Bass Do Minute - Meri Maggi Story

Smart devices are everywhere. On my train journey people (including me) have earphone stuck in their head and are swiping and tapping (no longer typing) on their devices. From Iphones, Ipads to Galaxy tabs and Kindles.They are more omnipresent than (dare I say) God!. While it seems we must be smart to have created these things and using them day in and day out, it does make me wonder if we are getting dumb through their use.

We do not remember phone numbers, email addresses, birthdays. Everything is customised and pre-filled as much as possible. 

While life is very much easier and intuitive, it does beg thinking whether it is enriched enough. 

I am probably what in market analysis would be called a Late Majority. AS and me as a couple probably own the least number of smart devices among all our friends.In fact there was just one since last two years and only now we have increased the number to 2.

The best things though about all this technology is you can connect to those you are closest to. Easily and quickly. 

Whatsapp messenger is a case in point. I have a group with two of my college friends on it. We share different lives and timezones. But for the past month or so we have been really connected. When you are swapping texts many times a day there is suddenly so much more to talk about. The tantrum of a child, the irritation of boss, the vagaries of weather. Instead of hearing about something when it is a memory, you suddenly are part of it.

While one such mundane but very relaxing discussion we happened to remember a thing we used to eat. Maggi sandwich. If I could I would probably send this to 'meri Maggi' contest. Apart from the usual canteen, there was a nescafe kiosk within the campus of our college. The best thing served there was maggi sandwich. It sounds yucky but it was good. Piping hot and the quantity always seemed less.

Maggi in India is a not just a brand. It is a way of life. You have maggi when you are a student. You got maggi at home when you wanted to have junk food (McD, KFC were not around every corner). You also got maggi when mum was just fed up of pandering to your taste whimps. In my house maggi was cooked with peas and as many vegetables as it could accommodate. The idea being that if I get one strand of maggi I should be forced to consume at least 1 tablespoon of veggies. That certainly did not endear it to me.

I was reintroduced when I joined college. The dreary stuff of canteen could be bypassed by an order of maggi. We have even tried making it unsuccessfully with a water heater. Maggi is something you have when you are short of time, culinary skills or just motivation of cooking.

We even had a case study on how the maggi brand established itself in India over a long period of time.

I tried recreating the it from what I could recollect. 

It is essentially very simple. 
Ingredients: 

One pack of maggi 

Bread of your choice 

Tomato sauce

The recipe could be just a single line. Make maggi, put between two slices of bread and toast.

But I am not known for my brevity. So here we go

There is some TLC involved in making the maggi. Because otherwise it would soak the bread.

For 1 packet of maggi, I use just 1 and 1/4 cup of water. Add to it more than half of the maggi masala.

Let the water come to a boil with the masala.

Now add the maggi and break it up. Add little bit of the remaining masala over the top and mix.

It should just take a minute or two at high flame for the liquid to be absorbed and maggi to be cooked.

Ensure that there is no liquid remaining. I prefer to make the sandwich immediately because I hate cold maggi.

Take a slice of bread. Spread two tablespoonful of maggi. Sprinkle the left over masala on it. Put another slice and toast it. I prefer to use a sandwich toaster. But you can use the frying pan, griddle!, or the toaster bags.

Once done, slice them open. They are best accompanied with Maggi Hot and chilli sauce.

I must warn that without memories associated with this sort of a thing, you will probably say goodbye after the first bite.

Kalatop ,maggi and movies

Watching movie in a theater is a big occasion for us. There are only few movies which inspire us both, and even fewer which justify an evening spend at a movie hall. Especially with a new arrival on way we tend to stay away from noisy places and a movie hall counts as one.

Recently though there has been a spurt in the number of movies which meet our stringent criterion. So finally last week we decided to take advantage of a midweek 2 for 1 ticket offer and went for a night show of Lootera. The songs and the trailers promised a good movie (in our case good does not always equate to happy!). Do not worry, I am not going to give a movie review. All in all we managed to sit through three hours in spite of the hero's insipid acting. The sets, costumes and songs were binding enough. But the best bit was the second half, which was shot at a place we had been three years ago.

The house which represented the Dalhousie home, is actually a forest guest house in a place called Kalatop, some hundred feet above Dalhousie. In December 2010, we had been on a forest tour with my papa in Himachal & Punjab covering Dalhousie, Kalatop, Kajjiar, , Gurudaspur and Amritsar. We did not know it at the time , but that was to be our last trip with papa. Seven months later he left us all. But left us with so many rich memories to treasure for a lifetime.

Kalatop guesthouse has thus got a special place in my thoughts.

Kalatop gets its name from the dense forest around it. The foliage is so dense and dark green that it gives a sheen of black when viewed from the panoramic clearing of the guest house. Hence the name Kalatop (Kala- Black, top - cover)

We only stayed there for a night. It was -2 degree C outside and we sat ensconced in the heat from the crackling wood burning fireplace, electricity being a premium commodity. It was a very clear night and there was a veritable traffic jam of stars in the sky!

Looking through the photographs of the trip I came across some great photos of the Dalhousie market.

Among the usual hill station street food staples of boiled eggs, tangy pickled fruits and warm crunchy peanut, interestingly enough there were vendors selling maggi. I tried one of them and this post is about it was made the himachali way. I have called the Dalhousie Maggi Masala.

Ingredients

1 packet Maggi

1/4 Onion chopped

1 green chilly finely chopped

1/4 capsicum chopped

1/2 tomato  chopped

The process starts with adding 1 tbsp of oil to a hot pan. To this green chillies and onions are added and sautéed. After 2-3 mins the onions should turn transparent, then the tomatoes are added. While the tomatoes are being cooked add the contents of the maggi masala (leave a bit to be used for garnish) to it along with the chopped capsicum. Capsicum is optional but I have found it does lend a nice edge to it. A couple of minutes of mixing everything together till the tomatoes disintegrate. Now add the required water ( iw would add 1-1/4 cup of water for 1 packet maggi). Everybody has their own preferred consistency of their maggi. Let the water come to a boil so that all the taste is absorbed into the water. Then add maggi to it and cook to your level of consistency.

Garnish with coriander leaves and the leftover masala.

It might not be the epitome of culinary delight, but in the December chill of Dalhousie the heat and spice from the maggi was really great.

I dedicate this post to the location manager of Lootera who short listed the kalatop guesthouse. If not for you, it might have stayed in my memories and might not have been recorded on a post.

PS : I recently came across a kiosk in the 'famed' DB mall in Bhopal which sells food items made exclusively of maggi. I have tried the spring rolls which were different (another way to say it did not endear itself to me).