What's the best way to spend Rupees 48? What's the worth of 48 Rupees?
Well, I can't buy a New York Times with that money today. But sometime back, during our college days (yeah right... those days!) it could buy us everything. Everything we wanted, that is!
Imagine this. You hop on a Maharashtra State Transport Bus, the awesome red colored monster with Dolby stereo sound effects under your seat, pay a grand total of 2 Indian Rupees to the dead-stone-faced conductor who was least interested in anything life has to offer. You get down at the college town's "downtown", and head straight towards a shady Bar & Restaurant called Golden; and there's nothing 'golden' about it. You order a Hayward's 2000 and Masala Baigan plate with Tandoori Roti; trying to see the face of the waiter through the fog of cigarette smoke and then you ignite that ultimate Cigarette man ever made - Gold Flake. What a killer combination!
Masala Baigan, Haywards2000 and Gold Flake. Try to top that, and you get a free ticket to Vegas.
I have to tell you this. There's no cigarette like Gold Flake. None. It's the epitome of cigarette-ness; if there ever was. It's ITC's gift to mankind.
And then add to that, the absolutely shoddy and cheap beer called Hayward 2000 and you are "Golden".
So if I have to paraphrase this whole thing...
Bus ride to city square and back - 4 Rupees.
One Hayward 2000 - 32 Rupees
One Baigan Masala plate - 8 Rupees
Tandoori Rotis - 4 Rupees
The memory of all this; a decade too late : Priceless
What can I say; visiting Jannat cost us just 48 Indian rupees. End to End.
[P.S: I quit smoking few years back.]
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Zhunka Bhakar
Every region of the country boasts of one or two of its specialties as far as food is concerned. Chennai has its dosai and idli, Kolkatta has its rosogollas, Delhi has it's dahi bhalla and what not, Punjab of course has glamorized Sarso-ka-Saag and Makke-di-roti umpteen times via bollywood, Bombay has it's chaat thing going for it, Pune has it's wada pav, Indore has it's farsan, Hyderabad has its biryani, Kashmir has it's pulav, Gujarat has it's dhokla and basically an array of items which other regions have adopted, Rajasthan has daal bati...
The list is endless.
Nagpur has nothing. Well nothing, unless you have heard of Savji Chicken or Zhunka Bhakar. Now here's the thing though. Zhunka Bhakar can be claimed by all of Maharashtra. But i am going to argue it's very Nagpuri. The very "personality" of Zhunka Bhakar is Nagpuri. Now howz that?
Before we go further lets first establish something. A food dish is usually associated with the availability of resources around the region. So Punjab has sarso because it can grow sarso. Bombay became chaat heaven because it has been a very fast city since eons and the notion of chaat suited Mumbai's fast character. The food habit is built around the regions needs,convenience and resources.
Now, the region around Nagpur is suited for a few things including Jowar (or as they call in Marathi - jwaari). It also had chick peas (or besan) going for it. The region bordering Maharashtra and Andra Pradesh produces the chilliest of red chillies. And Nagpur happens to be close to that border. So the third and in my opinion the most important ancillary of Zhunka Bhakar, the "Thecha" also finds its way in here. In fact without thecha, Zhunka Bhakar would loose its most important ingredient( and also motivation for me to eat, personally).
The name Zhunka and Bhakar sound very Vidharbiya. You have strange names in this part of the world. And when someone calls something "zhunka", it's an open and shut case. It has to be from Nagpur area :)
So far so good. Now it's not something i should brag about though without applying a positive spin to the dish. For starters it's not "visible" on the Indian food radar. 99% people won't even know it exists. Yet for me its special. Leaving aside the nostalgia and memories it brings, i happen to love it immensely.
There are 4 things needed to build it. Red/Green chili, Besan (chick peas flour), Jwari and Onion. Thats all. If you have these four, you are good to go.
