One Fruity Flirty Evening

                                                          The Fruit store :

In my last post I stressed a lot around the non-vegetarian stuff.
The vegetarians felt like hitting me with a brick , as if there is no good street food from their side. The thing is there are tons.
 So now I have come up with an exclusive vegetarian Fruit stall.
They sell up to fifteen varieties of fruits each costing around rupees 10 per plate.
 But there are two things this stall stand out for.
The fruit salad. The watermelon juice. Let's see in detail about both the dishes.

                                             
                                                                  Fruit Salad :

This is the fruit salad . A perfect evening snack

The fruit salad is actually too healthy to be called street food.
It's prepared in a hygienic way too. Notice the gloves the man is wearing in the first pic.
 The recipe is the same as what your kinder garden cookery teacher taught you , to familiarize you with the names of fruits.
This salad consists of ten fresh fruits neatly cut and mixed.
They are papaya , pineapple , watermelon , grapes, guava, cucumber , carrot , apple , dates and banana. It is served in a disposable plate.
If you are seriously into the sweet dishes then you can eat it as such. But if you are like me , in love with the magical taste that comes out when sweet and spicy taste mixes.
Then you can tell him to top it with some black pepper powder.
You will be given a toothpick to eat it with. You needn't limit yourself , this is completely healthy and safe.


                                              Water Melon Juice :

This is the juice concentrate , consisting of sliced watermelons and ice cubes.

Ahhan . Drinks.My favourite part.
 I'm not an expert in mixology Nor have I been a cocktail mixer.
But I know what tastes good with what. This is tastes good.
It is the best thing you would have ever drunk in a hot summer afternoon ( after beer though :P ) .
The juice concentrate is mixed with a little amount of red sherbet.
The concentrate is actually, watermelons and ice cubes.
Preserved in a closed vessel.
So yes this drink is just a mix of sherbet and watermelon slices along with ice cubes.

The red sherbet. Taste enhancer.

This juice costs around 15 to 20 rupees depending on your bargaining skills.

Mixing.!

So you have come to the end of the blog. Hope you enjoyed. Leave your comments below.

An inside view of the fruit stall

The Madurai Street Dinner : A picture essay

Okay..now I've done so far the best thing I've ever thought of , A complete picture essay of all the typical Madurai food that are eaten as dinner dishes.
The spicy non-vegetarian type
Madurai is one of the best places to have a dinner , the best part is you can get food at any time , even at 3 am. YES , any time..! Provided you are patient enough to search for a shop.
If you are a lazy reader , then this is especially for you.
If you have a slow mobile data , I pity you the most. This blog is full of pictures.
So let's go ahead for the stuff.

                               


                     Egg Parotas (popularly called as  "mutta parota") :

Stage 1 :
                                                                               

This is how it begins , hand chopped parotas , onions and tomatoes with a sea of egg in the centre.
Look at the heart shaped egg , these guys are romantic too. :P 

Stage 2 :

This is the so called "secret ingredient" , some amount of local gravy is poured into the sea of egg in the centre. The gravy is called as "chalna" or "kuruma" by the locals.

Stage 3 :

I swear you would love to see this , this is the best part of this dish , the man vigorously chops the mix with that chisel like instrument in his hands. The sound could be hear from miles..!


  

Stage 4:

After a few minutes of the vigorous chopping , the egg parotas are finally ready .

Stage 5:

This is the amount of egg parota you get when you order for one plate of it , it is garnished with  black pepper powder before serving.

                                                           



                                  Tandoori Chicken :

Okay..this is not that much of a "Madurai" dish , it originated in the street dhabas of Punjab. But still it has become dead famous in Madurai in the past few years.

Stage 1 :

Raw chicken , mixed with masala. It marinates for around 6 hours.

Stage 2 :

And now , the marinated chicken is inserted in a sharp metal rod and  put inside a tandoor oven and it stays there for some minutes till it gets fully cooked.

Stage 3:

A few of the tandoori chicken prepared in the previous stage are hanged outside in hooks to attract the customers , how tactical.!!

Stage 4:

This is how it is served , with onion rings, cabbage , lemon and mint chutney!!

Stage 5 :

What else left.? Just start eating.
P.S: THIS IS NOT ME

                                                               

                             Mutton Dosai :

This is "The" Madurai food. This has got history with Madurai. And is popularly called as "Kari dosai"

Stage 1 :

How it begins.? Eggs are first beaten in a vessel like this.

Stage 2 :

After the eggs are beaten , it is mixed with "mutton chukka" and is beaten even more.

Stage 3 :

The mixture of mutton chukka and eggs are poured into an "yet to be cooked" dosai.

Stage 4 :

It is left as such for a few minutes, till the bottom of the dosai is cooked.

Stage 5 :

The dosai is flipped to the other side , left as such for a few minutes and there you have the spicy mutton dosai.!! 

                                  



                          An additional combo- Parotas with butter chicken :

If you haven't tried this combo before , I highly suggest you that you try it , this is like drugs for your taste buds .

