that sauce.
- It has a great flavor, doesn't it?
- This meal was incredibly healthy and wholesome,
and we both loved it.
And for our next snack,
Anubhav brought us to try
one of the most beloved street snacks in India, the pan.
An addictive and mouth freshening
spice packed betel leaf, that includes tobacco,
some dried fruits and spices,
slaked lime, and a betel nut as a slight stimulant.
The flavor and sensation is unlike anything else.
And I ordered a sweet one without tobacco,
and Anubhav went for the full, real deal.
What's next?
- We need to have paan.
- Paan?
- It's like if you're (mumbles)
you have to have paan.
There's a very famous Bollywood song
that's made about paan.
They say (speaking a foreign language).
- What does that mean?
- It says that if you eat the paan,
it opens up your mind.
- Oh, it opens your mind.
It's a slight stimulant, right?
- Yeah, a slight stimulant.
- So we're gonna get two,
there's a couple versions, right?
- Yeah, they have a sweet version
and the second you can get tobacco.
- [Trevor] Okay, so this is a betel leaf, right?
- [Anubhav] That is a betel leaf,
then you add lime paste then betel nuts.
- [Trevor] Oh yeah, then you wrap it up.
- [Anubhav] Yeah, wrap it up.
- [Trevor] So there's the lime, white is the lime
paste, right?
- [Anubhav] Lime paste.
- [Trevor] Tobacco?
- [Anubhav] That's not tobacco, that's a sweetener,
like peppermint.
- [Trevor] And what's this one?
- [Anubhav] This in India is called katha.
- [Chef] Katha.
- [Trevor] Katha.
Tobacco paste.
- [Anubhav] It's a very strong one.
- [Trevor] Very strong one, that'll get you woken up.
Oh, he's loving it.
So this is the betel leaf here, right?
And this is good for you?
- [Anubhav] It's good for you, it has good medicinal
properties.
If you just eat the leaves, it helps in digesting
the food.
- Okay.
- People also eat it.
- So the leaf is good for you.
- The leaf is good for you.
- But the nut is slightly addictive.
- It is very addictive.
- Very addictive!
- It's very addictive, once you start eating it.
- [Trevor] Got the lime paste in the white there.
What's that?
- [Anubhav] The sweetener.
- [Trevor] Sweetener, he's putting a betel
nut in there, right?
- [Anubhav] Yeah.
- [Trevor] Oh, and what's he adding there?
- [Anubhav] Cherry.
This is like a rose-flavored --
- [Trevor] Rose jam.
- [Anubhav] Yeah, rose jam you can call it, like.
We call it gulkand.
- [Trevor] Oh, that's a lot.
- [Anubhav] That's lot.
Sweet paan.
- [Trevor] Sweet paan.
And you're getting the real deal.
- [Anubhav] I'm getting the real deal.
(laughing)
Oh, this is a saffron chutney.
- [Trevor] Saffron chutney, beautiful.
- [Anubhav] Taste it.
- [Trevor] Oh, a taste, okay.
The saffron chutney.
Oh, wow.
Oh, that's strong.
It's very nice.
It almost tastes like an incense.
- Yeah, it tastes like an incense.
- So, do I swallow this?
- Yeah, you can swallow it.
- You swallow it and chew it?
But you don't swallow yours.
- I won't be swallowing it.
- Because?
- It's tobacco.
- It's tobacco, cheers.
- Cheers.
- Oh, that is very strong.
- That's mine.
- [Trevor] That tastes like an incense or a soap.
It's like a perfume, almost.
With the chutney.
The saffron chutney.
- How is the flavor?
- Oh, it's very minty and intense and soapy.
You got the real deal.
- Mm-hmm.
- [Trevor] Oh, that's strong.
So that'll wake you up.
It's okay.
Unique, unique.
- You need to try everything once.
- Try everything once, yep.
After that intense paan flavor,
Anubhav and I made our way to experience
the most incredible scene that unfolds
before your eyes, the nightly Hindu rituals
on the Ganges in Varanasi.
It is just so crazy here in Varanasi.
The action, there's so many people,
there's cows on the street.
- That's typical of India
- Typical feel, right?
- Yeah, typical feel.
- And we are going to the pilgrimage location.
- Yeah, we are going to see the religious
ceremony that happens every evening on this part.
- And they're praying.
- They're praying to the Ganges.
- Great.
So the cows are sacred in India.
- Cows are sacred in India.
- So people, the Hindus worship them, is that right?
- Yeah, that's true.
- And you can see them all over the street
and it, you were saying from a tourist's perspective,
it's definitely interesting.
- But cow is like "no big deal".
- It's no big deal, yeah.
- This is a real experience.
- It's serene, it's incredible.
- So you can feel the spirituality once you come in.
- Yeah you can.
What are they all doing here?
- [Anubhav] They're the pilgrims,
they're just offering the prayers.
- [Trevor] Okay.
So what are they praying for?
- [Anubhav] They're praying for their good health,
a good life.
- [Trevor] It's just incredible.
- [Anubhav] An incredible experience.
- [Trevor] Yeah, it's spiritual.
Watching this fire ceremony on the riverside
is a truly mesmerizing experience
that you'll never forget.
The combo of the wafting incense,
the bells, and the prayers, all of the chanting,
and the music happening at the same time
is a memory that you'll cherish forever.
We spent a solid two hours watching
this ceremony before saying a final thank you
and goodbye.
That was an amazing time, Anubhav.
Thank you for taking me to all those amazing
street food locations.
Best time.
Thank you to Delhi Food Walks
for that experience.
Anubhav and I have been real good buddies
for a while now and I just gotta say,
if you want an awesome food walk experience,
check out Delhi Food Walks.
Thanks a lot.
- Thank you so much, I hope you had a great time.
- Thanks a lot.
- And I hope to see you again on the streets of India.
- For sure.
Awesome, thanks, guys.
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