An Ode to Pune eats

I was in India on vacation for the past month. I had a wonderful time there - filled with good food and loved ones. As always I had my wishlist of eateries I wanted to visit while in Pune but it gradually fell by the wayside as I realized that recommendations by my foodie friends and relatives trump any amount of internet research.

After trying out a number of bright and shiny new restaurants I always tend to go back to the classics, the mainstays of the Pune food scene which don't keep changing face every few years but in fact have largely the same menu and most importantly, the same great quality.

Chinese Room (East Street, Camp)

We usually go to its Karve Road location as it is closer to home. The Camp location had the same great food and amusingly, the same arrogant service which I keep going back to because no amount of arrogant treatment can keep me away from that cashew chicken. This is the only restaurant I visited twice in my trip.

Make sure to ask for the complimentary salad

Good old sweet corn chicken soup. Yum!

Cashew Chicken, Mongolian Chicken Appetizer

King's (Camp)

A family friend insisted on taking me to King's, an unassuming place right opposite Victory Theater. It is run by a Parsi family for several decades. The mutton dhansak was top notch.

Fish-o-fish (off Karve Road near Karve Putala)

A recent favorite of my parents'. Great place for seafood as the name subtly suggests. One of the highlights was the refreshing glass of solkadhi we had at the beginning of the meal.

Update Nov 2022: I just visited this place again and it was equally good. Their food quality has been consistent for years. This is certainly going to be my go-to place for seafood and chicken/ mutton curries.

Update Jan 2024: This _is_ my go-to place for seafood and chicken/ mutton curries and even biryani. This time I had tisrya masala (clams curry) with ghaavan which is a rice flour crepe - a combo recommended by the restaurant owner. It was delicious!

Bombil fry (fried sardines)

Fish Thali with prawn curry and surmai fry

Vaishali (Fergusson Road)

The decadent Cheese Mysore Masala Dosa has been my favorite dish at Vaishali for years. It lived upto the expectations yet again. The chikku shake was excellent as well. Vaishali gets a 10 for consistency. And a 10 for ambience. Going to Vaishali and not sitting in the patio is simply not an option for me!

Cheese Mysore Masala Dosa and Onion Uttapa

Pastry Corner (Law College Road)

Our favorite after-school bakery. Even today it sparks nostalgia. It has been the quintessential little mom-n-pop bakery of Pune since the 90s. The rum balls were particularly popular with the kids though I doubt they had any rum in them. For a short while, right after "air hostess", I had wanted to be a baker and open a bakery with my best friend. It was 100% inspired by Pastry Corner.

Pineapple cake

Vernekar's (Karvenagar)

New kid on the block, literally less than a five-minute walk from my house. The fish rava fry was good, and the prawn curry was to die for, only to be outdone by the surprise dessert "serradura" which was supposed to be a consolation dessert as they were out of bebinca. That stuff is phenomenal. No one can stop eating until they reach the bottom of that cup. Who knew layers of whipped condensed milk and crumbled cookie would taste like the best thing ever?

Serradura

One thing that I never got tired of throughout the one month that I was at home.

Chaha and khari. Small pleasures.

Chicken Hariyali Curry

This recipe was recommended by Shraddha, a close friend of mine. We were neighbors when we were growing up and used to spend hours talking about school and boys and the world, when we were not playing badminton or dabdaispais (I feel like this must be the first attempt of someone spelling this word on the internet). Like most kids, we used to engage in things like writing cryptographic messages, having silly "passwords" and one thing that at the time seemed particularly appealing in its audacity... we used to throw and exchange food from our windows. Doing that successfully without a single adult noticing what we were upto used to give us a rush I suppose? I have no idea.

Fast forward to 2019 and we are still bonding over food but in a far more meaningful way. We both love cooking and baking and love trying out new things and pushing our limits. Last month we made garam masala from scratch (not together as we live on different continents). Last weekend I attempted a chicken curry recipe that Shraddha has been raving about. We had it with warm garlic naan and it was very tasty.

Based on this recipe from the Hindu.

