By Kaamna Jain
Ambala is a small, sleepy city in Haryana, adjoining the border with Punjab. On the industrial map, it has a flourishing scientific goods industry. It also has a well-developed cantonment area. Other than that it doesn’t have much claim to fame. But this article is not about that.
It is about the other treasure that Ambala has to offer, which somehow has not caught the imagination of the people. What Ambala has to offer to the world is a gastronomical delight – the Golgappe with its six-seven types of spicy water.
Golgappe is one of my favourite Indian snacks – mostly sold by road side vendors. Called by different names – Panipuri in Maharashtra, Gupchup in Orissa or Puchka in West Bengal (or is it just Bengal now?); it is basically a crisp fried hollow ball of Sooji ( Semolina) or Atta (wheat flour), filled with boiled and mashed potatoes , topped with onion, and then dipped in spicy water and served in individual helpings. As I read somewhere it is the explosion of sweet, sour, spicy water mixed with potatoes and the crisp in your mouth that makes it an absolutely awesome experience.
Golgappe – one of India’s most loved snacks
A ubiquitous sight in India is four five people surrounding a golgappe wala with their hand outstretched, holding a bowl in which the vendor methodically prepares and carefully places a single golgappa turn by turn. Every customer gets one golgappa in each round. You can easily gauge the popularity of the vendor by the number of people he serves in each round. I have eaten at places where there are 12-15 in a single round and still more waiting for their turn.
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So coming back to the Ambala, it is a real treat for the taste buds. A typical round start with jeera water, followed by hing water, then there is pudina water and then there are stuffed golgappe with Dahi or Sweet Imli chutney. New flavours are also being continuously added…in my recent trip to Ambala, I tried Guava spicy water… ummm the sweetness and the tang just blew my mind. Of course I wasn’t content with one round and just had to have two rounds.
Golgappe V Panipuri V Gupchup V Puchka
While in North India the focus is on the sweet spicy water with medium filling, in the Eastern side the gupchup is really nicely stuffed with the potato filling. Also the crispy fried balls are made of Atta and not sooji . All those who belong to or have eaten the gupchup in Orissa or Puchka in West Bengal will vouch for the taste. Infact one of my friends who goes to Orissa for work will sometimes have only Gupchup for lunch. I especially recommend the Gupchup wala who stands outside the National Science Museum in Bhubaneswar and the Jain (Gupchup without sprinkling of onion) at Choudhury Bazaar in Cuttack.
It is easy to believe that you just cannot go wrong with this snack provided the hygiene standards are maintained. But believe me the worst ones I had were in the posh GK market of New Delhi – tasteless and full of chillies. My friend and I had to have lime soda after that to soothen out taste buds and we both agreed that they were the saddest ones we had ever had.
It will be interesting to know your recommendations. Do let me know your favourite panipuriwala in your city. Happy Dunking!
