Bombay Sandwich

Bombay Sandwich – Mouth-watering version of Indian Veggie Sandwich!

Soft White bread slices, with spicy green chutney spread, layered with slices of tomato, cucumber, onion and potato (extremely important) and topped with lots of grated cheese! 

I am not sure why it is called Bombay Sandwich but I am guessing, maybe because it started as cheap staple food of travelling Mubaikers, kids returning home from school or a quick grab for people travelling Bombay Locals (Mumbai subway systems). It must have got famous as its inexpensive, easy to make, and healthier option as compared to Wada Paav.   

You can get this in many places in Mumbai, Pune and lots of other cities in India. You can eat them in any neighborhood restaurant, stall owners sell them on every corner of the street, on railway stations and fancily packaged at airports :) 

You can add your own variations to Bombay Sandwich like adding few more veggies, toasting them, making different fillings and you will get these variations on streets on Mumbai!

My favorite places in Pune to have Bombay sandwich (sounds funny – Bombay sandwich in Pune… but yes its true) the one in Raviwar Peth, guy who sells it in Seven Loves Chauk they make the best basic Bombay Sandwiches! 

Ingredients:

• White Bread – 3 Slices
• Butter
• Mint-Coriander Chutney: 1/2 cup
• Large potatoes: 2 Boiled, peeled and sliced thick
• Cucumber: 1 sliced thin
• Tomato: 2 sliced thin
• Onion: 1 sliced very thin (optional)
• Fresh ground pepper
• Salt
• Cheese – grated (optional)
• Tomato Ketchup

Procedure:

1. Lay all the slices of bread on a cutting board and butter well.
2. Now spread a generous quantity of Mint-Coriander Chutney on each slice to cover entire slice.
3. Layer all the above veggies in desired quatities and combinations. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Cover with the top slice.
5. You can trim edges. I like to leave them on.
6. This sandwich tastes equally good toasted or not.
7. Cut in half and garnish generously with grated cheese.
8. Serve with tomato ketchup

Bhel Puri

This is a famous Chaat from the streets of Mumbai and Pune. You can find carts / shops selling it around every corner. It’s a mouth watering mix of puffed rice with some Indian snack mix and flavored with fresh mint, sweet & tangy tamarind sauce.
This is a very healthy option for an evening snack or can be served as a starter with your dinner.

Ingredients
Tamarind-date chutney (sauce): ¼ Cup
Mint – Cilantro chutney (sauce): ¼ Cup
Farsaan / Panjabi Mix/ Bombay Mix: ½ Cup
Fine sev: for garnishing
Salted peanuts (optional): for garnishing
Puffed rice / Kurmura: ½ Cup
Onion - Finely Chopped: ½ Cup
Tomato – Chopped: ½ Cup
Cilantro / Coriander: finely chopped
Raw mango – chopped (optional): for garnishing
Sprouts (optional): ¼ Cup
Chaat Masala: 1 Tea Spoon

Procedure:
1. Mix puffed rice / kurmura with farsaan in a bowl.
2. Add ¼ cup of each Onion and Tomato to this. And Stir.
3. Mix Mint Cilantro chutney, Tamarind-date chutney. Add 2 pinches of Chaat Masala to it. If you like it spicy add green chili paste to this.
4. Add sprouts if you like.
5. Serve this into plates.
6. Garnish with Fine Sev, Onions, Tomato, Cilantro, Raw Mango, Salted peanuts.
7. Serve immediately before it gets soggy.

Sabudana khichadi

 This is a snack I always had on the days when they fast. It can be breakfast or even serves as a full meal. Sabudana khichadi can be paired with salty lassi, plain yogurt or special rajagira aamti or danyachi aamti.

Ingredients:

Sabudana (Tapioca pearls – Indian style): 2 cups

Water c soak: 2 cups

Ground peanuts: 1 ½ cups

Salt to taste

Sugar to taste

Cilantro (coriander): 3-4 springs, finely chopped

For Tadaka:

Butter or Ghee (Clarified butter): 1 Table spoon

Green chili: 1 chopped

Curry leaves: few

Cumin Seeds: ½ Tea spoon

Whole peanuts: 1 Table spoon

Potato (chopped into 1cm cubes): 1

Procedure:

1. Wash and soak Sabudana overnight. This is the most important step. After you wash the Sabudana, just add enough water to cover Sabudana completely. Next morning Sabudana should completely soak the water and each tapioca ball should be separate from other.
2. Mix soaked Sabudana with peanut powder, salt and sugar.
3. Tadaka: In a pan heat the Ghee, add Cumin seeds, chopped Green Chili, Curry leaves, whole Peanuts, Potato.
4. Stir until potatoes are cooked.
5. Add the Sabudana mixture.
6. Stir for 5-7 minutes on high heat.
7. Turn off the heat
8. Garnish with chopped Cilantro and grated coconut(optional).

Ragada Patties

Its Indian road side food, another chaat, most loved and famous in Maharastra and Gujrath, full of nutrition and protein. It surely can be the main course for savory dinner parties or snack for a cold winter evening.

Ragada patties is nothing but potato patties covered with white peas curry, topped with your choice of sauces (chutneys) like sweet tamarind-date chutney, green chutney for chaat and garnished with crunchy sev, cilantro, onions and tomatoes.

