New Delhi, July 31 - Pyrelal Gosar, a street food vendor from Indore in Madhya Pradesh, captures the culinary essence of his state in his wooden cart.

He sells the traditional snacks bhutte ki kachori, aloo peti, saabudaana pakoda and moongiwaali pakoda to more than 500 people everyday. 'I have been selling snacks for the last seven years,' the food vendor told IANS. He serves a combo meal -- two kachoris, one alu peti, two moongdal pakodas and two saabudaana pakodas for Rs.28.

Gosar, along with 20 vendors and 200 cooks from across the country, brought his signature recipes to Delhi at the Street Food Festival-2009 organised by the National Association of Street Vendors at the Lady Hardinge Medical College and Hospital Ground Wednesday evening.

The festival was an effort to consolidate the unorganised street food trade in India. There are an estimated 10 million street vendors in India, of whom nearly 40 percent sell street food. One third of them are women.

Happy, a 20-year-old vendor from Amritsar, exports his crunchy stuffed naan and chhole to Europe and Middle East. A platter costs Rs.15.

'People come from as far as London to try my naan -- which is typical of Amritsar,' Happy told IANS.

'While serving, we crunch the naan in our palms so that it looks crumpled like crushed paper and dab it liberally with butter. That's the way Amritsaris like it.'

Basudev Suneja from Patiala sells his lunch platter of makki ki roti, sarson ka sag, mutton sag and rice for Rs.25.

The platters at the festival included popular delicacies like gol gappa, chaat, samosa and jalebis sold across the country and state-speciality food like dhoklas (Gujarat), vada pao (Mumbai), dal bati (Rajasthan), machhli pakoda (Bihar), Bihari mutton (Bihar), litti chokha (Bihar) and dalma rice (Orissa).