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!

Burnt Chilly Garlic dressing Marinated Pan Fried Chicken Thighs

I have Titin to thank for discovering FabIndia's Burnt Chilly and Garlic salad dressing as a marinade. This is an interesting concoction with heat, an piquant Indian 'spicy-ness' along with a nice tangy from the coconut vinegar.

I had bought some chicken thighs to cook for people who I'd invited one weekend. All of them had microscopic appetites so I still had the thighs sitting around in the refrigerator since even the drum sticks had not been consumed.

Chicken thighs, I realised, are a better deal than drumsticks since you get a large slab of meat with a little bone to trap the juiciness (drumsticks have lesser meat per piece) or even boneless meat (which tends to be less juicy since it lacks a bone).

Such realisations alert kitties about meat emerging from the freezer, and soon I was ankle deep in swirling cats and kittens. Ignoring the yowls of half a dozen always hungry kittens I plopped the dressing on the thighs.
Then I pacified the hungry felines with some milk before settling down to read the newspaper while the marinade did nice things to the meat.

As hunger struck I whipped out my trusty non-stick pan...

... and added oil with generously and put it on the fire...

The oil warmed to the occasion and soon the chicken sputtered happily in the oil...

A quick turn browned the other side and voilà! I had chicken ready for lunch. 

This is very easy to cook and difficult to go wrong with. The chicken cooks quickly and leaves the core nice and moist while the marinade tastes awesome as an enrobement.   

A Kolkata Pork Sausage

Childhood memories of the sausages I've had in Kolkata are a permanent aroma in my brain. Unlike the ones that I now get from a cold storage shop, the made-to-order early morning sausage experiences are etched fondly in some nice places in this cranium.

These sausages have a strong and aromatic song of their own. They start in as sides of pork  in a shop in Taltolla Bazar or in New Market... Perhaps earlier, even in Tangra. Baba lifts, prods and inspects before selecting a section of meat and specifies how much meat is needed and hands over the spices we mix and grind at home and some mint and parsley to  the sausage maker. He then proceeds to ritually insist that some more fat be added.

While a chap sitting at a corner quickly minces some onion and green chillies the the pork rind is dextrously sliced off, the meat and a little extra fat is coarse ground while some more hard belly fat is diced. Then all of this is mixed together with the spices, the mint and parsley, the onions, a little green chilly mince (and often some red chilly powder... that we omit). Squelched together dextrously into a rich, even and glutinous goodness.

Here's a video I found on YouTube that shows how the mixture is pushed into cleaned animal guts and braided into sauages

Once home, Baba pricks the sausages with a think needle to make sure they do not burst while they are cooked. Then a little water is added with a wee little salt and the sausages are simmered in a covered pan. 
The sausages soon release their own juices, seep liquid fat, and some very heavenly aromas! This hurried shot video does no justice really... You've just got to be there...

Once cooked some of the sausages end up with split skins, this is providential, since they release tasty goodness into the liquid that swaddles them and also because I use this as a neat excuse to quickly gobble them up :)

While most sausages have a singular unified taste, I love the granular texture of the meat in these ones, seeped with a bouquet of (very Indian) spices, the sweetness and bite from the onion, parsley and the hint of mint hiding somewhere while the little cubes of pork fat goodness induces umami. 

While one can make a curry out of these sausages, I like having them with bread, plain rice or naan... Just with the fat and juices the sausages produce while they cook.

These freeze and keep well in the fridge. For rather extended periods of time. Contrary to what people may tell you, they travel quite well. Else I would not be having them in Mumbai :)

Desperate Cupcakes...

Photo credit - http://onlyhdwallpapers.com

Mrudula and Srini's anniversary is a day away and she wanted to make cup cakes because Srini loves them. (Aside...Srini loves most things edible and just about vegetarian). So...

Now. Mrudula bakes in her mom's oven. This is an aluminium round contraption that was born when an electric heater met a largish tin can. A constraint if want to make lot of cupcakes.

After writing her a longish mail to 'help', I realized that it will make for a good read for a whole lot of people. Of course the references are Mumbai (Andheri) centric but that can be easily overcome. So.. here goes.

First I asked her to have a look at http://www.cupcakerecipes.com/ and then I wrote...

"You can (and perhaps will) waste a lot of time looking for recipes and stuff. Here is what I would do:

• Divide the effort estimate into two parts:
1. The cup cake
• I am assuming you have the baking tins for muffins/cupcakes. If you don't:
• Borrow them from me along with the liners today
• Buy them from Arif Le Mould (Get out of Andheri West station at the end of the road that passes by the McDonalds . Please buy normal liners. The fancy liners look pretty when you buy everyone ignores them when wolfing the cup cake down and you are not going to have a photo-shoot... So...
• Please go buy three Betty Crocker instant cake mixes (Suggest 1 chocolate, 1 vanilla or something like that, 1 pineapple cake or something).
  Suggest you don't experiment with the Indian cake mixes. They make drier cakes and are slightly less tolerant to mistakes than Betty Crocker.
  With these:
• It is easy to divide into half or quarter
• Just crack an egg and add some oil and you are done with the batter
• The other easy recipe is to have a 1:1:1 ratio of butter/oil, egg, and flour, add sugar, a pinch of salt and a little baking powder. Mix the solids together and then the liquids/butter separately. Sieve the solids into the mixed liquids and you are ready to bake :)
  Short-cut tip - If you add mashed banana into this, you get banana cup cake :)
  
