Beautiful Weekend!!!!!!

Beautiful Weekend

If anyone is looking for vacation destination with natural, exotic and magical beauty, New Zealand is the place for you. Each town or city in NZ has its own special enigmatic charm that mesmerizes all those who have been here. The town folk are kind and loving and hospitality is incomparable. The culture of adventure sports, bush walks, small streams, parks, beautiful sanctuaries, awesome beaches, friendly people, luxurious spas, geysers, hot water beaches, strong wines and the fish and chips will make you fall in love.

Last year we had been to Rotorua, Coromandel and Wellington. This year for the long weekend we decided to travel up to the Northern most tip of NZ. And I must say, when it comes natural beauty the Cape Reinga took the cake. The site was stupendous. The vast stretch of 90 mile beach leading you to the cape is mind blowing and then the view from the top of the hill is next to heaven, I guess. Beautiful deep blue sun-kissed Tasman water made the whole trip memorable. I stood there speechlessly looking at the horizon – the sky and the waters of the two seas with their distinct shades of blue took away all the ‘blues’ for the moment or maybe forever.

It was nice drive back home to Auckland. The weather had been kind to us. But after the tiring drive, I was definitely in no mood to cook. I had tortured my digestive system with lots of burgers and pizzas over the weekend and decided to have Vegetarian food. We therefore decided to go to Jai Jalaram (Jai as in ‘Jai Ho’ of the Slumdog Millionaire fame and second word is pronounced as ‘ja-laa-raam’) in Sandringham for dinner.

Jai Jalaram, the restaurant and Mr. Hitesh Thakkar, it’s proprietor hold a lot of importance to my husband and me. Our relation with Jai Jalaram goes back 2007 when we first came to NZ as Master of Business students. Back then life was throwing all possible weird surprises at us. Having completed Masters in India and worked with one of the Big Four Audit firms, I thought getting a part time job while I complete my second Masters in NZ would be cakewalk. But there we were jobless and dejected for nearly three months with a troublesome roommate and a finicky landlord who would come for inspection without notice and who refused to return the bond money when I left the apartment. But on positive note life was not all that bad. I made some new friends at University who were going through similar issues and were ready to bitch about it on Friday nights after classes with food and drinks, courtesy a friend who was a full time student at my University and a part time waiter at a famous Indian restaurant in Auckland. Then one day one of our friends who then had a ‘CAR’ – a privilege that very few international students could afford with the part time jobs and cost of living being very high in Auckland; took us to the suburb Blockhouse Bay, to the original Jai Jalaram on Boundary Road.

He introduced us to Hitesh bhai (bhai; pronounced “bhaai”, meaning brother). I was so happy to meet an established person to whom I could tell the whole sob story of my student life. In minutes we had him sitting at our table with lots of scrumptious food and listening to all that we had to cry about. With a degree in Bachelor of Law up his sleeves and so much experience about life and world, he just told us three simple things. 1. To be patient. 2. Everything will fall in place and 3. To take good care of our health so that we can face any situation. All that he said lovingly while serving his famous Pav Bhaji (bread and spicy curry of mixed veg curry), Sev Khamani (West Indian Snack), Sev Puri (Indian Teens favourite snack) and Dabeli (one of the indian versions of burgers). He also went out of his way to offer me a part time job in a friend’s business. However, I didn’t take it up at that time as it was away from the Uni and student accommodation and I had no mode of transport.

I was overwhelmed with the optimism he showed and the hope he gave us. After all the negative information I had received like – you have made a wrong choice or things will not be easy or you will take years to settle in, it was a pleasure to meet Hitesh bhai. He induced some much-needed optimism in us with his delicious food and kind words. And he didn’t stop at that - he did not bill us for all that we ate that evening. He said we were like his kids who had come to him for advice and that food was just secondary to keep the conversation going.

Two years since then things are different - we finished our Masters, got good jobs, our Residency and got married. Things have fallen in place – just like Hitesh bhai said.

Till date I savour the Sev Khamani, I first had, at Jai Jalaram. In a way, it reminds me of all those days of struggle, agony and pain. However, each morsel of Sev Khamani I take sitting at table at Jai Jalaram today takes away the bitterness out of those memories and I silently smile.

For all the Sev Khamani lovers, here is the recipe of the favourite Western Indian snack.
For the un-initiated, Sev means those addictive thin, short, yellow fried noodles. Enjoy this snack on cold winter evenings with cup of ‘masala chai’ (Tea).

Ingredients:

2 Cups of Chana dal (Split yellow dhal readily available in Indian Stores)
10 Garlic Cloves
1 Small piece of ginger
2 Teaspoon of Mustard seeds
1 Teaspoon of Turmeric Powder
1 Teaspoon of Coriander-Cumin powder
Pinch of Asafoedita
4 - 7 Finely green chillies
2 -3 Curry leaves
2 Teaspoon of sugar
2 Tablespoon of Lime juice
1 Cup of Milk
Salt to season
Chopped coriander for garnishing

1 Cup of Sev (Crispy Thin fried Indian noodles made from chick pea flour)
5 teaspoon oil

Method:
1. Soak Chana dal for 5 hours. Drain the chana dal and grind it coarsely.
2. Blend ginger, garlic and chillies together. Alternatively could use readymade ginger , garlic and chilly paste available in the Indian Grocery stores.
3. Heat oil in a deep pan, add mustard seeds and asafoedita. Once the seeds starts sputtering add curry leaves and garlic, ginger and green chilli paste. Saute for a minute.
4. Add coarsely ground chana dal, turmeric powder and coriander powder and cumin seeds powder, cook on a low flame. Add milk if the chana dal is too dry.
5. Add salt, lime juice and sugar. Mix it properly, cook the chana dal till oil separates.
6. Garnish it with chopped coriander leaves and liberally sprinkle sev.

Serve Hot
Yummy !!!!!!!!

I hope I can get Hitesh bhai to share some recipes on my blog…