Lots of Maharashtrian snack favorites made up dinner tonight: Mom and I went to the opening of an annual multi-day classical music festival, and the snacks at the venue are famous 
KOTHIMBIR VADI:
Gram flour and cilantro fritters, first steamed, then fried.
Very similar to panisse / panelle, but more seasoned and with an herbaceous twist. So delicious.
(I made a homestyle version of these during a recent COTM, but they weren’t a patch on the street food version (which I tried my hand at during the pandemic, and were surprisingly close to the real deal).
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BATATAWADA / VADA
The most ubiquitous street food of the region, and now internationally known.
Spiced potato balls dipped in a spiced gram flour batter and deep fried good hot, good cold, good squashed into a roll (ie Pav/Pao, at which point it becomes Vada Pao, the food of train stations, walking around, and desperately hungry moments).
This was a really good rendition.
Real vada / vada pao comes with one chutney — a dry red chilli - garlic concoction that may set your mouth on fire, but is so complementary you don’t want to skip it. (Green chutney shows up sometimes but is just wrong, and anyone who puts sweet / tamarind chutney on vada pao should have it confiscated on the spot).
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PATTI SAMOSA
This is borderline Maharashtrian. Samosas aren’t from here. But patti samosas are, because they employ a pastry cover brought here by Irani immigrants — thin sheets like spring roll wrappers, cut into strips (patti) that are used for the outer shell.
I love these samosas. They were the only hot snack sold at my school cafeteria, and that was such a fantastic version that parents would call to reserve them Hard to find these days stuffed with potatoes, because they’re usually onion samosas or meat (kheema). To my great pleasure, these were potato, just as I remembered from decades ago.
