My Indian Summer

Shefali and I traveled to Bombay/Mumbai from London to see her family. It was my fourth trip to India, and each one is better than the last. One of the highlights is always the food, and this one was no exception.

- This was my first trip to India during mango season. India is home to the Alphonso mango. The Alphonso is smaller and richer than any variety we get in or around the US. The flesh isn't as stringy, either, so the texture is somewhat like a melon. We cut them into boats and scooped out the flesh. We skinned them, diced, them and ate them with vanilla ice cream. We blended them with milk and drank shakes in the morning, and blended them with yoghurt and drank mango lassis in the afternoon. I easily ate my weight in mangoes during my 10-day stay.

- Bombay is a fantastic place for seafood. The city rests on the Arabian Sea and is the country's largest port. There's still a visible population of fishermen in the city, and the restaurants are fantastic. We had great garlic prawns at the Bombay Gymkhana, prawn curry at Copper Chimney, and fried Bombay duck (it's a fish), butter pepper garlic crab, pomfret curry and green chili prawns at Mahesh.

Tiger prawns at Mahesh

Pomfret

- My in-laws protect me from local foods that could destroy my stomach during the first few days of the trip by eating all of our meals at home. This is fantastic, because my mother in law, Arati, is a wonderful cook. During this trip, we ate chicken curry, biryani, dun saak, daal, a variety of spiced, sauteed veggies, and pav bhaji.

- I ate my first Vada-Paav. Vada-paav is a sort of Indian burger. Because much of the country is vegetarian, and beef is the least consumed meat of all, it's essentially a potato patty topped with various chutneys. As usual, I was amazed by the rich flavor and spices, even in something as simple as bread and potatoes. Being a vegetarian in India would never get boring.

Vada-paav with green, red and sweet chutney

- Speaking of vegetarianism, I sampled items off the menu from an Indian McDonald's. Beef was nowhere to be found, replaced instead by the Chicken Maharaja-Mac, McVeggie burger and McSpicy Paneer. The foods were very different, yet somehow still tasted like McDonald's. How do they do that?

- On the corner of most restaurant blocks is a paan man selling mints and sweets served inside a betel leaf. When we visited the paan man after dinner at Mahesh, I was too stuffed to indulge. He was none too happy. 

The paan man wants YOU to visit his booth today!