"BOLLYWOOD STREET BEATS" COOKING EXPERIENCE WITH CRIMSON KITCHEN

"BOLLYWOOD STREET BEATS" COOKING EXPERIENCE WITH CRIMSON KITCHEN 

Living in San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area, would you like to have some famous Indian snacks such as Vada Pav, Ragda Patties, Frankies, and Mango Lassi? Would you like to have them home cooked rather than having them at a restaurant? If the answer to the two questions is a resounding, "Yes", here comes the third. Would you like to learn how to make these yummy dishes yourself? 

If you wish to do so, I would recommend you to sign up for Bollywood Street Beats: A Bollywood Cooking Experience by Meghna Agarwal of Crimson Kitchen. 

For readers outside of India, who are not familiar with the context, Mumbai, the financial capital of India, was earlier known as Bombay. It is home to the famous Hindi film industry known the world over as Bollywood. Mumbai is equally famous for the plethora of street food loved by millions across a wide spectrum of society. These are available almost everywhere, all through the year, in Mumbai.  

Recently, my husband and I signed up for Meghna's class on making popular street food. This was conducted in her elegant place in the Noe Valley of San Fransisco. It is one of the many classes she offers. Ours was a small group of 5. We first enjoyed a talk on the history of these foods. We then got down to business- making these dishes. 

For those who may not know about these dishes, here's a brief description: 

Vada Pav : one of the most popular street foods, this is made with a deep fried potato dumpling placed in the middle of special kind of bun called 'Pav". Relished with accompanying dips such as Sweet and Spicy Chutney and Green Coriander Chutney.

Ragda patties:- potato pattis/pattice covered with a layer of cooked white peas- eaten with spicy and sweet chutneys

Frankies : a speciality of Mumbai. They are like a wrap with a filling of chicken or assorted veggies. We made ours with chicken. 

Mango Lassi: a delicious smoothie made with mango pulp and curds.

We were delighted to find that Meghna's class was highly participative. She got everyone involved. In our class, instead of assigning a few to make a particular dish, she got us to make all the dishes together. That was really a good team effort! 

Our group identifies different types of Indian spices- many of which we used in today's cooking class. 

Expert and novice work together ! 

Vada Pav, Frankie, and Mango Lassi - which we made- are seen in this picture.  

Our thanks go out to Meghna for making this a fun learning event.  The recipes were given to us in a neatly formatted way which made for easy understanding. We will remember her whenever we make these dishes at home!