#365PerfectFoodles - 49 The Mumbai / Bombay sandwich in all its glory! With step by step foodles this time.

 

Last week I had the priviledge of showcasing Mumbai streetfood to KF Seetoh an authority on Singaporean food who is famous for his documentation of Singaporean street food through books, TV shows and the website Makansutra through a street food tour of Mumbai. An while on it I rediscovered favourite streetfoods and the generosity of my city. My top three Street foods are the Mumbai Sandwich, the Mysore Masalla Dosa and the Frankie so i thought I would feature them in my foodles. Here is a foodle and a recipe for the Mumbai Sandwich. 

The iconic Bombay / Mumbai Sandwich available with sandwichwallas on just about every street and street corner is in my opinion one of Mumbai's most delicious street foods. Everytime I watch it's assembly, I'm amazed at the colours in the many layers that make it up!  I love getting my fingers into the sandwich and purposly get clumsy so bits of vegetables will fall out and collect in the paper receptacle. These, vegetable bits marinated in their own juices, the masala and drips of sauce are just delicious and I will lick my fingers every time!

I have been wanting to do a foodle of the Mumbai Sandwich for a while now, but it took me a while to figure out how to do it. After a few foiled attempts at getting it all done on one page and deleting everything one time, I finally drew each layer seperately in detail and assembled them, just like a sandwichwalla would! Which allowed me to do the first step by step foodle recipe today :). Personally I think this is my most JHAKKAAAS one yet LOL. 

 

First the Sandwichwallah will trim the bread of its brown sides and lay upto 8 slices of bread out before him in two rows, lined up so that the top and bottom slices are matched. These will be generously buttered with Amul butter and spread with his spicy coriander chutney over (each has his own 'signature' recipe for the chutney and the best ones are defined by their chutney.

Once his canvas is laid he will dextrously shave thin slices of vegetables onto the bread in layers with a sharp knife capable of slicing through fingers; boiled potatoes, tomatoes, onions cucumber, beetroot and place the other slice of bread on top. Pressing the whole sandwich down he will cut the whole into 6 bitesized pices. One can pick the vegetables one prefers, to be included but I like mine

with the works, topped with the traditional pumpkin sauce (a cheaper alternative to ketchup) although most sandwichwallas now use ketchup. Once the sandwich is ready it will then be wrapped in newspaper for easy takeway and handed over to eager takers.

Trim the edges of the bread slices and discard crust (optional). Generously butter the bread slices. And then spread with chutney.

Add a layer of cooked potatoes

Add a layer of tomato slices and a sprinkle of Sandwich Masala.

Add a layer of sliced onion.

Add a layer of sliced raw beetroot

Add a layer of sliced cucumber.

Top with slice of buttered shutneyed bread.

Add a squiggle of sauce.

Cut into 6 retangles.

Mumbai veg sandwich (Time 10 minutes, aserves 2-4)

8 slices of white bread preferably Wibbs for authenticity

Amul Butter to spread generously

8 large tbsp spicy green mint coriander chutney (recipe below)

1 large potato, boiled and thinly sliced into rounds

1 beetroot, thinly sliced

1 cucumber thinly sliced

1 onion thinly sliced

1 tomato, thinly sliced

Sandwich Masala to sprinkle

Black salt to taste

Pumpkin sauce to top (or tomato ketchup)

Method

Trim the edges of the bread slices and discard crust (optional). Generously butter the bread slices. And then spread with chutney. Starting with the Potato layer each sliced vegetable onto the breads slices sprinkling with sandwich masala as you go. Cover the sandwich with a slice of bread press down tight and cut into 6 rectangles. Serve immediately with pumpkin sauce / tomato ketchup.

For the chutney:

1 cup mint leaves

1 cup coriander leaves

4-5 spicy green chillies

1/2 inch ginger

1 tsp cumin powder - optional

juice of 1/2 lemon - optional

1/3 tsp sugar

salt to taste

Grind all the above ingredients to a smooth paste using little water. Mix in the salt. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

#365PerfectFoodles - 47 My Grandmothers Chai Masala for my sister Himanshi's Bday!

My sister Himanshi, who runs Foodie trails with me had just one claim to fame for the longest time. The 'tomboy' of the family she could not cook anything but she made a mean cup of Gujarati style Masala Chai! It is her birthday today and I thought this would be appropriate as a foodie gift for her. It is also in continuation of the Sun dried theme of yesterday as this hot sumemr is whne spices are dried and powdered and put away for the year in India.