Now comes the tough part. The preparation. Actually it is not tough at all. And this is my wife's opinion who did not know much about this dish before marriage. She comes from a different eating culture. In fact before marriage, me and my wife belonged to two different planets as far as food habit was concerned. There was no overlap in our eating habits. Our culinary planes were skewed.
And if she says it's easy, than it is. Now here's the thing; although it is easy it needs dedication and fine skills in preparation. Meaning, a small amount of attention to detail can change the taste and aroma drastically. This notion can be argued for all dishes in the world, i guess.
Zhunka Bhakar is this region's fast food. Yet, it needs some amount of culinary skills to get it right. The right texture and softness is important. The color (for me) is very very important. I like a little reddish tinge to this yellow dish. And the Bhakar has to come out exactly right. Else it spoils the deal. It has to have those small tandoor like black puffed circles on the surface while still retaining it's greyish color. It should be "burnt" only so much so as not to loose it's essence of being a circular bread complementing the delicious Zhunka.
Now I am going to also argue that Thetcha happens to be one of the most important ingredient of this dish. If not the most. It completes the dish. Imagine this. You go to a village in Yeotmal district. You park your car at a road side hut. The female of the hut is baking circular Bhakars on a mud stove, while simultaneously blowing the fire of stove with a small wooden pipe. Parallely the cut onion Zhunka is being cooked on the side which is steaming and yellow in color.
As you start eating on the road side cot, Bhakars are being prepared at run-time and served. What would be the only thing missing? Thetcha. In few cases curd. The perfect antidote for Thetcha.
Wouldn't you be green with envy if i tell, i have experienced this version of Zhunka Bhakar at some point?
The list is endless.
Nagpur has nothing. Well nothing, unless you have heard of Savji Chicken or Zhunka Bhakar. Now here's the thing though. Zhunka Bhakar can be claimed by all of Maharashtra. But i am going to argue it's very Nagpuri. The very "personality" of Zhunka Bhakar is Nagpuri. Now howz that?
Before we go further lets first establish something. A food dish is usually associated with the availability of resources around the region. So Punjab has sarso because it can grow sarso. Bombay became chaat heaven because it has been a very fast city since eons and the notion of chaat suited Mumbai's fast character. The food habit is built around the regions needs,convenience and resources.
Now, the region around Nagpur is suited for a few things including Jowar (or as they call in Marathi - jwaari). It also had chick peas (or besan) going for it. The region bordering Maharashtra and Andra Pradesh produces the chilliest of red chillies. And Nagpur happens to be close to that border. So the third and in my opinion the most important ancillary of Zhunka Bhakar, the "Thecha" also finds its way in here. In fact without thecha, Zhunka Bhakar would loose its most important ingredient( and also motivation for me to eat, personally).
The name Zhunka and Bhakar sound very Vidharbiya. You have strange names in this part of the world. And when someone calls something "zhunka", it's an open and shut case. It has to be from Nagpur area :)
So far so good. Now it's not something i should brag about though without applying a positive spin to the dish. For starters it's not "visible" on the Indian food radar. 99% people won't even know it exists. Yet for me its special. Leaving aside the nostalgia and memories it brings, i happen to love it immensely.
There are 4 things needed to build it. Red/Green chili, Besan (chick peas flour), Jwari and Onion. Thats all. If you have these four, you are good to go.
Now comes the tough part. The preparation. Actually it is not tough at all. And this is my wife's opinion who did not know much about this dish before marriage. She comes from a different eating culture. In fact before marriage, me and my wife belonged to two different planets as far as food habit was concerned. There was no overlap in our eating habits. Our culinary planes were skewed.
And if she says it's easy, than it is. Now here's the thing; although it is easy it needs dedication and fine skills in preparation. Meaning, a small amount of attention to detail can change the taste and aroma drastically. This notion can be argued for all dishes in the world, i guess.
Zhunka Bhakar is this region's fast food. Yet, it needs some amount of culinary skills to get it right. The right texture and softness is important. The color (for me) is very very important. I like a little reddish tinge to this yellow dish. And the Bhakar has to come out exactly right. Else it spoils the deal. It has to have those small tandoor like black puffed circles on the surface while still retaining it's greyish color. It should be "burnt" only so much so as not to loose it's essence of being a circular bread complementing the delicious Zhunka.
