Adhi Potoba

My wife grew up in San Diego very close to the Mexican border; a place blessed with the best rice and beans North of the border and something she misses dearly. I would never attempt to cook rice and beans (as it would inevitably taste like an amateur hack job) especially for someone who has grown up eating it. As I thought about the Mexican rice and beans, I couldn’t help but think about the Maharashrtian khichidi. Cheap and downright delicious comfort foodthat never fails to transport me back to Pune. I have fond memories of being fed soft khichidis topped with ample ghee whenever I was feeling a bit under the weather. On one such occasion I introduced my wife to this humble food with spectacular results. Although, a lentil khichidi can never replace rice and beans as my wife’s favourite food, I think it is pretty high up on the list based on the requests I get to cook it. Ingredients 2 tbsp cooking oil 1 cup uncooked Basmati Rice, washed 1 cup Pigeon Peas, washed (or Moong Dal) 1 On...

Appa is a word for father in many Indian languages. But for a true Punekar, there is only one ‘Appa’ and he owns the canteen that is part of the Deccan Gymnkhana, nestled snugly in a tiny lane between the cricket ground and the tennis courts, at the Eastern end of the long billiards hall. Appa’s canteen needs no introduction as it has been in the same spot since days of the Raj. A humble place made up of one small room divided into two tiny sections, the dining area and the kitchen. There is usually a machine making some sort of batter in the door between the kitchen and dining area. The dining area seats 8 people at a time. As a result most of Appa’s goodies are consumed out on the street on the back seat of a scooter or car. Appa’s canteen boasts a minimal menu of 3-4 dishes a day and menu items are set by the day of the week. Only a true Puneri can recite the menu by what day it is. If it’s Sunday, this must be idli-sambar. Some of the most famous items on this menu are idli sambar...

During my primary school years my mother used to threaten me with taking me to lunch to a dreadful place by the name of Suvarnarekha Dining Hall on Prabhat Road. And rightfully so. People from the Deccan Area might be well accustomed to this sorry excuse for a restaurant. Owned by the Yenpure family, it was housed in one of those buildings where a permanent heap of construction material lies blocking the footpath. Suvarnarekha is one of the restaurants that serves only the thali. The menu for the day is a mystery till the plate of food is in front of you. So if you don’t like what you see on your plate, you’re S.O.L. The food was acceptable at best when I first visited the place in the 80s, but the quality has gone down as the price of a thali has gone up. I remember the ambience being the canteen-like and was only complimented with the hostile wait-staff that usually served you like they were doing you a favour. I am quite sure that it hasn’t changed and the mediocre food remains quit...

Kaathi Kabab Roll is a relatively new food to Pune and the first time I had discovered it was while interning for an industrial design company way back in 1991. We had just designed a sexy, stand-alone Dollops ice-cream parlour that stood outside the original Chinese room on East Street in Camp. It was a really boring job, having to supervise the labour with little or no contribution from yours truly. Just the way I like it. My then boss asked me if I was hungry and then suggested that we should get a Kathi Kabab roll. I didn’t know what it meant, but anything with the word kabab in it was cool with me. We got onto his cream coloured, fairly dented Bajaj Super with broken indicators and flew past Kayani Bakery to the corner of the block right opposite Victory talkies. A journey that took all of 30 seconds. As a rule, in Pune, walking is not only frowned upon, but ridiculed, too. At the corner of Central Bank stood a rusty, old, overloaded cart that was clearly a traffic violation in nu...

I just returned from a short trip to Pune. It had been a long three and a half years since my last visit. No matter where your life takes you, it’s always nice to come back home, even if it’s for a short visit. Of course, having to pass through Mumbai traffic makes you question your return immediately. This time, however, I was shocked and disappointed to come home. Pune has changed beyond recognition and is no longer the city where I grew up. Huge buildings have replaced the small bungalows. And a lot of the infrastructure is in a state of disrepair. The air is intolerable, the noise unbearable and the traffic situation — let’s just not go there. And what is up with the ringtones people? Isn’t there a phone that rings like one? I guess we can’t go back after half a decade and expect things to be the same. But it would be nice, wouldn’t it? In spite of all the change I tried to visit all my favourite spots — at least the ones that are still standing. But no matter how much it changes, ...

Scanlynn and I recently paid a visit to a local South Indian eatery here on Curry Hill by the name of Tiffinwallah . It's a charming little place with a homey feel and decorated with 3-tier tiffins. It immediately brought back memories of school and my dabba wallah . As I tried explaining the concept of the Tiffinwallah to Scanlynn, I realized that the Indian tiffin delivery system that I didn’t think twice about was such an elaborate and complicated ordeal. The New York Times recently had a big article about the Tiffinwallahs of Mumbai and their FedEx like precision delivery systems. This article does more justice to it than anything I can ever say about it. And all this fuss just so that people like myself that too lazy to go down during lunch hour can get hot, home cooked lunches at their desks at work (or school). Although my dabba wallah at school operated at a much smaller scale, he did cater to about 100 students. One of my pet peeves about my dabba was getting watery cu...

