Indian Snack · Ramadan Favourite
Chilli Bites (Bhajia)
Photo: Damien Ramon Naidoo / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
The same fritter carries three different names in South Africa depending on who's selling it — chilli bites in English, dhaltjies in Cape Malay, bhajia in the Indian community — all describing essentially the same snack.
Small, spiced fritters made from chickpea-flour batter mixed with grated potato, onion, chilli and coriander, deep-fried until crisp outside and soft within. Vendors sell them by the paper-bag scoop, often alongside chilli sauce or a mint-yoghurt raita.
Why it's made this way: Brought by Indian indentured labourers, chilli bites became a fixture of Ramadan iftar tables and everyday hawker stalls throughout Durban's Indian community.
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Part of World of Street Food — 3248 dishes from 118 countries.
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