Just Walking Around

Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye……

With the just concluded Raksha Bandhan one of the very first festivals in the festive month of Shravan or Sawan and many more lined up throughout this month , we get eat a lot of sweets / mithai as part of traditional way to sweeten our mouth or as we say Muh Meetha To Karlo. In Western part of India there have been traditional sweets earmareked for such special festivals . Like the Maharashtrian Narli Vadi – made of coconut , sugar and fortified with Kesar and crushed  Pista. This delicacy is best bought from typical Maharashtrian Sweet MeatShops like Panshkar’s of Mumbai or Chital’e of Pune. This yellow square barfi type mithai is yummy and melts in your mouth with every bite. At Panshikar’s in Girgaon or Dadar , people queue from early morning to pick this wadi and going by the demand the line stretches nearly for 100 -200 mts in the bylane next to the Panshikar’s at Dadar in the heart of Mumbai. Panshikar’s have been in this sweets business from a century with the 4^th generation holding the fort now at their various shops across mostly the Marathi dominated areas of Mumbai , Thane and Kalyan.

Another sweet that is similarly associated with Raksha Bandhan od Teej festival as celebrated in the Northern parts of India is the Gewar from Rajasthan. The sweet itself is unique in its looks , a spindly disc shaped mithal with perforated layers and a hole in the centre all coming together to give your that mouth watering taste. It can be eaten in its regular form or served with chilled Rabdi making it more rich and heavenly.

One thing I have been doing over the last 13 years of my marriage is that  whenever I go outstation on my Sales trips I bring back the local sweet / mithai from that city or state so as to enjoy the sweet taste of Indi with my family. And the idea was given to me by my sweet heart Wifey Kashmira. Even if the schedule is tight during such Sales visit I make it a point to ask the locals be it the Hotel Front desk person  or the driver of the car hired for local use to point me in the direction of the best sweet shop in town to pick their local sweet. So when I am in Bangalore , I will make it a point to visit the nearest Nandini Sweet shop to pick the Mysore Pak . History has it Mysore pak was first prepared in the kitchens of the Mysore Palace during the regime of Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV, by a palace cook named Kakasura Madappa. Madappa made a concoction of gram flour, ghee and sugar. When asked its name, Madappa had nothing in mind, simply called it the 'Mysuru pak'. Pak (or paka, more precisely) in Kannada means sweet. It is traditionally served in weddings and other festivals of southern India, and is very popular in baby showers as well. Paaka shastra (short paka) in Kannada means 'cooking procedure' or 'cooking techniques'. Also paka in Kannada refers to sticky sugar syrup obtained by simmering sugar with equal amount of water; specifically for Mysore Pak, the simple syrup is heated to the soft ball stage. The syrup is flavored with various spice essences like cardamom, rose, honey etc. Paka syrup preparation is a skilled art mastered by few cooks, some of whom keep their methods secret.

Same is the case when I am in Chennai. If it’s a day trip and I don’t find time to shop for any sweets I will surely pick up the Ghee wala Mysore Pak at Sri Krishna Sweets at the Chennai Airport. It's not unusual for passengers on flights out of Chennai to make a short stop at the airport counter of Sri Krishna Sweets

This store's 'Mysurpa' has developed a loyal legion of fans including me & my family and all those well beyond the Vindhyas. Most 'dessertarians' or sweet lovers find the melt-in-your-mouth texture of this sweet quite irresistible.

The texture of the traditional 'porous' Mysore Pak is meant to be slightly hard on the outside and yet 'crumbly' when you bite into it. A contrast from the soft and 'melty' texture that has been made popular by Shri Krishna Sweets. Another popular sweet shop in Chennai - Grand Sweets, veers towards the traditional Mysore Pak. These two styles have virtually split the Mysore Pak fans into two camps. It's not just the texture, some of Chennai's sweet shops have crafted their own versions from a Horlicks Mysore Pak to a Cashew Mysore Pak that traditionalists in Mysore might frown upon.

I have even picked up the best ever pedhas, those brown colored sweet round balls made of pure mava during my rail journeys to reach clients like IOCL  refinery in the holy place of from Mathura. They say if you are in Mathura and you have not visited Krishna Janma bhoomi and taste the Mathura’s famous pedh to Mathura ake kya kiya.

There are numerous sweet shops across Mathura who sell these Pede but the most famous ones are from Brijwasi Sweets and Radhika Sweets . the recipe of this sweet is really simple as its basic ingredients is cows or buffaloes milk heated with sugar for several hour to make it thick . In this process ghee is added frequently so that the milk does not burn and turns into khoya or mawa. The khoya is then fried by frequently adding ghee .Frying khoya makes these peda’s it last long.

