Here come the rains! Bring out the Bhajiyas.

It is here. The bombay monsoons. Love them, hate them they are an inextricable part of the Bombay experience. If you ever do come here you have experience the lashing wrath of the rain gods.

I dislike the rains. Mostly because it makes travelling very difficult. I had to travel 1.5 hours to reach college from home. As college was on the other side of the city I had no idea how much it was raining there. It could be pouring here and all sunshiny at college. So during monsoons we would get up and frantically call the hostelites and anyone who lived near college to assess the situation.

After all this tamasha too, we would have to bunk college or the government would declare a holiday and many days would be spent at home watching movies, reading, eating soup, bhajiyas and having chai. Or better still days are spent wearing old clothes being soaked to the bone eating roadside samosas which always taste better in the rains.

Now that I have waxed eloquent I will shut up and get it the point. Which is this.

Mirchi stuffed with potato masala bhajiyas. The thing to have this monsoon.

I wont bother with a proper recipe, because there isn't one.

Just mix mashed and boiled potatoes with salt, and red pepper (mirchi) powder and stuff it in the fat green chillies that are easily available these days.

Dip it in a paste of gram flour and deep fry.

Have it with ketchup, mint and coriander chutney or kasundi.

We have ours with kasundi, which is my dad's greatest discovery to date.

Kasundi is a bengali mustard sauce which is amazingly pungent and just yum.

So if you are stuck home this monsoon just have these look out your window. If you are lucky you may see the neighbouring guys playing football in the mud! ;)

how we celebrate the end of exams.

The exams are over! I am almost a graduate now, with only a marksheet between me and my degree.

We girls went slightly mad post exams. And what do we do when we go mad? We eat.

Here is what I ate the last two days.

clockwise from left top: Sprouts and green salad with feta cheese at KGC; Homemade Pizza; Penne Pesto; Oreo Pie

The salad was at Kala Ghoda Cafe, which was brilliant! I loved the Feta cheese. 

The rest three I made at home for my girlfriends. Recipes to follow!  

A lesson learnt

A belated Happy Holi to all!

Holi is essentially a North-Indian festival. We South Indians don't have any dish that we make on Holi like gujiya. So, when I came to know that we were having a family do at my grandmother's and everyone was bringing something, I decided to bake brownies. I was a bit apprehensive when My mother informed me that they had to be eggless. I shy away from eggless baking, but I gathered my courage and recipe books and decided to venture on.

The recipe I chose was from Sanjeev Kapoor's Cakes and Bakes. He has never failed me ever.

What failed me was my 2 hours spent dancing in the water under the hot sun and very tired head. So I had processing problems and when I was to beat the sugar into the chocolate and butter mixture i didn't. A tiny part of my head kept insisting I should, but the sleepy part won. So, i am sure you know what happened. for those of you who don't I have pictures.

A tiny part of me dies inside. The brownies were crumbly. They did taste good though! 

Here is a picture of what we had to eat last night. 

 Here is the menu:
Semiya bagalabhaat - that is just roasted vermicelli soaked in milk then mixed with curd and diced cucumber.
Bisibella bhaat - Made by my grandmother. It is rice cooked with yellow lentil (tur daal) and with vegetables. My personal favourite.
Apple Sheera - roasted rava cooked with lots of ghee and dry fruits.
Pav Bhaji - mashed potato with other vegetables cooked in a tomato base. Served with Indian bun
Brownies - Do i need to describe them? They were served with ice cream so weren't seen. they did taste good though.

So it was evening well spent with family and good South Indian food. So what are your favourite home dishes? And what culinary disaster's have you come across?