Tasty Harbhara on firewood cooking..........By Kirti Pataskar

We all have heard and learnt in our school days that when cooking gas was not invented ,people would use firewood or charcoal for cooking.This type of cooking had many down sides and thus giving rise to an invention of cooking gas.First of all,firewood cooking emits lot of smoke.It lights very late .So obviously it is time-consuming method.Also,it used to harm the environment as lots n lots of trees were cut for the firewood.On the other hand,cooking gas is easy to use,lights quickly and saves time for the modern day homemakers.But one of the greatest advantage or say, a brownie point,that firewood cooking having was the food tastes immensely good and delicious done on it.While in the last month I travelled to Akola,one of the village-turned-city in famous vidarbha region of Maharashtra,I got an opportunuity to see and experience this cooking.Since it was winter,there was wet bengal gram plants (ola harbhara in marathi) available in plenty everywhere.

This is Ola Harbhara.you can see shelled peas hanging on the branches.

My mama sasurji put some woods and papers to light  the fire

My in-laws' house is a big bunglow with luscious fruit trees like guava,pomegranate,bananas,lemon in the front and some beautiful flower plants in the back of their garden.Needless to say, their heart is also as bis as their house.!There is also a mud-tank (maaticha haud in marathi) and a tap in the back.So,one can pluck the fruit,wash it under the running tap and gulp it to his heart!! Can you imagine such pleasure in city?!

Mama happily roasting bengal gram branches on firewood!

My distant and loving father-in-law (Narendra mama) brought a bunch of these Bengal Gram branches and lit the fire in his backyard with the help of 4 bricks and gathered pieces of  woods from his own garden in his bunglow.He roasted these harbhara along with its branches.The result was divine! The tastiest barbequed harbhara which has just come out of his firewood methodology.!

As an urbanite,it was a fantacy for me to see mama cooking so confidently and using firewood.Well,it was not new to rest of them.We all enjoyed this earthen smelled bengal gram very much!

This is how it looks once it is done.Nicely earhen style barbequed harbhara  

सरदार पावभाजी - चंदन तहसीलदार

सरदार पावभाजी

ताडदेवची सरदार पावभाजी हे आता मुंबईमधल्या खवय्यांसाठी प्रसिद्ध ठिकाणांपैकी एक आहे. पर्यटकांसाठी असलेल्या "must visit" मधेही त्याचे नाव असावे. मी तिथे गेलो तेव्हा  तिथे पावभाजी खात असलेल्या 2 यूरोपीय (किंवा रशियन किंवा ऑस्ट्रेलियन) तरुणी तरी असंच सुचवत होत्या.
कांदिवलीतल्या भगवती पावभाजी बद्दल "we foodians" वर लिहिल्यानंतर मला सरदार पावभाजी बद्दलही लिहावे असं सुचवणारे 2-3 संदेश आलेत. (मी त्यांना घेऊन जावे असाही त्यांचा उद्देश् असू शकतो) पण रात्री 2 वाजता गणपती विसर्जनाची मिरवणूक पाहुन घरी जात असताना इथून जवळच ते ठिकाण आहे असं मला कळाले आणि मग 3 दिवसांत मी तिथे पुन्हा हजर झालो. अर्थात याचे पूर्ण श्रेय माझी जिवलग मैत्रीण शुभांगी आणि हरहुन्नरी व्यक्तिमत्व सामंत सर यांना जाते.
साधारण संध्याकाळी 5 च्या सुमारास मी जेव्हा सरदार पावभाजी खायला पोहोचलो तेव्हा ते निम्मे सुद्धा भरलेले नव्हते. अर्थात हे उत्तमच झाले कारण त्यामुळे गोंगाटाशिवाय आरामात बसून पावभाजीचा आनंद घेता येणार होता.
मेनू कार्ड वर अनेक प्रकारच्या पावभाजींची नावे होती पण आज मी ऑथेंटिक पावभाजी खायलाच आलो होतो. तहान लागलेली असल्याने मी पावभाजी सोबत संत्र्याचा ज्यूसही मागवाला.
आर्डर यायला साधारण 10 मिनिटे लागली. तोवर मी भोवतालच्या वातावरणाचे निरिक्षण केले.
प्रकर्षाने लक्ष वेधुन घेणारी गोष्ट होती तिथल्या भिंती. मुंबईमधल्या ऐतिहासिक वास्तुंचे 'ब्लॅक एंड व्हाइट' फोटो वर्तमानपत्राची बातमी कापून लावल्यासारखे लावले होते. ते दिसायला तर सुंदर दिसतच होते पण आमची पावभाजीसुद्धा तशीच पूर्वापार प्रसिद्ध आहे हा संदेशसुद्धा त्यातून दिला जात होता.
इथल्या पावभाजीचे प्रमुख वैशिष्ट्य हे की भाजीवर ते लोण्याचा एक मोठा गोळा टाकतात. गरम गरम भाजीवर वितळणारे लोणी पाहुन तोंडाला असे पाणी सुटते म्हणून सांगू..

