A Taste Of India...

If Indian cuisine is considered the crown of the world cuisine, Punjabi cuisine could easily be the shining stone demonstrating its glory. The reason why Punjooo food is so popular across the length and breadth of India and places abroad, in my opinion, are the delicious variety of Parathas it offers. From Kashmir* to Kanyakumari and from the Run of Kutch to the Bay of Bengal, everybody craves for them and can go places to hog on them. Where I have had the most delicious Parathas? Well, it's a difficult question to answer but probably the Parathawali Gali near Chandani Chawk and the roadside ones next to IIT-D gate in Delhi are etched in my memory for a long long time. But obviously the list goes on and on...

To me, Akhil certainly is a veteran Paratha expert in Leuven and in addition to Parathas what I love the most is the vintage tomato chutney he prepares. Both these things go so wonderfully well together. Sukhi almost makes them single handedly (guess with left hand) and my new neighbor Amrit is as adept as anybody can get at the art. Taking a cue from all, we decided to give a shot at making Parathas at my new place. Being the tutor, it was natural that Amrit's Parathas were superb. I was awestruck though, when I saw my first Paratha slowly but surely took the shape of a circle. Well, almost circular :)

Guru's First Paratha

Lasnachi Koshimbir (Garlic n Curd), a Maharashtrian delicasy learnt at Millionaire's place in Leeds also went very well with the Punjooo Parathas. Tamil delicacy Pachadi (composed of ginger and curd) that Sandeep prepares should also go well. Isn't it wonderful the way cuisines from different parts of the India come together and result in what could be termed A Taste Of India...

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* Sagnik wants Kashmir to be replaced by Kathmandu in the present context. Reason: Amrit hails from kathmandu.

She came; She saw and She conquered...

"काय करताय?(What are u guys doing?)", Kiran could not control the curiosity looking at the near liquidous Modak flour and our floured hands. Question did nothing but to rub the salt on our deep wounds as we ourselves were trying to come to terms with the fact that Modaks have turned out to be a complete disaster. So much so that, we were finding it difficult even to put them in the simplest form, forget about much revered and dreamed Modak's shape.

The plan was indeed to make modaks during the Ganesh Chaturthi and having done them last year under Harshada's tutelage, I was hopeful to pull them off this year too. Moreover, Madhura# and Nandan, the most enthusiastic foodies in Leuven were set to don the lead role and all I was supposed to do was to arrange things, offer a bit of moral support and of course eat my heart out on the day. This would have proved to be a nice surprize for Harshada and Prabhat (and new born Nitya) too. All things were set. We zeroed on the recipe to follow and the aroma of the modak feeling filled the entire room. The taste of partial success made us more enthusiastic. Madhura cracked a joke. You know what my grandma used to say, "It's very difficult to screw up modaks. Why in the world would a recipe with lots of coconut and Jaggery get screwed up?" But we managed to do the improbable in the 2nd Innings and screwed up the flour a big big way. From last year's experience, the crux of preparing nice modaks is to shape them when the dove is warm. This is a very crucial step. But, the flour became so soggy that the it could have been declared as dead drowning in the water. We added a part of extra flour and tried to fix it to some extent but nothing really worked and all we ended up was these pieces, if one dares to call them modaks :(

The disaster that we need to call our modaks :(

Now, all our hopes rested on one individual and it was Harshada - The Annapurna. If there was one who could fix the flour it was her. She came and in no time realized the grand plan we had. She saw the messy flour and started giving steadfast instructions and in a while She conquered all the obstacles in the way to shape the first modak of the day to make us all jump with joy. The rest of the modaks were a mere formality. Thanks to her expertize*, we could have our taste of Modaks this year. Not to mention that we ended up stuff ourselves heart out.

Harshada's Fix to our Modaks. I am not terming them as Harshada's modaks as the usual ones look far more beautiful than these fixed ones. should blog them the next time we/she makes them

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# Madhura's enthu to try out new and newer recipes (and feed us) is endless. One can never forget the Tikhatmithachya Purya (Do not request translation) and Bhaji, she had prepared during the Madonna Event Hike. Being enterprizing, she has a courageous plan to start a small eat out place in Leuven. If any of you are interested to participate in such an endeavor, please contact me.

* An expert is the one who has done all possible mistakes achieving the goal. We are now a step closer as far as the modaks are concerned :)

My First Modak...

Unfortunately Bal Gagandhar Tilak did not come to Belgium to initiate and inspire the "Ganeshostav" celebrations in Belgium. That leaves maharashtrians in Belgiam a bit more nostalgic during Ganesh Chaturthi days. During last "Ganeshotsav", Harshada and Prabhat (a veteran Leuven couple) had made modaks for all of us. This time around I was desperate to learn and try my hand. Thanks to Harshada and Prabhat's tutelage, my first modak came just fine...

What is missing in the pictures in the Harshada's art work in making modaks. I personally have not seen better hand made modaks than them so far.

Vadapav

If you ask a mumbaikar (mumbait) as to what he has been born and brought up with, many answers would come. Some would say mumbai local train, some would argue it with gardi (marathi) or bheed (hindi) as people around never seem to vanish. A film buff would certainly call for bollywood while marathi manus would pitch in for Natak. For me though, there is only one thing that symbolizes Mumbai (formerly Bombay) and that is none other than Vadapav. Pav bhaji, pani puri, bhel puri and other chat items come close but can not really replace the importance of Vadapav in Mumbaikars life. This was the reason why I have nominated Vadapav in IMEC's cookbook this year.

The story on the internet about Vadapav's origin says that some time in the 1960's or the 1970's a mill worker in Mumbai always managed to skip his breakfast to make it on time to his work place. Concerned about his health his mother/wife thought of a new way for him to be able to take his BHAJI* (Mashed/diced potatoes mixed with green chillies, ginger and a tadka (tempering) of mustard seeds and turmeric.) and have it on the move.

She made balls of BHAJI dipped them into batter made of gram flour and deep fried them. Thus was born the BATATA VADA. Later came along the PAV (a kind of bun, in India it is known as Pav) and so did the Chutney (essentially garlic and red chilli.)

I am not sure if the tale is true or not, but who cares all I know is some smart Maharashtrian cook did magic and stumbled upon what is now the MOST common and exhaustively consumed fast food in Maharashtra. Nowadays, BATATA VADA is the MOST popular and people love to have it any time of the day during all seasons. The combination of BATATA VADA and split PAV along with chutney continues to be Mumbai's sledgehammer answer to the hamburger.

Drawing inspiration from the story when we made Vadapav @ Naveen's place in Leuven, they looked like this (Picture Quality Regretted)......Yummy!!!!!