For students in Pune, especially those that have passed their SSC, the ones that are in the final year of their degree courses and everyone in between, hanging around spending entire evenings doing nothing is a big part of life. My immediate circle of 40 odd vagabonds such as myself had chosen a particular corner of town when we were 16 where we would waste a major part of the next 12 years of our lives. It was a small “ paanwala ”. For those unfamiliar with the concept of a paanwala , it is a shack, which sells beetle leaves and loose cigarettes. , a staple for said age group. Our Paan Tapri stood proudly next to a run down hotel, Village Corner. Village Corner had changed hands faster than coalition governments in Delhi till it finally shut down one day. The little cigarette shop however stands proudly to this day as the hotel that would’ve given it business stands in a state of utter disrepair. We would park our respective two wheelers next to the Paan shop and blowing hot air that ...

I was always intrigued by the old ads for Monaco biscuits with their nicely decorated toppings. I, on the other hand, dipped my Monacos in my tea till my cup became a soggy, salty, inedible mess. I wasn't aware that Monaco was a salty cracker and didn't always have to be consumed with one's tea. (Of course, when you drink your tea on a two-wheeler parked under a tree, you dunk whatever is available in your tea.) In the ads the Monacos were usually decorated with strange, colourful toppings, although I had never really seen one pass by on a tray of hors d'oeuvres at a party. Not so long ago, I happened to be on the Parle Monaco website where they featured Monaco wallpapers for your computer. Why? I had to take a peek and I must share this ad / wallpaper with everyone. And as a professional in advertising I couldn't help but laugh at it. Considering the fact that no one outside of India would've even heard of Monaco, this ad must be for Indian audiences. It fea...

I followed the one day international between India and England all day today and once again in true Indian fashion the 'Men in Blue' snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. If I had a dime for every time the Indian team let me down this way, I wouldn't be here writing this blog. Back home, news like is taken seriously and involves hours of pointless analysis over tea, rum or some comfort food. This analysis is usually done by people whose latest cricketing experience has been stumps drawn on a wall by means of a broken brick. A bat with a bare handle because the rubber went missing within the first week. And an MRI faux tennis ball that used to be some some what white when it was bought. And yes—the grand rule of 'one tuppa out'. Ah, I miss being a drawing room cricketeer. The absence of someone who even knows what cricket is, leave alone understands it, is really hard on a depressed fan such as myself. So today, I decided to make some comfort food for myself tha...

There's no story to this dish. This is just a delicious dish my mom used to make. I just happened to make it the other day and thought I'd share. Ingredients 2 medium Potatoes cubed 2 large Brinjals (Eggplants) cubed 1 large Onion finely chopped 1 large Tomato finely chopped 1/2 cup Peanuts crushed 1 tsp Chili Powder 1 tsp Garam Masala 1 tsp Turmeric 1 tsp crushed Garlic 1/2 tsp Ginger paste 1/4 cup Olive Oil Salt to taste Method Heat oil in a pot and add garlic, ginger and onion. Sauté till onions are translucent and brown on the edges Add tomato and stir till it becomes a homogenous paste Add garam masala, turmeric, chili and stir Add potatoes and 1cup water Allow to boil till potatoes are cooked Add eggplant and boil till most of the water evapourates leaving a pasty sauce Add ground peanuts and keep stirring for 5 min Garnish with chopped cilantro Serve with Rice Bhakari or Naan This recipe is for Nupur's RCI June: Maharashtrian Cuisine!

The down side to having a really great cook for a mother is that eating out is almost always a big let down. Even worse is going out to a restaurant with her. Mine would always talk about how anything we ordered could be improved. And the great thing was that her suggestions were right on the money. There were a few places she would never complain about. Vaishali (till the cook who made the really good sambhar died.) The Oriental Room on Karve Rd. And the Durga Biryani. Mutton or Chicken Biryani is not an easy thing to make. But Vegetable Biryani is even harder to make. But the way mom made it, you wouldn't even miss the meat. My recipe comes nothing close to my my mother's recipe, but it is still pretty decent. Ingredients: 3 cups Basmati Rice (or Brown Rice for a healthier version) 2 large Onions finely chopped 2 large Tomatoes finely chopped 1 large Onion cut lengthwise and deep fried till crispy 1/2 cup Green Peas 1/2 cup Capsicum (Green Pepper) chopped 1/2 cup Carrots cho...

If you've never had your Chai 'cutting' style (or a strong, sweet coffee), chances are you weren't very loved by your Puneri friends. In all my days spent at Vaishali (which would probably be each day I was a student at Fergusson and most days after that) I never had the good fortune of having an entire cup of tea. Every time the waiter brought you your cup of tea, chances are that you'd have at least 2 empty glasses (one of them probably cracked) shoved right next to your cup. Just so you could 'cut' the chai by two. Chai never tastes as sweet in a styrofoam cup at Starbucks or even your own kitchen in New York City. Chai can only be enjoyed when one cup is divided into as many parts as there are people at the table. May there always be more people at your table than cups of Chai   Ingredients:   Per 1 cup of water 2 tsp sugar 3/4 tsp black CTC Indian tea (preferably orange pekoe) 1/2 inch cube of ginger (crushed) 4-5 cardamom seeds (crushed) or 1/8 ts...