आमच्याही पुढ्यात पावभाजी आली तेव्हा आमचीही तीच अवस्था झाली होती. पावभाजी मस्तच होती. शंकाच नाही. मोठ्या तव्यावर, मंद आचेवर छान मिक्स करुन बनवलेली भाजी आणि त्याच तव्यावर भाजल्यामुळे मसाला लागलेले लोणीयुक्त पाव. झक्कासच!!
वाटाणे आधी शिजवून, वाटून मग भाजीत टाकले असावेत कारण त्यांचा वेगळा वास किंवा चव किंवा जो एक वेगळेपणा जाणवतो तो जाणवत नव्हता.

पण एका प्लेट मधे इतके लोणी थोड्या प्रमाणात तरी भाजीच्या चवीवर वरचढ होत होते. ज्या भागात लोणी नव्हते तो भाग खाल्ल्यावर भाजीची खरी चव कळाली.
जर तुम्ही "डाइट कॉन्शस" वगैरे प्रकारात मोडत असाल तर तुमच्यासाठी हा चुकीचा पत्ता आहे.
एका पावभाजी साठी तुम्हाला ₹११५ मोजावे लागतात. मुंबईतल्या इतर कुठल्याही पावभाजीच्या मानाने थोड़ी महागच. पण 50 वर्ष जुन्या आणि मुंबईमधल्या सर्वात प्रसिद्ध पावभाजीची चव घ्यायची असेल तर काही फार जास्त नाहीत.
बरेच जण म्हणतात की ही मुंबईची सर्वोत्तम पावभाजी आहे पण मला विचाराल तर फक्त ही "खूप छान" पावभाजी आहे. सर्वोत्तम हवी असेल तर माझ्या घरी यावं लागेल माझ्या आईच्या हातची पावभाजी खायला..!!

-चंदन तहसीलदार

Bhagvati Paav Bhaaji by Chandan Tahasildar

Like 99.999% girls in Mumbai, my wife too likes Paav Bhaji as her favourite snack if we choose to go for fast fooding.
In Mumbai we have numerous options for Paav Bhaji. But few are famous. One such name I am listening since my childhood is Bhagavati Paav Bhaji.
Their main location is Irani Wadi in Kandivali west.
My wife always used to praise Paav Bhaji which she had at her native, Dhule. Anf I used to always tell her, "because you have not had Bhagavati Paav Bhaji yet." So even she was exited to taste it. 

Too much for the introduction now. Let's come to on board experience.

I have been to Bhagavati many times and the only thing which I slightly dislike is the locality. The locality is very crowded and unless you are in front of hotel, it is unlikely to guess that such famous place is so nearby.