Now I am going to also argue that Thetcha happens to be one of the most important ingredient of this dish. If not the most. It completes the dish. Imagine this. You go to a village in Yeotmal district. You park your car at a road side hut. The female of the hut is baking circular Bhakars on a mud stove, while simultaneously blowing the fire of stove with a small wooden pipe. Parallely the cut onion Zhunka is being cooked on the side which is steaming and yellow in color.
As you start eating on the road side cot, Bhakars are being prepared at run-time and served. What would be the only thing missing? Thetcha. In few cases curd. The perfect antidote for Thetcha.
Wouldn't you be green with envy if i tell, i have experienced this version of Zhunka Bhakar at some point?
Friday, January 18, 2008
Food to die for
I think "Vaanga" [Egg Plant or Brinjal] is under rated. If prepared properly a "Masala Vaangi" can beat any other dish. This fact i discovered a few years back at a lunch at my friend's place. His mom had prepared delicious "Vaangi Curry". It was simmering hot curry with Brinjals neatly cut, horizontally floating and dipped inside the curry. It was brownish green in color and if i had a vote on this - it was the best Egg Plant dish i ever had. I mean EVER in bold and caps.
Accompanying the curry were feather weight phulkas all puffed up with white loni (home made butter) dripping through it's center. Can you top that? Buttered Phulkas with Vangi Curry and thats it.
That lunch still lingers on.I would be honest. Till that point of time in my life, i treated Brinjal with derision. Almost with contempt. That was the day this purple vegetable worked itself up my taste pallet ladder.
There's this thing about food. The taste has to match the mood. It is almost like music. Sometimes you want to listen to "Blues" while sometimes even hard Rock is good. Sometimes you may even want a Shiv Kumar Sharma. What the heck - lets just say food is like music.
This was some years ago. It was a wintry morning. We were driving overnight, back after attending a wedding in Bangalore. We were 7 or 8 of us, all college friends. We had rented a Tata Sumo. It must have been around 5:30ish in the morning when the driver thought of taking a break. He parked at a road side Dhaba and the Dhabawala was just about opening his shop. Every one was sleepy and sluggish. But we were hungry too. So we thought of getting down and have some tea and stop ahead for a proper breakfast later. The driver though had other plans. He asked the Dhabawala to make something for him. The Dhabawala told him he was about to make some parathas if he was interested. Some of us then jumped in and told him they won't mind trying out too.
Before we knew, all of us had gulped our way to more than 30 parathas. The parathas kept coming and we kept eating. It was kick-ass. It was delicious. It was the paratha of the century if i have to take liberty with exaggeration. It was out of the world. Also it wasn't small in size or anything. The size was alright. Not too thick , not too thin. But perfect. Just perfect.
All we had with that paratha was a small side dip of spiced up curd.Hot circles with a side curd. We just wouldn't stop eating.So 5:30 in the morning we were hogging like animals. It was an amazing experience.
This proves another thing. May be you like food you did not expect to be that good. As in, we were just done about rubbing our sleepy eyes and were preparing to have a bit of taste of the paratha and leave. But it was so unexpectedly delicious, it just took us off on a runway. That we had repercussions of over-eating later is a different issue. [Hogging can ring a different meaning in Hindi though!]
Those parathas were made by a Sardarji who did not care too much for them. He was making it as a routine. I wonder if he knew he had this talent? Was he aware they were so damn delicious?
So what is that one dish, that one meal that you would just die for? I think i may have a few on my list. So let me start here..
- Savji or Saoji Chicken
My wife has one such dish up her sleeve. Savji Chicken. We only recently discovered the recipe through a friend. And ever since, she has made it a few times. Thats the thing though, about these "to-die-for" dishes. They should be tried only in less frequency as you might end up disliking the dish altogether. This happened to me for a couple of dishes. For example Butter Chicken and Paneer Butter Masala. I don't think I have had these two in last 7 years. I over ate them at some point in my life. So we make it a point to have Savji Chicken only once in few months to maintain it's aura.
