70 Days After Ramzan.

Its Eid- Al- Adha today popularly known as Bakri Eid. It is the festival of sacrifice to commemorate the day Ibrahim was willingly ready to sacrifice his son Ishmael to show obedience to God. However, God intervened and provided Ibrahim with a sheep to sacrifice instead the life of his son. 

This is still practiced in which a goat bakri is slaughtered and the meat is used to prepare a feast for the family and community. Biryani, kababs, goat curry are the popular dishes.

There was a thread of discussion on biryani cravings on the Mumbai Food Bloggers Page. Papa just told me that Shaffi uncle's wife is sending us some homemade Lucknow style biryani and kababs. I'm really excited. Its my birthday tomorrow so this is going to be a treat to eat homemade super sexy biryani from Lucknow. 

However, I remembered that I had taken some lovely pictures of Ramzan a few months back. I had taken my friend Mark to Mohammed Ali Road at the Minara Masjid area for to check out food scene. I had seen this post on Mumbai Paused and could not stop drooling. 

It was the monsoon and it was raining that night. We walked down the street during prayer time, it was a solemn affair. Right after the prayers, the place was alive. Stalls selling- chicken soups, kababs, tikkas, botis, niharis, fried chicken, breads, and of course biryani. Stall after stall, some sit down restaurants. Turn in a different direction and there are dessert stalls frying up malpua, jalebis, serving cold firni, badam flavored milk, pancakes, ladoos with fried puris. It was alive, energetic and most of people despite fasting without food and water all day were very friendly, explaining the food and tradition, open to discussions, and most of all everyone had a smile on their face. A nation of smiles. And why shouldn't they be, after a long hard day of fasting, this food would be the ultimate satisfaction.

Back to the best biryani debate- I ate some really fantastic biryani here that night. The best chicken biryani ever.

So without wasting more time & before I forget - I want to share with you the pictures I took during Ramzan almost 70 days ago. Looking forward to my biryani tomorrow. Yum!

Smiling away despite all the smoke. Some really succulent chicken kababs.

To die for Nihari- the restaurant owner told us that he sources his marrow for the Nihari for Rs 400 a kgs. The nihari is cooked for hours.

Also have you seen The Dewarists yet. The second episode with Zeb & Haniya and Shantanu and Swanand in Mumbai - they go to Minara Masjid for a meal in the rain and eat some really amazing kababs as well. We could have crossed paths that night. They came up with the most amazing song in collaboration as a group. I love this song and the lyrics are beautiful.

Lights!

Happy Diwali everyone! It is a pleasure to be able to spend Diwali with the family. We are off to Kolkatta for Diwali. My very first visit ever. So excited. If you have any food recommendations do write in.

I took Pepper Purwar for a walk this evening and he was frightened by all the noise the crackers were making. It would be a dream to have just a well lit Diwali minus all the sounds from the fire crackers. The birds disappear, all the animals are clearly upset, my dog sat crying hidden in a corner. What's the point. I don't see it. Inspired by this little idea I drew this little illustration. I hope you can spread the message. 

And once again a very peaceful and well lit Diwali to all of you & a Happy New Year. 

Top Toppings: Jasuben nu Pizza

I'm not sure what my hang up was before, but in all my years growing up in Ahmedabad I did not eat Gujju Pizza. Maybe I was too much of a snob as a kid, turned my nose up to the idea or maybe I love Pav Bhaji too much. Plus- I grew up on Smokin' Joes when it was only available to us South Bombay kids- or the first Pizza Hut in which the staff got together and did the Macarena. Oya my pizza eating experience was very Americanized even before I made it to the great country. And then Chicago Deep Dish happened. Holy cow! Its amongst the top 5 things Chicago is well known for. Deep dish pizza which has a super buttery crust and filled with sauce and toppings. The heaviest meal ever. 