Especially since Foodie Trails and Beacon Holidays are hosting an event at Australia's Biggest Morning tea on 17th June in Melbourne to support the Cancer Foundation. They will be showcasing tea’s and coffees form places like India, Turkey Asia and Africa. I am so proud of Himanshi, for taking this initiative up. We all do business, but it takes a lot more than business sense to show heart and compassion.

Gujarati Masala Chai is made by literally cooking Chai Masalla in water with fresh herbs. And we usually make a batch of chai masala and store it in an airtight jar to last a couple of months. It makes brewing that cup of tea whenever required, that much faster, convenient on rainy days, when the craving strikes more often.

This mix is good for relieving the aches and pains of colds, coughs, flu and fevers. I must confess, I hardly ever make chai the Gujarati way any more. I switched loyalties to coffee a long time ago. Rainy days and lazy Sundays, sometimes have me craving for the intensely flavoured brew I grew up drinking however. It is for those days that I still make and store chai masalla just like my grandmother did albeit in smaller quantities. Who am I kidding? I do it because I love the ritual of doling out the spices, grinding them and mixing them together and above all the aroma that fills my home when I make it. 

It is also handy to add to puddings, cakes and other baked goodies. I also added it to Chikoo milkshake which I find offsets the caramel sweetness of the fruit.

Ingredients
200 g Saunth (Dried Ginger)
200 g cardamom
100 g Black pepper
50 g Clove
50 g Cinnamon
2 pcs Nutmeg
8 Bay leaves

Method

Dry all the ingredients in the sun or in a low temp oven for 2 hours to ensure no moisture is left. Grind each spice indivisually in a dry grinder or coffee grinder. Strain out larger pieces with a fine sieve and grind again. Combine all the powdered spices and mix well. Transfer to an airtight jar to store.

#365PerfectFoodles - 46 Sun Tea and Sun Cooked Mango Chutney for my column in HT.

 

The folks over at HT Weekend were sweet enought to let me draw the graphic for my column this month. 

So the Sun Tea illustration was for them, and here is the Column 

Turn off the gas. Roast, toast and brew in the sun

Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal - Hindustan Times Column (Look out for Spice Route on the first Sunday of every month)

I like the sun in small doses, but I don’t handle very well the sort of heat we’ve been having lately, and I do tend to complain about being cooked by the sun. Then, last weekend, I helped my mother and our maharaj prepare a year’s worth of chunda, a spicy-sweet mango preserve typicallymade in summer, and I realised that instead of cribbing about the heat, I could put the sun’s energy to some good use.

For hundreds of years, housewives, particularly in India, have used the sun to dry produce for use around the year. I have now joined their ranks, having spent the past month trying out different sun recipes on my balcony.

I have so far enjoyed considerable success with aam papad and sundried tomatoes. I was thrilled to successfully make aam papad or mango leather — something my grandmother made for us as kids. She would lay layers of mango purée out on a thali in the sun until they were reduced to thin, elastic film. We would wait impatiently for the fruit to dry out into luscious, golden-yellow, tangy goodness.

Aam papad is very easy to make: Just puree a cup of mango and spread thinly on a baking sheet or steel thali lined with 3 gm ghee. Cover with a net or muslin cloth and place in the sun. Take in at night, to prevent damage from dew. Continue until the mango is no longer sticky and has developed a smooth surface. You will know it is done when it easily peels off the thali. Roll into a cylinder and store in an airtight box.

You can dry apples, cherries, peaches, apricots, plums and strawberries in the same manner.

For the sun-dried tomatoes, slice cherry tomatoes or spoon tomatoes in half, sprinkle lightly with salt, olive oil, pepper and mixed herbs and spread out on a screen or flour sieve. Place in the sun until dry. Depending on the weather and the size of your tomatoes, this could take anywhere from four to seven days. Cover with a muslin cloth to keep insects and dust out and allow ventilation. Like the aam papad, you will need to bring it in at night, to prevent damage from dew.

This past month, I have also made sun tea, something my cousin, tea sommelier Snigdha Manchanda Binjola, first told me about. “Sun tea is the perfect antidote to summer laziness,” she always says. Snigdha warns, however, that brewing sun tea can encourage the growth of bacteria if left out for too long, so be careful.

That said, any tea can be brewed in the sun. So, for me, some days it’s English Breakfast with a slice of lemon and a few sprigs of mint; other days, it’s an Assam tea with sliced apple, cinnamon and cloves. Just combine and leave where the sun is hottest, for two to four hours. Then savour still warm from the sun, or have chilled, as iced tea.

