Indian Food

If you are a regular reader of my blog you know that I am in the Bread baking group started in Facbook by Aparna We Knead to Bake. And actually this Torcettini di Saint Vincent (Sugar Crusted Twisted Cookies from the Valle d’Aosta)  but as unexpected things happen in ones life I coudn't make the bread in April. So last week when I has time I made this yeasted cookies. They are really so

Kamalika is a creative person who runs her own designer boutique side by side with a home based confectionery and bakery business. She believes home makers rock and can get their own identity while attending to home and hearth. An alumni of Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan, Kamalika’s goal is to motivate home makers to establish themselves via home based businesses. She expresses her culinary thought and activities via her blog, Silence Sings with Kamalika C, where she shares her experiences in the kitchen. Her dream is to establish a Kolkata Food Blogger’s Society and help home makers become financially independent.

Crispy noodles dessert

Messy bum burgers. Sand witch platters. 6 incher Hawwt dawwgs. Chocorgasm. Stuffed mushroom dickheads. Titties Bitties. Now that I have your attention, let me tell you about a small café hidden away in Pratap Vihar, Ghaziabad with the quirkiest sounding dishes I’ve heard of in a while! Started only a few months ago by a young bar consultant, Café Lolz is the kind of place where you can put your feet up. It’s the place you go to in between classes at college, for a plate of fries and some cold coffee. A place where you feel at home even in your pajamas and where you know all the servers by name. There are comics to read, free wi-fi, and relaxed music – it’s the kind of place where a few hours could go by and you wouldn’t realize it. The menu is small, but diverse. After a hearty laugh at the names of the dishes, we started with a Tamarita Brain freezer (75) and BBW or Big brownie walnut shake (75). They were a study in contrasts. The brain freezer came in a pretty Margarita glass. A refreshing, icy tamarind mocktail, it was a pleasant mix of sour, sweet and spicy. The BBW shake arrived in an adorable pink sippy cup (with a straw of course). It was unabashedly sweet with delicious bits of brownie with every mouthful of thick chocolate shake. Next up, we tried an assortment of Titties Bitties (145). The basket contained Cheese poppers (filled with melty cheese, corn, and jalapeno bits), French fries (made in-house), stuffed mushrooms (with spinach in the centre), and smiley fries. I enjoyed them all, but the French fries were particularly excellent – holding their shape and crunch all through the meal. For our mains we tried the Chicken messy bum burger meal (165) and the Spenis Chica peeli peeli (195). The burger came with fries in a handy parchment cone and some creamy, orange-coloured spicy coleslaw. The burger itself was a double patty-double bun burger with lots of onion and a strong hit of pepper. I would have liked the meat to be a little juicier though. The other dish consisted of four large crispy-coated chicken pieces, stuffed with spinach, and smothered in a thick tomato, cream, and cheese sauce. It was served with corn on the cob, and garlic bread – perfect comfort-food. For dessert it was Chocorgasm (95), a chocolate-filled calzone served with vanilla ice cream. Unfortunately the calzone was a bit dry, and there simply wasn’t enough chocolate in it. Did not live up to its name, that dessert. One very interesting initiative in Loca La Zona is their “suspended coffee/tea/cooler”. You can buy a drink, but pay for an extra one which will be given to a person in need later. Isn’t that heartening? Loca La Zona is friendly, fun, and unpretentious. Their food is honest, portions generous, and prices seriously low. Stop by there and see for yourself!

