Misal Madness

Last Sunday I predicted calamity for this upcoming week and I was right! I've been doing crazy long shifts at work; been given half an hour's notice that we're rolling out the training material 2 days early; I've been informed that before I can apply for my visa extension this year I need to get a special document from the police called an NOC (haven't got yet, but do have form to fill in triplicate, which is written in Marathi); and the list goes on...

But it's not all been crazy... the weather is beautiful and cool (27 degrees Celsius - and I think this is cool? I think I'm finally acclimatizing to the heat of Mumbai!). There's definitely a nip in the air, a cool breeze, though it's still quite warm in the sun... makes me think of an early autumn day!

Yesterday I received my first two Christmas cards (cards don't really happen in Mumbai) and it prompted me to start decorating for Christmas. Unfortunately I can't find some of the Christmas stuff - misplaced when we moved earlier in the year. I'll find the rest of the stuff when I go on leave. In the meantime, I have my mini tree with tinsel, lights, silver bows and ornaments and stripy candy canes. I've also hung some red ribbon for my cards and I made a few other decorations from cards and wedding invites (which can be quite ornate in India).

And on our long walk this morning, Coco met another chocolate Lab called Bruno - they got along really well which it not surprising coz Labs are the friendliest dogs of all time.

Amongst all the chaos this week I can't really remember what I've had to eat, except for Thursday night when I had some lovely Dal Dhokli (a Gujarati dish which I'll have to learn to make) so I'll tell you about the lovely Misal Pav I made a few weeks back.

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Misal is a Marathi (Maharastian) dish which is fantastic street food. It's a spicy mix of sprouted pulses, tomato, onion, potato and farsan, served with pav (bread rolls) and it's yummy! I was surprised that mine came out so well, but that's thanks to the fantastic recipe I followed - Tarla Dalal's Misal recipe from her book "Mumbai's Roadside Snacks".



In the instructions for plating up it refers to a 'potato mixture' but doesn't give the link. Well this mysterious potato mixture is just an Aloo Bhaji.

Aloo Bhaji:

1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon rai (mustard seeds)
A few curry leaves
2 green chillies, sliced and deseeded
2 medium onions, finely sliced
3-4 potatoes, peeled, chopped and boiled
1/4 teaspoon haldi (turmeric)
salt to taste
handful of chopped coriander leaves

1. Heat the oil over a low heat, add rai
2. When seeds crackle add the curry leaves, chillies and onion. Saute until translucent.
3. Add aloo, haldi, salt and coriander. Mix well and heat for a few minutes more.

Enjoy with Misal or as a sandwich filling or eat with spoon!