Sun tea is much more mellow than regular tea, but the slow steeping really brings out the flavours — so herbal and floral teas work particularly well.

During my experiments with the sun, I remembered my friend Selin Rozanes, who conducts Turkish cooking tours in Istanbul, pointing to colorful bowls of jam lined up on balconies and in backyards. Turkish housewives often use the hot summer sun to finish cooking their jams and marmalades, Selin had said, adding that jams matured in the sun last longer and never crystallise.

This brought me full circle to the Gujarati chunda my grandmother made every year, which was cooked slowly for up to 20 days in the summer sun. Inspired, I decided to try a sun-cooked preserve. Alongside is the menu, so that you can try it too…

Sun Cooked Mango Chutney

Ingredients:

* 1/3 cup garlic, finely chopped

* 1/3 cup red chillies, finely chopped

* 10 peppercorns

* 2 cloves

* 8 large, semi-ripe mangoes, diced, stones reserved

* 12 red globe grapes, halved

* 1 tsp rock salt

* 3 cups sugar

* 2 cups wine vinegar

* 125 gm pitted red raisins

Method:

Soak chillies, garlic and spices in the vinegar for one hour. Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Combine mangoes, stones and grapes in a bowl. Add salt and leave for 15 minutes. Add vinegar mixture to fruit mixture. Stir in raisins and mix well. Transfer to a large flat tray. Cover with a muslin cloth and sun cook for three to four days (taking in at night to protect from dew), until mixture is reduced to jammy consistency. Transfer to a bottle, discarding stones, and store in refrigerator for up to two weeks. Serve as a chutney or on a cheese board with stinkier cheeses.

GYAAN and Links

Here is a link to the column on HTs website - http://www.hindustantimes.com/Entertainment/Food/Turn-off-the-gas-Roast-toast-and-brew-in-the-sun/Article1-858464.aspx 

My #365PerfectFoodles project was also featured in HT Cafe the same day in a story on food bloggers using technology on their blogs. Here ia link to the  PDF - https://www.box.com/s/f4ea7d507eb6d9b16161

#365PerfectFoodles - 39 Mom's Turiya Nu Shaak with thoughts from a daughter who became a mother

#365PerfectFoodles - 39 Mom's Turiya Nu Shaak

My Mother, Heena Munshaw and me

It really doesn’t matter how old one is, if one marries, becomes a mother oneself, TWICE, sets up one’s own business and (hopefully) goes on to conquer the world, one’s mother is always the source of infinite patience and calm. My husband still needles me because, no matter what decision I need to make I need to talk to my mother. And a bowl of her patented dal soup or Turiya nu Shaak has the power to fill up those holes caused by pain or fright that life brings. A sign that 'Mom is around and all is well with the world' .Or will be if she has anything to do with it!

I remember rolling my eyes whenever someone said “you will know what it is to be a parent when you have your own child”. Words that came back to ring in my years the first time I held my son in my arms. My mother stood by me, feeling every scream of pain, as my flesh tore and a piece of me separated from me. And until that precise moment – when that little bundle of weight nuzzled up to my breast , bringing the realization that I now have to be responsible for a whole new life – I didn’t REALLY know (you just don’t) what being a mother is. And as the realization hit, I turned to the one person who could make it all go away, my mother. And like always, she did.

On the way to or from South Mumbai, just before the turn off to Andheri from Bandra there is a sculpture of a mother and child on display with the words 'With the birth of a child a mother is born.' That is so true. I thought I had learnt the meaning of loving someone after I met and married Shekhar. I didn’t. Loving someone as any other relationship in our life, is vastly different from loving a child. From the moment of the child's conception, for the rest of our lives, being a parent is demanding, exhilarating, exhausting and humbling. Love for children, from the moment they are just a dot in the womb, makes us strong enough to fight the world for our child and yet vulnerable in the most infinite way because our child has a grip on your heart that will only tighten with each moment of its existence.

Being a mother means sleepless nights, stinky diapers, varied projectiles coming your way, giving up on wearing white, expensive jewelry, never going to the bathroom alone, never getting a moment alone (the day Aman started school I went and got myself a facial at the parlour next door!). Tremendous worry when your baby falls ill and constant worry even otherwise. Motherhood also brings the 'Not Me', the root of all mischief into your life.

Being a mother means accepting that he will never stop being your baby, even when he grows too big to fit in your lap and tall enough for you to rest your arm around his shoulder at social occasions. It also means living with the infinite awareness that you have to let him go and grow up and accept his life decisions, even if you disagree. It means watching him make his own mistakes no matter how much you want to protect him. It means tough love, losing your temper but living with it and being strong when he says 'I hate you.' Because he doesn’t know the meaning of what he is saying.