If you’re in Delhi for 24 hours, where should you go and what should you eat? This really depends on who you are, your snob quotient, your budget, allergies, tolerance to heat and dust and stuff; you get my drift. Socialite or similar – If you’re a delicate dahling and really couldn’t be seen traipsing the streets swinging your designer handbag on butterfly tattooed arms, then here’s where you should be eating. Breakfast: Blooms, The Eros Hotel managed by Hilton, Nehru Place. They have a great buffet with just about everything you’ll want for a nice breakfast, including a selection of fresh fruits, plenty of space to sit outdoors and gaze upon green lawns combined with peace and quiet. If you’re around on a winter Sunday, their Winter Sunday Brunch is probably the best in the city. Lunch: Olive Beach, Diplomat Hotel, Chanakyapuri. Summer or winter, this beach shines. White pebbled entrance and outdoor seating, with Mediterranean styled interiors, friendly service and great food. If you’re in town on a Sunday, this is also a great option for Sunday Brunch. Tea: Elma’s Tea Room, Hauz Khas Village. I haven’t been here, but from what I hear, it’s expensive and has some interesting fare on offer. It’s also frequented by loads of expats, all of which should suit you just fine, ja? Dinner: Indian Accent, New Friends Colony. The food is delicious, new age Indian, plated in a nouvelle fashion, is expensive, has great service and if you’re lucky, the affable Chef Mehrotra may just drop in to say hello. Rough and Tough – You wear a watch that’s heavier than your boots and it has a few gadgets that Mr. Bond would part with his left testicle to get his grubby paws on. Your color of choice is Olive Green, preferably applied to slacks with lots of pockets, lots and lots and lots of pockets. You started shaving in the 7th grade, own the biggest, heaviest Swiss Army Knife, probably ride an SUV and have a beer belly. You also look around and grin proudly when you belch. The windows rattle when you talk and you can probably out drink a barrack full of sailors. Here’s where you want to go: Breakfast: American Diner, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road. The original diner, The American Diner has great service, multiple choices for breakfast including your beloved bacon and eggs accompanied by perhaps a Quiche Lorraine and a big stack of pancakes with butter and syrup. Lunch: The likes of you needs to go to Chili’s at Vasant Kunj or Gurgaon for lunch and stuff your face with beef burgers with country mashed potatoes, gravy, corn on the cob and a big bowl of chili on the side. You probably want to inhale a chilled beer on the side. Coffee: Walk into any of the Costa Coffees around town and get ‘em to fill up your custom made coffee travel-mug with their strongest brew. You probably like it black; the coffee that is. If you’re feeling peckish, try out any of their sandwiches – I suggest the Smoked Chicken and Gouda. Dinner: Nothing less than a steak dinner for you. Check out the T-Bone at Infinity, Hilton, Mayur Vihar. It’ll come grilled per your specifications and for the sake of your image, I hope you order it medium rare or rare. Well done means you’re a bloody wimp. It also has a perfect layer of fat around the sides and if you’re lucky, you’ll get a peg of JD to go with it. Jhola-Swinging Communist-Type Foodie: You wouldn’t walk into a five star to save your life and believe the establishment is killing the real food out there. You look down upon the pansies of the world who drink bottled water and are perfectly at ease wolfing down crappy papdi chaat, preferring it over the vol au vents your friends have chosen to eat instead. This list is for you, but no worries; I’ve only listed the platinum club of street foods here. ;) Breakfast: Shabrati Nihari, Jama Masjid. Spicy, meaty, oily buffalo Niha

Recipe Courtesy: My Dear friend HimabinduHere's a delicious no-cook recipe from my friend Himabindu. Bindu and I went to school together years and years ago and I think it's been that long that we've seen each other. But thanks to Facebook, we are only a 'message' away from long lost friends.Bindu lives in India and has adorable twin boys who keep her busy. She sent this simple no-cooking involved Walnut Chutney that sounded so good that I had to make it right away. It takes so little time to make and needs everyday pantry ingredients -- so there's no reason not to make it right away. The resulting chutney was soooo good, creamy, nutty with the walnuts and spicy with the chilies and garlic. I had it for lunch with rice, but Bindu says it goes well with rotis too.Read more »

Bottle Gourd and Split Chickpeas / Dudhi ne dar jo shakChapattisBasmati RiceSpicy Carrot and Cabbage Salad / SambharoTomato and Lettuce Salad

