Murukku Cheese Sandwich : Wait what?

Side view of the murukku cheese sandwich. 

I was in Chennai recently and when I asked the locals about the famous street foods here.

There was one thing I came up with that I've never seen or eaten anywhere else(so far) . That's the murukku cheese sandwich.

I know , the name is bizarre!!

And I'm sure most of you reading this haven't heard of it before.

As you can guess this dish is a mix of western and Indian food culture. The "murukku" in it is a typican Tamil food and the way it is served as a sandwich is pretty westernized, plus those cheese fragments add more exotic touch to it. If you ask me how it tastes , let me tell you it's wayyy tooo amazing.

It's rare. It's different. And obviously it tastes great.

The mint chutney gives you a sharp yet spicy taste(actually cheese nullifies that effect). So if you ask a person who is not used to sharply spicy dishes( pickles for example) , that person wouldn't be much impressed about it.

Lemme come again , I loove this thing sooo much.

                                                           

                                                               The making:

As you can see, there would be a first layer of murruku(not shown in pic) above which a layer of  onions and tomatoes come, some add cucumber along with it. The third layer is cheese gratings and above which the spicy mint chutney is added and the final layer of murruku is placed over it. And yes it's ready. People should try this at home and tell me how it went.

                   

The taste :

You pick the first and last murukku and eat it. Everything else will fall in place.This dish has a spicy,sour,cheesy taste. These combine to make your tastebuds thank you for eating it. As I said spice lovers would love it. And beware of cheese gratings sticking out of your mouth while eating. Duh.

PS: This post is intentionally made short.

Chicken Shawarma - Arabian Street Food

You can find this in every place they sell Shawarma. It consists of ground seasoned meat placed one over the other and heated with a heating grill which could be eiher electric or charcoal based. The cage like grill is red hot all the time and  heats up the meat.

This amazingly tasty street food is believed to have been evolved in the streets of Arabia and Jerusalem.

It is made with strips of seasoned meat stuffed inside a Roti like bread and rolled.

 The meat includes chicken , meat , lamb , beef or in some cases even mixed meat. 

In India Chicken is widely used , after all no one wants to risk their life stuffing beef (if you've heard of the term  meat ban). 

If you ask me how it tastes, trust me it's way too awesome.

 Worth trying. It costs around INR 80 per roll, and worth every penny of it. 

The dish has been "Indianized" in most of the restaurants with those Indian spices to make it more appealing to the customers.
Personally my favorite places to have shawarma here in Madurai , is house of sandwitch in K.K Nagar and Arabian Delight in Anna Nagar.
I heard the new restaurant called zaitoon in anna nagar sells one of the finest shawarmas in the city but I haven't tried it personally.  

 Whatever be it they are still as tasty as hell.
Let's get into how it's made.

Spoiler picture :

This is how it looks in the end. Yes it's a spoiler indeed. They normally don't cut it up. It was on my request they did so, so that I can show you people what's inside.

Step 1 :

Shawarma is cut into fragments from the rolling "always hot" meat , which consists of  ground chicken seasoned with Indian spices that enhance it's flavor. 

 Step 2 :

The fragmented meat is mixed with some pieces of cabbage and minced together with a
Knife.

 Step 3:

The raw bread ( which resembles roti ) is what wraps the meat after getting baked .

Step 4 :

The bread is placed in the red hot grill which apparently bakes the side exposed.

 Step 5 :

Same way the other side is exposed to the grill and is baked.

Step 6 :

The fully baked bread is placed in a butter paper , stuffed with the chicken and cabbage and finally wrapped.

Step 7 :

Garlic sauce is squirted over the bread which actually gives it a unique flavor.

Step 8 :

The mixture of chicken and cabbage is now layered over the bread which already has a layer of garlic sauce.

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Step 9 :

Finally a third layer of garlic sauce finishes of the stuffing and the bread is ready to roll. 

Step 10 :

The stuffed shawarma bread  along with the butter paper in which it was kept is rolled over and folded at the ends. It's usually heated in the oven for around thirty seconds prior to serving. And there you have a Shawarma all ready to eat.

The "Plate"- A Picture Essay

With the best selling dish of the streets

Yes you read  that right. What you're about to see is called "plate".
It's one of the best sellers in most of the bhajji stalls.
Hopefully it's not just a plate.
It's usually made by mixing two samosas( but for some reason these guys prefer the term "somas" instead) and an egg bonda along with some channa gravy which you find steaming all the time.
Of course there are many number combinations other than the one I mentioned, but this is the most prominent one.
Other combos include something else in the place of the samosas, for example chillie bhajjies.
You ask me what has plate got to do with it.
 That's because this is apparently the only thing they sell in a plate in these shops.
 These are worth trying. They make a perfect spicy, hot snack.
You know how amazingly hot things get, when you put three hot stuff together(not what you think, you dirty minded jerk.! ) and mix them up. So yes here is how the story goes.

Step 1:

When you order a plate, they first pick up two of these(in the right). These are called samosas( somas) , they consist of  spicy onion 'n tomato rings which make them a tasty dish even alone.

Step 2:

Now he is the badboy who makes the "plate" a "plate". The key ingredient. Egg  bondas. This consists of a boiled egg in it's center. If you eat it alone don't expect it to be spicy.

Step 3:

The two mentioned above are mixed in a jar for around a minute. So their tastes get blended well.

Step 4:

This steaming(steam not shown in pic) channa gravy is now poured into the already spicy mixture which in turn makes this thing one of the best street foods out there.

Step 5:

After some further mixing it is transferred from the jar to a "plate"(satisfied?)  and some seasonings are done with some black pepper powder and onions, now you can picture how spicy it would be.

Step 6:

This is the total close up view of this dish.

But wait I'm a pure vegan :

                                            No big deal, there are vegetarian plates without the egg bondas, Which is made in a separate jar. You can ask for that.

Where to get in Madurai :

The entire stall. 

                                           Wherever you see a bhajji stall in the streets with a wheel, there is a 90 percent plus of chance they sell this. The best hand picked ones by me are in Anna Nagar near the eighty feet road opposite to a park. Another stall near K.K nagar bata showroom sell good stuff. Do try them.