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

The past saturday found us excitedly heading towards Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium to attend the Street food festival being organised there by NASVI . Last year I had heard a lot of good things about this festival and also read up a two page write up in Brunch by Vir Sanghvi which left me salivating for these treats from the streets. So off we went, the hubby, kid and me to check out the fare at the JLN Stadium grounds. Post working out the parking format (essentially about getting your car to climb the pavement and sitting there) we walked up to the gate, paid the entry fee of Rs. 50/- per head and were all set to explore. We decided to take a quick round of the place before choosing the stuff we would like to eat. Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam we looked at before settling for a Chicken 65 at the Karnataka stall.  A big chicken leg wrapped in a spicy batter and deep fried till the outer layer is crisp, the inner layer is cooked and yet the juices have been left intact is what we got on our plat