Also, just to get this back on the topic of Maharashtrian cuisine, here is a post about Marathi Kolambi Bhaat from Maunika Gowardhan’s website I made in November 2022. It’s a sort of shrimp pulao. I think I will revisit it soon and use one of the ground masala powders I’ve made from this quarter when I remake it.
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Yep, actual slogan.
I’ve been to Dhamaka a few times, and there are three or four dishes I like, and some I’m not that crazy about.
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The “unapologetic” description has spread beyond Dhamaka to a mini empire. Each of these restaurants has opened to much fanfare, and much praise from the NYT and suchlike. Here’s the latest. Sorry, this is extreme thread wander from Maharashtra to Bengal.
To return to Maharastra your Kolambi Bhaat brings back memories. It was a regular, if not frequent treat when I was growing up.
[Don’t know if it’s appropriate to bring up pronunciation on a cooking thread but Marathi has a couple of sounds unique to it, especially its Ns and its Ls.]
[[In Hindi “black” is kala. In Marathi it’s kaLa, where the “L” (as opposed to “l”) is expressed by curling your tongue to the back of the top of your mouth, then flicking it forward. The L in KoLambi is pronounced likewise. Just an FYI.]]
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Thanks (also to @small_h ) - yes, I think I have seen some YouTube videos with vloggers visiting Dhamaka and Semma now that I think about it. Didn’t realize there was a whole branding thing involved!
I really enjoyed the Kolambi Bhaat. I love rice. I love shrimp. We did not have shrimp all that often when I was growing up (and my mom only bought Uncle Ben’s - it was the 70s and 80s). I can see where this particular dish would absolutely be a wonderful food memory!
And, I am always appreciative of pronunciation tips!
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To add to the digression, how I explain it to some people is to say “curl your tongue like you are getting ready to say Da and keep your tongue there and say La, only a little more extreme”.
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I’m really curious what brought this on (I’d wager that she’s talking about “Indian-ish”, though there are other contenders, but it’s been out for a while now — maybe that author’s new book was a trigger?)
(And I’m racking my brain to remember who wrote about the lasagna noodle-as-(dal) dhokli “hack” which I remember reading out to my mother, who couldn’t even – and she loves pasta AND hacks…)
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I want to know too! Indian-ish calls for “ghee or olive oil” in SOME recipes. I don’t see bay leaves anywhere. But Indian-ish also bills itself as an Indian-American cookbook. Thus the “ish”. Surely no one is touting it as being authoritative on Indian cuisine.
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So, this looks awesome, but I have no idea if I can get the Britannia Cheese Block. Is that like Velveeta? What can I sub if I don’t see it at Patel Brothers?
I think this recipe is appropriate for this thread, but apologies if it is not…
I haven’t seen Britannia Cheese Block at local stores, but if you happen to be at Patel Bros. there’s no harm in asking. My memory is that the Britannia stuff is not similar to Velveeta, but it’s been many, many years since I’ve had either. Supposedly BCB is a blend of cheddar and mozzarella, and I guess you could try a half-and-half mixture of the two using a mild cheddar and supermarket mozzarella. I think what the recipe seems to need is something that will melt well.
ETA: The Marathi word for “gujiya” is karanji, and we’d have them at various festivals stuffed with coconut. None of this chocolate-cheese modernity for us.
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Thanks! Yeah, I read the description (the combo of cheddar and mozzarella) and that’s what made me wonder if the product emulsified them together. I have cheddar and mozzarella in the house though. I have Maunika Gowardhan’s more traditional recipe in Thali, too.
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Amul cheese (tin, block, or cubes) is guaranteed to be available at Patel brothers.
(But I can’t even with the chocolate and processed cheese… 
)
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Thanks! I was wondering about Amul too as a sub. I admit that my curiosity is somewhat of the morbid variety. My mind went to Velveeta fudge, which I know exists but I’ve never had.
Amul is the original, Britannia came much later (90s?), and eventually other smaller brands too. Amul >>>> all others 
Oy. But I do get morbid curiosity.
