Dear Readers...

What indeed, is Puchka? My mother-in-law wants to know--maybe you do too. My friends, it is the best-of-the-best of street food. I have been restrained (they say "advised") by my husband, my mother, and other well-intended loved ones to give up my love for Puchka. But I cannot. Puchka really is an art in how it's eaten but I will give you the artless version, as art itself must be experienced in order to fully appreciate it's taste. The Puchka itself is a small, hollow, crunchy, deep-fried circlular ball, the size and shape of a golf ball. The man serving Puchka, always stands, never sits, and stations himself for many hours in the evening time at one particular place. The hollow-ball is then filled with a dime-sized portion of a potatoe/chili/garbanzo bean mixture (all mixed by hand in a bowl). The filled morsel is then hand-dipped into tamarin/chili water and finally placed, dripping wet, into the dried-leaf bowl. To my shame, I once downed 18 in one standing, while my friends easily have 25 plus... and still going.
Now that your mouth is watering just like mine, I am gonna sneak past my husband and go find me a puchka...or two or three.