What a
gorgeous fall day it was. Vaishali hosted our Bombay Chatt Exchange. As we all
know Jalpa welcomed a baby girl about 6 weeks ago so we had a special visitor,
Mohini Jhoom, this month. MJ was fasting for Navaratri so she only had milk.
Vaishali served us baraf gola (snow cones) with a modern twist. Unlike
traditional gola’s these were severed in cup which I am sure most of us
preferred. I still have very vivid memories of buying these gola’s off a street
vendor and enjoying them as a child. They would have different flavors and
although I cannot remember what specific flavors I had enjoyed, I just remember
enjoying them.
We had
Jalpa’s Channa Dal next. She served it just the way you find it in India: in
paper cones. You would find channa dal again sold by street vendors.
Nishal recounted a really funny story – she remembers traveling by train in
India and these merchants selling the dal to train goers. Even if you didn’t want
to have any, the sight and smell of the channa dal tempted you every single
time and you would end up buying a pack or in this case a cone full of it!
We
moved on to the Bombay Sandwich that I served cold and hot (grilled). There are
many variations of the sandwich and it’s a personal preference as to how to
serve it. I remember being in India a couple of years ago when we were shopping
for my cousins wedding and enjoying these sandwiches. I remember a couple of
days we would purposefully not have a formal lunch because we would want to
order these sandwiches; you can partially find these on every street corner.
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We
also enjoyed the Pani Puri that Nishal made. What surprised me the most was
that she made the pani (water with mint and other ingredients) from scratch. It
was so good! I think most people would agree with me that no matter how hard
you try you can never get the pani puri like the street vendors in India. Again
I remember being in India 10 years ago and telling my cousin I will risk getting
sick just to have a serving of pani puri. And so I did. And no, I didn’t get
sick.
And
finally we ended the afternoon with Kulfi made by Parul. She somehow found a
way to make it where it wasn’t too creamy but savory enough to be called a
Kulfi. Yum!
Hetal will no longer be attending due to scheduling conflicts.
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