Cannon Pav Bhaji: My Happy Meal

Mumbai pav bhaji has always been famous; but there is pav bhaji and then there is Cannon pav bhaji!

Located right outside CST (earlier VT) station, this place has been a landmark for years! The first time I had their pav bhaji was when I was in the 6th standard (about 12 years back) and was going to Birla Auditorium for an awards function and the taste hasn't changed since. It was also our Saturday special when we were studying at Xavier's (because it fits right into any college student's budget) and was on our bucket list of things to do when my friend came back from England after a  year! 

The pav bhaji made in huge quantities over these old cast iron tawas tastes the same from as far as I can remember it: perfect combination of spices, veggies with an overload of butter that just melts in your mouth (see the pic and you will see what I am talking of). This flavoursome (and not too pungent) mix of vegetables is served with two pieces of bread (again) drenched in butter! The best thing to wash it down with is the masala chhas they serve (its spicy, cold, tangy and yummy!)

Cannon Pav Bhaji with a just right overdose of butter and masala chhas: Our Happy Meal!

Cannon also serves misal pav, gajar halwa and wada pav, but I have never tried them because I go there for the pav bhaji and the masala chhas and that's what I stick to! The proof lies in the long queue of people, at any time of the day, having hot fresh pav bhaji right off the tawa!

Bhai Beej Special: Sheera

Today is a day of brothers and sisters... Bhai Beej... I am very close to my brother and over the years sibling rivalry has turned into sibling revelry for a variety of reasons. Of course this post is not dedicated to him (thought I am sure people who know me know I can end up talking for hours if I talk about my brother!) the dish I attempted for the first time today - sheera is dedicated to him.

Sheera is a surprisingly simple versatile sweet dish that can be had as breakfast dish in its simplest form, and is a traditional prasad for Satyanarayan pooja in a modified form. It also can be made with different bases like there is rawa sheera (the one which I made today), atta sheera (made from wheat flour) and can be made of various fruit flavours like banana, pineapple etc etc.

The one I made today was a simple rawa sheera with no jazz- just homely comforting sheera had hot...!

Rawa Sheera

Ingredients

1 cup rawa (semolina)
5 tbsps ghee (clarified butter)
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 - 1 cup sugar

Method

Heat the ghee in a kadhai and add the rawa in it to roast. When its roasted well, it will release an aroma and ghee will start to separate. At this stage add the milk and the sugar and keep stirring. The sheera will cook in the milk and when cooked will start to separate from the sides of the kadhai.

Garnish with dried fruits and serve hot!

Note: you can add a bit of green cardamom powder or seeds for more flavour.

Kashmiri Kahwa

Kashmiri Kahwa... the first time I had this tea was at Dolly's at Kolkata... (yes, not at Kashmir!) and I instantly fell in love with it!

Then I tried this tea at Tea Center at Churchgate and the love affair bloomed... so much so that I brought two packets of the tea bags from there and used up the one I was supposed to a gift a friend myself!

Today, I finally tried making this tea as I remember it from Dolly's and from the ingredients listed on the packet of the tea bags and voila! Kashmiri Kahwa as I remember it.

Disclaimer: this recipe is definitely as far as I know a deviation from the traditional recipe in terms of a couple of spices used or nuts added (like almonds are crushed and added but I personally do not like my tea to be chewed in any way!) but it makes for a wonderful tea!

Kashmiri Kahwa

2-3 green cardamom pods
1/2 inch cinnamon stick
2-3 saffron strands
1 green tea bag (or 1 1/2 spoons if you are using loose tea leaves)
2 cups water
Sugar to taste

Method

Boil the water with the spices in it so that their flavour infuses well in them. Once the water comes to a boil add the tea and let it brew for about 2 minutes. Serve with a bit of sugar for taste!

Jewel of India

This post is courtesy a three hour buffet lunch I enjoyed thoroughly, thanks to the wonderful company I had!

Jewel of India located on the ground floor of the Nehru Center, in the heart of the city at Worli, makes for a fun and interesting dining experience on weekends. On weekdays, I have heard, it is full of employees of offices around (at least for lunch) and tends to be crowded. However, I went on a weekend and the restaurant was pretty decently crowded for a weekend and enjoyed the lunch.

The first thing that you notice about any restaurant is the ambiance of the place and Jewel of India scores well on this aspect. Warm colours, soothing paintings, plush seating, natural lighting (in the day at least) from a wall-sized window at a side with the food as the star of the show in the center.

The ambiance at Jewel of India

We started the meal with (no guesses for getting this one!) starters. The starters were an interesting combination of a onion bhajji chaat (onion pakodas served with dahi, imli ki chutney, teekhi chutney, corriander and sev), pani puri, mini dosas, fish fingers with a tartar sauce, lasuni chicken (boneless, melt in your mouth, garlicky chicken tikkas! yummmmmmmmmm!) 

Onion pakora chaat

Pani puri... all ready to be dipped in spicy water and eaten!

The garlicky melt in your mouth chicken goodness!

