Street Food: Jalebi near Masjid station

The effect of time on jalebis is telling. The best jalebi is the one that is still warm crunchy and yet dripping with sweetness.
With jalebis, when left to their own devices, the crunch trends to soggy and a while later sweetness ferments to sourness, completely turning you of the treat.
I discovered this just-in-time jalebi walla not so far away from a regular haunt.
Traveling on the Harbor line to Crawford Market, I alight at Masjid station and am immediately in the midst of an avenue of street food vendors as I get off the railway over bridge.
A little ahead is the jalebi shop that produces these warm and indolently crispy treats!

Jalebi needs a batter of just the right viscosity. Squeezed out into smoking hot oil, the interconnected jalebis sputter excitedly till they've been turned off an inspected to see if they're done. Once of the oil, they're dunked into a large cauldron of thick sugar syrup to absorb sweetness to balance the deep fried crunchiness. Voila! The jalebi is ready!

Street Food: Malpua and Rabdi in Mumbai

The malpua that I grew up eating in Kolkata is a different creature from the one that I encountered in Pune and Mumbai. 

The malpuas of the east were akin to an appam, soft in the centre and a tapering crunchy edge--almost shaped like a flying saucer. 

The ones that I have had in Pune and Mumbai are akin to a deep fried pancake.

For a change I was struck at the lack of information in Wikipedia compared to http://www.ifood.tv/network/malpua. (Mental note to myself to update the Wikipedia article.)

So, I'd just come home after a gruelling session at office when I wandered away from my quest to buy chappatis and chanced upon the aroma of fresh malpuas in Tawakkal. 

Now this is not the Tawakkal of much fame and glory in town. This is smallish sweet shop in Mahim in  the lane that connects L J Road to Cadel Road and the Baba Makdum Shah Dargah.

The interesting part of the pricing is the jump of Rs 20 if add an egg. In my experience it changes the texture of the batter and makes it a little bit more fluffier. So I went ahead and before I could pay and fish out my phone, the eggs were cracked into the mixture, whisked and spread into the smoking hot oil.

Here is a video that shows how it is fried and then generously slathered with Rabdi. 

Very yum and all umami inducing!

(Just) Eat Around the Corner... (Bandra)

I have rather fond memories of the Just Around the Corner in Bandra. The experience of loading your salad plate with food and tottering back to gorge on the beef, seafood, chicken, vegetables, and other things shines bright in the culinary memory map.


So on a rather busy Saturday morning when I'd just finished rushing through baking a lot of chocolate sponge cake, I met Harini and Subha, and it was unanimously decided that we should go there to eat our hearts out. Actually the last statement is not applicable to BOTH ultra-intake conscious Subha and Harini.


After we reached (with Harini driving and cribbing about the grams she's gained), we were in for a surprise. The place had changed from an open inviting place to a completely opaque flex wrapped place and is now called Eat Around the Corner.


Interestingly, you can't find the place on Google Maps unless you search for good old Just Around the Corner :P. 

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We'd almost given up the place for closed when a thick and forbidding door sprung open and we squeezed in like we were getting into some Alice-in-Wonderland-esque forbidden garden. 


Once inside we realized that the place has been 'redesigned'. The Costa inside is gone. A metal detector gauges your threat quotient as the redesigned faux waterfall gurgles in the background. Subha noticed a notice that glares at you saying something to the effect that "This is not a cafe... Spend at least Rupees 350 or your are not welcome"!


Very alarming and forbidding!


Nevertheless a once inside, the familiar surroundings have been changed into a sterile and white decor. The counter now flows in the opposite direction to what it was earlier. As soon as once enters, once is corralled into a glass enclosed lane.


You start with salads (small or regular portion sizes only - no unlimited option now). The day we went we could choose from three vegetarian and two non-vegetarian options. The salads range from Rs 150 to around Rs 300 (depending on factors like portion size and veg/non-veg etc).
You cannot help yourself. A salad server will 'toss' your salads for you at his discretion. 