But the day we have it, we drool. We are all over it. With spring and regular onions nicely cut and placed just by the side, Savji Chicken can kick some serious butts. The multi-layered, extremely dark and red in color curry, the more than average oily dish can also cause trouble next day if the spice level is not calibrated. But for that extreme spice level, Savji Chicken is right up there on the list.
- Bombay Pav Bhaji.
Yes, and please have "Bombay" Pav Bhaji in Bombay only. Don't try it in Pune. It doesn't stick. Get down at any suburban local train station in Bombay. You would find a couple of fast food stalls right outside the station with crowd all round it. If you don't find such a stall, you are probably not in Bombay. Find your way through the crowd and grab that awesome plate. The plate with thick bhaaji almost overflowing the metal and with very finely cut onion with a small piece of cut lemon right at the center. This can give any other dish on this earth a run for its money. But more importantly the Bombay Pav Bhaaji's crowning glory is the Butter soaked Pav. The slightly yellowish tinged small puffed and very soft pav. You should surprise yourself if you don't order "extra pav"
- Pudachi Vadi and Puran Poli made by my Mom.
These two are the quintessential festival food dishes. Un paralleled in taste. They both are extremely calorie-rich and can disturb the balance of the diet-time-table. It's hard to have them in reasonable quantities. While melted ghee placed between the puran poli only adds to it's irresistibility; the perfectly developed crust around the kothimbir in Pudachi Vadi adds to the perfect combination of ingredients.
There's this thing about Pudachi Vadi. It grows taste as it grows old. An already irresistible Pudachi Vadi becomes almost compelling after a day or two. Imagine yourself in front of the Television watching an India-Aussie match and your mom gets a plate of Pudachi Vadi with a little sauce on the side. I can only top it up with a bottle of beer.
- Pizza
You would think that the best Pizza you ever had was in Papa Jones,Domino's or De Generos. Or the Chicago style stuffed Pizza or the California one. Or you would think Italy, the birth place of Pizza, would have you the best Pizza.
Think again! What if this Pizza is Indianized? Green Chilli, Heavy Tomato suace, filled with toppings in a smaller circle.
Total Ghaati. If you are up for it, try going to Mathura Restuarant on Jangli Maharaj Road in Pune. It serves the world's best Ghati Pizza. And as far as i am concerned, the best Pizza.
- Kristoffer's Cake
I am not so much into sweets. I don't find them appealing and wouldn't go all the way for deserts or cakes. But there's this one small little shop in the "Little Italy" town of Chicago. It's called Kristoffer's cake. If you ever happen to visit Chicago and miss going to Sears Tower, don't worry; you haven't missed much. But make sure you taste a cake at this place. It's beyond cake. It's beyond yummy. It is beyond words.It's Niravana
Last week on my suggestion someone in my team got it for our team meeting. That was the first time ever in our meetings that the cake got over. And it got over within no time. We did not have to place it in the cafeteria and send email to people saying , "there's a cake left over in the cafe so please help your self". The cake was not there. It just vanished.
There are so many dishes that i want to go on and on with the list. But to make it real quick here's an ancillary list of dishes i would just crave for at any point of time.
