33 things to eat at Chappan, Indore’s Famous Street Food Market

Chappan Indore or Chappan Dukan in Indore is not one shop but a collection of 56 shops for the foodie in you! Now, of course with time and popularity more shops have been added by demand and another lane has come up with more food shops. But don’t confuse Chappan Indore with Chappan Bhog Indore which is a famous sweet shop in Indore.

Chappan Indore Timings:

Chappan Market in Indore is open all day long from 4 AM in the morning to 11 PM at night. Spend mornings at Chappan Indore to have Indori breakfast dishes like Pohe Jalebi, Khaman, Gond ke laddu and doodh. The afternoons are a good time for more filling food like Benjo and sandwiches. The evenings see people queuing up for chaat and Johnny Hotdogs. Below is an exhaustive list of street food that you can choose from at the famous Chappan Dukan in Indore.

Rolls  at Rolls Mania Indore and Tibbs Indore

Try Chicken / mutton rolls with or without egg at Rolls Mania Indore and Tibbs.

Hotdogs at Johnny Hotdogs

Have a mutton hotdog or an potato hotdog at Johnny Hotdogs. These are desi hotdogs with pav and don’t expect your mall hotdogs at Chappan Indore. There are two Johnny Hotdogs, the one in the middle of Chappan Indore is more famous and older but it finishes its stock by 9PM so either reach early or try the Johnny Hotdogs in the beginning of Chappan. I thought both were equally good.

Garadu at Young Tarang Restaurant Indore

Garadu is a peculiar chaat made from ‘ jimikand ‘, a variety of yam. It is cut into pieces and deep fried till golden brown. Chaat masala is sprinkled on top with some lemon juice before serving. The one at Sarafa Bazar Indore is spicier.

Khopra, cheese and matar patties at Vijay Chaat House

Again ‘patties’ is misleading and they are deep fried balls with light sweet coconut filling in the khopra variant, melted cheese oozing out with every bite in the cheese variant and pea filling in the matar variant.

Cold Coffee at Koffee King

Enjoy a rich chocolaty cold coffee at Koffee King. Was too sweet for me so if you’re one who prefers less sugar, ask them to make it according to taste.

MHOW ki kulfi Indore

MHOW is a city 25 kms away from Indore known for its Military Schools and Kulfi ! You can taste different flavours of the MHOW kulfi made from full fat buffalo milk at a shop called ‘Mhow ki Kulfi’. But if you ask me, you gotta go to MHOW to taste the real deal. And even better if you can catch hold of one of your army friends in Army War College or Infantry school and buy it from the legendary kulfiwala who comes on his Lambretta every afternoon and delivers it at their doorstep.

Om ke namkeen

If you want to sample the famous Indori namkeen, here is where you must go. I also bought a lot of packets to take back home with me and my parents loved them !

Maggi at FYI

Have a maggi like you’ve never had before. With 5 flavours to choose from, this 2 minute favourite will blow you away. We had the punjabi tadka flavour at a street vendor. FYI is famous for more maggi flavours but at the time we visited Chappan Dukan Indore, FYI was under renovation. ( Delhites, let’s not compare the maggi with Keventers of Satyaniketan. )

Egg Benjo

A desi hotdog with egg omelette inside. An indori local favourite.

Shikanji at Shree Jain Kanchan Indore

Not your Delhi lemon Shikanji, Indori Shikanji is a milk shake with lots of dry fruits.

Flavoured Soda

The most interesting flavours were fruit beer and whisky. They are non alcoholic but with a distinct taste of beer and whisky is them. Other flavours are orange, blueberry, lemon, strawberry, cola, kala khatta and masala.

Sabudaana Khhichdi

A local Indian sago dish made to perfection. There is no particular shop for this in Chappan Indore. You can try it wherever you can get your hands on it.

Holay

This is not available in any particular shop but you might find them on a pushcart. Hole are gram seeds cooked in coal with the cover on it. Peel the cover and eat the seed. I enjoyed its charred flavour.

Indori Poha

A surprisingly different tasting poha, the Indori poha is slightly sweet with a saunf flavour and no peanuts. Poha is a breakfast dish and is served hot in the mornings.

Usal Poha

Indore’s speciality Poha combined with spicy gravy and topped with onions and Sev. Better had in the mornings.

Veg Kothe

An Indo-Chinese appetizer made in a tarty spicy gravy.

Bombay Bhel

Bhel puri lovers, attack !!

Khaman / Dhokla

Fresh, soft, flavourful, this dhokla is perfect in every way.

Chhole Tikia

An Indori favourite, their aloo tikki is dressed with a dash of hot boiled chhole in it.

Hot Coffee

I do enjoy the machine made shaadi-street hot coffee with chocolate powder sprinkled on top. It’s so very Indian and so very nostalgic !

Manchurian

Sadly, not the gobi manchurian I enjoy in Bangalore, this is another Indo-Chinese dish made of deep fried crispy vegetable balls in thick sweet spicy gravy.

Jalebis

The succulent, no added colour, freshly fried jalebis can only be had at Chhappan Dukaan. I am a fan of the thin crispy fried Jodhpuri jalebis, so these were not for me.

Poha Jalebi

An unusual Indori combination of Poha and jalebi can be tried in the early morning hours at Chhappan Dukaan. Try going there at 4 AM !

Mutton Burger

Not your usual Burger, this is the desi pav burger to be had for its magical mutton patty. The bread is just to hold it together.

Ice cream

Satisfy your cravings with the colourful icecreams on Chhappan Dukaan. They are scooped out and served in plastic cups. Want to mix and match your flavours, go ahead and choose the colours or the flavours and youre ready to go !

Dabeli

A mumbai – Pune – Nagar street food favourite, Let Chhappan Dukaan introduce the uninitiated to the lesser know pav dish.

Chicken Momos

You’ll like the chicken momos with spicy chutney and mayo if you haven’t been spoiled by the Delhi momos. For those of you who have tasted Tibetan and ladakhi momos, don’t even try these. If you do, do it at your own risk and DO NOT COMPARE !

Pani Puri

Not as adventurous as the one at Sarafa Bazar Indore with 11 flavors but what’s an eat street that doesn’t offer pani puri?

Dahi Puri

This is the puri version of papdi chaat ! Same ingredients sans the carb heavy papdi, filled in the crispy gol gappa !

Mysore Masala Dosa & other South Indian dishes

Craving for some authentic south Indian food? Indore will satisfy that as well. Chhappan Dukaan has a couple of shops specialising in south Indian dishes.

Gond ke laddu

A Indian sweet not usually available everywhere but how can Chappan Indore not have it? Gond ke laddu are made from atta, ghee, dry fruits and crispy fried ‘gond’ which is gum extracted from trees.

Makhhan Vada

This is an Indian sweet that resembles Balushahi of UP. Made from maida, ghee and curd, this sweet at Chapan Indore is going to satisfy your sweetest cravings.

Paan

End your adventures with the Indian digestive pan available is a variety of flavours. If you’re specifically looking for fire paan, head to Sarafa Bazar Indore.

The only thing that I missed eating at Chappan Indore or Sarafa Bazar were Indore’s famous Dal Baffle. Hope they introduce them too but as an after thought, I think Dal Baffle will be best enjoyed in dine-in restaurants.