Pinku-Enchanted Life

Vada Pao the quintessential Bombay street food like all true street foods is essentially a very simple dish which uses flavors which 99% people would love. What’s not to love about fried potatoes and warm bread, anyway? Since our anando mela sees a fair amount of non Bengali navratra celebrating guests I made it a point to have two chutneys to go with my vada pao. The first a green coriander, mint chutney with no onion or garlic and the other the ‘must’ dry chutney that goes with vada pao made with red chillies and garlic. To my surprise I ran out of Vada paos even before I finished my Sali boti and that says something. Here is the recipe for all of it. Warning: the recipes may not be totally authentic for I do let my tongue and mind overrule most cook books. Ingredients: 1 kg potato – boiled peeled and mashed Pao – I got store bought ones Vegetable oil Asafoetida – a tsp, I like the flavor so usually use more, you can use a pinch if not too happy with it Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp Green...

This Anando Mela (home cooked food stalls at Durga Puja Pandals on usually the first day of the festivities, for those who don’t know about it) I planned to do a thematic stall basis a certain kind of cuisine instead of random stuff. I chose Parsi food as the theme and planned to do three items from the same – veg, non veg and dessert and instantly hit a roadblock. While for both non veg and desserts I had many recipes to pick from I just couldn’t find a veg recipe which would strike a chord. I googled, asked knowledgeable friends and read up recipe books but couldn’t find anything which I could be sure would be appreciated at an Anando Mela Stall…after all it’s the first day of pujas and people would be looking forward to interesting lip smacking dishes a stew or dal wouldn't pass muster. So after much looking around I did what had to be done and tweaked the initial concept to being Bombay based rather than Parsi and added the absolute hot favorite among Bombay’s street foods i.e ...

Growing up in Faridabad an industrial township adjacent to Delhi what kept us rooted to our traditions and our culture while living far away from Bengal was the occassion of Dugga Pujo. Studying in a convent saying Hail Mary and knowing Our Father all faded in the background when those special five days of the year came by. Suddenly we were as bengali as our cousins in Kolkata (all Probashis have family in Kolkata). Pujo those days started on Sashti evening with Anandomela - where all the bengali aunties came with basket loads of delicious, home cooked delicacies and we children drove ourselves into a frenzy running from one stall to another and pestering our parents for more money to buy yet another plate of the fast disappearing goodies. All of these memories came flashing back yesterday as a colleague from work and I alongwith hubby set up our stall at our local Deepanwita Durga Pujo in Dwarka.  Rushing from work where a last minute meeting cancelled our plans of sneaking out e...

What do you write about a food joint which can easily claim the crown for Delhi’s most written about food joint? A place frequented by anyone and everyone who calls himself a foodie atleast once.  A place that boasts of holding on to the recipes of the Mughals long after they have vacated the throne of Delhi. Well I guess the only thing to write about such a place is your own thoughts and experiences and memories since the fact that the food would be good is a given. Karim’s opened in Dwarka some months ago and I believe they opened without much fanfare and started operations from a small outlet on the first floor of a cluttered market. I had no idea about its existence at almost my doorstep till one day I drove past this market and spotted the signage. A close look to ascertain that it’s the real thing, for quite a few fakes also abound and I was jumping in glee. A Karims right in the center of Dwarka seemed too good to be true. My first quick expedition was with a friend and afte...

Partying till midnight on a Sunday is bad news for Monday. Especially when the Monday has back to back meetings planned. More so when the said Monday also happens to be your sixth anniversary. Waking up with a hangover and groaning out of bed, we went about getting chores done, the fact that the day is also our anniversary and should be special nagging at the back of our minds.Managed to get through the long day somehow and finally at 9 in the evening we ventured out to have dinner and thus mark the passage of this landmark in our relationship.  ITC's WelcomHotel happens to be really close to our place so we thought of checking out what eats it has to offer. By the time its your sixth anniversary the idea of doing something special gets heavily tinged with the idea of 'Special within comfort zone'. The property was earlier a Lebua hotel that was taken over by ITC. Walking in we found the hotel getting ready for Christmas celebrations and that is something which always cheer...

Dwarka where I live is a big sub city populated by middle to high income families from almost all over India. So it really surprises me why the place has so few 'swear by' eateries to boast of. Every time I think of having a meal to remember, I have to head for South or Central Delhi or towards Gurgaon which in the past few years has come up with quite a few note worthy places. While I do so my hunt for worth mentioning places in Dwarka continue and as often as I can, I try checking out new places in an attempt to figure out nice options within the sub city. One such attempt had led me to Baba Ganooosh - a small eatery in the sector 11 market which had an interesting name. I walked in to find that true to name they do serve Lebanese dishes and hummus, falafal, shwarma, labneh etc were all on the menu. Though limited demand meant the owner who had been a chef in Saudi Arabia had to also offer Chinese and Indian dishes to sustain. Happily I ordered two Shwarma rolls as takeaway a...

We live in a place called Dwarka. Now while Dwarka is supposedly Delhi (our pin code is 110077) however it’s always treated as a separate entity. A big zone with 20 plus sectors Dwarka is a sub city   – the distance from the celebrated areas of Central and South Delhi adding to its isolation. While this has its advantages – one doesn’t have to fight with neighbors for parking space, there are ample parks and play grounds for children and security within the housing complexes is good. The one disadvantage is that of being at a loss when planning an evening out. There are no malls or cineplexes in Dwarka and the eateries too mostly leave one a little less than happy. This past weekend we happened to try out two such Dwarka outlets and here is what I found: Drool Kitchen was recommended by a friend as a quick meeting place – located in the Metro Station complex of Sector 10 it seemed like a good setting. Ample parking space, a restaurant with a separate party zone where a Birthday p...