Skip to main content

Mumbai brings its favorite God home

The day started with drumbeats as Mumbai's public societies and countless homes started bringing in Ganesha idols. Ganesha, first among gods and Bombay's favorite, will be worshiped for the next ten days and then immersed in the sea. This is Mumbai's favorite festival, one that whole city celebrates.

Most homes would do the visarjan (immersion) tomorrow so today's the day for dinner invitations. And everywhere you go you see modaks, Ganpati's much loved sweet. And since I have three dinner invitations already, Bombay Foodie's celebrating with kheer instead.



To make kheer, wash 1/4 cup short grain rice and soak in 1/3 cup water for half an hour. Boil the rice in the water it was soaked in until the water almost dries and the rice is half cooked. Now add 3 cups (around 1/2 litre) milk. Bring to a boil and simmer until the milk thickens to a custard like consistency. Stir occasionally. Add 2 tbsp sugar, simmer for another couple of minutes and pour into a pretty bowl. You can also add a handful of raisins just before removing it from fire; they will absorb the liquid and get plump by the time you get around to eating kheer. Garnish with almonds and raisins. Leave to cool.

Kheer can be served hot or cold, but my favorite way to have kheer is lukewarm.
Labels:

Comments

notyet100 said…
kheer looks yum,..happy gamesha chaturthi...
September 3, 2008 at 8:55 PM
Bharti said…
Mmm...kheer! Have fun at your dinners! Happy Ganesh chaturthi :-)
September 3, 2008 at 10:33 PM
Anonymous said…
Happy Ganesh Chaturthi to both of you as well.
September 3, 2008 at 10:37 PM
Medhaa said…
Happy Ganesh Chaturti. Kheer looks great and very different way of cooking it.
September 3, 2008 at 11:57 PM
Vaishali said…
Simran, That brought back lovely memories of my childhood in Bombay. I remember getting up early in the morning to go get the idol along with my cousins and uncles. Those were special times indeed. A very happy Ganesh Chaturthi to you.
September 4, 2008 at 2:25 AM
Aparna Balasubramanian said…
Belated wishes for a wonderful Ganesh Chathurthi.
Its celebrated in Goa as it is in Mumbai.
September 5, 2008 at 10:34 AM
Swati Raman Garg said…
Mumbai and ganesh chaturthi .. :) i miss bombayyyyyyyyy.... i made kheer and modak... will posr today or tomorrow...
September 6, 2008 at 12:02 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I've found my perfect cookie

It's a bite sized cookie, with flavors of a pie, shape of a croissant and a pretty, pretty name. It's Rugelach. I first heard of this cookie when it became the baking pick for Tuesdays with Dorrie a couple of months back. The looks, the concept - everything was fascinating. And I've dreamed of making this cookie ever since. I ditched hundreds of recipes floating around and went straight to the master. It's Dorie Greenspan's recipe that I used, and ain't I glad I got it so perfect the very first time. So what's rugelach? It's cream-cheese pastry dough, rolled then cut into wedges, spread with jam and sugar and fillings of choice, rolled into crescents and baked. First the dough. Dorie did it in her processor, but I just went and did it by hand. Put 100 gms cream cheese and 100 gms butter out of the fridge until they were soft but still cold. Added both to a cup of plain flour (I omitted the salt because I use salted butter). Rubbed the flour and but...
10 comments
Read more

Mystery Fruit

This only happened a few times every year, just when the rainy season kicked in. A street hawker will come by, straw basket on head. He will yell "kaul chapni" and I will run out to buy a bundle of these. Stuck together like flowers, they looked like a bouquet. Every hole contains a little fruit. You break out the package, peel the tiny fruit that pops out and eat it. Done slowly, it can take you an hour to eat an head. Or did, when I was about 12 years old. That was the last time I saw this fruit. I've never seen it again, didn't even know what it was called or where it came from. Three weeks back, Vikram Doctor wrote about a store in Khar that sells Sindhi foods. He described this fruit and I knew it came from my vivid childhood memories. And finally, I knew we were talking about lotus fruit. Now talk about coincidences. Last weekend, I was passing by a lane in Bandra and for the first time in many, many years I saw the straw basket filled with my mytery fru...
14 comments
Read more

Of Brun and Bun Maska

There is more to Bombay's breads than the pao that goes into pao bhaji and vada pao. There's Brun. and there's bun. We will get there. First, you have to get to know the city's Parsis. And Iranis, who are also Zoroastrians, but came to city a little later, in the late 19th or early 20th century. And when they came, they brought with them these little cafes that dot the city. I am no expert on Irani chai cafes. And I can't tell you whether Yazdani Bakery will provide you the best experience or Kyani's. But I can tell you a few things you need to ignore when you get there. Appearances don't matter; so ignore the fact that the marble/glass top tables and the wooden chairs look a bit dilapidated. Also ignore the rundown look the place sports. Instead, get yourself settled. And order a bun muska. This one's familiar to you as a first cousin of the soft hamburger bun. It's similar, but just a tad bit sweeter. Maska, of course, is the generous dollop o...
13 comments
Read more