It's taken me one year to get back to updating my blog…Dunno if it's neglect or sheer laziness...But guess what brings me back here?... My curiosity about FOOD and this time it's KADIO BODIO...
Today, September 16, 2011 I visited Bandra fair again... I feel sad that I do not have the same excitement to go to Bandra fair every year now as I did in the past... Yes the fair has lost it's original charm... I wonder where have all the giant wheels gone, all the yummiest food on the stalls, the tatoo guys who used to make those cross marks on your hands ( OK!!! I now know that was not done in the most hygienic manner, but who cared then?) Every year I would gather the strength and tell daddy that this year I will get the cross tattoo done for sure… but when I got there and saw the faces of the ones making it and their hands all swollen I'd be like, " No Daddy, let's go further, I'll think about it next time." Fortunately/ unfortunately that next time never came in all these years and yes I do not have any other (hygienic if you may call it) tatoo on my body as well... But let's get back to what we started with...
KADIO BODIO... Who cared what on earth it was, and how it was prepared? All we knew is that both me and my brother wanted KADIO BODIO in addition to the whole other list of things.
These white and orange looking sticks always seemed to get the two of us very curious. Mom and dad would drag and pull us in that huge crowd ensuring we don't get lost and always knew the first thing we have to buy is KADIO BODIO ( the bubbles, ice cream , toys, sandwiches could follow later) ... How can Mom ever go home without them? ... She still doesn't and she still buy's them from that same very stall - PINTO's...
Well I guess after we had learnt to read ( I told you Mom Dad, Bro and me have been going to the fair as little kids) the two of us would help Mom spot Pinto's in all that crowd so that once she is done with her shopping our shopping could begin. At Pinto's, we little ones would keep asking the salesmen to taste every damn thing in the poor guy's shop and when questioned what you'll want - the obvious answer would be “KADIO BODIO - Orange colour and white colour” 'That's it! Nothing more?' The look in the man's eyes said it all after all the tasting process we went through. Then there was this long conversation between Mom and the man ( I still don't know whether he was Mr. Pinto himself or some relative of his) we would end up buying different packets of KADIO BODIO... for the entire neighborhood, friends, family, blah, blah, blah and of course for us...
We didn’t know what the hell was this KADIO BODIO, how was it made, what's the English name for it, what are its ingredients… nothing.. We just knew they tasted good and if you ever go to Bandra fair you cannot return without them...
Today, now that I consider myself grown up and little more learned and mature, I am on the quest to find out more about KADIO BODIO... Well when I asked Mom and Dad today ( I still go with them :) to Bandra fair ) about them, Dad explained to me that while sugar is the ingredient for one, jaggery is for the other... a little bit of research on the web tells me that maida is the other ingredient... This is the Wikipedia definition - Kadio bodio (tiny stick made of Maida flour dipped in sugar syrup and dried). Surprisingly the recipe to this one is not listed,I think that’s still a well guarded secret.
In all these years, the KADIO BODIO taste the same, look the same though are not obviously priced the same and I am guessing Mr. Pinto still runs his stall at the same spot. My brother could not accompany us this time around and hence this fact stands unverified.
You know what … now an even more basic question comes to my mind which of the two colored sticks is KADIO and which is BODIO? How are they made, if refined flour is one of the ingredients and I am assuming it's the main ingredient, how are they cooked - fried, baked, or what other mode?
Well I will continue my quest on KADIO BODIO and hopefully will come back with some answers and If I am lucky will also source the recipe... Not that I am ever gonna try it but it's interesting to get into some history... Worst case, I will have to go to KADIO BODIO's root's in Goa or may be talk to some family member of Mr. Pinto...
For NOW... Long love Pinto's and longer live KADIO BODIO...
P.S. - Kadio Bodio is also sold by many other stalls but Mom says Mr. Pinto's is the BEST and who can argue with that? The price today of KADIO BODIO is Rs. 280 per kilogram.
Today, September 16, 2011 I visited Bandra fair again... I feel sad that I do not have the same excitement to go to Bandra fair every year now as I did in the past... Yes the fair has lost it's original charm... I wonder where have all the giant wheels gone, all the yummiest food on the stalls, the tatoo guys who used to make those cross marks on your hands ( OK!!! I now know that was not done in the most hygienic manner, but who cared then?) Every year I would gather the strength and tell daddy that this year I will get the cross tattoo done for sure… but when I got there and saw the faces of the ones making it and their hands all swollen I'd be like, " No Daddy, let's go further, I'll think about it next time." Fortunately/ unfortunately that next time never came in all these years and yes I do not have any other (hygienic if you may call it) tatoo on my body as well... But let's get back to what we started with...
KADIO BODIO... Who cared what on earth it was, and how it was prepared? All we knew is that both me and my brother wanted KADIO BODIO in addition to the whole other list of things.
These white and orange looking sticks always seemed to get the two of us very curious. Mom and dad would drag and pull us in that huge crowd ensuring we don't get lost and always knew the first thing we have to buy is KADIO BODIO ( the bubbles, ice cream , toys, sandwiches could follow later) ... How can Mom ever go home without them? ... She still doesn't and she still buy's them from that same very stall - PINTO's...
Well I guess after we had learnt to read ( I told you Mom Dad, Bro and me have been going to the fair as little kids) the two of us would help Mom spot Pinto's in all that crowd so that once she is done with her shopping our shopping could begin. At Pinto's, we little ones would keep asking the salesmen to taste every damn thing in the poor guy's shop and when questioned what you'll want - the obvious answer would be “KADIO BODIO - Orange colour and white colour” 'That's it! Nothing more?' The look in the man's eyes said it all after all the tasting process we went through. Then there was this long conversation between Mom and the man ( I still don't know whether he was Mr. Pinto himself or some relative of his) we would end up buying different packets of KADIO BODIO... for the entire neighborhood, friends, family, blah, blah, blah and of course for us...
We didn’t know what the hell was this KADIO BODIO, how was it made, what's the English name for it, what are its ingredients… nothing.. We just knew they tasted good and if you ever go to Bandra fair you cannot return without them...
Today, now that I consider myself grown up and little more learned and mature, I am on the quest to find out more about KADIO BODIO... Well when I asked Mom and Dad today ( I still go with them :) to Bandra fair ) about them, Dad explained to me that while sugar is the ingredient for one, jaggery is for the other... a little bit of research on the web tells me that maida is the other ingredient... This is the Wikipedia definition - Kadio bodio (tiny stick made of Maida flour dipped in sugar syrup and dried). Surprisingly the recipe to this one is not listed,I think that’s still a well guarded secret.
In all these years, the KADIO BODIO taste the same, look the same though are not obviously priced the same and I am guessing Mr. Pinto still runs his stall at the same spot. My brother could not accompany us this time around and hence this fact stands unverified.
You know what … now an even more basic question comes to my mind which of the two colored sticks is KADIO and which is BODIO? How are they made, if refined flour is one of the ingredients and I am assuming it's the main ingredient, how are they cooked - fried, baked, or what other mode?
Well I will continue my quest on KADIO BODIO and hopefully will come back with some answers and If I am lucky will also source the recipe... Not that I am ever gonna try it but it's interesting to get into some history... Worst case, I will have to go to KADIO BODIO's root's in Goa or may be talk to some family member of Mr. Pinto...
For NOW... Long love Pinto's and longer live KADIO BODIO...
P.S. - Kadio Bodio is also sold by many other stalls but Mom says Mr. Pinto's is the BEST and who can argue with that? The price today of KADIO BODIO is Rs. 280 per kilogram.
