Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Cannon Pav Bhaji - the best of the best pav bhaji of India
The Cannon Pav Bhaji stall opposite the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, erstwhile Victoria Terminus Railway Station at Mumbai is one of the most famous eatery in the megapolis. This is the place to get the best pav bhaji in India. Of course, you cannot get any better pav bhaji outside India, for sure.
For those who do not know - Pav = Bread, Bhaji = Vegetable. But, to name it "Bread and Vegetable" is to commit a crime. It's best known as "Pav Bhaji".
Location address = Cannon Pav Bhaji Stall, Mahapalika Marg, Opp. Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai
You can also get a giant vada-pav, carrot halwa (gajar halwa), buttermilk and sabudana khichdi (on some days). There are variants to the pav bhaji itself - such as jain pav bhaji, cheese pav bhaji etc.
Most visitors to the Cannon Pav Bhaji stall for the first time, upon hearing it appreciated by others, get disappointed to see that it is just a pavement location, that there are crowds, and one has to push in to get a spot, and that you have to stand and eat up. There are all the accompanying perks of the location - flies, dirt, unclean water and pickpockets. But, you should be ready for all that. This is Mumbai, and it comes packaged in one deal. Take it or leave it.
Pav Bhaji is actually a mish-mash (something like pot-luck, except here, you plan it out) of vegetables with a major component of potatoes and onions. Some prefer it without onions. All vegetables are chopped and minced. Here, at Cannon, the 'ustad' (= chef) is fortified with an actual wall of big cakes of pasteurised butter. Its always been 'Amul Butter' at Cannon. The vegetable-mix is heated up in huge dollops of butter with mashed potatoes, carefully selected mix of spices and some secret ingredients that distinguish the best of the pav bhaji 'ustad' from the others. The pav bhaji at Cannon has always come with spring onions (nowadays, only if asked for) and sliced and coloured onions, sometimes sliced beetroot, and a slice of lemon. The completed bhaji is of course, garnished with minced coriander leaves that pick up the flavour of the butter, spices and vegetables and knock you out of your shoes.
The women servers, 'Mavshi' (= Aunty), as they are called out to, by the unknowing or non-Mumbaikars, are always very alert. They know the various groups of people eating at different corners of the open feeding table, and they keep track of the numbers of extra bread loaves taken by each one in the group. They total up the 'bill' in their head, and will only inform the total amount to be paid. Its quite magical, and I am sure that some of them have not been to any school. They are very courteous, and would keep asking one and all if you need more bread loaves, asking - "Pav?" - or "Ankhi Pav Havet kaa?" (= Do you need more bread loaves?).
Remember, that this is the correct and original recipe. Do not compare it with the other pav bhaji that you have eaten at other places. They could be better in taste and better in ambience. But they are not the original and true pav bhaji. This recipe has the spices in the correct combination. It comes along with a deep red chilly chutney that can make you explode, and actually make you jump through the roof. Be careful when you try it. It is called "Thetcha" in Marathi and you should try it out with the Pav Bhaji. Unless you have sweated it out at the stall, you have not experienced the place at all.
The Cannon Pav Bhaji stall opened up on April 14, 1975. Now in its fourth decade, the stall is part of the lives of millions of commuters. The owner, Swamini Padwan, from a Maharashtrian family, knows most of the regulars by sight and you know that you have arrived at Mumbai, when you reach Cannon Pav Bhaji Stall and do not have to place your order. They just serve you because they know you.
I remember some years, when there used to be a hefty tall Sikh, very genial and happyish and helpful, who would be the 'papaji' or BOSS of the team at Cannon. He is not to be found in recent years. The team of servers and helpers comprises women, and they are very fast, efficient and most importantly, very courteous in the Mumbaiya sense of the term. You need to know how to get on their better side, and they go out of their way to help you enjoy the Pav Bhaji. The 'Ustad' or Chef is usually a specialist, mostly men. Once I have seen one of the women try her hand at making the pav bhaji and it was not different from the usual at Cannon.
Sainath Dhaba - on the road from Ellora caves to Aurangabad City, Maharashtra
dal + baati, methi lasun, shevga curry, dal tadka, chapati, jeera rice = we were in a hurry. 