It consists of two main things:

Ragada (spicy white peas curry)

Patties

Ragada

Ingredients:

White Vatana (Whole Dried White Peas): 2 cups

Water: 6 cups

Salt to taste

Oil: 2 tbsp

Mustard Seeds: 1/2 tsp

Cumin Seeds: 1/2 tsp

Crushed Peanuts: 2 tbsp

Sesame Seeds: 1 tbsp

Asafoetida: 1/8 tsp

Turmeric Powder: 1/4 tsp

Curry Leaves: few

Ginger: 2 tsp, minced

Garlic: 3 large cloves, minced

Green Chillies: to taste, minced

Onions: 1 cup, finely chopped

Tomato: 1 large, chopped

Rasam Powder: 1 tsp (This is the secret ;) )

Coriander Powder: 1 tsp

Cumin Powder: 1/2 tsp

Lemon Juice: to taste

Cilantro: to garnish

Procedure:

Keep all the ingredients ready before you start as this procedure though it looks long, it’s really fast.

1. Wash and soak the Vatana (whole white peas) overnight in water.
2. Drain water from soaked Vatana , rinse and add Vatana plus fresh water (6 cups) and salt to taste in a pressure cooker.
   Allow pressure cooker to whistle once, reduce the stove to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes.TIP: do not overcook Vatana otherwise it will taste like mashed curry. Allow the pressure to go down by itself.
3. Heat Oil in a pan.
4. Add Mustard Seeds and allow them to pop.
5. Add in Cumin Seeds, allow them to turn a little golden.
6. Add in Peanuts and Sesame Seeds and allow the Sesame Seeds to pop.
7. Add Asafoetida and Curry Leaves. Mix.
8. Add Ginger, Garlic, Green Chilies and Onions. Mix. Allow Onions to become translucent.
9. Add Tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes.
10. Add Coriander Powder, Cumin Powder, Rasam Powder, Turmeric Powder and a little salt. Mix well.
11. Pour in cooked Vatana and bring to a boil. Additional water may be added to get desired consistency. If you are making it in advance add extra water as Vatana’s soak most of the water. The consistency should be like tomato ketchup or tomato puree.
12. Garnish with Cilantro (Coriander Leaves) and Lime Juice.

Patties:

Ingredients:

Potatoes: approx 4 lbs (2 kg), boiled, peeled and mashed.

TIP: Take russet potatoes or any potatoes with a lot of starch

Ginger/Green Chili Paste:1 Tbsp

Roasted Cumin Powder: 2 Tsp

Sugar: 2 Tsp

Salt: to taste

Lemon Juice: 3 Tbsp or to taste

Cilantro (Coriander Leaves): 20 sprigs, finely chopped

Corn Starch: 4 Tbsp

Oil: for pan frying

Makes approx 30 patties

Procedure:

1. Boil, peel and mash Potatoes.
2. Add Ginger/Green Chili Paste, Roasted Cumin Powder, Sugar, Salt, Lemon Juice, Cilantro and mix well with hands
3. Add Corn Starch and mix well. Make it like potato dough.
4. Take a small portion (as big as you want the patty to be) and form a round and flat patty. Form all patties. You can use a spoon for measuring the mixture, so that all patties are of the same size.
5. Shallow fry patties with a little oil until nice and brown on both sides.

To assemble Ragda Patties:

1. Place 1 to 2 patties in a flat bowl or dish.
2. Pour 2-3 table spoons of zesty Ragda over patties, until patties are nicely covered.
3. Garnish with Coriander Chutney or Mint Chutney, Tamarind Chutney, Sev, chopped Onions and Cilantro.
4. Serve immediately. Serves 8 as a full meal.

Gond ke Laddu

Ingredients:

Dry Dates: 300gm

Dry shredded coconut: 300 gm

Wheat flour : 500 gm (preferably course and not fine)

Sliced Almonds: 150 gm

Ghee: 400 gm

Goond: 150 gm

Powdered Sugar: 400 gm

Cardamom powder: 1 T spoon

Procedure:

1. Seed Dry dates, pond them. Grind Dry dates and dry coconut corse in grinder. 

2. Roast wheat flour on a very low flame until it turns a little reddish. (Do not add ghee at this point). This procedure takes long time almost 45min -1 hr. 

    Add ground dates and coconut powder. Add Sliced almonds and roast a little more. 

3. Heat ghee in a small pan, Fry goond in it until its fluffed and crisp. Remove it and set aside.

4. Add remaining ghee to the flour mixture and roast it on v low flame for sometime. It will start smelling really good. 

5. Remove it from heat and let it cool down to room temperature. 

6. Add Powdered sugar and cardamom powder and fried goond to the above mixture. 

7. Make laddus. If laddu are not binding together add more ghee.

Kairichi Daal

Ingredients:

Chaana Daal                   2 cups

Shredded Raw Mango     1/2 cup

Sugar                             1 tea spoon

Green Chillies                  6-7

Shredded coconut          3 table spoon

Red chili powder 

Turmeric powder

Asafetida

Salt to taste

Cilantro for garnishing

For Tadaka: 

Oil                                 1 table spoon

Mustard seeds

Procedure:

Soak chana dal for 4-5 hours. Drain the water completely from dal and wash once more with water before using. This ensures dal does not stink. Coarsely grind the dal with green chilies. Now Take a big bowl and mix dal, grated raw mango, grated coconut, asafetida, salt & sugar. You can substitute raw mango with lemon juice.

Make a tempering of the tadka ingredients. Let the tadaka cool down and then pour it on the mixture and mix well. Serve it with garnishing of coconut and coriander.

Also Called Watali daal, Chana daal, Sundal