So here comes the end of this picture essay , hope you enjoyed , leave your comments below :) 

Pani puri..!!

                                                                 Pani Puri :

Pani puris..!!
They are the main reason I go to school , there are tonnz of pani puri shops nearby.
This addictive chaat originated in the South Bihar region. I hope that much of knowledge is enough , I don't want to bore anyone with history.
Pani puri stalls are famous and have widely spread all over India , yes outside India too.
The best part of pani puri is that you could never be in a state when you can tell these off.
Even if you're hungry , thirsty , frustrated , exhausted , or even if you've just had your meal you will always have some space for a plate of pani puri by the street.!!

The Making :

It has the least complicated recipe of all the chaat items.
The puris , pani and the stuffing are the important part. Once these three are properly handled anyone can make mouth watering pani puris.!!
When it comes to the puris only one thing define the perfect puri , it has to be crispy..yes CRISPY so at all cost avoid the roadside pani puris during the rain.
The pani(pani is a hindi word for water) is made of mint and tamarind water.
This is what differentiates a healthy pani puri from a disease causing one.
The water used needn't be mineral water but it must be drinking water and definitely not tap water. Most of the pani puri vendors in those carts use these type of water.
So think twice before you eat pani puri at their place.
Always opt for specialized chat shops.
And then the last part the stuffing , this one is pretty simple. It is  made up of mashed potatoes along with some onions and chaat masala, chilli powder , black salt.
The puris are taken and a hole is made in it's top.
Through that hole the stuffing and the pani is being poured and there you have, my boy, the famous , tasty, addictive, cool PANI PURIS..!!
See to it you gobble them up as soon as possible the pani won't be lasting in your hands for a long time.

The Sweet Pani :

Some shops give a red coloured sweet pani along with the traditional green coloured pani.
Actually there are shops in the North India where they give up to seven different panis.!!
Any ways let's get back to the easily available red coloured pani. It is just sugar syrup with added colours. It amplifies the taste of the pani puri a hundred times. The mix of the sweet and the sour minty taste is not at all matchable. Your taste buds will bless you for doing that.! Good luck trying, champ.!

The Ill Pani Puris :
                              Let me talk about the pani puris that really don't taste that good. As I have mentioned above never buy puris that are not crispy it's just a waste of money. And the first in the list comes to those pani puris which come with a ketchup in it.!!
Seriously I know shops that sell horrible pani puris with ketchups and sauces in it , mint chutneys and etc are okay.
But ketchups aren't..!
Please stop westernising INDIAN STREET FOOD..!
PLEASE..!!

The Presentation :

                               In 90% of the place you go one plate of pani puri consist of six pani puris arranged in order along with the pani in a separate small cup. The stuffing have already been stuffed inside , all you got to do is pour the pani into the puri and gobble it up as fast as possible.!

The Pani Puri Cart:

Pani puris are also sold in carts.
Here the guy does the job of pouring the pani and stuffing for you and all you have to do is gobble it up.!!
It is cheaper than the chaat shops.
But the downside is they are not that healthy so see to it you don't eat them often.
The best part of these shops is you can eat as much as you want and pay for it at the end , there is no fixed amount, the guy will be filling up the puris and giving it to you as long you tell him to stop, provided he will keep you informed every time one plate is over.
Try this---> Take a friend with you and you can play this game with him. You both go to a pani puri cart and start a pani puri battle and see who eats the most number of pani puris.
The one who looses pays. It's a really fun thing to do..!!
Do try.!!

So that's it about pani puris , guys.!!
Leave your comments below ;)

The HOT Greens - Keera vadai

KEERA VADAI :

Welcome people!!
In my last post I blogged about jigarthanda , a sweet drink from Madurai.
This time I've come up with the exact opposite , "keera vadai" it is a spicy hot bite.
It is made from a variety of leaves called "mullumurungai" (Prickly amaranth).
As a kid I was never able to pronounce that complicated word , I always used to call it "green vada" (My sister still does that) .
It is far tastier than the tradition medhu vada , no offence medhu vada fans , that's just my opinion.
So let's go for the recipe.

This man makes up to 3,500 vadas a day.!!

Expert's recipe :
                          It's quite simple , just four ingredients that make up the batter , The greens I mentioned above , black pepper , rice flour and a few local herbs (optional) .
All the ingredients are ground together and mixed.
It is patted in a flat surface and deep fired.It is then seasoned with , ground gram dhal and spices.
And there you have the spicy , hot , tasty vadai..!

Just fry this batter , that's all.!!

What's so special about it :
                                      This dish is one of a kind , You wouldn't have tasted before.
Seriously people, trust me you do have to taste it , there is simply no other food that tastes like this. It ain't got a twin.
Plus , the guy who made those said me it's ingredients have a very positive effect on your health. It has been said to cure cold , dry cough , etc . You can now give that excuse to yourself to go eat dozens of this thing.!!

The fully ready vadas.!!