The ancillary list
- Mom's home made pani puri
- Mon's home made cut mango pickle
- Road side Sandwich in Bombay
- Sukha Bhel made by my Wife
- Wada Pav in Pune
- Aloo Bhonda at Keshav's Nagpur
- Samosa anywhere in Nagpur
- Dahi Samosa at Aaswad, Nagpur
- Zhunka Bhakar and Thecha at my ancestor's village in Yeotmal district
- Masale Bhaat and tup made by my paternal aunt
- Ghugras made at my maternal grandmother's place
- Dal Fry and Steam Rice made by my wife
- Sev Batata Puri at Anushaktinagar Colony in Mumbai
Some of the food outlets i thought were Superb
- Shravan - [pure vegetarian] in Pune
- Mathura - again in Pune
- Mahesh Lunch Home, again in Pune
- Sanjha Chula - Nagpur
- Barbeque - Nagpur
- Ashoka - Nagpur
- Any Shiv Sagar, Sukh Sagar in Mumbai
- Buffalo Wild Wings, Bloomington, IL
And lastly -
Best Soup i ever had - "Mulligatawny Soup" Taj Savoy, Ooty
Best Chicken Dish i ever had - "Shahi Kabab", Taj Ernakulam, Cochin.
Accompanying the curry were feather weight phulkas all puffed up with white loni (home made butter) dripping through it's center. Can you top that? Buttered Phulkas with Vangi Curry and thats it.
That lunch still lingers on.I would be honest. Till that point of time in my life, i treated Brinjal with derision. Almost with contempt. That was the day this purple vegetable worked itself up my taste pallet ladder.
There's this thing about food. The taste has to match the mood. It is almost like music. Sometimes you want to listen to "Blues" while sometimes even hard Rock is good. Sometimes you may even want a Shiv Kumar Sharma. What the heck - lets just say food is like music.
This was some years ago. It was a wintry morning. We were driving overnight, back after attending a wedding in Bangalore. We were 7 or 8 of us, all college friends. We had rented a Tata Sumo. It must have been around 5:30ish in the morning when the driver thought of taking a break. He parked at a road side Dhaba and the Dhabawala was just about opening his shop. Every one was sleepy and sluggish. But we were hungry too. So we thought of getting down and have some tea and stop ahead for a proper breakfast later. The driver though had other plans. He asked the Dhabawala to make something for him. The Dhabawala told him he was about to make some parathas if he was interested. Some of us then jumped in and told him they won't mind trying out too.
Before we knew, all of us had gulped our way to more than 30 parathas. The parathas kept coming and we kept eating. It was kick-ass. It was delicious. It was the paratha of the century if i have to take liberty with exaggeration. It was out of the world. Also it wasn't small in size or anything. The size was alright. Not too thick , not too thin. But perfect. Just perfect.
All we had with that paratha was a small side dip of spiced up curd.Hot circles with a side curd. We just wouldn't stop eating.So 5:30 in the morning we were hogging like animals. It was an amazing experience.
This proves another thing. May be you like food you did not expect to be that good. As in, we were just done about rubbing our sleepy eyes and were preparing to have a bit of taste of the paratha and leave. But it was so unexpectedly delicious, it just took us off on a runway. That we had repercussions of over-eating later is a different issue. [Hogging can ring a different meaning in Hindi though!]
Those parathas were made by a Sardarji who did not care too much for them. He was making it as a routine. I wonder if he knew he had this talent? Was he aware they were so damn delicious?
So what is that one dish, that one meal that you would just die for? I think i may have a few on my list. So let me start here..
- Savji or Saoji Chicken
My wife has one such dish up her sleeve. Savji Chicken. We only recently discovered the recipe through a friend. And ever since, she has made it a few times. Thats the thing though, about these "to-die-for" dishes. They should be tried only in less frequency as you might end up disliking the dish altogether. This happened to me for a couple of dishes. For example Butter Chicken and Paneer Butter Masala. I don't think I have had these two in last 7 years. I over ate them at some point in my life. So we make it a point to have Savji Chicken only once in few months to maintain it's aura.
But the day we have it, we drool. We are all over it. With spring and regular onions nicely cut and placed just by the side, Savji Chicken can kick some serious butts. The multi-layered, extremely dark and red in color curry, the more than average oily dish can also cause trouble next day if the spice level is not calibrated. But for that extreme spice level, Savji Chicken is right up there on the list.
- Bombay Pav Bhaji.