But once you enter, the delicious smell from the nearby tables works as appetizer. I ordered butter Paav Bhaji for my better half and dry fruit Paav Bhaji for self.
It took around 15 mins for order to come. And both of us were really counting minutes. But that wait was worthy. The first bite you take and you are lost in the taste..
Believe me it is immense pleasure to have that first bite of Paav Bhaji. Rich of butter, rich in taste, rich in calories.. who cares.. All you want to do is gulp it.. The dry fruit Paav Bhaji which I ordered was just yummy. There was no hesitation by the cook to use cashews and almonds. And I did not hesitate to clean the dish and even licked my fingers. If you like you can have it with thumbs up or try it with lassi or you can just try the different versions of paav bhaji here. 

It is worth to experience once.When I asked my wife bout it.. well you know, for married women any thing from their native is always the best.. But I am sure this article is tempting enough for you to try it. And if you are going, don't forget to invite me..

Till then..  love what you eat..

- Chandan Tahasildar.

Made In Punjab by Chandan Tahasildar

The best things about birthdays is Obviously the party. 2 of my friends had birthday last week and we decided to celebrate it with lunch.
I normally volunteer myself on such occasions to decide place for 2 reasons.
1. It gives me opportunity to check list the options available.
2. I can suggest the places which I have not tried yet.
For these 2 reasons I selected Made in Punjab for this lunch.
The hospitality of Punjabis didn't disappointed us.
The ambience is good. The seating arrangement is either for 4 or for 6. So if you are in bigger group, this could be little inconvenient for you. But this I  felt was the only drawback of this otherwise customer friendly restaurant.
They offer both a-la-carte and buffet. For obvious reason to try and taste more, we decided to have buffet.
They serve the starters at your table. The very first dish itself was innovative and delicious. It was sev paapadi. These were 3 paapadis normally used for sev puri. The green chatanee made up of pudeena and coriander, and the sweet chatanee were applied on it. Then there was topping of curd and sev.

This was  so yummy that we had 2 rouds of it. One more thing which I liked was fruit masala. Fruits like apple and guava were cut in to pieces and dipped in masala and then roasted a little. This was really new and fantastic. The taste was great and the newness of the recipe was exiting.
Paneer tikka masalaa was superb as usual. The veg patice was good too.
Non veg starters were pleasant tasting. Specially the roasted chicken and the crispy Amritsar fish fry. Being hardcore fish lover, I repeated the fish and sev paapadi.
Then we started with main course. The table arranged with salad and pickle was tempting.
Many options were available for both veg and non veg. The mutton curry needs a mention. I have eaten mutton at many places but everywhere you get it like this. This was really nicely cooked. It was soft as paneer. In the Indian breads, the naan and butter roti were nice too but the highlight was lachha paratha. It was wonderful.
Wait, everything going so great. What if I tell you that the best is yet to come.
The creamy chicken was the standout dish of the day. Reddish gravy with soft chicken and cream over it.. oh yum yum..    Even while I am writing it, I can feel that taste on my tounge.
The chicken biryani was nice. But after having so much of food there was very little place for anything. And I had to keep some place for deserts.
Kheer and laukee halwa also known as dudhee halwa were the sweet dishes. The halwa was mouthwatering. It was amazingly great.
Wait our journey of getting amazed never end here. The tissue paper here were most unique. It was just a small roll, smaller than a half chalk. But when the waiter pour a little water on it, it grew bigger in size. This was so funny that just to see it again, we asked one more tissue. The waiter must be habituated to this. He smiled and repeated it again for us. The tissues were sainted.
Then comes one more magic box. A box with six little drawers in it. All these drawers were having mouth fresheners.
It was such a cute thing that I couldn't stop myself from clicking it. And I was not surprised to see the family on the neighboring table was doing the same.
Then came the bill. The cost for the buffet was 550 per person excluding taxes and service fee. After the bill came we realized that we have a 10% discount on my office id. We requested them to change bill and again the request was honoured with a smiling face.
Overall like bhangada.. here too the Punjabis rocked..

- Chandan Tahasildar.