Street food

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Colourful and diverse, street food is one of those travel experiences one can find in cities and towns all around the world. It's generally convenient and affordable, but its appeal goes far beyond that. Street food can be simple yet utterly delicious, and it's often a great way to sample some authentic local cuisine. Joining local residents around bustling little street stalls can open doors and lead to memorable encounters. In some countries, whether you're a typical foodie or not, you may find that your search for great street food turned out to be among the best experiences of your trip.

Street food Halal Travel Guide

While available pretty much anywhere, street food is most commonly associated with hot climates in general and Asian countries in particular.

This type of food is sold in urban environments and in some parts of the world along highways—in other words, places where people are moving. Markets are a good place to find a range of vendors selling street food, especially in warmer countries. There you can often go from stall to stall sampling hundreds of different kinds of food—spicy, sweet, salty, hot and cold and a range of soft-drinks.

In colder parts of the world street food is less common, usually in a form of single food trucks, carts or kiosks where you can often choose only among variants of the same dish, e.g. Hot Dogs and Sausages with different toppings. There, street food is almost always designed to be eaten by hand and there are seldom designated seats and tables like the ones you would find e.g. in a Singapore hawker's centre. On the other hand, at market-like events there is usually more to choose from, especially if the event is centered around food!

Halal Street food

Halal Street food is often not limited to just one country or region: for example, hamburgers can be found almost everywhere in the world. That does not mean that they are the same everywhere, though: Halal street food dishes often come with a local twist. The listed foods are generally only a small sampling of what is available on the street in each place. Foods are listed according to the nation or region of origin—often they can be found in the surrounding regions too. Specific dishes are often also available where large immigrant communities congregate and a few dishes have gone global.

Africa

Forodhani park food stand - Halal Food stand in Zanzibar

Northern Africa

See also: North African cuisine

Doughnuts.marrakech.2013 - Sfenj

Bessara (also bsarra) – spicy Halal fava bean soup
Brochettes – skewered Halal meat
Crumbed Liver
Sfenj – oil cooked doughnuts, common all over North Africa
Spicy sardines
Brik – a triangular deep-fried Halal pastry, typically filled with egg
Hawawshi – Halal minced meat
Fiteer – Halal sweet or savoury pancake

Asia

Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore

Street Dining Lesehan in Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta - Street dining in Jakarta

Asinan – pickled salty vegetables or fruits, eaten as a snack
Bakwan – battered and fried vegetables
Bakso – “Indonesian meatballs”, usually served with Rice noodles. There are different variants of it, for instance they can be made of shrimp or fish, filled or skewered.
Bubur ayam – Rice porridge with shredded Chicken and topped with various condiments
Bubur cha-cha – a sweet soup made with palm sugar and coconut milk, including sago and starchy vegetables like beans, sweet potatoes, and purple yams and popular for breakfast or dessert.
Bubur kacang hijau – a dessert porridge of mung beans, coconut milk and sugar
Kerak telor – spicy Rice omelette with coconut, scallots and shrimp
Mee rebus – boiled Noodles with a spicy sweet gravy and garnished with different vegetables
Nasi goreng – fried Rice with a range of condiments, usually served with and egg and some kind of Meat and vegetables.
Pempek – fish cakes
Siaomay – fish or seafood dumplings
Soto mie – spicy Noodles and Chicken soup

Laksa Sarawak - Laksa Sarawak Malaysia - 011 - KL - Yummy street food stalls are the way to eat Halal in KL (3509714739) - A hawker centre in Kuala Lumpur

Curry puffs are little deep-fried savory pastries with chicken-and-potato Curries stuffing. These are very popular in Malaysia.
Ais kacang, also called ABC (short for air batu campur, (Malay) for "mixed ice") – shaved ice traditionally flavored with red beans (kacang=bean) but there are other flavors too
Kuih pinjaram – a flour and coconut milk snack
Laksa – spicy Noodles soup, of which many kinds exist. The most common versions are Curries laksa with coconut Curries, asam laksa with sour fish, and Sarawak laksa with chili, omelette, Chicken strips and prawns.
Maggi goreng – instant Noodles cooked with stock of the Maggi brand
Mee goreng are literally "fried noodles." These are typically accompanied by strips of plain omelette, bean sprouts, scallions, shrimps, and Chicken or beef, but most any good ingredient on hand can be used. Various flavors exist, but in general and they are all spicy and tasty.
Nasi goreng – fried Rice, made with similar ingredients to mee goreng, or whatever good ingredients are on hand
Nasi kandar – steamed Rice served with curries
Nasi lemak – Rice cooked in coconut milk with different toppings and side dishes
Pasembur – a seafood salad
Roti canai – flat bread, which is typically accompanied by chicken/potato Curries sauce. Roti telur has more eggs in the batter. Capati (also spelled chapatti) is also made similarly in Malaysia. There is also a sweet flatbread called roti tissue.
Satay – usually Meat (most often, Chicken or beef) that's been roasted over a wood fire and put on a skewer; commonly accompanied by pressed Rice (ketupat) and spicy/sweet peanut sauce. Also popular in Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand.
Teh tarik – this is black tea with milk poured several times to give it a distinct consistency and cool it
Durian pancake – a pancake filled with fresh durian and the signature fruit of Southeast Asia
Hainanese Chicken rice – exactly that, boiled and sliced Chicken served with a ball of Rice and a chili dip. Regarded as one of Singapore’s national dishes.
Ice cream burger – a slice of ice cream wrapped in a large white bread loaf. Be sure to try the version with durian ice cream