Mathura peda is so famous in India that the term is often used in local saying like “Mathura ka peda aur Chhattisgarh ka kheda means "(famous are) the peda sweet of Mathura and hemlet in Chhattisgarh. Mathura acts as a brand name for peda sweet.

Another famous sweet quite close to my heart for its wonderful texture and taste is the Agra ka Petha. This sweet is a translucent soft candy from specifically from Agra in North India. Usually rectangular or cylindrical, it is made from the measly white gourd or the safed dhoodhi or ash gourd vegetable (also known as winter melon or white pumpkin, or simply petha in Hindi and Urdu). The Petha is said to have originated in the kitchens of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan.Petha manufactured in Agra is covered by a Geographical Indication label to certify their origin. The best petha is found at Panchi Petha Store in Sadar Bazaar. The real house of the original petha , I had asked a local auto rickshaw driver on one such visit on which is the original one and he obliged me by saying “ Bhai agar alsi petha khana hai to Panchi Petha khana par Sardar Bazaar wala Panchi petha se hi lene , baki sab naki hai..” I asked him how do I know all other shops which are going by the same name of Panchi Petha are nakli . He wisphered to me in a conspiratory tone and said please check the sign boards of these other panchi Petha there will always be some addition , I looked to one which was right in friont of me it had the name Panch Petha written in Bold letter alright but just besides was written “ Pure” in thin black letters” same was the case with some other shops down the lane. I asked this autowala to takle me to Sadar bazaar. Again I checked the sign board it said “ Panch Petha" no prefix no suffix , home of the asli wala Petha.

The moment I entered the shop , I could understand the appeal petha hold for people. Rows and rows of inviting syrupy , perfectly arranged colorful chunks of the soft translucent sweet greeted me. A giant board inside proclaimed the nearl;y 20 varieties of this sweet. The counter staff offered me several variety from Angoori to Kesar to Rose flavoured. I was totally confused the understanding staff recommended I buy the traditional white and dry petha and the cylindrical Keshar one and for its mouth watering flacour the small round angoori ones. I was satisfied. When asked about its history the staff person pointed to the picture frame behind the cash counter of Late Seth Pancham Lal Goyal fondly called Panchhi. He started with one store and now this 100 year old business has around 7 branches in Agra alone. It has now started branches in Delhi , Ghaziabad and Lucknow. Keeping up with the changing demands and tastes of consumers ,Panchhi Petha aims to create newer types of pethas to keep the interest alive. Recently they have introduce a sugar free variety that allows even the diabetics to enjoy it too.

Most of us eat sweets as Prasad or an after dinner dessert but Kolkata must be the only place in India no no I guess the whole wide world , where you will find people scurrying across to the nearest sweet shop at any time of the day to eat sweet just like that. Be it in the morning as breakfast or after a heavy lunch or dinner as dessert. So when in Kolkata head to K C Das on Esplanade East .founded by Nobin Chandra Das . It was a humble beginning in a tiny obscure corner in Bagbazaar set up as a sweet shop in 1866. But he did not want to be known as any other Halwai or Mithai wala. The passion to create something new soothing unique was overpowering. He wanted to create a very original sweet which will be lovedf by the Bengali palate.An ultimate delicacy.After months of hardwork he came up with small balls of cottage cheese and boiled them in hot sugar syrup. The result was succulent , spongy, juicy sweet with a unique & distinct taste. Nobin Das christened them the “Rossogolla” and a legend was born. Eat it as syrupy sweet or squeeze the syrup out and bite into this melt in your mouth Rossogolla.But the story doesn’t end at Rossogolla ,enter their shop and your will be lost in the sweets they produce, be it the classic Bengali Sandesh or the Cham Cham or the peda like soft Khirkadam or the Malai Sandwich like Rossomadhuri Channar Toast or the Khirmohan. Even the aam dahi has been transformed by the Bengali into the heavenly Misthi Doi chilled and served in small kulhads. Eat away standing there at the shop or at the well placed chairs in the corner of the shop. Try each one and smack your lips and lick your fingers.

So every time I come back from one of my business trips , my kids eagerly await those mithai boxes filled with the heavenly sweets and we all enjoy tasting them after a good family dinner. And I would like to thank my wifey for this great habit she has instilled into me of picking up the best of sweets from every part of India.

So to end on a sweet note ,I would say lets discover India from its sweets  and forget the bitterness in our otherwise mundane life.

To Kuch Mitha Ho Jaye……