So when Chandni, my lovely host in Ahmedabad, asked me if I had Jasuben's Pizza she could not believe her ears. As usual I got the - 'What kind of food blogger are you?' look. (I seem to be getting that look a lot more often now). That's it dinner plans were laid. We drove up to the one location near her house on the highway. I insisted on picking up some pav bhaji (old habbits die slow).

We sat on some chairs on the sidewalk with a hundred others loudly chatting and chomping on little quartered pieces of cheesy saucy bites.  There was a little stall with a vertical oven, a sandwich press and a blender. Three boys whipping out a dozen pizzas by the minute, grilled sandwiches, cheese toasts, and cold coffee to go with it all. Serving a hundred people by the minute and this too on a Sunday Night. And they kept on coming.

Ok let me tell you- Jasuben's Pizza is a pilgrimage. Its a tourist destination. Any foolish notion I had of what a real pizza should be and granted pizza is Italian, it all flew out of my mind when I took my first bite. The crust is biscuity, crunchy, buttery almost like a bhakri. The bubbling hot tomato sauce is a close cousin of tomato ketchup just as sweet but quite spicey. The toppings are simple- no fancy pick your own toppings. No fancy mushrooms, corn, olives, jalapenos. Huh? What are you talking about? Stick to simple finely chopped onions and capsicum ok. Top it with loads ( and I mean large amounts) of grated local white cheese. The singular cheese we grew up- the Amul's white cheese. This is way before the cheese and wine revolution hit us. Simple and yummy are the keywords here.

The crust is baked in the vertical makeshift oven, red sauce spread, then back in the oven, then quickly topped with onions and capsicum and then topped with the grated cheese.  

Any Amdavadis reading this do holler and tell me why you love Jasuben's Pizza. I am a convert- Gujju pizza I love you. Whenever I think about this pizza meal I feel like I could have broken into a moves like Jagger, a rock n roll strut, a bit of knee twisting, pelvic thrusting, sliding in a moonwalk across the floor. Oya!

This is how I felt after my very first Jasuben Pizza:

The West View bar & Grill - On the Other side

Yup! Last night I stepped into the kitchen of the West View Bar & Grill at the ITC Grand Maratha. I was followed by an enthusiastic bunch of fellow food bloggers who took many fun photos of me along with the chefs in the kitchen grilling up some lamb and pork chops and some Indian Pomfret. I carried with me Papa's Magic Masala and sprinkled it generously on the various assortments of meats and fish and vegetables and one by one placed them on the grill to cook them to slightly charred perfection. It was fun. In the kitchen with chefs- in a white skirt and yellow heals and the funny chefs hat. Not the most practical thing to wear in a professional kitchen but none the less fun.

This was our almost bi- monthly Mumbai Food Bloggers meet. Now a very boisterous and raucous bunch of folks who diligently bring forth beautiful food stories, restaurant reviews, recipes, travel adventures. Each one has his or her take on the food but constantly pushing pixels, little superstars in their own rights with a global fan following. These meets are organized by food blogger and consultant Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal who calls herself the mother hen of the peck. Rushina writes the blog A Perfect Bite and now has column in the Hindustan Times called the Spice Route. This group by far is the most enthusiastic, well organized, most interested in all things food that I have been a part of.

So what was the West View Bar & Grill like? Well as a concept you pick your raw vegetables and meats and fish on a plate and hand it over to the kitchen and they will prepare it for you either in a lemon butter sauce or a red wine reduction on the flame. Chef  Padmaja experiments with spices and sauces and innovates each night. She was one of the most delightful, cheerful chefs I have ever met. Enthusiastically letting me into her kitchen with my own spice mix- Papa's Magic masala, and then setting up a hot stone grill showdown for the rest of the bloggers.

It was a fun and spirited evening. Here is to many more such wonderful evenings with my Merry Band of Mumbai Food Blogger friends. Cheers!

Vegetarians beware- raw meat pictures follow:

Big Thanks to Rushina and the folks at ITC for the lovely evening.