You will need

For the marinade

yogurt                           2 tbsp
garam masala               1/2 tsp
red chilly powder         1/2 tsp
garlic, crushed              2-3 cloves
salt to taste                       

For the curry
chicken breast               1/2 lbs
onion, chopped             1 cup
cilantro                          half a bunch
mint                               4-5 springs (~20 leaves)
green chillies                 2
dry red chillies               2
full fat yogurt                1/2 cup
garam masala                1-2 tsp
salt to taste 



Method

1. Chop the chicken. Mix the ingredients for the marinade, add the chicken to it. Make sure all the pieces are coated well with the marinade. Marinate for at least a few hours. I did it for 24 hours and the chicken really soaked in all the flavors.
2. In an electric blender, blend together the cilantro, mint, green chillies and dry red chillies. Set aside.
3. In a heated sauté pan, fry the chopped onion until it just starts browning.
4. Add the marinated chicken and sauté until it is mostly cooked.
5. Add the cilantro paste and let it cook for about 5-10 mins. Keep stirring occasionally.
6. Add a couple of spoonfuls of the hot gravy to the yogurt and mix well to temper it. Add the yogurt to the pan on low flame, mix well.
7. Add salt to your taste.

Serve with rice, naan or roti.

Chana Dal Wade AKA Chattambade

You will need
chana dal 1 cup
dry red chillies 2-3
jeera (cumin seeds) 1 tsp
curry leaves 1-2
hing (asafoetida) 1/4 tsp
freshly grated ginger 2 tsp
salt to taste

Prep
1. Wash the chana dal and soak it so that it is fully submerged for 2 hours.
Then drain the water completely.
2. Grind the chana dal together with all the other ingredients until the mixture forms a coarse paste. Add water if needed, but be careful as too much water can make it harder to form patties.
        This happened sooner than I expected and I ended up with a paste finer than I would have liked.
        The bite from dal gives great texture.

Method
1. Make flat-ish patties out of the ground mixture.
2. Heat oil in a shallow pan and place 4-5 patties in the hot oil.
Cover the pan and let it cook for about 3 mins. Then turn the patties over and fry them on the other side for 2-3 mins or until browned.
Serve with ketchup or other dip of your choice.

Hummus Tartine

Hummus is a wonderful thing. I had never had hummus until I came to the US. It soon became one of my favorite things to order in a middle-eastern restaurant. For home use, I never really took to supermarket hummus... there was something always off about it. I prefer the homemade version a lot more.

It's very easy to make.

Makes 4-5 tartines

chickpeas AKA garbanzo beans             1 15oz can
garlic                                                        2-3 cloves
extra virgin olive oil                                  1/4th cup
sesame seeds                                         1/4th cup
lemon juice                                              2 tbsp

salt, pepper, red pepper flakes to taste


Method

1. Dry-roast the sesame seeds until light brown. Put aside.
2. Chop the garlic and fry it for a couple of minutes. This is to avoid the taste of raw garlic, especially if you plan to store the hummus for a few days.
3. Blend the sesame seeds and the olive oil until the seeds are crushed and blended with the oil.
4. Blend the chickpeas, garlic, lemon juice, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes with the above sesame paste.

Serve at room temperature.

Pumpkin Pecan Crunch

I had made this recipe for the Thanksgiving of 2012 and had put some notes on my blog post about how I would tweak it next time. And that is exactly what I did this Thanksgiving and it came out better :). What a nice feeling. This is exactly what I started this blog for. To keep track of what I make and to keep notes on the recipes.

This Thanksgiving was perfect. My cousin and her family came over and we watched football and had a lazy lunch for which I made butter chicken followed by coffee and dessert (recipe below) and a late chai. That's the kind of Thanksgiving meal I like.

Here is the recipe for pumpkin pecan crunch with my tweaks.

Recipe based on Pumpkin Pecan Crunch. Yellow cake mix recipe based on this one.