When you can cook a vegetable in one way, there is naturally got to be many ways to cook the same vegetable. That's the idea behind today's recipe with Tinda. The first time I got to hear about this was from Amma, when she had gone vegetable shopping and encountered this vegetable. She ended up making a Kootu, which is what we mostly end up with a vegetable that we have no clue about. We will then decide if we like the vegetable or not. Or if it should ever reappear on our table. Well the vegetable blended itself so well to us that we have ended up buying it and making it many times. Today's recipe is a different take on the same kootu, with some added on and some removed. I felt with so many ingredients changed, it amounted to a new recipe. Rather I wanted to share my new props and a recipe for today's Weekend Cooking. I didn't get to make anything else if you must know! This kootu acted as a recipe for two and for a simple weekend dinner, with hardly taking about 15 mins to get cooked from start to end. This is yet another creation from Amma's kitchen that will surely be fixed in mine as well. Tinda Kootu Recipe 2Ingredients Needed:Tinda / Indian Apple Gourd - 1 small, chopped into small pieces.Split Yellow Moong dal / Pesarapappu = 1/4 cupOnions - 1 smallTomato - 1 small Salt to tasteMustard Seeds - 1/2 tspCumin Seeds - 1/2 tspRed Chili powder - 1/2 tspCoriander powder - 1/2 tspTurmeric powder a pinchFresh Coconut, grated - 2 tspOil - 1 tspHow to make the Tinda KootuWash and peel the outer skin from the Tinda, chop into small pieces.Wash the split yellow moong dal.In a pressure cooker heat oil, temper with mustard, cumin seeds, when they splutter, add the onions, saute well. Next add the tomatoes and salt, turmeric powder. Saute for couple of minutes. Now add the chopped tinda pieces, red chili powder, coriander powder, and washed moong dal, adjust salt. Add 1 cup water and cover with lid. Pressure cook for 2 whistles or till the dal and tinda are cooked well.Once the pressure falls, remove and check for consistency. Cook on high if it has more water, add freshly grated coconut and switch off.Serve with pulka. I served this Tinda kootu with some tomato thooku for Chapatis, a meal that can speak for itself! Do check out what Vaishali and Champa have rustled up for the weekend!

I always come across people who have a keen interest in making chocolate and chocolate recipes at home, but, are somehow always afraid to try their hand at it. Chocolate as a commodity has always been a mystery, as it is not an easy ingredient to handle when we want to make something out of it. It has always been considered to be an alien ingredient, but not anymore. You won’t need to admire these delectable creations from a distance at bakeries and chocolate shops anymore. They can now be made by you, in your home kitchen.Here are a few tips and pointers that you should keep in mind while handling chocolate. How chocolate should be melted and handled•Chop large chocolate blocks into smaller pieces and put in a plastic bowl. Avoid using glass or stainless steel bowls as they cause uneven heating.•If using a Microwave oven, place the bowl in it and start the melting process from 40 seconds at 50% intensity of the Microwave. Then, take the bowl out, stir and continue this process till the complete chocolate is melted. Please do not ever keep for longer time at higher temperatures as chocolate needs delicate treatment.•If using a double boiler, take a medium height pan filled one-fourth with water and heat it. When the water is at a simmer, reduce heat to minimum, place a bowl that fits on the mouth of the pan and start putting the chocolate in it to be melted, little at a time. One important point to remember here is that you should not boil the water as it will affect the viscosity of the chocolate and steam from boiling water may play havoc. Keep stirring the chocolate pieces till completely melted. •Remember, water is the biggest enemy of chocolate! Especially, when the chocolate is being melted for use in confectionary, candy making, tempering, etc., you should be very careful that not even a single drop of water gets into it. But if this happens by mistake, keep it aside to use in recipes where it is only an ingredient, and start afresh.•Check for blooming and any odours in the chocolate bars. When chocolate is exposed to warm temperatures, the fat softens and chocolate is then untempered, causing light grey or white areas on the surface of the chocolate. Also, sometimes you might find small white dots on the chocolate, which is due to condensation. •Avoid overheating of chocolate as it results in making the chocolate thick after melting.•If there is a loss of colour in the chocolate bars, this may be due to changes in the light, temperature and humidity.•The preferred working temperatures in the Indian scenario is around 20°C with humidity not more than 50% and preferably on marble work tops. Marble helps keep the chocolate cool.•It is always good to work with clean kitchenware and work tops when handling chocolate and also advisable to keep some kitchenware separate (especially in Indian kitchens where interaction with masalas will give unwarranted flavours to your chocolate) that can be used when working with chocolate. •And this one is for all chocolate lovers – always remember to look at the ingredients printed on the packet. Chocolate with natural cocoa butter rather than vegetable fats is always more healthy. Not to forget, chocolate is good source of energy at any given time. How to store chocolateNow that we have travelled through the processes of making of chocolate and handling it, there is one more aspect that is left which is really important when working with this sinful ingredient, and, that is the storage. The following pointers will help you tackle the issues of storing chocolate perfectly:•In the Indian climate, ideally chocolates should be stored at temperatures ranging from 15°C to 20°C at humidity not more than 50%. •The best way to store chocolate is to put the original packing in plastic wrap, cling film or zip lock bags, place them in airtight containers and put in the refrigerator. One important point to remember is that you should never keep the chocolate in a deep freezer, as this may spoil the c

