The avarekalu festival

Bangalore and beans have always been intertwined. It is said that when king Veera Ballala lost his way on a hunting expedition, he came across a hut where an old lady offered him some baked beans. Presumably weary and hungry, he wolfed it down gratefully. By virtue of being a king, he used his powers to construct a town and named it benda kalooru (meaning town of boiled beans) as a token of his gratitude. At some point, benda kaloru became Bangalore. All of this is purpoted to have occured sometime in the 12th century.

If King Veera Ballalla were to return in the 21st century in search of beans, he would be directed to VV Puram for the Avarekalu parishe. At the entrance of what is popularly heralded as food street, you will come across Sri Vasavi stores. A popular store in its own right that is frequented by patrons for its condiments, it becomes the centre of attarction for a few days every year. Playing host to the avarekalu festival, it dishes out an array of dishes – all prepared with this humble bean.

The fairly exhaustive menu meant that multiple trips were in the offing and this was greeted with a lot of glee.

On day one, a swarming crowd greeted us. If you want to test a person’s character, make him wait in a queue for food. People were seen trying to break queues, arguments broke out and tempers were frayed. But in the end, everyone went home satisfied and with a resolve to make another trip.

The next expedition was undertaken in broad daylight when the crowds weren’t overbearing and the queues not serpentine.

The kodbale, a traditional snack in Karnataka, was to die for. Not hard but soft, they were served piping hot.

kodbale

Most of the dishes are traditional preparations, with a dash of avarekalu.

payasa

khara bath

avarekalu dosa

kali dosa

ellavare

Holige

ragi roti being prepared

akki roti being prepared

avarekalu bonda and vada

And once the appetite was satiated, I retired to give the stomach and drooping eyelids a much deserved rest.
One thing is for sure – the spirit of king Veera Ballalla is surely at peace.

Where – VV Puram, Food Street

When – December – January of each year.

Wallet factor – For 100 bucks you can have a hearty meal. For 150 bucks, you can achieve culinary nirvana.

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Food Street – VV Puram (Part 1)

Prelude

Some two years back, over enthusiasm and over gluttony struck. And manjoorian candidate was born. The sole purpose of the blog was to discover cheap eating places (see the arise manjoorians section for more) and then blog about them. Many plans were drawn, many power point presentations were compiled on how to go about our adventures, and even the pilot episode for the tv show was scripted. The Food Gods could be heard saying ‘let there be cheap food’.

 And then there was silence.

Barring a few bursts of enthusiasm, the founders got busy with trying to make a living instead of creating a life. But all hope is not lost. The eateries haven’t disappeared. Our appetites, albeit a couple of years older, can still withstand a night out ingesting copious amounts of street (cheap) food. Without any further sermons, the manjoorian candidate makes a comeback. Bon appétit.

 

Food Street – VV Puram (Part 1)

 

Somewhere is South Bangalore, ensconced in approximately half a kilometer stretch of road, lies a foodie’s delight.  Popularly referred to as food street, it comes alive once the sun sets and goes to sleep roughly around the time that the pubs in the city have cops standing next to the dj console (that’s 11.00 pm for non-Bangaloreans).

 

As the street houses a sizeable number of eateries, covering it in one post is a bit too heavy – for those reading as well as for those eating.

 Enter the street and you are met by the heartwarming sight of VB bakery. This 40 year old institution still holds its ground amidst the slew of other new age bakeries. If nothing else, just step in for a bite of history.

 

The good thing about food street is that every 5 steps or so, a new eatery seems to materialize. Some dish out Chinese fare and very bad spelling lessons to boot. But why someone would take the pains to try Chinese food in south Bangalore is a tad questionable. The street is home to eateries that dish out traditional Karnataka fare – Ragi roti, akki roti, holige, chitra anna, kali dosa, kodubale, idli among others – and these are the ones to gravitate toward.

 

The first stop was Ramu Tiffan centre where an order was placed for kali dosa. The paper plates weren’t enough to withstand the heat exuded by the piping hot dosas. The bonnet of a parked car came to our timely rescue.

 

One of my favourite all time dishes is chitra anna. If you’re too cool, you subscribe to the adage – ‘when life gives you lemons, make lemonade’. If you’re like, me, you say ‘when life gives you lemons, make lemon rice’. It is a dish so simple, yet so fulfilling. Most darshinis go through the trouble of cooking up really bad pulav and fried rice, when all they have to do is make some ‘relicious’ chitra anna. So one plate of hot chitra anna was dutifully ordered and wolfed down.

Even before the chitra anna could be finished, the eyes chanced upon kodubale being fried. An order was placed even before the chitra anna was over.

The kodubale you get in stores is hard wheras the ones here are served hot and their texture resembles that of onion rings. It’s crunchy, but in a different way. The accompanying chutney too was a tad spicy, but entirely worth it.