Serves 8-9

canned pumpkin             1 15oz can
evaporated milk              1 12 oz can
white sugar                     2 cups
brown sugar                    1/2 cup
eggs                                 3
pumpkin pie spice           6 tsp
vanilla extract                 1 tbsp
salt                                  1/4 tsp
pecans, chopped             1 cup
butter, unsalted              1.5 sticks (3/4th cup)
all-purpose flour             1.5 cups
baking powder                1 tbsp
dry milk/ milk powder     1/2 cup


Method

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. 
2. Spray a 13×9 baking dish with non-stick spray; set aside. 
3. Beat the eggs in a large bowl. Add to it the pumpkin, evaporated milk, brown sugar, 1 cup of the white sugar, 5 teaspoons of the pumpkin pie spice, vanilla and salt until well-blended. Pour into prepared baking dish.
4. Mix the remaining 1 cup white sugar and 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice with the all-purpose flour and the baking powder. Blend with wire whisk. 
5. Sprinkle this dry mix evenly over pumpkin mixture. 
6. Sprinkle with chopped pecans. 
7. Drizzle evenly with melted butter. 
8. Bake 50 minutes or until golden brown.

Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I'm posting something after a really long time - blame it on two big events - new job and new house. My new job is located in a very exciting area of SF, especially from a foodie's point of view. I can eat lunch and buy produce at the Ferry Building everyday if I wanted to. What more can a food-lover ask for?

Friends and family have been visiting to see the new house. Recently at one of the parties I baked a cake that is so perfect for fall.

Recipe based on Pumpkin Sheet Cake


Serves around 12

canned pumpkin             1 15oz can
white sugar                     2 cups
vegetable oil                   1 cup
eggs                                4
all-purpose flour              2 cups
baking soda                    2 teaspoons
pumpkin pie spice mix    3 teaspoons
salt                                  1/2 teaspoon

For the frosting:

cream cheese                 8 oz
butter, softened              1/2 cup (1 stick)
vanilla extract                 2 teaspoons

confectioners' sugar       1 & 1/2 cups

milk                                 few tablespoons
pecans                            3/4 cup


Method

1. In a mixing bowl, beat pumpkin, 2 cups white sugar, and oil. Add eggs, and mix well.
2. Mix the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice mix and salt. Add these dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture, and beat until well blended. Pour batter into a greased 15 x 10 inch baking pan.
3. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes, or until done. Let cool.
4. Beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla until smooth. Gradually add 1 & 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, and mix well. Add milk until frosting reaches desired spreading consistency. Frost cake, and sprinkle with pecans.

Baked Eggplant Chips (Vaangyache Kaap)

Serves 3-4 as an appetizer

regular large eggplant              1

salt                                        1/2 tbsp
powdered black pepper            1 tsp
red chilly powder                     1/4 tsp
amchur (raw mango powder)    1/4 tsp  (You can find this in an Indian grocery store. It adds tartness.)

Method -

1. Cut eggplant into very thin round slices of roughly 3mm width. A mandoline slicer comes in handy for this. For slices that are too big, cut in half.

2. Put all the spices and the salt in a bowl and mix well.

3. Take a large baking tray, cover it with aluminium foil and grease it with oil or spray generously with oil spray.

4. Take half of the eggplant slices on the baking tray. Drizzle oil or oil spray over them. Toss them well with half of the spice mix, making sure you rub both sides of every slice with the spice mix.

5. Then arrange them in a single layer on the tray and once again drizzle with oil or oil spray.

6. Repeat steps 3, 4, 5 for the rest of the eggplant slices.

7. Bake at 350 deg for 15 mins and then broil at 350 deg for 5 mins. Watch them frequently as they can get burnt easily. You may have to adjust the oven times according to the thickness of the slices.

The slices may look burnt when done but taste great and crispy! The thicker slices will most probably remain soft. I combined them with some crispy slices and put them in a sandwich - tasted pretty good.

We had the eggplant chips with a very simple and quick dip. For the dip, take a half cup of low fat ricotta cheese and add 2 tbsp of mayonnaise to it. Mix well to make the ricotta a bit more creamy and less grainy. 

Other creamy dips would also go very well with the chips, such as a greek yogurt-garlic dip.