Street food culture has always been thriving & vibrant in India. The North (Delhi) with its delectable 'Chaats' (literally transalated as 'to lick' indicating the finger licking attributes of these delectable treats), the West (Mumbai) with its Pav vada & Pav bhaji & the East (Calcutta) with its repertoire of milk based desserts. <br /> The Southern states, in contrast, being more conservative in outlook, never really had much of a street food culture. Street food was frowned upon & even possibly perceived as an affront to home food if any overt preference was displayed. Yes, there are stalls galore, but in the past it has always been subsistence for workers who did not have access to fresh home food. Of course that is changing rapidly. <br />One of the classic offerings from these carts was 'masala vadai', made with banana blossoms (yes these are edible, and extremely labor intensive to prepare). they have a texture similar to artichokes and a tannic textural mouthfeel. & the prep work is almost identical to that of artichokes, <br />Since banana blossoms are harder to obtain at this time of the year in New Jersey, Substituting fresh baby artichokes made for a very pleasant dish, a Sunday tea time snack to be relished with a piping hot cup of coffee or masala tea. <br />

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