Bombay, India

Am spending a little time in Bombay - and have been doing a little exploring of the culinary aspects of the Maximum City. Am hoping to post a few reports (once I figure out if this is actually working!) More to come anon, hopefully...



c8w

Have been a little lax in getting around to posting (even if not-at-all lax in actually consuming food) while in Bombay...hope to rectify this soon. For the first post, a short report on a trip to the Islamic area of Bombay, for a quick meal and dessert.

With a friend in town, two Chicagoans (well, 2 Chicago suburban-ites to be more accurate) took a trip down to the Bhindi Bazaar area of Bombay for an early lunch at the now-iconic Noor Mohammadi Hotel, for Nalli Nehari.

Nalli is bone-marrow - and many LTHers know Nehari from Devon (slow cooked beef, a (much much poorer) version of which is available at Sabri Nehari, Usmaniya and a few other places in Chicagoland.

Noor Mohammadi is a very basic eatery that has been operating in the same location since 1923. Their best-known dish is the Nalli-Nehari, cooked the same way it has been for almost a hundred years. Many moons ago, the quite terrific food-writer who went by the nom-de-plume of "Busybee" reviewed this restaurant, and his description of this dish and its preparation still holds true:

"The meat (beef) is lovely, the best part of the buffalo, the thigh muscle, cooked on slow coal fire for 12 hours....The bhattis for the nalli nihari are started twice a day, at 6 o'clock in the evening to get ready by 6 the next morning, and at 9 o'clock in the morning to get ready by 7 in the evening. They are cooked on dum, the marrow bones and the meat, in large vessels, sealed with an atta paste and a heavy 10-kilo weight put on the lid. When ready, the marrow is knocked out of the bone. There's a whole lot of extras that go into the vessel: saunf and sonth, jaifal, elaichi, lavang, javitri, wheat flour, jeera, black pepper, tej patta, ghee (vanaspati), crushed garlic and finely chopped onions."

Sauf=aniseed, fennel; jaifal=nutmeg; elaichi=cardamom; lavang=cloves; javitri=mace; jeera=cumin seeds; tej patta=bay leaves

The result is, in a word, fantastic -


A spicy "gravy", very tender buffalo-meat..


With luscious chunks of delicious bone-marrow floating in it

Before eating it (with hunks of the fresh-out-of-tandoor rotis), you add in the slivers of ginger and chillies...


The Final Result

Nalli Nehari comes off the slow-fire at 6am in the morning. Usually, if you get there much after 9am, it'll be gone (or, at least, the Nalli - the bone-marrow, which is a delicacy, will be gone)...it was often the hearty breakfast eaten by workmen, a meal that would carry them for most of the day.

Even after so many years, this remains one of my favourite meals eaten in Bombay.

c8w

Yes ! I was hoping you would report on Noor ... glad to see it was the first order of biz !

Looking forward to hearing more from you, c8w.

Thanks Tatter! Will hopefully be attempting to post a few more reports, of the various culinary-wanderings in the city..

Continuing from the last post - when you visit Noor Mohammadi for Nalli Nehari, the obvious thing to do is continue onwards for dessert (aka the infamous LTH one-two punch). A few minutes walk on the heavily trafficed street (Mohammad Ali Road - an area of one of the greatest densities of human-traffic anywhere in the world) brings you to the iconic Suleiman Usman Mithaiwala, a mithai-shop that has been continuously in operation in the same location - around the corner from the Minara Masjid Mosque - since 1936.



This is still a relatively small shop, bursting at the seams with a huge variety of "sweet meats" - laddoos, peras, jalebis...and their specialities, the halwas, barfis, aflatoons everywhere you look (including the excellent Anjeer - fig Barfi and Halwa; the Dry Fruit Barfi and Halwa etc...now, in the one concession to modernity, even including a Chocolate Barfi! Which I, of course, refused to try!)



These are still still weighed out on purchase, as they always have been, on an old-fashioned scale..



My first question on arriving at Usman Suleiman had been an inquiry about Malai Khaja (malai=cream) - an outstanding mithai that I have not found in a single desi sweet-shop in the USA yet. They didnt have it, they said - they only had Mawa Khaja at the time...the Malai Khaja would not arrive for another half hour.

The Gods were Smiling on that day however - because, perhaps 10 minutes later when we were wrapping up our barfi-and-halwa purchases, the guy came running up to me..to tell me the tray of freshly-prepared Malai Khaja had just arrived!



We promptly asked for a couple right away to be consumed on the spot (and more "to go")..



There is a good reason Malai Khaja isnt available (as far as I know) in any mithai shop in the USA. Since I was taking some home, for example, the shopkeeper was adamant with his instructions - DO NOT put it in the refrigerator (committing the Sin of Loss of Texture); Keep it at Normal Room Temperature; Make sure it is eaten within 24 hours at most (or else it will spoil). For the mithai-shop, it requires constant turnover - and a very large customer base interested in purchasing it very often, something that doesnt exist to the required extent anywhere in the USA.



That was the Malai Khaja. Flaky pastry, garnished with slivered nuts, almonds. With hot, fresh, finger-and-mouth singe-ing malai (an incredibly rich cream) within. My God! Fantastically tasty, over-the-top supremely rich. If youre ever lucky enough to get a chance to sample fresh Malai Khaja, dont ever miss it.



Both my visiting-from-Chicago buddy (pictured) and me thought it wasnt half-bad, really...

c8w