Top 10 list

Ok, last night, when I was driving back home from Jackson, I was thinking about nice warm food.. This was after I spent a good 20 minutes thinking about my new found favorite food, which is in the previous post. This post is an ode to all of those foods that I enjoy the most. Since the exercise of remembering and typing out all might take a while, this is a top 10 list. For the record, this list is a set rather than an ordered list.

The first that comes to mind is definitely paani-puri that you get at Prashant Corner, in Thane. It is the best in the world. You can quote me on this. Its about a 5 minute walk from our home. A close runner-up is GuriKripa in Sion - somewhat similar taste. Every paani-puri I have had is evaluated with reference to Prashant's offerings, and none have come even close to my benchmark. The texture, taste and crispness of the puri, the temperature of the water, the sweetness and heat of the chutneys is what takes Prashant's paani-puris on a different plane altogether. No offence to anyone, but the paani-puris what we get in the US are hopeless. Period.

Chicken/mutton biryani that my grandmother makes. Truly wonderful. Warm, fluffy rice, sometimes with a little color added, very well cooked meat, and delectable masala. Always present at family gatherings, and a source of familial bonding for all of us!

Mutton masala - Hotel Satkar in Thane. Rich, almond gravy. Excellent masala. Good to have once in a fortnight.

Samosas - nothing ever compared to the samosas that we used to get in our school canteen. Samosas were every Tuesday and Thursday only. And they were more triangular than like a pyramid.

Kanda Pohe - that my mom makes. Standard breakfast Sunday morning. Beats having cereal anytime! Also, kanda pohe at "Kshanbhar Vishranti", a hotel on the way from Mumbai to Goa needs to have a special mention.

Masala dosa and sambar - Puja Snacks. A miniscule Udipi restaurant in Thane. The dosas in the deep south of India wouldnt probably be much different.

Flan - that my friend Matt makes (only very rarely though, and that too, only after a tremendous amount of persuasion.) I tried flan at some other places, but non were as good as what Matt makes.

Chicken Marsala - Olive Garden. Yumm!

Shepu chi bhaaji - that my mom makes. I think shepu is what dill is. I remember the first time I had shepu in my lunch box in school. I opened my box, and didnt know what it was. But it looked nice and green, so I tasted it. And, like a cliche, I got hooked onto it from day 1. So is the case with Abhijit. We loved it, and mom was happy that the kids were eating green veggies!

Tomato soup - Hotel SaiKrupa, Thane. Benchmark case again. Used to have it whenever we used to go there for dinner. I still love it, and wouldnt pass up an opportunity to have it again. (Abhijit always used to take my croutons though.)