The wallet saver :
                        God..!! This dish tastes waaay tooo good and it is waay tooo cheap too. It is just three rupees per vada..!! Yeah you read that right just three rupees..!
This seems to be the best bite from every angle doesn't it.??

The places they are available :
                                                 In Madurai it is available in the Anna nagar region , on the 80 feet road.
 And if you want to go a bit deep inside , in the interior regions you can find tonnz and tonnz of such shops , specially in the Thirumalai nayakar mahal region..!!

They are hot and spicy.! Hotter than Ian and Russel together

Jigarthanda---A Non Alcoholic Booze Of Madurai :P

JIGARTHANDA:

PARADISE..!!

Today , I've covered up one of the best drinks available in the streets of Madurai city.

It's called "Jigarthanda".  

It's no wonder why people love it the most.

It is simply proof that god exists and he wants us live life tastefully..!! 

For those people who have not tasted Jigarthanda before , listen up, it tastes more or less like falooda, actually far better than that. 

Now enough of the intro let's dive into the real stuff.

The expert's recipe :

CHINA GRASS

                          

        In a empty glass , not-so-condensed  milk is first poured till the glass is quarter filled. Then comes the interesting part , this is what makes Jigarthanda a hundred times tastier than falooda plus this is the secret ingredient too..It is china grass..! 

It is popularly called "kadal-pasi" by the local folks and the shop keepers.

It is the amount of china grass that is very important. 

Normally somewhere around one scoop is added. 

After that comes a scoop of ice-cream and all these are topped with milk cream and  red sherbet. Most importantly it must not be shaken nor stirred..! 

And that's it BINGO...right in front of you lies the drink that is going to give you wings..!

A Fully prepared Jigarthanda

What if you are not in Madurai and want good quality Jigarthanda :

                                                                              

                There are only two ways to deal with this situation , you either collect all those ingredients make it yourself , let yourself fail and keep learning and in a few weeks or months you will be gifted with a skill set to start your own shop. 

Well, I know It's not a good idea for busy people and lazy people. 

For those people , there are lots of jigarthanda brands , they sell good quality jigarthanda in bottled packages. 

You can get it in most of the shops. 

You can buy crates of those from Madurai and drink it in your city whenever you wanted to.

Still sounds like a bad idea.? Well, think about it, it all comes down to priorities. If people can buy crates of beer from Pondichery and drink it at their pleasure in their place then why not this..?!

Trust me, it's worth every pint of effort that you take into getting this drink!!

What is the cost of jigarthanda :

                                                    

A lot of foreigners and tourists have been cheated by the local shop owners by selling them food stuff at a really high rate , and that is a reeaally baaadd thing. Listen the price of Jigarthanda starts at 25 rupees and ends at 50 rupees depending on the quantity.The price ends at 50 rupees..! Drill that into your head , never pay more than that for a glass of Jigarthanda..! Unless and until you are parcelling it.

Two best places for jigarthanda in Madurai:

If you are a more civilized person , you can try a spoon.

                                                                       

  Actually, there are tonnzz..! 

Literally tonnzz and tonzzzz of places that sell mouth watering Jigarthanda in the city, I have short-listed the best two which I feel is a good place based on the taste, hygiene, quality, etc. 

I repeat this's just my opinion..! 

• Murugan idli kadai 
• Famous Jigarthanda

Both the shops have lots of branches around the city , you can get there from any part of the city.

Additional Info : If you wanted to get supplies of Madurai Jigarthanda at any part of Tamil Nadu contact this agent , he is a distributor for bottled Jigarthandas  , It belongs to firm called RUBY..
Mr.Parthiban- 9843051161. 

So that's it guys..! This is all about Jigarthanda , leave your comments below :)

What on earth is this blog about.?

Ballas..!
This is Sibi , I'm a foodie...a fearless foodie , you might ask me what has fear got to do with food.? (Oh please , I'm not that retard honey.! ).
That means I would try any food...any bizarre food.
Normally the kinda stuff they sell in the streets.
Of course not all are bizarre , there are tonzz of foods normal people could eat too.
Whatever be it they are freaking tasty!!!
If you know how to talk to the shopkeepers , where to go , how to ask , and most of all how to eat (Grr...should someone ever teach you that..? , F yea.!).!!
I bet you'll be at a point in your life where you could get food at any time , any where and at any COST....yes you can fill up your stomach with as low as ten bucks.!
 I'm going to teach you how to do that , in the upcoming blogs.
And People might tell you a lot of time about how "un-clean" street food are and how much they hate that.
They have told that to me too.
I've taken those people with me to the street food places.
Now they have all been "Street-food-zoned" by me.....they started loving it.
Having said that , never compromise on Hygiene.
Never eat in the places where you can see a  lots of insects , flies , stray dogs (Yuck.!) , and many other things that are supposed to have an appointment with the Vetnary doctor.
Just go to places where you can only see the seller and customers and no other living things around.
And that's it....I will soon be posting my next blog in which I'll be covering one among the most famous street food in Madurai , India.

  See ya.!