Adhi Potoba

The month of May in Pune is a time for summer vacation, over-chlorinated swimming pools, Alphonso mangoes and 40º C plus temperatures. It is also time for the industrious Puneri housewife to make homemade kurdai, papadi and potato chips. There isn’t a Puneri worth his salt that hasn’t slipped on or walked over a sheet full of sticky sabudana papad freshly laid out to dehydrate in the scorching summer sun. One of the most common sights of the Maharashtrian summer is an assortment of papads spread over sheets of tarp on roofs, terraces, courtyards and any flat surface that had the potential for catching a bit of the sun, irrespective of its inconvenience to the passerby. I always wondered “Why would you toil for a whole day making the batter, spend another couple of hours laying them in the sun, employ the area kids to make sure the birds aren’t stealing them and in a week you’d have a substandard side-dish that one can totally live without?” Not to mention these are readily available at...

Main St and East St in the Pune Cantonment area, besides being a great shopping neighbourhood, are a hot destination for foodies. Anyone going to camp will ritually stop at 3 places. Marz-O-rin for sandwiches. Budhani for wafers (Potato Chips) and Kayani Bakery for some bitchin' Shrewsbury biscuits. It's the perfect food trifecta that will put you into food coma. The Marz-O-rin chutney sandwiches are one of my favourite foods in the world. I have eaten chutney sandwiches at many restaurants, but none quite like Marz-O-rin. Marz-O-rin started as a small shop selling sandwiches and has become a Pune landmark. I remember ordering a platter or 8 sandwiches for Rs. 3.00. It was money well spent. 8 finger sandwiches with a glass of mango juice and you were in heaven. If you were smart, you would already have paid a visit to Budhani to purchase 100 gm. hot potato wafers straight out of the wok to go with your sandwiches. The great taste of the chutney sandwiches is due to a secre...