Mumbai Food: Try out railway mutton curry at new delivery joint in Andheri

Clockwise from top left Crispy chicken honey chilli rajma steamed rice and railway mutton curryThere are things that we Bengalis love on our plate that go beyond the fish curry and roshogolla that mdash quite unfairly mdash often typify our cuisine One of these is the quintessential Tangra type of IndoChinese food that we happened to write about in these pages last weekend Another is kosha mangsher jhol a mutton curry that makes the eyes of any selfrespecting Kolkata native light up at the mere mention of it and which also forms the basis for railway mutton curry one of the items that we order from The Craft Kitchen a new delivery joint in AndheriIts the British who transformed the Bengali staple to suit their palate at a time when they were actively making inroads into rewriting the culinary history of the Indian subcontinent There are a few theories on how this transformation happened But each places the origins of the dish inside a firstclass train pantry during the Raj One version attributes railway mutton curry to the genius of a cook accosted by a drunk British officer craving for something to eat The officer had walked into the pantry at a time when the staff members were preparing food for themselves having ended their work for the day Faced with his demand this cook realised that the mangsher jhol he was simmering would be too spicy for the British officer So he balanced the heat with yoghurt and coconut cream before serving it to his colonial master The latter found it to be so delectable that he ordered for it to be included in the menu henceforth so that he could have it whenever it suited his fancy Thus the dish came to be served not just in firstclass compartments mdash which back then were reserved only for nonnatives mdash but also in the waiting rooms of stations with vinegar and tamarind paste being later added to the recipe to preserve the food on longdistance journeysWhich is just as well because the version we order for ourselves also seems to have undergone a longdistance trip considering that it takes the food over an hour to reach our address We also ask for crispy chicken honey chilli a dish that can be traced back to Tangra Kolkatas new Chinatown and a hotspot for restaurants that serve Chindian cuisine And just to vary things around we add ghar ka rajma chawal Rs 185 which youd be as hardpressed to find at Bengali homes as you would be to find a Chelsea poster hanging on the wall of an Arsenal supporters roomThe railway curry Rs 305 to be fair has a rich gravy that doesnt burn the tongue because you can indeed taste the yoghurt in it It also helps that the soft pieces of mutton have been sourced from a goat that didnt suffer from a want of feed But the inordinate delay in the order being delivered renders the crispy chicken Rs 245 to be a misnomer since its batter has gone soggy in the interim Which is a shame really because the spicy strips of chicken have a noticeable tinge of sweetness with chunks of garlic sprinkled on top making it an otherwise authentic rendition of what youd find at a Tangra eateryNow being Bengali we might be considered to be a lesser authority on rajma chawal But the two years that we once spent in Delhi helped us appreciate the finer nuances of this North Indian favourite So we can report with some confidence that this new joints take on it is clean in the sense that the dish wasnt given an oil bath in the utensil it was cooked in Its flavour is also such that the rajma blends perfectly with the rice without the aid of the accompanying pickles So overall our dining experience can safely be termed satisfactoryIts just that we will think twice about ordering from here again if we are in a tearing hurry to silence the rumbling in our tummyTime 12 pm to 330 pm 7 pm to 2 am AT Near Yash Raj Studios off Veera Desai Road Lokhandwala Andheri West CALL 7777033307Other witchinghour grub stops in AndheriRolls RoyaleTime 11 am to 1 am AT Shop 7 Avani Villa Off Yari Road Panch Marg Versova Andheri West call 8425990496 cost Rs 400 for two approximatelyQureshis Indo Arabic BistroTime 12 pm to 12 am AT Link Plaza Oshiwara Andheri West CALL 33956154 Cost Rs 800 for two approximatelyThe Vintage KitchenTime 1130 am to 4 am AT Adarsh Nagar Lokhandwala Andheri West CALL 30151657 cost Rs 600 for two approximately