Bhel Puri

Bhel puri is puffed rice tossed at the last second with crispy sev, chopped onion, tamarind chutney and raw vegetables, so nothing has time to go soggy. It's one of Mumbai's best-known chaats — the wide family of savoury, tangy snacks built on crunch and contrast — and it's always mixed to order rather than prepared ahead, since the puffed rice loses its crunch within minutes of meeting the wet chutney.

What it really is

Light, airy puffed rice mixes with crisp strands of sev, chopped onion, tomato, boiled potato and coriander, then gets tossed with a sweet tamarind chutney and a sharper green chutney together, so every handful carries sweet, sour and spicy notes at once. A vendor mixes it directly in front of the customer, tossing quickly and serving immediately — a bhel puri that sits even a few minutes starts to soften and lose the crunch that defines it.

It has to be eaten within minutes of being mixed, or it stops being bhel puri. The wet chutneys soften the puffed rice and sev on contact, so a vendor mixes only what's about to be eaten right away — there's no such thing as a bhel puri made ahead and held, since the crunch it's built on simply doesn't survive sitting.

How it's served

• Mixed to order, immediately, in a paper cone or bowl.
• Eaten right away with a small spoon, before the crunch softens.
• As a street food snack, sold from dedicated chaat carts.

How to write it on the menu

• It's naturally vegan and vegetarian.
• No major allergens are inherent to the base recipe.
• Say that it's mixed fresh to order, since guests unfamiliar with chaat may not expect the short window before it softens.