Happy Gudi Padwa

Gudi Padwa is one of the most auspicious festival celebrated all over Maharashtra.There is a history which states the importance of this festival.It is said that there was a king called Shaalivaahan.He defeated all the demons in his kingdom on this day and started a peaceful era.This was also the beginning of new year.Gudi Padwa falls in the first  month of Marathi Calender which is Chaitra.Eventually,this is the new year for all maharashtrian people.This is considered to be a good occassion to buy a new house or new car or any other big purchase.

On this day,Gudi means a stick is hung on the window or at the entrance of every house,topping it up with a piece of silk cloth and any metal pot (upside down) .Then the stick is tied neatly and worshiped with a garland of marigold flowers ,haldi-kumkum and aarati. Idols of god ,goddesses and vehicles are then worshiped in the morning.Also,Rangoli is put at the entrance and the door is decorated with different types of flower or artificial garlands.Gudi stands for unity and co-operation.It is said that Gudi spreads  the message to resolve ill feelings and hatred among everyone.

Gudi Padwa,since the most important day,calls for sweet treats in every house.People all over Maharashtra make different delicacies on this day depending on their traditions,caste and tastes.Urban people in cities like Mumbai,Pune,Nasik prefer to make Puri-Bhaji and Shrikhand (sweet hung curd with dry fruits) on Gudi Padwa.In some parts of Maharashtra people make puran poli (sweet flat bread) or even aamras (mango pulp).Infact it is seen that people start eating mangoes only after offering it to the God on Gudi Padwa and then have it all over the season.

What's in the box??!....By Kirti Pataskar

India is a diversified country and best known for its ' unity in diversity'.As there is a variety in its states,regions,cities,geographical locations,climate and clothing,there is also a huge unbeatable variety in its food .Food all over India differs from region to region,state to state.But the most important fact about Indian cooking is that it has  one thing in common  which is infinitely identical.And that is its "Spice Box".In every Indian house,irrespective of its caste,creed,community you will find this "spice box".It is  as an inseparable and inevitable part of Indian Cuisine all over the world.It will not be exaggerated to say that Indian cuisine is  incomplete without this little metal container which is called as "spice box".

Maharashtra is one such the proud state in India and something definitely more than a mere sugar-producing state..!Yes.We have immensely creative ,home-ground spice mixtures,masala powders with us through which some world-famous delicacies like misal pav,puranpoli,batata wada have taken shape .

So here is a Maharashtrian Spice box.It is also called as "Mishranacha dabba" or "Panchpaal" indicating five small katoris in it.Eventually,five katoris have been replace by seven or more,keeping in mind the growing families and their varied cooking methods. There is a  lid on top of this container so the flavours of these spices do not fade away.Let us start with right side center katori or small size steel bowl.(We will go anti-clock wise).There is Mohri (mustard seeds) which is compulsary in almost all the tempering or Fodni that we give to any vegetable or dal.Then there is Jeera (Cumin seeds).There is Goda Masala.It is basically  Maharahstrian Brahmin spice powder.It is called Goda masala because unlike Garam Masala there are no strong flavoured spices in it.Goda Masala is mainly prepared with  coriander seeds,dry coconut,sesame seeds,haldi,chilli powder,bay leaf  and a bit of shahijeera.Then there is home-ground dhania-jeera powder.(cumin-coriander powder).Then proceeds chilli powder,Turmeric powder and the center katori is of Fenugreek seeds..Methi dana.Methi dana is not widely used in Maharashtrian cooking.Sometimes Methi dana is used in tadka of Kadhi etc.

All these spices are bought together to store for an year.They are sun-dried,roasted and then grounded in our beloved kitchens and restored for all the delicacies prepared during the entire year.

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.

Feel like Maharaja @ Maharaja Bhog.. by Chandan Tahasildar

If any one would have told me that one day you will go out to have veg thali, I would have just burst out laughing.
I am strictly non vegetarian when it comes to dinner outing.
But it changed. The last month of 2015 made it possible.
We had a team outing and somehow 1 more non veg lover like me, Robert, had a thought to taste veg thali. After discussing many options we finalised Maharaja Bhog at inorbit mall, Malad.

Just outside the restaurant are some fine paintings which will attract you.
Don't know how but those paintings gave me a positive feeling that this dinner would be memorable. It happened too.
Once you enter the restaurant you have a feeling that you have come to Royal place. The interior majorly in shades of yellow, will make you feel that you are in the vintage era.

Once you take the seat a waiter will come with big brass vessels. Those were to wash your hands. He will pour water from the brass jug and you just have the feeling of "wow.." I am treated great.
The next thing come to you is the welcome drink in a brass glass.
The server told us that this is special sharbat made of Chandan (sandal wood)and keshar (saffron). Heavenly.. no other word suits it. It was not less than nectar.
Then comes the dishes. The dishes, the bowls, all are made of brass. It was really looking superb even with those empty dishes.
And here comes the food. We were first served with Khaman Dhokla, khandavi and a chirimiri with 3 different chatanees. Chirimiri - a small patice like thing which had stuffing inside and outer covering of flour. Baked finely and tasted delicious. I was not too keen to have it first but when I tasted it, I had atleast 4 more.
The dhokla was good too. Then they started with a list of food items. The list is tempting and enough to activate your taste buds. Misal, Papad, Dal, Kadhee, 3 vegetables. Roti, Puri, 2 sweets, butter milk, rice, khichadi and I am sure I have still missed 2-3 items. The thali when full was looking so rich and heavy that I felt I shall have to parcel half of this. But the food was amazingly great and I couldn't stop myself from overeating. If I write about each one I shall have to practically divide  this blog in 3 parts.
I did not find any of the stuff mentioned above which was below the expectations barring the pickle. That was the only weak link in the whole menu.
The Dal was thick and it tasted great with both Roti and Rice. Potato subjee had a different masala and it was nice too. But the highlight of the menu was the bitter guard. I had never found bitter guard so much in demand in so many years. To reduce its bitterness the chef had smartly used shredded coconut and little of garlic.
The bengali sweet was mouth watering and it made all of us forget the calorie count for the day. The khichadi with homemade ghee was one more superb combination that was great in taste.
One more thing needs a mention was the server and the waiters. They were very warm and insisting us to have food compliantly. They made us believe that "Atithi devo bhav" written on their aprons was not just for show and they mean it.

After the dinner again one of the waiter came with that brass vessel to wash hands. We were really feeling as if we are from the Royal Family. Then came the meethaa paan. It had clove in it to digest the food and and to aid as mouth freshener.

We were more than happy with what we had.. but still we wanted to end it with the superhit find of the day - the Chandan sharbat. Though it was the welcome drink, they obliged our request and served it again to all of us.
The share per person was around INR 400. For such amazing food and service it is definitely more than worth.
After having such rich, delicious and heavy dinner it was impossible to move out immediately. So we decided to sit there and had a chat with colleagues. We were there for minimum 15-20 mins even after the bill was paid and no one came to disturb us or there was no such sign to make us feel that you are done and its time for you to go.
Finally we had to move but with the plan of coming with family or with friends again..