Starbucks (It Finally Feels Christmas-y!)

My friend and I missed Christmas yesterday, thanks to the really hot weather, the no Christmas trees around our places and me also because of no Christmas Carols or movies!

So today on a whim, we made a bit of a change in our plans for the day, and stepped into Starbucks (because it would be Christmas-y there!) and we weren't disappointed. Starbucks is spread over a decently large area for South Bombay or even Mumbai for that matter. The first thing that hits you, apart from the delightful smell of the coffee, is this space, the lighting, the soft lighting, the Indianised classic decor and for this season, the Christmas trees (there were 2, one large, one small!) and the carols! I was totally floored! We were so happy as it feels like you have stepped into a different world.

The Christmas Tree at the Mezzanine seating level

View of the reception and coffee serving area from the mezzanine seating level

Tree stump-like tables!

Decor shelf with old brass kettles and teacups, old books and some trunks.

 After enjoying the decor for some time and finding ourselves huge comfortable chairs in a corner of the cafe, me and my friend went ahead and placed our orders, a mocha latte, a white chocolate latte (something new, coffee with white chocolate!) and a fudge chocolate chip cookie. The coffees were fragrant and rich with the chocolate but the best part we savoured over was the cookie, it was pure sin. My friend who has stayed in Leeds in England for a year did comment that she couldn't find as good cookies in England at Starbucks as this one! Says quite something, I must say!

Mocha latte, White chocolate latte and Fudge Chocolate chip cookie

Me enjoying our time at Starbucks! (check out the huge chair!)

We did not have anything else as we had gone pretty close to lunch, but we do plan to go there again soon to try out the sandwiches that captured our interest.

Overall a good coffee experience!

Frankie (Vegetarian)

Frankie is one of Mumbai's favourite pick me up meal. A potato-vegetable, paneer, egg or chicken filling drenched in ketchup, chutney, mayonnaise, or schezwan sauce, with fresh shredded crunchy onions, cabbage, carrots served in a soft roti, is a good substitute for a meal, on the run.

My version of the frankie is a very simple and healthy version of the roadside snack, with inputs from my grand aunt who loves cooking too (it runs in the family!)

Frankie (Vegetarian)

Ingredients

For the roti dough

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tbsp oil
Water
Salt to taste

For the pattice

4-6 medium sized boiled potatoes
Salt to taste
2 tsps chilly powder
3 tsps amchur powder
2 tsps chaat masala
2-3 tbsps cornflour or maida
Oil for cooking

For the mint chutney

30-40 mint leaves
15-20 corriander leaves
Salt to taste
2 green chillies
1 tsp lime juice

Other ingredients

2 medium sized onions
2 parts salt 1 part chilly powder 1 part amchur powder and 1 part chaat masala for sprinkling
Tomato ketchup
Oil for cooking

Method

First knead the dough as you would for rotis (it's a great way to use up leftover rotis!). Roll out rotis and roast them till half done on both sides.

For the pattice, mix all the masalas into the boiled potatoes well, shape into cylindrical flat pattice and shallow fry till golden brown on both sides.

Grind the mint leaves, corriander leaves, chillies, salt and lime juice with a little water (1 tsp) to make a refreshing mint chutney.

To assemble the frankie, cook one side of the half roasted roti using oil till done and flip and apply a little oil to the other side. As the other side cooks on the tawa, apply the ketchup, the mint chutney, place the pattice, add the onions (and other veggies like shredded cabbage, carrots if you prefer), sprinkle the masala. Roll the frankie and cook till the other side is done.

Serve hot with ketchup and chutney!

Corn Chaat

We Indians can 'chaat' anything up: fruits, vegetables, pulses.... name it and we're ready with our handy lemon, chaat masala, chilly et al to spice up the most boring of things! I tried this chaat recipe shared by a colleague of my sister and it turned out yummy!

Corn Chaat

Ingredients

1 cup boiled American corn
1 medium sized onion chopped
1 medium sized tomato chopped
2 tbsps lemon juice
1 tsp chaat masala
1/2 tsp amchur (dried mango) powder
1/2 tsp rock salt
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp pepper
 Salt to taste

Chopped corriander to garnish

Mix up all the ingredients well in a bowl. Garnish with the chopped corriander and serve.

Note: You can substitute the corn with cooked pulses like brown or green chana or sprouts and it will be just as yummy!

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!