''Pudachi Vadi'', also known as Sambarvadi, is a

deep-fried Deep frying (also referred to as deep fat frying) is a cooking method in which food is submerged in hot fat, traditionally lard but today most commonly oil, as opposed to the shallow oil used in conventional frying done in a frying pan. Normal ...

snack A snack is a small portion of food generally eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including packaged snack foods and other processed foods, as well as items made from fresh ingredients at home. Traditionally, snacks are p ...

in the eastern parts of the

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

state of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The name refers to the fact that the snack is folded like a packet.

Description

''Pudachi vadi'' has an outer covering of

Gram flour Gram flour or kadala maavu is a pulse flour made from a variety of ground chickpea called Bengal gram or ''kaala chana''. It is a staple ingredient in the cuisine of the Indian subcontinent, including in Indian, Bangladeshi, Burmese, Nepali, ...

{{Cite web , last=Sen , first=Rupsha , date=2022-11-10 , title=Irresistible Dishes from Maharashtrian Food that One Must Try! - Art & Culture , url=https://www.caleidoscope.in/art-culture/maharashtrian-food-1 , access-date=2023-01-03 , website=Caleidoscope {{! Indian Culture, Heritage , language=en-US and is filled with a mixture that can include dried grated

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family ( Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or the ...

coriander Coriander (;

chili powder Chili powder (also spelled chile, chilli, or, alternatively, powdered chili) is the dried, pulverized fruit of one or more varieties of chili pepper, sometimes with the addition of other spices (in which case it is also sometimes known as chili p ...

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion ...

poppy seeds Poppy seed is an oilseed obtained from the opium poppy (''Papaver somniferum''). The tiny, kidney-shaped seeds have been harvested from dried seed pods by various civilizations for thousands of years. It is still widely used in many countries, ...

, and

Indian spices Indian spices include a variety of spices grown across the Indian subcontinent (a sub-region of South Asia). With different climates in different parts of the country, India produces a variety of spices, many of which are native to the subconti ...

. It is deep-fried and very crispy. In the

Vidarbha Vidarbha (Pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, �id̪əɾbʱə is a geographical region in the east of the Indian state of Maharashtra and a Proposed states and union territories of India#Maharashtra, proposed state of central India, comprising th ...

region, the snack tends to be sweet; in the

Kolhapur Kolhapur () is a city on the banks of the Panchganga River in the southern part of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarter of the Kolhapur district. In, around 2 C.E. Kolapur's name was 'Kuntal'. Kolhapur is kn ...

region, it tends to be spicier.

Availability

The dish is often made during winter, as that is when coriander is most available. In

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

, ''pudachi vadi'' is available at

Chitale Bandhu Mithaiwale Chitale Bandhu Mithaiwale is an Indian snacks enterprise which popularly runs in Maharashtra. It was formed by Shri. Raghunath Bhaskar Chitale(Bhausaheb) and Narsinha Bhaskar Chitale(Rajabhau) in 1950 as a subsidiary of the Chitale Group of Indu ...

. They have several shops in Pune including in Deccan Gymkhana and on Laxmi Road. In Kolhapur, there are many places where you get Pudachi Vadi but the most famous place is Gruhini Vastu Bhandar. Gruhini has two branches in the city, one in Shahupuri and the other on Mahadwar Road.

References

Indian snack foods Maharashtrian cuisine