Penjual otak-otak menuang sambal kacang - Otak-otak

Cendol – a dessert drink based on coconut milk and jelly Rice noodles, ice and sugar
Otak-otak – a grilled fish cake, served wrapped in a banana leaf
Pisang goreng – (Malay) for "fried bananas": battered, deep-fried bananas
Rojak/rujak – translating to “mixture”, this is a fruit or vegetable salad of which there are countless versions
Sup Kambing – goat soup

Middle East

See also: Middle Eastern cuisine

Shawarma (2223426004) - Shawarma in a pita bread

Falafel – deep-fried seasoned chickpea or fava bean balls, commonly eaten as a sandwiches in a pita, with a variety of sides and sauces.
Hummus – a dip with a very long history, made of chickpeas, sesame, lemon and garlic.
Haleem – a stew of wheat, barley, Meat, lentils and spices, which you can encounter from the Middle East to Bangladesh.
Kibbeh – baked croquettes of ground Meat and bulgur
Murtabak – pancake stuffed with mutton, garlic, egg and onion and served with Curries. It originated on the Arabian Peninsula but is popular in the Muslim world all the way to Indonesia.
Qatayef – usually served during Ramadan and these are sweet dumplings with different fillings from Cheese to raisins and vanilla
Sfiha – the nickname “Arab pizza” is very accurate, it is defined as an open faced Meat pie
Shawarma – Slow-baked seasoned pressed Meat, often Chicken or lamb, which is cut into strips and commonly eaten as a sandwiches including sides, as is the case with falafel.
Ful medames – cooked and mashed fava beans, usually served with vegetables and spices
Kushari – a kind of vegan risotto, popular among the lower classes

South Asia

See also: South Asian cuisine

Aloo Chaat - Aloo Chaat Appam served with Coconut Milk in Tamil Nadu - Appam

Appam/hoppers – pancakes made of fermented Rice batter, eaten in Southern India and Sri Lanka
Biryani – the South Asian risotto, believed to have originated in Hyderabad. As with other dishes in this region and there’s a wide variety in the meats, vegetables and spices used.
Chaat is a catchall term for small savory dishes. Chaat comes in many varieties and regional variations and is sold on the street throughout India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Falooda – a cold beverage made of syrup, Pasta. basil, gelatin and tapioca
Jalebi – deep fried batter “worms” eaten as dessert, a bit similar to the American funnel cake or Finnish tippaleipä
Kachori – flour balls filled with beans and spices eaten as a snack
Kheer – Rice pudding eaten for dessert
Kulfi – ice cream which has not been whipped and is therefore denser
Lassi – a yoghurt-based beverage
Panipuri/phuchka – deep fried filled flour balls

Aloo chaat vendor, Connaught Place, New Delhi - Aloo chaat (potatoes with chutney) vendor in New Delhi

Aloo chaat – deep fried potatoes with aloo chaat spice.
Bhelpuri – puffed Rice topped with sev noodles, masala and chutney. Popular in Mumbai.
Chole bhature – spicy chickpeas and bhature bread
Flatbreads – naan, chapati, paratha and roti are common types of Indian flatbread, which you will encounter at many meals in India as a side or as a wrapper.
Dahipuri – puri bread stuffed with mashed potatoes or chickpeas and served with chutney
Dosa – a fermented pancake of Rice and black lentils, stuffed with different vegetables and served with chutney
Kati roll – today almost anything wrapped in a flatbread can be called a kati roll, however when the dish was invented in Kolkata it was filled with skewered Chicken and mutton meat.
Sevpuri – puri stuffed with diced potatoes and onion and served with chutney. Garnished with sev noodles.
Pakora – deep fried chickpea snacks
Papri chaat – fried flour wafers with boiled potaoes, Yoghurt, chutney and spices, popular in the northern part of the nation.
Pav bhaji – bread rolls with a potato-based curry
Samosa – fried or baked pastries that are filled with a mix of vegetables or some kind of meat. Can be served with chutney or yoghurt. Common fromBangladesh to the Middle East and East Africa.
Vada pav – a kind of Vegetarian Burgers with deep fried potato croquettes and chili

Turkey

File:ŞeyhmusUsta-Adana - Kebab in Adana

Börek – a pastry filled with Cheese, minced Meat or vegetables. It’s popular also on the Balkan, Caucasus and in parts of the Middle East, however böreks there look a little different.
Boza – a thick, fermented beverage
Gözleme – a baked pastry filled with Meat or cheese
Kebab – sliced Meat (beef, Chicken or lamb). It's commonly served with a bread roll, Rice or salad. It is popular both throughout the Middle East and in the Western world. There are many different versions of Kebab.
Kokoretsi – skewered lamb and goat offal served in or on a bread
Köfte – Turkish meatballs
Kumpir – originally from Istanbul, this is a baked potato filled with Cheese or vegetables
Lahmacun – a round bread topped with Meat, sometimes called the “Turkish pizza”
Lokma – dessert syrup doughnuts, which can be fried or deep-fried
Simit – sesame pretzels, also popular in nearby countries

Halal Tourism with Street food

Understand that street food vendors do not necessarily have the same standard of hygiene as sit-down restaurants and cafés. Food that has been handled carelessly can carry bacteria, Hepatitis virus and other things that can Travellers' diarrhoea|upset your stomach. Generally speaking stalls with a high number of clients in a given time are more likely to serve fresh produce and less likely to have the food lying around too long.