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Surti Locho

Surti Locho, a delicious street food consumed for breakfast, snack or light dinner. This Gujarati food is the heart of all people living in Surat when it comes to eat something tasty & healthy too.

All the surtis, people living in Surat, and Gujaratis are very fond of eating and travelling. As the name suggests, this dish originates from Surat, a major city in Gujarat. The word Locho means something fishy or something messed up in Gujarati. Its extravagant taste comes when it is served as sizzling hot. Mostly on Sundays, morning at every house in Surat start with locho. Every child knows about this dish and all the people of the city are very fond of it. When I was very small, one Sunday morning, my father brought locho for breakfast. That was the first time I ate locho. It is followed like a tradition in my house to eat locho on every Sunday morning. After that first taste I was amazed! I love the combination of textures and flavours. You get crunchy sev with soft locho, spicy chutneys and tangy pickled onions all in one bite. You feel like you just want to enjoy its taste and it is heaven!

As I grew, I came across new variations in this single dish like there’s butter locho, ghee locho, schezwan locho, cheese locho, pizza locho, cheesy blast tandoori locho, garlic locho, etc. All the variations differ slightly in taste as all have different toppings but the basic taste is same for all. Red garlic chutney is mostly given with all the variations of locho but it is considered optional and depends on person to person according to his/her liking towards it. Other optional ingredients include Roasted peanuts and Peanut oil. Other options for toppings are grated cheese, tamarind-date chutney, mustard oil, fresh pomegranate seeds. All the above items listed as ingredients makes locho tastier and even more delicious.

All the food dishes we know today have some history called food history or myths. For e.g., there’s no way that dahi was invented intentionally. Someone left milk out and it coagulated and lo and behold, we had one of the greatest foods in human history. Similarly, I was curious to know about the history of locho. No one seems to be quite certain who created this dish, although most Surtis are unanimous about how it came to be made. They say that a khaman vendor once added too much water to the batter, making it like a paste and unable to hold a shape like khaman is supposed to. But instead of throwing away the mess, the clever man sprinkled it with masala, chopped onions and sev, drizzled some oil and served it with coriander chutney. The dish was an immediate hit and became one of the icons of the city’s vibrant street food culture.