My kids, Aman and Natasha

Being a mother means you exhilarate in their wins and bite down on YOUR pain at their hurt because they need you to tell them it's okay. It means craving quiet but missing the noise when it is. Being a mother also means that you catch yourself saying the same things your mother said to you 'don’t talk with your mouth full, eat your veggies, put cream'; you know, the things you swore you'd never say and the return of studying subjects you thought were gone from your life forever. Being a mother means you no longer have a life.
 
But for all the sacrifice and pain Motherhood brings, it also brings back your childhood.  It means you can play with toys without people thinking you are weird, sing silly songs, watch cartoons (and  Shinchan yet again!!!), travel to imaginary worlds. It means hearing gems from the mouths of babes, endless hugs and kisses, beautiful smiles that brighten your worst moments, infinite love of the purest kind. You discover that between your arms is a safe haven and in you is an endless strength. It makes you ‘yummy super mummy’ (nope I kid you not, my daughter tells me that all the time!) and the most beautiful perfect woman in their eyes at least. It also means watching them sleep, even when they're big because and asking time fly a little slowly….

Most of all motherhood makes us appreciate out mothers so much more. Thank you Ma, for everything, especially the Turiya nu Shaak!

Mom's Turiya Nu Shaak - Ridge Gourd stew  Time: 20 minutes; Serves: 3 to 4

This is a simple home-style preparation my mother makes that I love. Traditionally served as a vegetable, it can also pass off as a chunky soup. Ridge Gourd is an indiginous Indian gourd vegetable that is very good to eat in this hot summer weather. For best results, cook just before serving and do not cover while cooking. I like to eat this with just steamed rice. 


Ingredients 
1 tbsp / 30 ml oil
½ tsp / 2 gms asafoetida
½ tsp / 2 gms mustard seeds 
1 to 2 / 2 gms green chillies, slit 
1 kg ridge gourd, peeles halved lengthwise and cut into inch long pieces 
1 tsp / 5 gms soda bicarbonate
1 cup /250 ml water
Salt to taste 

Method
Heat oil in a pan, add the asafoetida and mustard seeds. When the seeds splutter, add the green chillies and the ridge gourd. Add the Soda Bicarb and stir well. Add salt and water  and cook uncovered or cover with water on the lid (this spreads the heat and when the water is reduced, it means the food is cooked). Cook till the gourd is tender and has let forth its juices.

#365PerfectFoodles - 27 - Zhanzhanit Thencha Potatoes for Maharashtra Day !

 

“Zhanzhanit”- means electrifyingly spicy in Marathi, its an exclusive word used for chilli preparations, mostly the ones that are so hot that it makes one cry while eating. Marathi is the regional language of my home state of Maharashtra and the Maharashtrian communities that live here. This is the state in which Mumbai, the city where I was born, is located and I like to think there is a lot of Maharashtrian in me :) I have also grown up eating Maharashtrian food.  

Chillies which are intrinsic for adding heat to Indian food, only came to us in India in the 17th century with the advent of the Portugese. But for an ingredient that entered our cuisine so late, they managed to make themselves irreplaceable very quickly. Today they are extensively used and every region in India grows a different variety of chillies. Green chillies are used in daily cooking as part of the tempering, to spice up chutneys and salads but usually for their heat alone. 

The Maharashtrian Mirchi Thencha is one of the few Chilli recipes that roasts chillies to make a rustic condiment named after the method of preparation it calls for (Thencha means pounded). The smoky flavour from the roasting adds to the heat of the chillies and the aroma of the garlic. 

Preparation Time: 20 minutes; Serves: 4

Ingredients:

For Thencha
1/2 c hot spicy Green chillies
1 c Garlic, peeled
Salt to taste
Peanuts, toasted and crushed (optional)
Oil

For Thencha Potatoes
250g Baby potatoes par-boiled in salted water with jackets on
1 cup stock
2 tbsp of the Thencha
Salt to taste (if required

Method:
For Thencha : Roast chillies and garlic on a hot pan till slightly blackened. 

Place  in a mortar and pestle or blender and process to a coarse paste with salt and peanuts (if using). 

When done transfer to a jar. Thecha can be stored for 4-5 days in the refrigerator.

To make Thencha Potatoes : Mix Thencha with stock and add the potatoes. Toss well until coated. Taste and adjust seasoning if required. Cook till potato jackets are crisp (add 2 tsp of oil towards the end if you like).