Gits ka kamaal

Look at these monsters...making my mouth water :)

A lazy sunday evening and typical evening hunger prompted me to open a recently brought gits packet of gulab jamun. Skeptical I opened it and dumped the contents in a mixing bowl. in my kitchen everything goes by "andaaz" and not measures (leaving aside 6 guna water for khichdi and some specific measures like idlis which if we do without measures...ho gaya kalyaan)" milk was added and the mix turned runny :( thinking of making bhajia jamun instead of gulab jamun washed my hands.Returning back I saw the change, milk was wonderfully absorbed in the mix making the mixture pliable as clay in hands. I made small "golas" wondering why the packet said that it makes 20 medium sized jamuns. I thought I imagined that they were slowly "phulophying" Aai's lovely homemade ghee sizzled in the kadhai next to the saucepan of sugar syrup or chasni with light yellow transperant color of dear saffron. they puffed more into fistfuls when I started to fry them, i was going to throw fit. turning them into lovely darkish brown color I took them out to immerse them in syrup. the next batch followed with same phulofyed results. to emerse these in syrup made my face into a pleased and shocked frown, the jamuns had fulofied a bit more. that I wondered if third batch would be accomodated.small unassuming "golas" were turning into fistful of sugar drowned monsters. finally done with the frying I added rava in the ghee to make halva (use of good ghee :)) my heart did sommersaults of happiness as I saw my first attempt to cook good was nice. I sneaked two of the mouth melting jamuns and they left me asking for more. it was only after exercising a lot of self control, I told my better (?) half to click them before they were gorged by him, an avid jamun fan.This surely gave me more enthusiasm to try out new things, maybe dhokla next time...what say???

31st pe twist J

Now our common friend and I were deciding on something simple yet nice outing on 31st. My better (?) half wanted to visit some never tried restaurant. But after a bit hefty “kharcha” for our goa trip none of the two of us (our common friend and I) were keen in re spending and then working our backs off for the wallet to fill again. So we decided after I cam from office. I loved my friend for being stubborn for a change in front of my better (?) half. And off we headed to railway station to join them. Out common friend and his wife. We started gorging from that time itself on peanuts and some cold samosas. I discovered a very nice pav bhaji outlet at thane east from my friend and decided to visit there once. The train came and we got in. we took a cab from VT (CST for you) to churchgate and after long discussion dined at “Kamling” an OK restaurant with bearable Chinese cuisine. The soup (hot and sour) lacked salt and zing and sizzler (momos) was oily unfortunately. The rice had burnt taste.and vegetable raw and tasteless. What was the only saving grace was schezwan noodles. Thin noodles with enough spice without being spicy. After paying the hefy bill for a mediocre meal we headed to marine drive or queens necklace. We had scoops at baskins in between which was real yummy. We scrolled at the unusually crowded place and finally found palce to sit.at the strike of 12 however everything changed. For good 10 minutes there were fireworks that lightned our awe struck faces and brightened our new year. We scrolled for some time before we realized…the time of last train…we scurried like crazy mice bundled in the taxi. But train had left 2 minutes before we reached VT. We waited for bus but no luck…finally we took a reasonably prized cab freezing in the coolness of night air we dozed off for some time. No regrets we had started new year with a bang J and something new. This is what I wanted…something new definitely.

A trip to goa on paper before a shift delete from the mind.

