Bombay with love: Stuffed Keema Pav
There is a bakery shop, two stops away from my home in Guwahati. Every time I pass through that street, the sweet and yeasty aroma of freshly baked bread fills my heart with love and hunger. Every time the bus stops, just opposite the bakery, people would swing their heads to locate the origin of that strange, clean, and somehow warm smell, almost like the cozy blanket on a wintery night. I consider those who live near the bakeries as the luckiest people on earth.
My visits to Mumbai (Bombay ceased to exist as a name in 1995) remain unfinished if I don’t make one of those pilgrimages stopovers in the city’s iconic Irani-Parsi Cafes. One of them is my absolute favourite: Kyani & Co., next to the glittering Marine Drive. The rustic Bentwood chairs, wooden stairs that lead you to the loft, beautiful century-old round tables with white marble on top (now covered with chequered cloth), glass jars filled with delectable cookies, and the radio that continuously churns out quintessential Bollywood songs of yesteryears, Kyani & Co. is a visual feast for the eyes. If I’m visiting the cafe in the morning, I prefer a crispy-layered bun with maska with a cup of sweet Irani chai followed by Keema Ghotala with egg. The afternoon is all about a heavy meal: chicken salli boti, Irani kebab, and rum ball. The curtain is finally drawn with a bottle of Pallonji’s tangy-sweet raspberry drink, a much-cherished soda among the Parsis. But my favourite from the menu is the Keema pav/bun. They serve this all-weather food on a brown ceramic plate with baked-buns and a plate of thick, freshly prepared grounded-meat (keema) with herbs and spices. The perfect pav is the one that has a light-orangish hue on the top and is unmistakably soft (but not soggy). Squeeze some lemon juice over the keema. Tear a chunk of the pav, dip it into the thick curry, and consume it. Heaven!
This Sunday, while flipping through my Mumbai album, I finally decided to satiate my taste-buds with the ‘Stuffed Keema Pav’ - right at the comfort of my home.
Preparing keema:
In a pan, heat 1 tbsp oil. Add 1 medium chopped onion and fry it till golden brown. Add 1 tbsp ginger-garlic-chilli paste and fry till it releases its aroma.
Add ¼ tsp turmeric and 1/2 red chilli powder. Mix it well. Add salt according to your taste and fry for some time. Add 1 cup chicken keema now and stir it, continuously. Break the lumps while frying. Freshly grounded-meat won’t take much time to cook. In 5 minutes, it is done. Add ¼ tsp cumin powder and ¼ tsp garam masala before removing it from the heat.
Let the mixture cool.
Preparing Pav:
In a cup, take ⅔ cup warm milk, add 1 ½ tsp sugar and 1 tsp yeast to it. Avoid using ‘hot’ milk since this will kill the yeast. Leave it for 10 minutes.
In a bowl, mix 1 ½ cup maida, 1 ½ tbsp milk powder and 1 tsp salt. Add the yeast mixture and knead well to form a dough (add water if required).
Put the dough on a flat surface, add 1 tbsp softened butter and knead well for 10 minutes.
Take another bowl, brush oil, and put the dough in it. Cover it with a cling film and let it rest for 45 minutes (or till the dough becomes double in size).
After 45 minutes, take out the dough, puncture it to release all the air and again knead for about 5 minutes.
Make small balls. Flatten the balls and create a cavity to fill with the keema masala.
Bring all the edges together and cover the keema. Give it a nice round shape.
Brush oil in the baking dish, place all the balls in some distance. Cover it with cling film and let it rest for about half an hour.
Preheat the oven. Before putting the dough balls in the oven, brush the top with milk or egg white to give it a nice golden colour. Bake for about 15-18 minutes at 170°C.
Note the rising and colour change of the dough. Avoid keeping it for a long time in the oven. The change of milky colour to light-orangish is the mark of completion. Serve it with a cup of strong milk tea.
P.S.: If you want to watch the preparation of the Keema Pav on YouTube, click here.
Ohh nic!!!!
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