2. The cup cake decoration:
1. Buy. Don't make as far as possible, since you have a small oven and part of a day:
• I believe people eat cupcakes since they look pretty. So so and buy multiple colours of ready made icing. They squeeze out from tubes like tooth paste, cost quite a bit and save enormous amounts of time
• Buy a can of 'spray-on' whipping cream or a pack of Blue-bird instant cream
2. If really want to make from scratch make a chocolate ganache and dunk cupcake tops into it and put sprinkles or stuff on it.
   This explains how to make it...
   http://eatbhaieat.blogspot.in/2011/04/chocolate-ganache.html
3. Here are some decoration ideas:
• Put whipped cream on top of the cup cakes and:
• Add a couple of pink or other coloured marshmallows on top
• Add a tinned or fresh fruit like cherries, orange bits, banana, pineapple etc.  The fruit crunch and citric element balances the flavours and texture of the cake
• Coloured icing from the tubes I wrote about earlier
• Want to really get the taste-buds go bonkers? Top with canapés (e.g. Monaco biscuit with a lump of cheese etc.)"

It sounds a bit domineering but then...

The pre-Diwali office pot-luck...

I've always landed up in offices where people love to eat... IETS has been no exception. The gang from the BKC office has transported their urge to eat all things nice to the Saki Naka second office untarnished and if anything enhanced :)

Sharp at 1 I got a call from Ophi summoning me to the second floor for the lunch...

The alluring part for me about this feast was the fact that almost everything was home-made...

The spread on the table started with Farrari Patties. Now this is something that is had during उपवास/upwas, so it came with a bowl of smooth and sweetened whipped dahi...

Farrari Patties

The term farrari relates to all things that are used during upwas. The potato enclosed and deep fried roundels themselves had a yummy filling of flaky hand grated coconut shavings with an interesting blend of fresh shredded herbs.

Inside the Farrari Patties...

The staples like chappatis and rice were bought to save the trouble for everyone...

To go with the rice Rajesh's wife had made a very nice and homely Sindhi Kadi (सिन्धी कढ़ी) 

Rupa had brought some Undiu--the quintessential touch of Gujarat. Awesome to eat, nightmarish in terms of logistics to make...

Aishwarya made and got a light and fragrant pulao (पुलाव)

A fragrant pulao

... and to go with it, a light and interesting mixed vegetable curry...

Shobha introduced the flavour of the Southern reaches of India with Idlies and Mulaga Podi (also know as Gun Powder, Sambhar, and some awesome coconut chutney. 

Idly

Mulaga Podi aka Gun Powder

Gingelly Oil

Idly, Gun Powder (Mulaga Podi), in Sambhar

Awesome coconut chutney

I'd contributed a simple Bengali style Methi phorondiyey Phulkopi aar Palngshaker Torkari (মেথী  ফোড়ন দিয়ে ফুলকপি আর পালক শাকের তরকারি)  (Palak and Cauliflower Curry) ... Most of which was devoured by the time I landed up to click a photo for posterity... So I am guessing it was liked :)

মেথী  ফোড়ন দিয়ে ফুলকপি আর পালক শাকের তরকারি  (Palak and Cauliflower Curry)

After the spread was done, I moved on to the sweet bit. Ophi had made her hugely popular (and trademark :P) Mangalorean Coconut Cake

Ophi's Mangalorean Coconut Cake

A piece of Ophi's Coconut Cake

Sujyothi and Beni contributed and got some yummy Kesar Jalebis

A box full of Jalebis

Jalebi

The to end the desert section, Abhijit and Venkat enleashed tubs of Fruit Salad with Ice-cream from Aditi

Of course good things in combination taste divine... So I dolloped some of the fruit salad with some coconut cake to make things happier still :)

Combo of Fruit salad, ice cream and Ophi's Coconut Cake...

Meghalaya Smoke-cured Pork Salad with Honey Whiskey Cider Vinegar Dressing

Mary returned from Shillong after an extended 'sojourn' and back brought goodies... Whee!
One of the things that got me all excited was the smoked pork and beef that she got back from home. Resisting the temptation to gobble up the entire (and meagre) stock of the exquisite meat was (and is) difficult. 

A growling stomach reminded me to keep is simple and quick while I tried to decide what to make myself from brunch so I pulled out the first good looking bell pepper from the fridge and tossed, washed and the cleaned the cherry tomatoes that I got from Dadar.

The yellow bell pepper adds a little Warhol to the mix...

A fistful of cherry tomatoes..

 The broccoli beckoned from the crisper and was quickly distributed into crisp little morsels that would do well to contrast both the colour and the texture. Pottery class has resulted in a surfeit of bowls and one of them was quickly pressed into service to do a quick 2 minute nuke of the broccoli florets while I got the other things in place...

Broccoli Florets

 The smoke pork wafted out from the freezer and filled the kitchen with a heavenly aroma as I broke off a bit and chopped them into small morsels...

Smoked pork from Meghalaya...

I wanted a dressing that would be balanced with a little warmth so I pulled out a little whiskey and got the apple cider vinegar (from Himachal) and some glorious honey from the Pune apiculture institute... A teaspoon of each went into a shot glass and whisked with a dash of olive was all ready to make my Sunday happy :) 

Honey, Whiskey and a little Cider Vinegar for the dressing

All ready to pour some goodness...

 The pepper quickly got chopped into little pieces and tossed into my salad vessel...

Yellow bell pepper pieces

Next, in went a fistful of cherry tomatoes to add some sunshine and burst into happiness when I bit into the brunch...

Cherry tomatoes to the mix...

The steaming warm and yet still crunchy enough broccoli came out from the microwave and quickly joined the mix

Microwave quick steamed broccoli 

A warm layer of broccoli...

The pieces of meat went in after this...

Add the smoked pork shreds...

... a sprinkle of salt, a splash of the dressing and brunch was ready...