A few joint holidays a couple of friends joining at destination and we headed to goa. My better half had never seen it in life and I have millions of pictures of it. A native to goa my palette is goan too except fish eating…dunno why coming from family of cats…that is those people who eat any kind of fish…hehe…with taste ofcourse…I have often been amazed the way my dad (or dada as I call him) ate deftly the nastiest of fishes one with most thorns and most tasty it seems and cleaned the plate and the fish carcass like it was never used…a characteristic which I picked up and for which at times I was mocked J jokes apart…
So we went to goa. The moment we were out of train my better (?) half started clicking like some mindless Japanese J empty stomach and need to be at destination ASAP I was starting to loose my fickle temper J. Now to give him real taste we went to mhapsa/ mapuca (as Portuguese would call) by bus J a rickety feeling but definitely at home. And later after a reasonable fare of rickshaw we reached calangut beach where our common friend greeted us with a broad simplest smile. After exchanging pleasantries with him and his wife…we freshened up…and went for some water sports…I didn’t know that the beach was so close to where we stayed it was definitely a blessing J the beach was full of shacks, places where you could just chill with a bottle of kingfisher under cool shade. So we sat on beach and our fiend a water sport enthusiast decided to go for such sports. His wife and I were skeptical but in the end he won. We had a water scooter ride (strictly avoidable and just too short), a dolphin seeing ride where we saw almost inexistent dolphins that is only their tail and a lovely bumper ride…the one in which the float in which you sat was pull in a high speed by a motor boat…it pulls the float in all directions and as float moves your heart misses beats …this ride actually took my breath away…and of course my heart away too. Truly fantastic. Now the guys wanted to have something cool…you read it right. We headed to the shack and guys had some of that kingfisher…while we filled our stomachs with sizzlers. later we went to bathe in water and my better (?) half got him self drowned in sand by us…all this activity made us real exhausted and we slept like logs not awakened even by sounds of our friend’s friend approaching to join us on our remaining trip. We got up when even evening left us…still drowsy and all five of us headed for a lovely dinner at a marvelous place called “Brittos” I never expected the rotis which is typical north Indian stuff would be made so well here that even after being cold could be eaten and not masticated J. After this we headed so see some of the night life. Culture shocks awaited for us and for some one who doesnot enjoy much of the nightlife…it was OK…we came back and just slept.
The next day morning went in just convincing the other folks to visit the sea…both the ladies then decided that for the remaining days we will go on our own. We got ready and our friend hired a nice car from a friend of his. We started off by going to book tickets for the cruise and then went to one of temples ( mageshi) where we had our lunch/ evening snacks like missal pav (simply scrumptious on long empty stomachs) and nariyal pani and some chips. We then visited an old church (St. Xavier’s church) where we saw lovely gothic carvings and ofcourse a mummified saint on whose name the churche was built. This church was in panji /panjim and truly a delight for architects and structural engineers. Time for the cruiz was yet to come so we headed of to one of the hills…courtesy to our real adventurous friend…where we got lovely glimpse of sea sea and sea. We pick nicked on chips one packet between five of us…and after sun baked us we headed downwards. We went to a small reconstructed temple and after a change of clothes headed to not that famous Miramar beach where we had sev puri, dahi puri and bhel (not that good) and later cotton candy seeing the sun set. We then went to have some tea and later gujrati thali…and off we went to the cruise. The experience was good…moving with a boat on Mandovi River but the entertainment seriously needed a makeover J exhausted to the gills we went to our room while our friends had their boys night out.
The next day my friend and I stealthily left the room to have a look at wonderful and peaceful beach early in the morning. Our better halves gave us a scare when after some time they joined us with a bang. We came back and after breakfasting a bit headed to Chapora or dil chahta hai fort…a lovely fort where all the three sides overlooked the sea. We saw a small hillock and decided to go the end…Now below the hillock was anjuna beach and my dearest beer sloshed friends wanted to get down by climbing the hillock. My heart skipped a beat and another and another and slowly we got down…yikes but truly a unique and good experience. We went to one of these shacks where we raided the piping hot rice, fresh chapattis, some vegetable and fried fish. Stuffed like toys we relaxed. Now we had parked the car near the fort and we had got down from some weird adventurous end. And so we walked and walked and walked to our car, but even this was a lovely experience with lush dense greenery at both the ends of narrow roads…we headed to one of sidish pubs then…built on hilltop in open space the music was good and psychedelic in nature. After spending some time with mosquitoes we headed back. We had our last dinner at brittos and a scoop at Baskin robins and headed home. The night in goa thus passed. The next day took us much earlier on the beach but manager’s call on the cell brought me out of idyllic bliss. We breakfasted on parathas, club s/w and chais after which we completed remaining sports then, banana ride (nasty…especially when you don’t know swimming), and the bumper ride but the cherry on the cake was paragliding which I did with my better half (?)…and to quote in his words absolutely mind-blowing.
Exhausted and in hurry to catch the afternoon train we headed to the room getting ready soon. At the station we had lunch of samosas and chips with some chai again, and we got into the train to get back to the reality leaving back our hearts and carefree life of whatever we spent in Goa.

Mera "Salat"

All the ingredients were available. But the germ didn’t get converted in the idea yet. I didn’t want to eat something that my better half (?) was going to have. And suddenly I had it in my head seeing packet of golden sweet corn just out of reliance fresh sitting in my chill tray giving a cool golden smile. A juicy apple and huge strawberry half in my stomach came next. Grapes nicely chopped, corn boiled, a bit shriveled cucumber and tomato followed the example a bit of onion and coriander leaves to give a nice fresh taste. A bit of palak boiled for alu palak got sort of chopped. Boiled water started to cook remainants of rice vermicelli from the packet. Kernels of jardaloos earlier gorged on gave the crunch in form of tiny tasty nuts. Britannia cheese single bits enhanced the richness. A bit of groundnut powder freshly made earlier day and a bit of toasted “tils”. I missed olives truly L. I was wondering how to bind them together in form of dressing. A hint of ginger garlic paste, oregano, chilly flakes and cheesy dip from Friday’s pizza order, yogurt to moisten this dressing and to give the pungency there was horseradish which my better (?) hald had got on my insistence on way from USA. A nice beaten mixture. Mixed nicely in the salad I was going to have the first spoonful when I thought…a flickr pls J and so my better (?) half charged the batteries and even volunteered to click the pic.
And after all this when I had my first bite…it was like wow…absolutely heaven. One of the reasons being that I am salad freak and another salad freaked me out JJ
Though I should have put some boiled cabbage, mayonnaise, grated carrots boiled mashed potato, boiled broccoli florets, or cauliflower florets, chopped capsicum ,red, yellow, maroon and pink (last two real lapet) peppers mint etc etc…but quiet simply I didn’t have it at home…hehehahaha…
Moral of the story put whatever u have at home a bit sanely and u will have a nice salad at hand and with some soup from the packet and toast cheese (I love the stuff) or otherwise…and u have a lovely meal for urself…that too in jiffy JJJ