Hotel Sainath Dhaba - sounded like one of the many roadside eating houses that are to be found on India's highways. Except that this was not on a particularly big highway or in the main roads. This dhaba was very unlike a dhaba, and was on the road from Ellora Caves as one would return to Aurangabad city. This eating house is on the left hand side, and easy to access on the return journey from the caves. Initially, the name 'Hotel Sainath' made me assume that it was one of the nodescript eating houses that would serve routine fare and I was not incline to go in. My friend and companion on the journey, his colleagues and the driver swore about the splendid food that would be available and moreover exclaimed that they 'always stopped here without fail' whenever they would travel in this route.
The clincher was the statement by one of them that he would also get the food packed up for his family back at his house in Aurangabad and they loved the food. As we approached closer after parking the car - there is plenty of convenient parking availabe - I saw the display sign that mentioned their speciality - 'Dal Baati'. That made me smile. It is rare to get 'Dal Baati' at roadside eating houses in Maharashtra. One may get them easily at Rajasthan, Bihar, north Madhya Pradesh or in Uttarakhand, but, in Maharashtra? That was unheard of. Totally. This was such a welcome surprise.
Dal refers to lentils and is usually cooked like a lentil soup with some spices, and Baati refers to hardened (by baking sometimes) wheat balls. Dal - usually Tur Dal - is boiled and sauteed, I prefer the word - tempered, with oil, rai, jeera, green chilli, garlic, red chilli, turmeric, coriander, ginger and sometimes, hing. After it's ready, a huge dollop of ghee (clarified butter) is added.
The Baati is the hardened wheat ball, that is made ready by cooking within the coal and cow-dung cakes' fire that functions as a local oven. When ready, it is pulled out, cleaned of the ashes from the fire, and dunked in ghee and broken up, and served. It is eaten by dunking it once again in the steaming hot dal. One can eat it with various accompaniments, as also as a side dish to a regular lunch. Though, that would be an insult to Dal Baati.
My friend and his companions knew the owner of the dhaba from their previous visits and he also seemed to know them and spoke of their earlier visit. They went about placing their order for Dal Baati and other dishes. One of the preferred ones was 'Methi Lasun'. I enjoyed the atmosphere within the dhaba. While from the outside, from the road, it had looked like a nondescript eating house, it was very different when one had entered. In the interior, it looked more like a traditional north-Indian dhaba, with its very regular cooking corner. The chef's corner was absolutely dhaba-like.
There is a secret to excellent accompaniment in the Dal. It is best when it is a mixture of five lentils, and is usually called Pancham Dal or some other variants. Another secret that I saw in Sounpur was to sautee some spices in ghee separately and constantly add them to the bowls containing the Baatis or the bowls containing the Dal. The instant combustion brings up the odour and smell along with the woodsmoke and engulfs you completely. You know you are in India, and you know that you love the food of India and that everything is allright in your life and in the world at that moment.
We also had other dishes. The major choice was 'Methi Lasun' which literally translates to 'Garlic + Fenugreek', and as coined, means that it is heavy on garlic used to sautee with fenugreek leaves. It is cooked in a dry mode, without any gravy, just a dash of oil and spices. Its heavenly. They had a choice, if we wanted it in gravy or dry mode. We had chosen it to be served as dry accompaniment to the Dal Baati. It made up for all the heavy ghee dose that we got with the other dishes.
I have eaten Methi Lasun in other places, and I usually ask for it as a safe option instead of heavily oily dishes or deep fried dishes. The Hotel Sainath Dhaba did a good enough Methi Lasun dish and I would certainly return to the place to eat again.
They had a decent tandoor corner, and we should have chosen the tandoori rotis. But, we did not have the courage or energy or strength to do so after having hogged on the dal baatis. We went for chapatis. But, there were others who were asking for tandoori rotis and we did enjoy seeing them eat the hot fluffy and quite soft looking rotis. Next time, for sure.
Suddenly, on an impulse, my friends and their companions decided to recommend drumstick curry (= shevga curry) to go with the jeera rice that we had asked for to complete the experience. That was so unlike the south Indian drumstick curries that I am used to, and it just did not go with the jeera rice. I am sure it was not the fault of the dhaba people... it would be our wrong choice.
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