 

To even out the taste buds, an order was placed for jamuns and jalebis. The oil from the jalebis would have seeped through a few layers of clothing in my opinion. Needless to say, the taste buds lapped them up with glee, but they won’t find themselves on any heart friendly foods list.

 

At the end of food street lies one of its signature stores that sells gulkand ice cream. Though a tad overrated, it is still a must try.

 

Food Street also houses eateries that serve up some nice North Indian fare, lassi, idli and some traditional Karnataka fare. Though consumed on numerous previous visits – the memories have gotten a tad stale – totally unacceptable to food.Writing about food has something very common in how it is to be consumed – it should be fresh. So fresh that your mouth waters while reminiscing about it. So another visit (and more) to food street is imperative to cover more joints.

 

Those who want to join in these culinary adventures, drop me a line. Arise Manjoorians, the world will be poorer without the likes of you.

 

Food Street essentials

 

Directions: Get to Sajjan rao circle and ask any passerby. To get to Sajjan Rao circle, use google maps. Use maps on I phone 5 at your own peril.

Cuisine: All eateries dish out vegetarian fare. Those with carnivorous cravings will leave with a bad taste in the mouth.

Necessities: Please carry your own water

Cash factor: Meal for two (hard core manjoorians, which includes multiple helpings of short eats, main courses and desserts) – approx: Rs 250

Till next time

 

The Sheikh (Sheekh?) of Shivajinagar

To most of us, Shivajinagar is known for its bus stand and crowded streets which don’t look like they can house another shop, cart or human being. But they do so with bountiful glee. To those with adventurous stomachs, its nooks and crannies house a treasure house of sumptuous, cheap eateries that dish out amazing delicacies. At this point I have to forewarn herbivores – it is carnivore paradiso. So lets cut to the chase.

Take a walk around the Chowk in Shivajinagar (near Russle market). Ignore the assortment of smells that hit you, until you walk a little further you can smell Sheeks and Phals. Take a deep breath and savour it.
Numerous vendors will be hovering around, inviting you to try their beef. Most of them, speaking from prior experience, are quite good. All of which will leave you lighter by some 30-50 bucks.

But if you want to get your hands on the best beef, ignore all the thela’s and go near the beef market, next to which stands a small street that is easily missable. When you spot the street then you walk in and the first eatery you see is the place to be. A scattering of benches and a slightly pudgy owner welcome you.

Ask for Hari Phal. According to the owner’s claims, this popular dish, is served only in his stall. Hari phal is a preparation made of spinach and beef is served with Idiyapam. The beef is tender, simmered in spinach and is to die for. The idiyappams are as good as the ones you get in any mallu mess. Also on offer – barbeque phal, veal kabab and beef paya soup. All dirt cheap. They also serve camel meat during Ramzan. That deserves another entry.

PS: Please ensure that minimal space is there in your stomach to try out the lassi. Speaking from experience, it calms your overloaded insides and avoids unforeseen storms, tsunamis and other disasters of the circulatory system.

Shivajinagar has an array of places such as these. So stay tuned for some more entries.

All entries till now have been a tad discreet. Future entries will be accompanied by photographs to give the reader a better picture. And give some visual relief to the blog.

Bon Appetit

Contributed by Mudassar Sheikh

Once Bitten, Never Shy

If you happen to be in J P Nagar, around the Ranga Shankara area and mild borborygmi sets in with sudden pangs for home made north Indian fare, head to Tasty Bites. An elderly gentleman perpetually in a white cap greets you with a rather toothy smile behind a counter which also doubles up as his accounts management system. If you observe the pad and papers closely enough you  recognise a pattern – of orders taken and delivered, value exchange having occurred leaving a healthy and satiated clientele.

As entree let me warn the discernible reader- Tasty Bites is an only vegetarian service restaurant. For the main course however, you have a variety of bliss inducing parathas to choose from-aloo, gobi, mooli, paneer; fluffy phulkas, crisp makki ki roti and in the case of being an ardent fan of seeds of that member of the grass family, oryza sativa, plain rice too is available (not recommended however). For the gravies to compliment your choice of bread, the kadi pakori, palak paneer, paneer aachchari, all the paneer dishes serve you well. The richly marinated, plentiful chunks of paneer are doused in thick gravies each of which have their distinct flavours as opposed to spicy, colour-laden versions of the type seen at the various ‘Sagars’ that deem themselves lawful inheritors of the original palak paneer recipe. In the event of a lack of appetite for a spicy gravy the trusty curd obliges equally well.

For a person with a respectable appetite and if you go as part of a group of four or more the permutations and combinations on offer to taste more varieties of the parathas is enhanced leaving you richer for the experience.

