STREET STALLS, Mumbai

Bade Miyan is a indian street barbecue, opens at 4 pm in the Tullock Rd. Serving tasty chicken tikka roll, boti kebab etc. Started up as a small street vendor and is now very popular.

It was interesting so see how they make the kebabs and the rotis.

Favorite Dish: Fresh grilled kebabs of lamb or chicken.

Bade miyan is easy to locate if you are a non-vegetarian, tired and hungry. When you take the corner from the Colaba Causeway, you can smell the aroma from the tandoor, its close to another old restaurant the Baghdadi.

It will be busy and tables are on the street, so dont waste time waiting for your turn, stick with a table and you will land in it with persistance. Since you are here for non-veg you better stick with it, this isn't a place for vegetarians.

This place is quite legendary. I wonder how BMC allows a roadside restaurant to function in the highly busy and commercial Colaba area. There is a rumour that a past municipal commissioner was a gr8 fan of this place and gave it legal sanction.

Favorite Dish: I ordered mutton kebabs, chicken roll, which is quite filling. The tangdi kabab also deserves another helping.

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Earlier Juhu had a clutch of beach side stalls doting the shoreline with absolutely no space to laze around, but thankfully the BMC has cleared them up and has alloted a few stalls to come up near the beach, cos Mumbai or for that matter India will be left without any spice without the road-side eateries, they make the picture complete.

Favorite Dish: Pav bhaji, ice gola, pani puri, kulfi... if these dont sound mouth-watering to you, then you can check out the next tip or stay in your hotel!!!!

Green Chilli Ice Cream
By
Vikram Karve

I love ice cream. A friend of mine told me that there is a place opposite the Chowpatty Sea Face in Mumbai India that serves “green chilli” ice cream. I didn’t believe him. I have savored myriad flavours of ice cream but “green chilli ice cream” seemed a bit far fetched. The very concept of green chilli ice cream whetted my curiosity so much that at sunset I was standing in front of Bachelorr’s (that’s the spelling on the menu card) Ice Cream and Juice Stall, my appetite fully stimulated by a long brisk walk.

The ice cream looks a creamy pink (not chilli green as I had expected it to be). I close my eyes and smell the ice cream – a nice sweet milky fragrance, a bit fruity; certainly no trace of the piquant penetrating sting of chillies. With a tremor of trepidation I spoon a bit of the green chilli ice cream on my tongue.

My taste buds are smothered by a sweet mellifluous sensation as the cold creamy ice cream starts melting on my tongue. I am disappointed, feel conned – it seems it was just hype. This is run of the mill stuff. Or is it? Wait a moment. As the ice cream melts away I suddenly feel a sharp piercing fiery taste that sizzles my tongue, stings through my nose and penetrates my brain. My tongue is on fire and, like instant firefighting, I instinctively spoon a blob of ice cream onto my tongue. The cool ice cream quenches my burning tongue with its almost ambrosial taste but the moment it melts away I am zipped like a rocket with the sharp punch of the green chillies.

So that was the art of eating green chilli ice cream. Hot and cold. Scorch and quench. Sting and soothe. Contrasting sensations. Like alternating current. Sharp tangy kicks burning through the cool syrupy sweetness till your system is fully perked up. And a trace of the biting tangy flavour of the green chilli remains within me for a long long time as I walk away.

VIKRAM KARVE
vikramkarve@sify.com

http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com

Favorite Dish: You don't get this zesty tangy ice cream anywhere else. Green chilli ice cream doesn’t satiate – it excites, stimulates, gives you a “kick”, zests you up. It’s a truly passionate delight.

It’s been a long time since I’ve relished a bowl of “green chilli ice cream” but the zestful taste still lingers on my tongue. Never before had I enjoyed eating ice cream so much. It was indeed a unique and passionate eating experience.

PANI PURI

One of India's favorite snack. The word "Pani" means water and "Puri" is puffed Indian bread. It is surely an experience eating Pani Puri. This popular Indian snack is also called Gol Gappa.

The Puri is a 1 1/2 inch puffed round Puri which is fried and filled with potato and/or green lentils and tamarind chutney and the Pani Puri (mint) water.

Favorite Dish: RECIPE:

Ingredients:
1 large packet bought golgappas or puris
For filling:
1 cup cooked chana (chick peas) or cooked white dry peas
2 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp garam masala powder
For jeera pani (cumin water) or sweet tamarind water:
1 large lemon size tamarind
6-8 tbsp sugar
2 tsp roasted jeera (cumin) powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garam masala powder
1/4 tsp rock salt
A bunch of mint leaves
Pani Puri


Method:
Heat oil in a pan and add the drained chana or peas with all the ingredients for filling.
Fry till a nice aroma appears. Remove into a vessel and allow it to cool.
Soak tamarind in 6 cups of boiled and cooled water.
Add all the other ingredients including the washed bunch of mint.
Let everything soak together for an hour. Squeeze well and strain through a seive..
Serve the jeera pani well chilled.
To serve the pani-puris:

Make a hole on top of each puri. Fill each puri with a teaspoon of the filling.
Dip the puri into the jeera pani and serve immediately or it will become soggy.
The jeera pani can also be served in a separate container.

I was recently in Mumbai and asked my driver to take me to Sri Krishna food stall near Dadar station. Fresh vadas are brought to the counter (fro the kitchen) every few minutes and disappear equally fast. There is a crowd of vada fans so you have to push your way through and get yours before they disappear. Of course the food here is dirt cheap but you will not be able to eat this kind of food in a fancy restaurant.

For those of you who are not familiar with batata vadas: "Batata" means potato in Mumbai (the word is of Portugese origin --- the Portugese were the first Europeans to trade with and then colonize India's Malabar -- Eastern -- coast). A spicy mixture of crushed (or sometimes mashed) boiled potatoes, green peas, bits of green chili, coriander and turmeric powder, cumin powder, cayenne pepper powder) is coated with chick-pea batter and fried. The resulting ball shaped vadas are delicious eaten with green chutney. Sometimes the vadas as served in "Pau" (another word of Portugese origin) ---bread roll (like a vegetarian version of hamburger).

Favorite Dish: Great Batata Vadas --- definitely the best I've had!

Some of the street stall food in India looks absolutely fantastic. . .but, it is always wise to consider the ingredients, the traffic (ie. turnover of goods) and your constitution that day.

I actually passed on the samosas these gentlement were preparing, due to the look of the fat they would be deep-fried in. . .but I had a bite to eat at a small stall on the street that the causeway runs off of. . .

Use your judgment and the knowledge you have of your own constitution.

For the best Bhurji (Scrambled eggs cooked in the local style, with plenty of spices and garnishings) head towards the suburb of Juhu and ask for Cooper Hospital.
The Stand is run by one Khursheed, it is only a night-time affair and is a popular destination for late night revelers and servicemen alike. Similar to Bade Miyan in Colaba the food is served on your car.

Favorite Dish: The Bhurji Pao available here is famous all over bombay. The Bhurji is spicy and served hot. The eggs are creamy and melt in your mouth. The pao is given a twice over on the same tawa (frying plate) used for the bhurji and hence soaks up all of the juices while getting slightly toasted. Infact there are rumours that some movie directors who frequent the stall have created characters in the local bollywood movies which are based on Khursheed (the Proprietor).
Pao Bhaji another local favorite is also available and a good change from the staple. But if your going here for the first time you must, just absolutely must try the Bhurji Pao.