"Prawn Koliwada", is a lovely prawn starter very famous in Mumbai.
During my childhood I used to love these made by my grand aunt but over the years I almost forgot about them.
Recently I went to this sea food restaurant in Bangalore which is a very famous Mumbai sea food restaurant chain. And there we ordered the day's special "Prawn Koliwada"
While eating these yummy prawns I was reminded of my childhood mumbai holidays....the way me and my dad used to gorge on these lovely prawns...is a memory i will cherish for a lifetime...
Back home after this dinner, I was going thru my granny's hand written cookbook once again, finally found this lovely recipe...
I know its been a while since I posted any dish, but the last month has really been hectic...office work, house work, exams, festivals, parties....
Am sure you will forget my long absence once you cook and eat this one...so here goes....
One of Mumbai's main street meal is the humble Pav Bhaji.
This dish is supposed to be an innovation that arose out of necessity of providing a nice hot meal to the hurried man on the streets of busy Mumbai. A complete meal in itself...
Pav is a type of bread, high in carbohydrates and fats (if served with butter) while bhaji is the vegetable-based curry portion, high in carbohydrates and proteins.
This recipe uses the standard famous "Pav bhaji masala" which is a blend of spices like red chilli, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, black pepper, cinnamon, clove, black cardamom, dry mango powder, Fennel seeds, turmeric powder that took Mumbai by storm.
I have tried making the "Pav Bhaji" masala at home but you never get the perfect Mumbai taste, for that you need to use MDH or Everest Brand of the "Pav Bhaji" masala.
Today this dish is not just available on the streets of Mumbai but all over India and even some countries abroad, and now served in 5 star restaurants as well as weddings/functions.
I often make this at home and infact I learnt this dish from my grandmother who had it written in her hand written cook book and the source she mentioned was the famous tarla dalal. My grandmom would travel often to Mumbai to see her sister and in one of those trips she got hold of this recipe.
"Dahi Vada" or "Dahi Bhalla" or "Thayir Vada", call it with whatever name you like, if you like curds, this is one street food/starter/evening snack that you will love to eat!!
Its nothing but Split black lentil fried dumplings, served with seasoned yoghurt.
In North India this is called as Dahi vada, in Western India as Dahi Bhalla and in South India as Thayir Vada...!
In the North Indian version this is served without the sweet chutney, but in the western version the vadas are topped with the sweet chutney which is the Dates n Tamarind Chutney/Khajur Imli Chutney.
In both these North and West Indian versions, the curds is just whisked well with a little bit of salt.
In Northern and Western India this is served as a starter/snack.
But in the South Indian version, the curds is diluted a bit and seasoned with some south Indian aromatics/spices.
In South India this is a part of breakfast.
Whichever the version maybe, we love all Dahi vada.
My Mom used to make this very often during our childhood, her version would be Thayir Vada the South Indian one, but I would always add the green mint and coriander chutney and sweet dates n tamarind chutney and convert it to a North+Western Indian version and eat it.
This is one dish which can be served as a starter in a north Indian meal/buffet, eaten for breakfast or as an evening snack.
