Local Dishes in Marathi: 31 Travel Phrases with Audio

वडापाव
vadaapaav
Vadapav (spiced potato fritter in a bun)
Usage
Mumbai's street-food staple and the cheapest thing on any Maharashtra stall. A spiced mashed-potato fritter (vada) in gram-flour batter, deep-fried and tucked into a halved pav bun with chutneys and a fried green chilli. Also nicknamed "Bombay burger"
मिसळ पाव
misal paav
Misal pav (spicy sprouted-bean curry with bread)
Usage
A soupy curry of sprouted beans topped with crisp sev, chivda and raw onion, eaten with pav. Nashik is its origin, with distinct Kolhapur, Pune and Nashik styles. Among the hottest dishes in Maharashtra — ask whether they can make it "kami tikhat" (less hot)
पाव भाजी
paav bhaaji
Pav bhaji (mashed vegetable curry with buttered bread)
Usage
Mixed vegetables mashed and simmered on a griddle into a thick curry, served with butter-fried pav. A Maharashtrian/Marathi dish that became famous in Mumbai and Pune. Its spelling matches the Hindi because the Hindi name is a loan from Marathi
बटाटा वडा
bataata vada
Batata vada (spiced potato fritter)
Usage
The same fritter eaten on its own, without the bun. The vada inside a vada pav is precisely this batata vada. Written बटाटा वडा, and also बटाटेवडा
पुरणपोळी
puranpoli
Puran poli (flatbread stuffed with sweet lentil paste)
Usage
Festival flatbread stuffed with a paste of split lentils and jaggery (puran). A sweet and important Maharashtrian dish, offered above all at Holi. Poli is the Marathi word for a flatbread; some speakers use the Hindi word chapati instead
थालीपीठ
thaalipith
Thalipeeth (multigrain savoury pancake)
Usage
A thick pancake of bhajani — several roasted grains and pulses ground together — patted out by hand with vegetables mixed in. There are wheat, rice, sago, water-chestnut and cucumber versions, and it is a dish that identifies Marathi people. Served with butter or curd
भाकरी
bhaakri
Bhakri (unleavened millet flatbread)
Usage
The staple bread, the principal food of Maharashtra. Made from sorghum (jowar) or pearl-millet (bajri) flour, and distinct from the wheat poli. The pairing "zunka-bhakar" is a classic
कांदे पोहे
kaande pohe
Kande pohe (flattened rice with onion)
Usage
Flattened rice soaked and tossed with onion, green chilli, turmeric and peanuts — the standard Maharashtrian breakfast. It is a Marathi dish, as is batata pohe; thick (jaad) and thin (patal) pohe must not be confused
साबुदाणा खिचडी
saabudaana khichdi
Sabudana khichdi (sago pearls with peanuts)
Usage
Fasting-day food. It is made in every home on Ashadhi and Kartiki Ekadashi and served as prasad in Shiva temples on Mahashivratri. Sago is soaked three to four hours, then tossed with crushed peanuts. Because it uses no grain it dominates eatery menus on fast days
साबुदाणा वडा
saabudaana vada
Sabudana vada (fried sago patty)
Usage
Soaked sago mixed with crushed peanut, cumin and chilli, patted flat and deep-fried. It is generally permitted on fast days. Served with chutney
मोदक
modak
Modak (sweet rice-flour dumpling)
Usage
Coconut and jaggery wrapped in rice-flour dough and pleated into a flower shape. The offering to Ganesha, sold everywhere around Ganesh Chaturthi. The name comes from mod ("joy"); there are steamed ukadiche modak and fried talaniche modak
श्रीखंड
shrikhand
Shrikhand (sweetened strained yoghurt)
Usage
Strained curd (chakka) beaten with sugar into a thick sweet. A distinctly Marathi-Gujarati dessert, flavoured with almond, pistachio, saffron and cardamom. Usually served alongside puri
आम्रखंड
aamrakhand
Amrakhand (mango shrikhand)
Usage
Amras and shrikhand blended in the right proportion; the mango is usually Hapus (Alphonso). A seasonal item, on menus only in the April–June mango months
आमरस
aamras
Amras (mango pulp)
Usage
Also written आंब्याचा रस. It is not a drink but a dish eaten with poli or puri, and a spoon of ghee makes it easier on the stomach
बासुंदी
baasundi
Basundi (thickened sweetened milk)
Usage
