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Recipes

DABELI

Ashwini

Reading about Bombay, the city I love (my home away from home) got me nostalgic about it's food. A typical Bombay snack could only mean vada-pav, but I opted out of deep frying and decided on Dabeli. Dabeli is originally a Kutchi/ Gujarati dish. Just as Bombay welcomes people from all over the country, so has it welcomed their food, and Dabeli is now a common snack sold on Bombay roads. It is also called Double Roti or Kutchi Dabeli and is an easier option to vada pav (though that dish has a very special place in my heart).

DABELI (serves 4)

For the dabeli masala:

1 red chilli (you can make it as spicy as you like)

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

1/2" stick cinnamon

2 cloves

1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds

For the filling :

2 medium size potatoes, boiled and mashed

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

a pinch of asafoetida

2 teaspoons dabeli masala

2 tablespoons peanuts

1 tablespoon oil

1 tablespoon tamarind-date chutney (available in Indian grocery stores)

salt

For assembly:

12 ladi-pav/ burger buns

1 onion, chopped fine

1/2 cup sev

sweet garlic chutney (available in some Indian stores. Use any sweet red chutney as substitute or omit)

tamarind date chutney

For garnish:

1/2 cup chopped coriander

a handful of pomegranate seeds

Roast the masala ingredients in a pan for a few minutes taking care not to burn them. Grind to a fine powder.

Heat oil in a pan and fry the peanuts till they brown slightly. Remove and keep aside. Next add cumin seeds, when they splutter add asafoetida, dabeli masala, potatoes, salt and a little water. Add peanuts and mix everything well. Remove from fire and add 1 tablespoon of tamarind date chutney.

Slice the buns into halves and toast them with a little butter, (brown sides up) on a griddle. Apply garlic chutney on one side, tamarind date chutney on the other side of the bun. Place a portion of the potato filling in between, top with chopped onion, coriander and sev. Press down, garnish with pomegranate and serve immediately.

To accompany this snack I made Nimbu-soda, a refreshing drink made from lemon juice. It is an Indian version of lemonade and extremely popular in Bombay. Vendors selling this drink make a killing during the hot summers (approximately nine months of the year)!

NIMBU-SODA (Lemonade)
Sqeeze the juice of one lemon into a bowl. Add sugar as per taste and stir till the sugar dissolves completely. Add a pinch of black salt and cumin powder. You actually get a readymade powder of this combination that can be used in a variety of fruit juices or even raitas. Look for 'Surti Jiralu' or 'Jaljeera' powders. Top with club soda and serve garnished with mint.