Yes, and please have "Bombay" Pav Bhaji in Bombay only. Don't try it in Pune. It doesn't stick. Get down at any suburban local train station in Bombay. You would find a couple of fast food stalls right outside the station with crowd all round it. If you don't find such a stall, you are probably not in Bombay. Find your way through the crowd and grab that awesome plate. The plate with thick bhaaji almost overflowing the metal and with very finely cut onion with a small piece of cut lemon right at the center. This can give any other dish on this earth a run for its money. But more importantly the Bombay Pav Bhaaji's crowning glory is the Butter soaked Pav. The slightly yellowish tinged small puffed and very soft pav. You should surprise yourself if you don't order "extra pav"
- Pudachi Vadi and Puran Poli made by my Mom.
These two are the quintessential festival food dishes. Un paralleled in taste. They both are extremely calorie-rich and can disturb the balance of the diet-time-table. It's hard to have them in reasonable quantities. While melted ghee placed between the puran poli only adds to it's irresistibility; the perfectly developed crust around the kothimbir in Pudachi Vadi adds to the perfect combination of ingredients.
There's this thing about Pudachi Vadi. It grows taste as it grows old. An already irresistible Pudachi Vadi becomes almost compelling after a day or two. Imagine yourself in front of the Television watching an India-Aussie match and your mom gets a plate of Pudachi Vadi with a little sauce on the side. I can only top it up with a bottle of beer.
- Pizza
You would think that the best Pizza you ever had was in Papa Jones,Domino's or De Generos. Or the Chicago style stuffed Pizza or the California one. Or you would think Italy, the birth place of Pizza, would have you the best Pizza.
Think again! What if this Pizza is Indianized? Green Chilli, Heavy Tomato suace, filled with toppings in a smaller circle.
Total Ghaati. If you are up for it, try going to Mathura Restuarant on Jangli Maharaj Road in Pune. It serves the world's best Ghati Pizza. And as far as i am concerned, the best Pizza.
- Kristoffer's Cake
I am not so much into sweets. I don't find them appealing and wouldn't go all the way for deserts or cakes. But there's this one small little shop in the "Little Italy" town of Chicago. It's called Kristoffer's cake. If you ever happen to visit Chicago and miss going to Sears Tower, don't worry; you haven't missed much. But make sure you taste a cake at this place. It's beyond cake. It's beyond yummy. It is beyond words.It's Niravana
Last week on my suggestion someone in my team got it for our team meeting. That was the first time ever in our meetings that the cake got over. And it got over within no time. We did not have to place it in the cafeteria and send email to people saying , "there's a cake left over in the cafe so please help your self". The cake was not there. It just vanished.
There are so many dishes that i want to go on and on with the list. But to make it real quick here's an ancillary list of dishes i would just crave for at any point of time.
The ancillary list
- Mom's home made pani puri
- Mon's home made cut mango pickle
- Road side Sandwich in Bombay
- Sukha Bhel made by my Wife
- Wada Pav in Pune
- Aloo Bhonda at Keshav's Nagpur
- Samosa anywhere in Nagpur
- Dahi Samosa at Aaswad, Nagpur
- Zhunka Bhakar and Thecha at my ancestor's village in Yeotmal district
- Masale Bhaat and tup made by my paternal aunt
- Ghugras made at my maternal grandmother's place
- Dal Fry and Steam Rice made by my wife
- Sev Batata Puri at Anushaktinagar Colony in Mumbai
Some of the food outlets i thought were Superb
- Shravan - [pure vegetarian] in Pune
- Mathura - again in Pune
- Mahesh Lunch Home, again in Pune
- Sanjha Chula - Nagpur
- Barbeque - Nagpur
- Ashoka - Nagpur
- Any Shiv Sagar, Sukh Sagar in Mumbai
- Buffalo Wild Wings, Bloomington, IL
And lastly -
Best Soup i ever had - "Mulligatawny Soup" Taj Savoy, Ooty
Best Chicken Dish i ever had - "Shahi Kabab", Taj Ernakulam, Cochin.
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