Misal Pav - Aadhi Potoba

I have a love-love relationship with misal pav... I mean what's there not to like? Soft pavs dipped in a spicy gravy followed by a spoonful of the pulses and farsaan... Heaven!

And I had to share this because I think I have the second best misal of my life... At Adhi Potoba.

Adhi Potoba (literally the stomach first) is a small unpretentious restaurant bang opposite the main gate of the Mumbai University Kalina campus. Its speciality ad its 'tag line' gharchi aathvan (memories of home) suggests is home style Maharashtrian food. Pithla- bhakri, masale bhaath - alu bhaaji, khichi kadhi papad, varan bhaath toop, shikran poli to ne a few. The best part is its quite brilliant on a college student's budget and the food isn't too spicy or oily.

So was with the misal pav... not too much pf tarri (oily layer floating on top of the gravy). This little dish of delight, with quantity enough for two like me, was built up with matar and matki usal with pohe and batata vada stuffing and of course farsan, onions and tomotoes with a side of freshest pavs I've had in a restaurant and a wedge of lemon for that extra
zing.

It also serves other cuisines such as dosas, punjabi food, chinese food which is also very well cooked - my foodie friend had a rawa sada dosa which was totally thumbs up!

So if you are near Kalina (or not) and are looking for good food on a budget, do visit Aadhi Potoba, and if you try the misal pav... do tell me!

Food Fun

For me food is about fun, if you can't enjoy the experience (cooking, eating, anything related to food!), you just can't say you like it! So I thought why not a fun post on food?!

So the other day I was thinking of free association as a technique (Psychology student and not a Kuch Kuch Hota Hai fan!) and was thinking what are the first words I would think of if given these words:

   Food: Love

Yep, for me food is all about love! It takes just one ingredient to make a good recipe great! And it takes a lot of love for anyone to make great recipes everyday for the important people in their life. And yes, if I have cooked for you, then I love you!

Spice: Cinnamon

One of my most favourite spices. It enhances the flavours of sweet as well as spicy food!

Beverage: Tea

No second guesses on this one!

Kitchen: Moti (my grandmother)

All my images, understanding, memories, learnings, of a kitchen come from my granny, who introduced me to this magical world where some alchemy turns raw grains, different colourful powders (spices), vegetables into wonderful dishes that everyone eats with such love.

Salt: Pepper

The classic and the basic combination!

Dessert: Fruits

The one type of dessert I can ALWAYS have. Sometimes it can be an entire meal for me! :-)

Cooking: Creativity

I don't think anyone ever cooks the same recipe the same way twice (unless you're the clinical Macdonald's or other such food chain!)

A fun post for all the wonderful fun food brings into life.

Deciding a Menu (Chilly Garlic Fries today!)

I am a bookworm and a food fanatic. For me, it’s (almost) like Joey from F.R.I.E.N.D.S. He couldn’t decide between giving up food or coitus (ah The Big Bang Theory!), I can’t decide between books and food!

And when it comes to deciding menus for what I want to cook, I have a beautiful analogy – for me it’s like choosing a book to read. Firstly what I will read or cook depends on my mood, “What book will go with my mood? Do I feel like a light chick lit, a classic Victorian novel, some poetry, a thriller?” Similarly, the menu will be highly dependent on what my taste buds crave, “sweet (very rarely), spicy, salty, sour…”.

Then will be the exploration stage. I will open my cupboard where all my books are kept, take some out, read their jackets (if I haven’t read them already) or remember its stories –when had I last read it, how did that book make me feel, what had I loved about it… if I remember a section I particularly like, I will quick go to it and read it again and take the book if it hits the right chord. Similarly for cooking, I will go through the ingredients I have, remember the times I have cooked the recipe, what innovations have I done with it, what had worked, and I will pick the ingredients accordingly and set them out for me to cook.

Then comes the lost in reading/ cooking and eating stage… a fairly self explanatory process.

Today’s recipe that got me: Chilli Garlic Fries

These ingredients should make fries enough for two people (or if you are like me then just one!)

3-4 large potatoes for the fries

Peanut Oil for frying

2-3 tablespoons olive oil

3-4 garlic cloves finely chopped

1 spring onion greens finely sliced

2-3 green chillies finely sliced

1-2 tbsp soy sauce

Salt to taste (Soy sauce already is quite salty, so you can skip this if you do not like too much salt)

Pepper to taste

Heat the peanut oil to prepare it for frying, Wash and cut the potatoes to make fries. I prefer keeping the fries a little thicker for this recipe. Fry and remove the potatoes on a tissue paper for the excess oil to get soaked.

In a separate pan, heat the olive oil. Fry the garlic and the chillies. Add the spring onion greens (you can save a few of the greens slices for garnishing) and the soy sauce. Toss the fries in immediately. Add a little salt and pepper to taste.

Voila! A very simple recipe of French fries with a chilly- garlicy twist! (Will put up pictures soon!)

Breakfast Times

I pamper myself with my breakfasts. Surprised? Read on.....

During school days, 'breakfast' was a quickly gulped down, albeit filling glass of milk before hurrying to catch the school bus. The only time we (as a family) actually sat down and demarcated the first meal of the day as breakfast was on Sundays when grannie whipped up, either traditional breakfast dishes (poha, upma, idli) or more often than not, impromptu concoctions (toasted bread , bread, butter and tomato sandwiches with a sprinkling of salt and pepper, chips and dips).

It was when I was at Xavier's that my travelling distance and time increased, and I realised the value of having a healthy (or at least a hearty) breakfast. To motivate myself, I made breakfast time, "me" quality time and pampered myself no end!

Breakfast times at Xavier's had me spoilt for choice, be it anna's (the mess owner's) Toast and baked beans, or maggie with cheese and garlic, or Raju's quickly dished out hot soft omlettes with fresh pav with oddles of cheese or cutlet pavs with a the sour and sweet tomato ketchup (those were still my no need to control weight days....sigh!) or piping hot steamed idlis with a spicy tangy sambhar (it was me and my best friend's own version of sore throat remedy) to delightful dosas served with a dollop of butter that you could see melting till you carried your plate to your seat. All of these would be gulped down with a generous helping of  a double cappucino (the Nestle machine one which was somehow much better than what we got at Somaiya or get in the office vending machine), and the company of a good book for lit class or just CD and our chitter chatter.

For the past three years, I haven't really had much of choices as far as breakfast is concerned (you see I passed out of Xavier's) yet my breakfast time continues to be me times (unless I eat at my desk - but its still a meal I don't miss). Especially on weekends, when I make the effort to make myself a nice breakfast with a great cup of tea and spend time on it either with a sitcom or a great book.  Its the best way for me to start my weekend!

And then of course there are special occassions breakfasts (I come from a Gujju family after all!) with hot crisp neutral tasting fafdas with a spicy chutney that makes you just want to grab the next item on the menu, a sweet hot juicy jalebi! I can't wait for those occassions!

So the start of a new blog with a post about the first meal of the day that leads to great starts!