Having said this, the salads now look more enticing and more 'exotic' ingredients (for example, I had to choose between Tamarind Chicken, Chorizo, and Salmon). I settled for a small portion of shredded salmon salad, Harini chose a large portion of something that had all sorts of soaked pulses, and Subha chose a large portion of Greek salad with feta cheese. 

The Lovely Ladies with their Salads

Subha's Greek Salad (and Cinnamon Roll)

Harini's Salad of Soaked Pulses (the bread sticks are NOT gratis.. They cost a bomb!)

Salmon Salad for me...

What really got me happy was the desert spread.


Subha got herself a cinnamon roll and Harini and I shared a simple chocolate pastry. The desert counter in quite expansive and a feast for the eye. 
The cinnamon roll was excellent—a little sugar and crunch on the top layer and a cloying little heart of gluten and cinnamon in the middle. Compared to this the rolls at Cinnabon pale very rapidly.

Cinnamon Roll

A closer look at the cinnamon roll

The chocolate pastry was good as well. Simple things like this usually helps benchmark a pastry/confectionery prowess of a place. The gooey dark chocolate passed with flying colours :)

  

Two Cafes - One Saturday Morning

Last Saturday, Guru and Subha were in Bandra for Subha's pre-natal exercise sessions. When they suggested that we go to Cafe Madras for brunch I jumped at the opportunity.


After the customary hunt for a parking space in the 'never-enough-kerb-space' confines of the tree shaded Matunga, we joined the throung outside Madras Cafe, and, surprisingly soon enough, we were squeezing our selves onto the small benches and a table—that always reminds me of adults trying to sit on nursery school furniture.








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Here is a map if you want to find the place or just drive to it from somewhere.

The venerable Cafe Madras

Now—the food... Matunga is a cornucopia of food from the Southern reaches of India. Cafe Madras is just one of the many places that serves excellent and authentic 'South Indian' food. The food here is a good mix of Udupi Cuisine. Udupi (or Udipi) food is distinct and famous enough to have its own extensive Wikipedia entry.. So...
I digress...
We started ordering medhu vada sambar to a waiter who gave us a baleful 'give-the-order-quickly' look and told us that it would take a 'lot' of time. (It never came...)


Even while we were in the process of figuring out what to order, some coconut chatni clattered onto our table. I quickly demolished almost all of it. The fresh coconut chutney was heavenly! Especially after the raw dal and few flecks of coconut and gallons of water that you get everywhere else...


So Guru ordered some sambar rice. This came with some very interesting papad pieces with red chilly flakes and well... more chutney.
If a Tamilian Guru is ordering sambar rice here, it definitely stamps a lot of promise for me...

Next Subha's order of rawa dosa plonked on the table. I have found rawa dosa horribly difficult to make. So I enjoy every opportunity where I get to dig into some thin and crunchy rawa dosa that is just perfectly done.

I had ordered peserette/pesarattu. This is a very interesting dosa variant that has fresh green mung daal soaked and crushed along with the rice to make the batter.


The crisp exterior hid a steaming soft inside and an interesting, simple, filling of chopped onions par cooked with some spices that I could not completely fathom. 

Since the vada sambar had still not arrived, we cancelled the order and ordered a plate of curd rice each.

And of course a meal like this will never be complete without a round of filter coffee!
Of Subha had a second round of coffee. :)

While Subha waddled off to do funky things to her hair, Guru and I were wondering (and wandering) about what we should do to kill time till she was done.


Matunga continues into Kings Circle, so we soon found ourselves crossing the road towards Koolar & Company.

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Our rather distended stomachs did not really permit us to try the Kheema or the Wrestler Omlette...
So Guru and I sat and nursed a nice Irish Terror.

This something I STRONGLY recommend. :) Strong black coffee with whipped cream, demerara, and a splash of run can never be bad.