Festival of India

The Annual Festival of India in Fremont, California is held each year to celebrate Indian Independence Day. This two day festival occurred this past weekend and celebrated its nineteenth year with a cultural fair, a parade, and a banquet gala. Last year I had the privilege to attend the banquet gala. This past weekend my BFF and I attended the fair which included a kids carnival, a performance stage, vendors of all sorts including food stalls. I love street food in general and that includes Indian street foods or chaat.

The first thing we got to eat was a plate of chicken biryani. This dish made of rice and chicken is typically cooked in huge clay pots and cooked for many hours. Ours came with two hard boiled eggs. We got it from a stall who’s restaurant called Fusion 9 is based in Santa Clara. I really liked the flavors of the chicken and rice, but could have done without the eggs.

Next we tried a vendor called Peacock that has five restaurants throughout the Bay Area. They had a large booth and with all the cooking activity, we ordered three items from them. First, we got their masala dolsa, a savory crepe filled with a mixture of mashed potato, onion, and spices. We were able to watch the vendor make these to order.

We also ordered tandoori chicken from Peacock. It was hard not to try this when you are that close to the grill.

Cholle bhature is a big puffy deep fried bread that is eaten with a bean dish. They had a huge fryer in the back that was making them one at a time, so they warned us that our wait for this item would be ten minutes.

All three of these dishes from the Peacock stall was fresh and delicious and makes me want to eat at one of their five locations.

I really enjoyed this festival. It was such a great way to be immersed in Indian culture by the fashion, the dancing, and the food. I can’t wait until next year!