(The rest of the Amul will make killer cheesetoast / grilled cheese — indeed there are emulsifiers that enable it to melt like a champ, and lots of black pepper plus dipping in copious ketchup helps “balance” the salt.)
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Being Indian-American is not its problem, though.
I read the whole tweet thread, and she later says, “I mean the majority of South Asian identified authors out there are phoning it in, or they don’t really know how to cook in the first place. But they have the mainstream wht food media fooled.” The majority? It’s quite a statement, and yet she names not a one. I don’t know, I don’t have any data on this, but it seems to me we have more than ever books showcasing regional variations and sub-cuisines. And while there are also plenty of weeknight-oriented books they exist and are popular for all cuisines. Are there more for Indian food than others? No idea. But her statement that the “majority” of the authors don’t know how to cook seems like hyperbole to me. Maybe someone is disappointed in her book sales.
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Andyachi ChatNi for brunch today (literally, “Chutney of eggs”). I capitalize the N in chatNi to hint at how it is pronounced..
Apart from its name, unique I think to Maharashtra (but I may be wrong), this is essentially the same dish as the one called “bhurji” elsewhere in India and “akuri” by the Parsi community.
I threw into warm-hot ghee some chopped shallots and cooked till they softened, added a little fake ginger-garlic paste (used my finest microplane to grate in garlic and ginger), some chopped green chillies, stirred for thirty seconds, then added some halved grape tomatoes and stirred till they softened a bit. (At this stage you can add a bit of cumin-coriander powder, but I didn’t, nor did I add a pinch of garam masala at the end.) I added beaten, salted eggs with a large pinch of turmeric, then proceeded to scramble on medium heat. I like my regular scrambled eggs cooked on very low heat just to a custardy consistence (we’d call these “English scrambled” in my Bombay home), but I like my egg chutney cooked hard. A minute before they are done, I added some finely chopped coriander leaves and some more chopped chillies.
Ideally I’d have the eggs with chapatis but I wasn’t in the mood for the effort, so used packaged flour tortillas instead, heated till charred in spots on an open gas flame.
There’s a variant of this dish that involves grated boiled eggs added to the onion tomato mixture.
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Maharashtrian Masale Bhat
I was going to do a more simple pulao to go with saag paneer tonight (which itself was originally going to be some kind of keema, but then it turned out that I didn’t actually have minced lamb in the freezer like I thought). Since I had goda masala in the house now, this ended up coming together fairly quickly. You make a simple vegetable curry with browned onions, mustard seeds, and goda masala, cauliflower, carrot, and green beans (ok, so I subbed a bag of a frozen veg medley that was cauliflower, carrot, and broccoli). You fold in cooked rice and then garnish with cashews that have been toasted in ghee and some coconut. I served it with the saag paneer (Asma Khan recipe) and burani raita.
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Your Masale Bhaath brings back interesting memories of eating in homes of those who considered themselves the highest of the highest castes. Meals there were ritualized and would begin with masale bhaath, move to chapatis and myriad vegetables on a thali, then end with plain rice, simple varan (as excellently described upthread) and dahi (yoghurt).
There was some grim amusement in eating at those homes, where under normal circumstances we would not have been entertained. My father had climbed from humble beginnings in a small town in Northern Maharashtra to a position of considerable prestige and influence, and he couldn’t be ignored. He’d turn down every invitation where he thought some exchange was expected – just as he’d refuse, to my teenage despair, most of the Diwali sweets we’d get – but an occasional lunch or dinner would slip through.
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Nominations are open for Cookbook of the Month for April. Come on over and nominate if you are interested in participating next month.
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hey @saregama
can you name the malvani place your dad discovered a few decades ago. My current favorite in Mumbai is Chaitanya, which is in dadar/prabhadevi, also has a new location in andheri.
In mumbai, my other favorite maharastrian places are: Prakash and Aaswad in Dadar, and Aram in VT. Really like Aram’s vada pal
For folks in the sf Bay Area, there is a mahasratrian place (vegetarian) in the South Bay. Puran Poli in Santa Clara (I think)
