Mumbai Caesar Salads: Creative, Original and Sophisticated Variations

Summary: Mumbai Caesar salads present creative, original and sophisticated variations of the internationally favored dish of greens.

Hitchki's Chicken Caesar Salad innovatively presents fillings of grilled chicken, dressing and Parmesan cheese in clubhouse sandwich-styled stacks of baked papad: Hitchki, India @hitchkiindia, via Twitter Jan. 24, 2018

Mumbai Caesar salads present creative, original and sophisticated variations of the international classic created in Tijuana, Mexico, in 1924.

The simple, elegant dish of greens with an international allure was created in 1924 by Italian immigrant restauranteur Cesare "Caesar" Cardini's (Feb. 24, 1896-Nov. 3, 1956) in his namesake restaurant, Caesar's Restaurant, in his namesake hotel, Hotel Caesar's, in Tijuana, the largest city in Baja California, Mexico's northernmost and westernmost state. The salad's simple elegance was achieved by blending romaine lettuce with garlic-flavored croutons, grated Parmesan cheese, two coddled eggs and Worcestershire sauce.

Almost a century after its creation, Caesar Salad has achieved global popularity. Its allure easily inheres in the salad's attractiveness, ease of preparation and tastiness. Additionally, this simply elegant dish of greens allows for seemingly endless variations, as vegetarian and non-vegetarian recipes.

India's cosmopolitan, west coast metropolis of Mumbai confidently features Caesar Salad in private and public settings. In fact, in her July 4, 2021, article, "#CaesarSaladDay: These actors love their bowl of caesar salad!," Times of India correspondent Farzana Patowari presents eight television stars who enthusiastically favor Caesar Salad. Caesar Salad's versatility, satisfying tastiness and reliable nutritiousness are extolled by Sharad Malhotra of Naagin ("Female Serpent") supernatural fiction television series, Nikki Tamboli of Bigg Boss reality television game show, Rithvik Dhanjani of Super Dancer kids dance reality television series, Kamna Pathak of Happu Ki Ultan Paltan sitcom television series, Akshay Kharodia of Pandya Store television drama series, Amitt Singh of Ranju Ki Betiyan ("Ranju's Daughters") television drama series, and Pulkit Bangia and Viviana Singh of Apna Time Bhi Aayega ("My Time Will Also Come") television drama series.

Caesar Salad finds expression in a range of variations, from classic styling to creative and sophisticated panache, in the cosmopolitan, yet also traditional, culture of Maharashtra's state capital. Chef Varun Inamdar's (born Oct. 15, 1984) Caesar Salad celebrates the dish's original styling. Hitchki's intriguing menu includes an innovatively-styled Caesar Salad.

Author, celebrity chef, chocolatier, food stylist, Guinness World Record winner for largest chocolate mud pie (2018) and television personality Varun Inamdar appears in "The Bombay Chef," produced by Rajshri Foods of Rajshri Productions Pvt. Ltd., a film production and distribution company based, since 1947, in Mumbai. The show's Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016, episode, "Caesar Salad Recipe / How To Make Salad / Homemade Caesar Salad," has garnered 2,158,594 views as of Wednesday, March 23, 2022.

Chef Inamdar hearkens back to the Classic Caesar Salad recipe. As Chef Varun adds ingredients, he observes the frequent tossing that characterizes Chef Cesare's original recipe. He sprinkles finely chopped parsley, black pepper and Parmesan cheese over olive oil-toasted white bread cubes and minced garlic.

Chef Varun mixes vegetarian, soy-based mayonnaise with salt, black pepper, chopped parsley, minced garlic, grated Parmesan cheese and one tablespoon of chilled water for the salad's dressing. He explains that the water is essential for yielding a fluid, not runny, dressing that overcomes mayonnaise's natural clumpiness.

Chef Varun's dressing agrees mostly with the second dressing that Cesare Cardini designed for his salad. Worcestershire sauce served as the salad's original dressing. Subsequently, Chef Cesare created the dressing known as Caesar Salad Dressing or Caesar Cardini's Dressing. The emulsion of soybean oil, egg yolk and white wine vinegar included such flavorings as celery seed, garlic, lemon juice concentrate, mustard seed, onion salt and tamarind. He included anchovies to recapture the anchovy-flavoring associated with Worcestershire sauce.

Chef Varun identifies the salad's greens as cos lettuce, also known as romaine. He grates Parmesan cheese over the cut- and hand-torn lettuce. Then he adds the croutons prior to another toss. After spooning the dressing over the salad, he tops the delectable dish with a grating of Parmesan cheese.

Contrasting with Chef Varun's traditional Caesar Salad is the clubhouse sandwich-styled layering of the innovative Caesar Salad offered by Hitchki. The Mumbai-based restaurant has five locations in its birthplace and two locations in the United Arab Emirates.