A dessert of milk and sugar: creamy milk reduced slowly in an iron pan, then sweetened. Served at festivals and weddings, spooned from a bowl rather than drunk
आमटी
aamti
Amti (sweet-and-sour lentil soup)
Usage
Tur or moong dal tempered in oil and let down with water. Also called "spicy varan", seasoned with tamarind, kokum or amchur plus jaggery, fresh coconut and spice powder. On a thali it is poured over rice
वरण
varan
Varan (plain cooked dal)
Usage
Simply cooked tur dal. It is not spicy, which makes it the safe option when the rest of the table is too hot. Varan bhat, with rice and ghee, is the household basic
झुणका
zunka
Zunka (dry gram-flour dish)
Usage
A traditional Marathi vegetarian dish, with a clear line between the two: gram flour cooked dry and firm is zunka, cooked loose it is pithale. Onion and chilli always go in. Zunka is eaten with bhakri, pithale with rice
पिठले
pithle
Pithale (soft gram-flour curry)
Usage
A dish of chickpea (chana dal) flour cooked with onion and garlic; it is also called besan. Good with bhakri
ठेचा
thecha
Thecha (crushed green-chilli relish)
Usage
⚠ Extremely hot. It is far hotter than ordinary peanut-and-coconut chutneys and must be tasted a little at a time. Served as a small dab beside bhakri
कोथिंबीर वडी
kothimbir vadi
Kothimbir vadi (steamed coriander squares)
Usage
A Maharashtrian dish of coriander filling steamed in a dough, made with gram flour, chopped coriander, onion, chilli powder and coriander powder. Usually steamed, cut into squares and then pan- or deep-fried
उसळ
usal
Usal (sprouted-bean curry)
Usage
A dish made from sprouted pulses, found in Maharashtra and Gujarat, with moong, matki and val versions. It is also the base of misal pav
वांग्याचे भरीत
vaangyaache bharit
Vangyache bharit (roasted aubergine mash)
Usage
An important dish of Marathi food culture; Jalgaon and its region are famous for it. Large purpose-grown aubergines are fire-roasted, peeled and mashed. A winter dish
शिरा
shira
Shira (sweet semolina pudding)
Usage
Wheat semolina (rava) roasted well in ghee, then cooked sweet — the roasting is the critical step. Served both as temple prasad and as breakfast
चिवडा
chivda
Chivda (spiced flattened-rice mix)
Usage
A Marathi preparation made especially at Diwali, in salty, hot and sweet versions. A fixture of the Diwali faral box; "chaha-chivda" — tea with chivda — is the classic pairing
चकली
chakli
Chakli (spiral savoury fried snack)
Usage
A Diwali snack made from chakli bhajani — rice, pohe, urad and chana dal roasted and milled together. The dough is pressed through a mould into a spiral and deep-fried. Made by the boxful around Diwali
शंकरपाळी
shankarpali
Shankarpali (diamond-cut fried biscuits)
Usage
A Maharashtrian sweet made at Diwali, cut into long diamonds and fried, in sweet, hot and salty versions. Also spelled शंकरपाळे, besides शंकरपाळी
अनरसा
anarsa
Anarsa (fermented rice-flour poppy-seed cake)
Usage
Spelled अनरसा or अनारसा. Rice is soaked and fermented for five or six days, worked with jaggery, ghee and cardamom, then fried with poppy seeds pressed onto one face. A Diwali and adhik-maas sweet
भेळ
bhel
Bhel (puffed-rice snack)
Usage
A Maharashtrian dish with two forms: wet (oli bhel) and dry (suki bhel). Bhelpuri is at home at Girgaon and Juhu beach in Mumbai, where handcarts work the city's lanes
पाणीपुरी
paanipuri
Panipuri (crisp shells filled with spiced water)
Usage
Made of puri, tamarind chutney and mint chutney; shevpuri is a popular companion. Note the spelling: Marathi writes पाणीपुरी with ण, Hindi writes पानी पूरी with न. Handed over one at a time at the stall — travellers who worry about the water should ask first
घावन
ghaavan
Ghavan (thin rice-flour crepe)
Usage
A Konkan-coast breakfast. The batter is rice flour and gram flour let down with sour buttermilk, with onion, green chilli, garlic, turmeric, cumin and coriander stirred in, spread thin on the pan. Unlike a South Indian dosa the batter is not left to ferment

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