I seem to be getting interested in clicking and posting :) dekhte hai :) surely visual appeal will give more appeal to my otherwise blahblah affair

In memoriam of southie pet pooja

I have always liked and tasted whatever came in my way as food. Disciplined by my father from a young age…I ate and took in my plate only as much as I could eat and cleaned the plate. My appetite is less but my search for good and tasty food is enormous. When my stomach growls my brain pays attention and actually thinks…”what should I eat”…
There was a time that all I had was a decent pocket money…one that I liberally spent on books and music…it used to be my annual spree to rhythm house at kala ghoda…to buy the choicest cassettes (this mode of music is almost defunct now…n I am left with many cassettes and no player). With books…well I searched through second hand shops of matunga (where my college was there) joined British council and Xeroxed some of them…or college library….this habit still continues…and I buy only those books which I will read more than once or twice…hence all the sheldons and kings don’t find their way in my collection. But in the list of borrowings J
This is how I am…I am talking about food and look where I actually ended up being. Now with most of the money in music and books…it left me enough to frequent taj J hence I frequented lots of Tajs along the roads…one which specialized in Chinese food, Indian burgers (read vada pav) which came in ¼ of price of their videshi cousins J one such food that I preferred to have any where, something hot and fulfilling was idli, vadas and dosa. Usually it would be dosa…plan sada dosa…minus the butter and at least second helping of chutney. Idlis and vadas came close second. When I was stuck with choice it would be idli-vada (as usual…Libran indecisiveness)…depending on my moods and fancies I would have it either submerged in Sāmbhar or Sāmbhar shepret (seperate)J..I have had these at numerous places…ranging from meager 5 rs. a plate (no Sāmbhar only chatni…dal was costly even then) to 30-40 rs a plate.
My first taste of dosa was at two places one of them was café shringar at Andheri, walkable distance from home…where aai and dada took us sometimes over the weekend and where I had my first taste of HUGE sada dosa J. Which as my sister recollects…I ate slowly (age factor…I was 4-5 years old at that time) but relished every bite and finished the dosa to the last crumb. Another was at one of the few (at that time) shopping centers. From street standards it was good. A bit limp…but the chatnis served by them were never tasted by me anywhere else. They were truly good. later a stall opened at the neck of our lane…where I rarely had their limp hot dosas…only in case where stomach was going under coma…just to sustain it.
The vadas were always crispy and so were idlis...always fresh. This result was definitely replicated at Radhakrishna at Andheri shoppers stop and at Ramkrishna vileparle west…who served sublime idlis and just out of the world vadas
Though dadar boasted of sabudana and batata vadas it never catered to idli dosa…so didn’t share many memories here
The dosa outside alliance francaise de Bombay, marine lines was lovely…I guess mainly because I used to almost always be very famished, out of library and lunch would still be a 2 hour travel home…hot, crisp (the best thing I love about dosa) and fresh… vadas…(cold…yikes) and idlis (rubbery…for steaming too long) were strictly out of question.
The dosa at mani’s (matunga central) I got to taste only after I met an ex ruia college colleague and a lovely friend who accompanied me for giving me the taste…the dosa was as lovely as it was when my mom had it when she was at Ruia college…sambhar had a real homely taste. Idlis were usual rava and vadas definitely tasty since they were out of stock J
Sustainable dosa I also found at thane near teen haath naka where I either gorged on sada dosa or mysore masala dosa…a bit limp but definitely better than searching home for something palaptable to eat.
On the contrary I found lovely crisp sada dosa at woodland retreat…a restaurant we frequent whenever we are hungry and don’t feel like cooking at home. They have that sambhar that I have rarely tasted elsewhere. Not that loaded with veggies but oh so fragrant with freshly ground masalas and chopped onions…wow…I could drink it or just have it with steaming hot rice and papad…a meal is done.. Idlis are always tasty here and they serve mini vadas ,the tini morsels of delight
What I loved the best however were small idlis and chatini that my friend and I gorged on our way home in the morning from library…studying famished us…and idli chatni @5 was all we could ask for…we either had them at the stalls having freshly stamed idlis and crisp fried vadas..but that was rare…we usually had them on the road…with hard paper serving as plates…we would usually meet them in the morning…dark-skinned south Indian fellows with “maunvrat” who would say nothing beyond how much we owed them. Carrying their wares on the cycle and having that typical sounding horn “pom- pom” surely evoking hunger in millions others wishing to have fresh idlis for breakfast at their doorstepJ