Bombay Pav Bhaji

There are a few food items that are synonymous with Mumbai nee Bombay and one of them is the Pav Bhaji. Juhu beach is thought to have the best Pav Bhaji in Mumbai. But there are some restaurants in Mumbai that make awesome Pav Bhaji too and each has a fan following of its own. The aroma wafting from the huge tawa where the guy mashes in the vegetables and a unique mixture of spices (that's what defines the unique Pav Bhaji taste) with some coriander leaves thrown in, is enough to entice anyone to have a plate of pav bhaji. On one side of the same tawa, soft pav is quickly toasted with Amul butter and this is slid on to a plate with some bhaji topped with butter, coriander leaves and chopped onion. Plates and plates of Pav Bhaji are thus taken to the hordes of people waiting for it. Some of the famous Pav Bhaji restaurants that I have visited or heard of in Mumbai are Cannon Pav Bhaji - opposite the CST station, Sardar Pav Bhaji - Tardeo, Amar Juice Center - Haji Ali, Shiv Sagar - Parle (E) & Juhu & Gurukripa - Sion.

Pav Bhaji is one of the things I miss here in Delhi, in fact I believe Delhi has not yet got the pav right. So each time, my husband or I visit Mumbai, we return with a dozen pav and the next day is a Pav Bhaji day at home. I use the Everest Pav Bhaji Masala and always get complimented for the bhaji. In fact, the recipe given on the back of the packet can be followed completely to make some awesome bhaji. My recipe -

Ingredients

Vegetables - 3 packed cups, cleaned, cut into pieces

Onion - 1 large, chopped

Garlic - 4 cloves, chopped

Tomato - 2 medium, chopped

Everest Pav Bhaji masala pwd - 2 tbsp

Red Chilli pwd - 2 tsp

Turmeric pwd - 1/2 tsp

Coriander leaves - 1 tsp, chopped

Butter - 1 tbsp

Oil - 2 tbsp

Salt to taste

Sugar - a pinch

to serve

Onion - 1 small, chopped

Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp, chopped

Butter - as much as you like  

The vegetables I take for the bhaji are potato, cauliflower, beans, green peas, carrots and capsicum. Potatoes should be half of the total quantity of vegetables and the rest should be made up of the other vegetables. Capsicum gives an aroma to this dish hence make sure to add some.

 

In a pressure cooker, cook the vegetables with half cup water, a little salt and turmeric powder. When cooked, mash the vegetables to a rough paste and keep aside. Use a hand mixer to mash quickly

 

Heat a kadhai with the oil and half the butter, when hot add the onion and sauté. After a minute add the chopped garlic and sauté till the raw smell goes. Add the pav bhaji masala powder and roast for a minute. Then add the red chilli powder, tomatoes and salt and sauté. Let the tomatoes soften completely, then add the mashed vegetables and mix completely. Add a little water to make a smooth paste and let cook. Check for salt. If the bhaji has less masala powder then add some and let it cook for a minute for some time. Add a pinch of sugar to round off the taste. Top with coriander leaves and rest of the butter and keep covered.

 

Slit the pav in the middle and apply some butter on both sides. Heat a pan, and roast the pav on both sides.

To serve, spoon some bhaji, top it with a blob of butter, sprinkle some coriander leaves and some chopped onion, then add a butter roasted pav and the Pav Bhaji is ready to be served. Keep some nimbu on the side to add that extra tang.

 

Potato masala bhaji like in Udipi restaurants

This potato masala / bhaji or aloo sabzi was made famous by the ubiquitous Udipi restaurants as the masala in the masala dosa. It also makes an appearance in the puri bhaji, thali and toasted sandwich in an Udipi menu. It is simple to make and hence, I guess, was added to the menu of many a homes. This aloo sabzi goes well with chapati, puri and of course dosa. We also make a stuffed toasted sandwich with this potato masala for filling. 

At home, we tend to make this aloo sabzi when we run out of vegetables or to go with dosa. And then some rare times we make puri bhaji as well. 

Ingredients

Potatoes - 4 medium

Onion - 1 large

Green chilli - 2

Mustard seeds - 1tsp

Udad dal - 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves - 7 to 8

Coriander leaves - 1tsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

Peel, wash and dice the potatoes and keep in water. Slice the onions, chop green chilli and coriander leaves and keep aside. 

Boil the potatoes till just done in water with a little salt. Reserve about half cup of the water and drain off the rest.

Heat a kadhai, add the oil and when hot add the mustard seeds and udad dal. When the mustard seeds splutter add the sliced onion, chopped chilli and curry leaves and sauté till the onion turns light golden. Add turmeric powder and the boiled potatoes with the reserved water and mix well. Let it boil and during then roughly break the potatoes with the back of the spoon. Check for salt and add chopped coriander leaves and take off heat.
 

Serve with puris and sheera for a sinfully heavy meal like we did.

 

Variation: I have seen some restaurants add a little tomato into this, which should then be added when the potato and water is added and cook till the tomato is done. Continue the recipe as given above.

 fluffy puris

sheera

Potato masala

This Udipi restaurant style Potato Masala recipe goes to "Side dish mela", hosted by cooking4allseasons. 

