So... We clicked this photo one evening at Fort. This is Bombay's trademark vada pao. Made of potatoes and bread, it's an Indian burger with guess what, a Portuguese twist!Huh? Portuguese, you ask?
Thing is, Bombay wouldn't have any vada pao if it were not for the Portuguese. The Portuguese brought both bread AND potatoes to India, having acquired them first from South America.
Pao was actually brought to Bombay by migrant bakers from the Saligao and Siolim, two small villages in Goa, which was one of the main settlements of the Portuguese (long sentence? :D).
Did you know that Pao and Batata are Portuguese words?
Many Hindi and Portuguese words are similar. Ananas (pineapple) and ananas, almirah (cupboard) and armario, kameez (shirt) and camisa, chaabi (key) and chave...
In fact, Bombay's very name is Portuguese!
In 1509, the Portuguese explorer and trader Francis Almeida's ship sailed into the island's deep natural harbour.
The Portuguese called it Bom Bahia (good bay) because it was beautiful...
OK, back to vada pao - here's a recipe if you're wondering what it tastes like. The recipes for the chutneys that go with it are also there.
My great-grandfather was a British army cook in India in the 1890s. He left India to fight the Boer War, then was posted to Canada. Here he retired and, in the military town where I was raised, he opened a restaurant called Tierney's. My Mom was the pastry chef, so to speak. She made great pies.
ReplyDeleteyummy post, Aish. Now i badly want a vada pav....arrrgh!!
ReplyDeleteMaharasthrians make the vada, The pao is usually made by muslims working in a Parsi Bakery and the Goans are called Paowallahs..
ReplyDeleteThe is no snack like the Vada Pav that show so much national integration :)