Wallet Factor- That said, in line with the raison d’être of this blog, Tasty Bites will leave your wallet lighter by around a 100 bucks (a mind blowing rice kheer/ a slightly down on the epicurean satisfaction scale fruit custard[depending on the dessert for the day] thrown in to round the meal).

Ambience- Regular mess-unlimited pickle, cut onions and sliced chillies. The kitchen and serving area is probably about 5 feet apart which aids the fact that your plate gets refilled fast and hot.

Seats- The max they can seat in the 10X10 area on offer is 4 (you could squeeze in the 5th on availability of a free plastic chair). 2 steel tables on the footpath serve the not so lucky.

Location- Follow me.

Author- Vivek Nenmini

The Bong Joints – Part 2

In the event of a slightly better budget and a penchant for Bengali food ‘Lil Kolkata’ is a decent bet. The items on the meals menu remain the same for an extra 10 rupees. The alu bhaja is sometimes replaced by a sliced brinjal fry.  What really makes up for here is the chingri malai curry which is essentially 4 mid-sized prawns fried and doused in a coconut based gravy. Top it off with a mishti dahi (sweet curd), if unlucky you will have to make do with surprisingly-gelato, and you are ready for your afternoon seista. If you are coming from Infosys pass Ottera, Velankani and you reach a junction with a bakery called Four In One. Drift a bit to the left of this and Lil Kolkata appears with a white drawing board displaying the day’s menu at its door.

Wallet Factor-A meal,the recommended prawn curry and sweet curd should cost you Rs 80 and slightly lesser for a chicken or mutton meal.

Ambience- The fed-up-with-IT owner, Amit plays a variety of traditional Bengali folk, rock and assorted Bollywood numbers including requests on his Mac. So its definitely more up-market.

Seats-15 people.

They also serve a heavy breakfast from 8-11AM, poori(luchi in Bengali)-subzi which is worth a try.

Author- Vivek Nenmini

The Bong Joints – Part 1

Electronics City has its fair share of what are termed messes which cater to the various regions its denizens hail from. The Andhra ones are quite dominant with most nooks and crannies advertising the spicy meal on sandwich boards on footpaths and doors which lead you into labyrinthine recesses spouting rice, ghee, dal and the ubiquitous gun powder.

If  mellow, easily digestible food without firing your senses too badly is an ideal lunch head to ‘Hotel Satyam’, slightly ahead on the left from the IFIM B-School near Infosys.

A veg meal consisting of rice, a moong dal gravy, varied vegetable side dish (the alu-gobi, served on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s if I am not mistaken is highly recommended). Alu Bhaja(a thinly grated variety of french fries) proves an excellent alternative to the papad. Mutton, chicken and various fish (rohu comes to mind) jhol (tomato based gravies) with the distinct smell of mustard oil wafting through the air complete the meal. The waiter doles out liberal amounts of a sweet tomato chutney and the dal on request.

Wallet Factor- The veg meal should leave your pocket lighter by a mere 30 bucks and the meat curries vary between 30 and 60 depending on the season and availability of the fish.

Ambience- Typical mess, in case you prefer a clean experience avoid looking to the left as you enter. Plates are washed here and the cooking happens quite beside it.

Seats- about 20 people. Gets extremely crowded after 1:15PM and you might require to wait a while.

Author – Vivek

The humble mallu mess with no name

Indiranagar is all dressed up with numerous ‘wallet emptying’ pockets, disguised as restaurants.

So what does one do when all the money has been washed down liberally over numerous beers, expensive lunches etc. and you have some 50 bucks to spare?

Cut to the directions. – If you are coming from Cambridge layout, pass the ESI hospital junction (ESI hospital comes to your right). Keep going straight and take the third left, a narrow discreet lane. Keep going down and WATCH OUT FOR LARGE BLUE DRUMS TO THE RIGHT. Yep, mission accomplished.

For lunch, there is just meals, and both red and white rice, fish curry, sambhar and pulusheri. In a small plate arrives some papad, salad and pickle.

But what is to kill for is the beef fry. All of some thirty rupees, soft, tender and how Kerala beef fry should be. Also available are fish and chicken for those who won’t touch beef.

Barring side dishes, you can take numerous helpings of everything else.

And once the numerous helpings are partaken and drowsiness begins to envelope you, you realize that you are only half way through the day and have to return to the confines of your office.

But if you are of the opinion that justice has not been done, you can always go back for dinner (post 7.30 pm) where the fare consists of idiyappams, appams,kerala parota and beef curry.

It is a small and discreet place, hence the landmark is of paramount importance.

Wallet factor – 50 bucks with the beef curry thrown in.

Ambience – discover for yourself

Seats – 10 people at a time. Go before one thirty if you are going for lunch lest you want to forsake beef fry.

author – Pawan