The Spirituality Behind Upma

This humble dish that is a staple South Indian breakfast item won a million dollars when it was judged a winner at Top Chef Master contest in NYC. Its maker was Floyd Cardoz and the dish is called Upma - variedly called as Uppummavu in Malayalam, Uppitu or Kharabath in Kannada, Uppuma in Tamil.

 

The Malayalam term best carries the meaning of Upma; the literal meaning being 'salted flour'. And that's what it is. Made out of semolina / rawa, saamo, broken wheat / daliya, vermicelli / semiya, beaten rice / poha and most recently oats, it uses the simplest of spices and garnishes, is cooked in water, and takes only a few minutes. It is thus a paragon of culinary simplicity, a marvel of tasteful combination of ingredients, and an example of versatility and utility.

 

Upma is so common and lowly a dish that it is difficult to find a restaurant or breakfast pad that outshines the others. In terms of the pecking order of South Indian dishes, it is lower than even the dosa, idli or wada. The upma occupies the lowest place. It is always found as a single inconspicuous word in the menu and is usually available only till 10a.m. or so, in most places. So commonplace it si that if you order upma at a restaurant, most people would look at you with doubt and pity, if not scorn and disgust.

 

At home, the upma's story is even worse. Because it is so easy to make, the upma is every mother's delight and every child's woe. As a result, there are many who grow up with a lifelong hatred towards upma. The humble upma conveys many things: it signifies the housewife's lack of concern for the family members' distinguishing palate, it indicates extreme paucity of time like the entire family going out early to some place like a temple or marriage, or it shows a no-frills/ no-nonsense attitude towards treating a large number of people to breakfast.

 

There are very few genuine lovers of upma and I can count on myself being one. As I said, there are no restaurants (at least I do not know) that can take pride in serving the best upma and that is partly because the number of connoisseurs are too few. Asking a bevy of upma haters to grade an upma is wrong research methodology. Therefore, we lovers of upma, are always experimenting and are constantly seeking the best upma in town and country. We can grade them as very good ones, average and deplorable, rarely do we come across an outstanding one. Even at home the quality varies and so does your appreciation of the taste.

 

Seeking the good upma is a game of serendipity. There have been cases where I was utterly surprised by excellence and also shocked by the insipidity of the fare. Here are some spots of excellence I can remember:

1. A restaurant outside Dadar station (east) served very good upma early in the morning/ Start the day out with a warm feeling.

 

2. The famous Amba Bhavan (I think it is shut down now), which used to be next to Kochu Guruvayoorappan temple in Kings Circle, Matunga served distinctly great upma any time of the day. Wash it down with piping hot filter coffee and face the day with confidence.

 

3. In general, most standard Udipi joints in Mumbai, serve pretty good upma. But you have to be there in time for breakfast.

 

4. I have had varied experiences with upma in Bangalore. Often called as kharabhath, some of the makeshift food stalls score over the restaurants. But one restaurant called as Shilpa, bang outside Bowring Hospital, off Infantry Road, serves an outstanding fare. Most of the items in this fast-moving restaurant are par excellence. It is one of the best kept secrets in Bangalore.

 

5. Indian Coffee House in Gwalior, one or two restaurants outside Guruvayur temple in Thrissur, Kerala, Hotel Saravanas on 26th St & Lexington Ave in NYC are notable and good.

 

Great disappointments include MTR 1924 (the new one) in Bangalore, all of the South Indian restaurants in Delhi - Sagar Ratna chain. Adyar Anand Bhavan and other are disappointing. In comparison, the Naivedyam outlet in Gurgaon, scored over the others.

 

In the vein of poet Robert Browning's lines. "The best is yet to be, the last of life for which the first was made"; the quest for the best upma is an eternal one. That's the spirituality behind upma.

 

Do write in with your best choices in upma.

- ed

Little Italy, Bund Garden Road, Pune

I went to Little Italy La Pizzeria for lunch on a weekday expecting the restaurant to be near empty, instead there was only one table free. The crowd was a mix of office goers, friends and a group of ladies on a kitty party and no one seemed to be in any hurry to finish and leave!

This restaurant is in the ground floor of Hotel Shriman just at the beginning of a lane, off Bund Garden Road. My rickshaw driver did not know this hotel so you want to keep an eye out for it yourself when you do go there.

 

On entering Little Italy, the captain was immediately there to seat me and was a tad surprised to learn that I was eating alone. Anyway, I was seated immediately and the menus were brought over. The restaurant interiors were done well although the seating is a little too close to have a private conversation. Since I was alone the conversations around kept me entertained.

 

The menus brought over quickly, the additional one for their wine selection. I ordered the Cannelloni Florentine and it came piping hot straight from the oven. There were 3 cannelloni pieces with the cheese topping in golden hues. There was a good amount of sauce covering the cannelloni and around it. The spinach and ricotta cheese filling was nice and moist and spoonful of the sauce, cheese and cannelloni was Yum. For dessert, I ordered the Panna cotta and it came topped with a green syrup and a slice of kiwi. It was the first time I had a Panna cotta so I cannot compare it with any place else. The Panna cotta was soft and firm with a pudding like consistency. It was mildly sweet and when combined with a little of the syrup it tasted good. I completed the meal with a black tea although maybe a coffee was the right pairing for an Italian meal!

Overall, a very good lunch.

My only grouse was the proximity of the other tables. I could hear complete conversations and know the per head contribution of that ladies kitty group!