After spending about an hour and a half on the starters (most of it on the chicken... because a hot new fresh irresistible batch had just come in) some conversations and some laughter, we managed to hold ourselves from the dessert table (I swear it was secretly calling out to me!) and  moved on to the main course. The main course had some lovely meat and vegetarian gravies, meat and vegetarian biryani served with a basket of freshly made India bread (naan, methi parathas, roti) and baked bread rolls. I would recommend the creamy goodness of the methi matar malai (don't like peas but the gravy was out of this world!)

Indian bread basket

The plate full of Punjabi goodness!

And then finally (conversations aside) came the desserts! Such a wide variety to choose from. It was mango season (yes this post is THAT late!) so we had some mango crumble (though the mango was not deskinned properly and baking mango with the rest of the crumble kind of killed it for us!) a lovely chocolate pastry and another pineapple pastry (save it to be enjoyed last good! and I don't like pineapple really!), mousse, kulfi  and last but not the least fresh fruit!

My dessert plate (yes I am the good girl with the fruits on her dessert plate!)

The selection of desserts we sampled and enjoyed

My verdict? I would visit again for special lunches and celebrations!

Salli Par Eendu: With Love from Parsis

My crazy bawi! How I miss her since her last blink-and-you-miss-it visit from New Zealand last week. She was here to visit her sick grandmother and I was (right there!) with her, all the time I could spare from classes and tests (why?! why?! why?!)... the only thing we managed to cook together in this entire trip.. due spending large amounts of time at the hospital, a non-functional kitchen (where we had to even borrow cooking oil!) and her very short trip with long list of things she HAD to eat (Noorani's included!) was our favourite simple one-dish meal Salli Par Eendu (eggs on potato sticks).

This is a Parsi-style omlette is simple to cook, tasty and a great filler (passes all criteria I would have for dishes to make when I need comfort food!) Of course we devoured it so fast that I did not manage to (ok..ok... did not bother to as I was too busy eating it) click pictures but the next time I make it I will surely put up pictures!

Salli Par Eendu

Ingredients (for 2- 3 people)

50 gms potato salli (for every 3 eggs) - salli is thin fried potato sticks available at any stores that keeps farsan
1 tbsp oil
1 tomato sliced in thin round slices
1 green chilly finely chopped
10-15 leaves of corriander finely chopped
3 eggs
salt to taste

Method

In a non-stick deep pan (used for shallow frying) heat some oil and layer the salli across the pan. Sprinkle some water across the pan (about 1/4th of a cup across the pan). Then, layer the tomato slices on the salli and cover and steam the salli and tomatoes for about 5 minutes till the salli and tomatoes soften.

While the salli is steaming, break the eggs in a bowl, add the green chillies and the salt and beat it till it gets a little fluffy. Once the salli and tomato are steamed, pour the egg mixture around the pan so  that it forms an even layer around the salli. Garnish with the chopped corriander on top and cover and cook till the eggs are done. This takes about 3-4 minutes when covered.

Delicious salli par eendu is ready to be served hot!

Tea: Oh Calcutta!

Thinking of tea... good tea always take me to Calcutta! Oh Calcutta! A tea lover's dream come true where even the "kulhad" chai you get on the streets is an amazing experience... especially after an uncalled-for off-season shower (which you've gotten wet in!)

Some of the tea experiences you should have in Calcutta (if you live there or just go there for a visit!)

Dolly's Tea Shop:

Brilliant! A small shop at Dakshinapan with a seating capacity of about 10 people (and it gets too crowded with that number) serves some of the most elegant tea I've ever had! The unbelievable variety of flavourful teas (of course!) personalised service (the owner is always there at the shop), the regulars, and the ambience of a busy high end bazaar... If you have great company (even if its just that of yourself!) you will have a gala time!

The Little Dolly's Tea Shop!

Mango tea (iced) and Kashmiri Kahwa (hot) at Dolly's tea shop

Apart from serving lovely tea, Dolly's also sells tea leaves, powder of various kinds. I had picked up Earl Grey tea (long leafed loose tea!), white tea and broken orange pekoe for gifts and have gotten great reviews about them. I would vouch for the Earl Grey tea too!

Cha Bar: Oxford Bookstore, Park Street

Located at the Mezzanine level of the Oxford Bookstore (books and tea! such a heady combination for me!), Cha Bar also serves an amazing variety of tea. The ambiance is high end with an amazing array of rarely-available-in-India teas such as the Russian Caravan. I have been to the Cha Bar in Mumbai too, which has a good collection of teas but is literally 5 tables crammed together in the middle of the small Oxford bookstore at Churchgate. Though the teas are worth a visit for if you can't make it to Calcutta!

Cha Bar, Calcutta

Russian Caravan (served so elegantly-check out that gorgeous spoon)

Teapot display at Cha Bar, Calcutta

Apart from that of course as I have already mentioned, the chai you get in kulhads by the street is also brilliant. The reason for this seems to be that all the tea produced in the North east states gets transported to Calcutta first for shipping, of course it gets dibs! And hence the amazing chai!!! :-)

Tea Tip

The tip to getting the right strength of tea (not too strong or light) when using loose tea leaves is to boil the water, switch off the stove, adding a teaspoon of leaves per cup and letting it brew till the tea leaves settle at the bottom... When they do, it perfect strength tea!