A Walk through Mirchi Gully,Lalbaug,Mumbai

       It was the search for our community masala that led my cousin Archana and me to Lalbaug.We belong to the Twashta Kasar community,whose people lived mainly in Girgaum,Mahim,Alibaug and some parts of Konkan.Earlier we got our masala from a lady in Pune but she moved away.Asmita Kadu, who belongs to my community and to the well known Facebook group Angat Pangat, kindly gave me her receipt  from RB Khamkar Masale at Lalbaug with all ingredients and quantities mentioned. These sun dried spice mixtures are made from December to mid June..Lalbaug was an area where millworkers lived ...Girangaon.Many people still come from the Konkan and Kolhapur to get their masalas ground here.
        There are many shops with the"Khamkar" name and one called "Chavan" which is equally well known.The Khamkars here are all related.This is the third generation selling masalas.
        The main ingredient of most spice mixes appears to be red chilli (mirchi)so no surprise that this lane is called Mirchi Gully.The chilly was brought to India by the Portuguese in the 16th century but the origins seem to be in South and Central America.Now most Indian dishes have chilli.
        The cabbie took us via a different route to avoid traffic and that turned out to be even better as we discovered another lane with spices being sundried,roasted and pounded.This was close to Chivda Gully.Going back in time,amidst the urban chaos!

The place was filled with pungent chilli aromas!! Eyes that are not used to this,will water.
There was a space on one side of the shops where lots of women waited while their masalas were being prepared.

We didn't spot the pounding by hand as is done for bottle masala.One of my elderly East Indian friends once told me of how this was done in their backyard in Bandra and was smelt by others, faraway, because of the sea breeze!! At Lalbaug,we spotted machines that made the job easier.Masalas are pound, not ground

You can get all kinds of flour there (Thalipeeth Bhajni,Kulid Peeth,Rajgira Peeth,Dangar Peeth) and different premixed masalas like Ghaati masala,Agri masala and Malvani Masala.I also picked up Red Garlic chutney which was way better than any I had had before!

Santoshbhau at R.B.Khamkar's told me  about the varieties of  red chillies they had: Guntur,Byadgi,Kashmiri,Madras,Reshampatti and Sankeshwari.The folks here are warm and friendly

Spiciness is estimated in Scoville Heat Units.Bhut Jolokia is high on that list but not the highest! The Bhut Jolokia Chilli Sauce I had at the Upper Crust show in December was delicious but had smoke coming out of my ears!

Guntur chillies from Andhra Pradesh are very spicy.Reminds me of a really tasty but hot meal I had at a dhaba in Andhra Pradesh,on the way back from Sri Sailam,which had me on fire for many,many days :)

The one below is Madras chillies,which I suppose goes into sambhar

The ones below are the  Sankeshwari chillies which go into our masala

The ones below are Reshampatty

The one below is Bedgi from Karnataka,similar to paprika and is commonly used all over  India

The least spicy is the Kashmiri chilli which adds color rather than spice to a dish.We use that a lot at home as our chilli tolerance is rather low.While cooing,we soak the chillies in warm water and then grind.
Our community masala (Kasari masala,shown below) which we ordered at R.B.Khamkar's was ready in five days.It contains 5 types of chillies,predominant being Bedgi and around 28 spices,predominant being cumin,coriander seeds and peppercorns

Just can't think of a world without chillies! Whether it is Sriracha Sauce or Chilli Chocolate or Kolhapuri Thecha!! Chillies have a health benefit of being antioxidants

I wish there were more places like this in our city where time has stood still and you could gape at all the shops around with wonder.I am told Kolkata and Pune have their chilli markets too.Do you know of any more?