Holi snacks from Maunika Gowardhan: chilli cheese toasties and bharwa mirchi

Celebrate Holi, the festival of colours and the arrival of spring, with two indulgent snacks: bharwa mirchi pakode ki chaat and the Bombay chilli cheese toastie. Both rely on the humble potato — the backbone of Indian cooking — and make for addictive, anytime-of-day bites topped with chutney and chaat masala.

The chilli cheese toastie is a Mumbai street-food classic that can be filled in many ways. Keep the potato-to-bread ratio balanced so the sandwich doesn’t overfill, butter both sides of the bread so it fries crisp and golden, and use a really good melting cheese; fry covered for around two minutes on each side until evenly coloured and light brown.

Bharwa mirchi pakode ki chaat takes spiced potato stuffed into small mild chillies, dips them in a batter of chickpea flour, semolina, baking powder and turmeric, then deep-frys until crisp.

India, Mumbai

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