Hitchki's website notes its aspirations as an international brand focused on "regional & eclectic cuisine." The brand aims to imbue each dish with a "quirky touch" that emerges from contemporary preparations of India's traditional flavors. Also, Hitchki seeks to curate "the most fervent international dishes" in the brand's style.

Hitchki's Chicken Caesar Salad dramatically exhibits the brand's take on an international dish. Hitchki's non-vegetarian recipe creatively stacks its Chicken Caesar Salad with layers of baked papad, India's traditional, thin wafers. The clubhouse sandwich-styled fillings of grilled chicken, Caesar dressing and a topping of Parmesan cheese shavings contrast attractively and tastily with the crunchy, Indian touch of papad.

Cosmopolitan Mumbai's enthusiastic embrace of traditional Caesar Salad and creative, sophisticated, vegetarian and non-vegetarian variations mirrors the salad's popularity throughout the Indian subcontinent.

Chef Varun Inamdar's Caesar Salad honors the simple, elegant classic recipe created almost 100 years ago, in 1924, by Cesare "Caesar" Cardini in Tijuana, Mexico: The Food TV Channel @FoodTVChannel, via Twitter March 13, 2016

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Hitchki's Chicken Caesar Salad innovatively presents fillings of grilled chicken, dressing and Parmesan cheese in clubhouse sandwich-styled stacks of baked papad: Hitchki, India @hitchkiindia, via Twitter Jan. 24, 2018, @ https://twitter.com/hitchkiindia/status/956066541656657920

Rajshri Foods. "Caesar Salad Recipe / How To Make Salad / Homemade Caesar Salad / The Bombay Chef / Varun Inamdar." YouTube. Feb. 25, 2016.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta62syygWO8

Chef Varun Inamdar's Caesar Salad honors the simple, elegant classic recipe created almost 100 years ago, in 1924, by Cesare "Caesar" Cardini in Tijuana, Mexico: The Food TV Channel @FoodTVChannel, via Twitter March 13, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/FoodTVChannel/status/709023026487013378

For further information:

Bamboat, Roxanne. "Innovative Salads: Some of the tastiest salads in Mumbai." eazydiner. Oct. 20, 2015.
Available @ https://www.eazydiner.com/food-trends/innovative-salads

"Cardini’s The Original Caesar Dressing 12 oz." Caesar Cardini's > Products.
Available @ https://caesarcardinis.com/products/cardinis-the-original-caesar-dressing-12-oz/

Charania, Ashfina. "Hitched on Food at Hitchki!" The Wicked Soul > 2016. Sep. 27, 2016.
Available @ https://thewickedsoul.com/2016/09/hitched-on-food-at-hitchki-kalaghoda-food-blog-review

The Food TV Channel @FoodTVChannel. "Caesar Salad Recipe / Homemade Caesar Salad / The Bombay Chef -- Varun Inamdar http://rzq.cz/WmhZR." Twitter. March 13, 2016.
Available @ https://twitter.com/FoodTVChannel/status/709023026487013378

Hitchki. "About Us." Hitchki.
Available @ https://www.hitchki.co/

Hitchki, India @hitchkiindia. "Aaya re aaya, Mumbai Ka Julius Caesar aaya -- the traditional Caesar Salad with a 'papad' twist." Twitter. Jan. 24, 2018.
Available @ https://twitter.com/hitchkiindia/status/956066541656657920

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Available @ https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/110414-largest-mud-pie

Marriner, Derdriu. "Beware the Ides of March Meal: Caesar or Brutus Salad, Cleopatra's Dulcis Coccora, Caesar Cocktail." Earth and Space News. Thursday, March 10, 2022.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2022/03/beware-ides-of-march-meal-caesar-or.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Beware the Ides of March: The Assassination of Julius Caesar." Earth and Space News. Thursday, March 3, 2022.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2022/03/beware-ides-of-march-assassination-of.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Caesar Salad Recipe: Named for Chef Cesare Cardini, Not Julius Caesar." Earth and Space News. Thursday, March 17, 2022.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2022/03/caesar-salad-recipe-named-for-chef.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "North Indian Chicken Caesar Salad: Celebrate Julius Caesar's Birthday July 12 or 13." Wizzley. Monday, July 12, 2021.
Available @ https://wizzley.com/north-indian-chicken-caesar-salad-celebrate-julius-caesar-s-birthday-july-12-or-13/

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Available @ https://en.everybodywiki.com/Varun_Inamdar

Patowari, Farzana. "#CaesarSaladDay: These actors love their bowl of caesar salad!" Times of India. July 4, 2021.
Available @ https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tv/news/hindi/caesarsaladday-these-actors-love-their-bowl-of-caesar-salad/photostory/84093703.cms

Rajshri Foods. "Caesar Salad Recipe / How To Make Salad / Homemade Caesar Salad / The Bombay Chef / Varun Inamdar." YouTube. Feb. 25, 2016. Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta62syygWO8