Cracker Accompaniments Rituparna and I met up for dinner at Mei Kun, the Chinese restaurant at the still-considered-new Kempinski Ambiance, Shahdara, New Delhi. Done up in what’s called ‘contemporary decor’, Mei Kun has the ubiquitous Buddha placed at the entrance, that most oriental places can’t seem to do without. A restaurant has much to do before it can deem it’s menu truly complete, a task Mei Kun appears to be still engaged in. Menu items must not only delight the bulk of those it deems it’s target audience (geographic), but must also contains dishes that arouse superfluous adjectives from those it doesn’t – the people who will spread their views over the demographic slice and make the restaurant a destination. A destination, which is what Mei Kun must aspire to become if it is to be worthy of the brand it is associated with, is made by a combination of ambiance and menu. Considering the ambiance at Mei Kun isn’t really one would remember, much less talk about, this leaves us with the food. Flash Fried Morning Glory There’s little doubt the food at Mei Kun has been the result of a fair amount of thinking. I thought the baskets of garlic, chili and plain crackers delightful. They were accompanied by little glass jars of accompaniments that would more than satisfy pre-dinner drinks, keeping guests happy while the kitchen works to deliver their food. The crunchy, flash fried Morning Glory was a dish I hadn’t seen anyplace else and Mei Kun would have done well to add some more flavor and accompaniments to the dish, making it a concept folks could take back home and talk about later. The Chicken Satay was extremely well done – tender breast meat that easily came off the skewer and could have been what I’d call signature, if the accompanying sauce had more character. The Pomelo Salad, a fruit I hadn’t tasted until then, was a surprise, but only in terms of knowledge of the fruit, as opposed to the flavor in the salad, which again, wasn’t discernible. The raw mango salad and bean, water chestnut and mushroom salad were two contrasts (sweet, salty) that stood apart and were surprises in the brilliance of their execution. Another excellent dish was the wok tossed Pok Choy with Garlic Pok Choy tossed with Garlic One really can’t make a destination with two salads however. We tried quite a few more dishes, and while Rituparna and I probably have differing opinions of the food, I came away with exceedingly average perceptions of what I ate. My chicken based soup had chewy chicken and weak stock; the roast duck had unremarkable skin (possibly the most important part of a roast duck) and mealy flesh; the vegetable pepper-salt wasn’t crunchy enough while the fried rice/noodles were par for the course. It appears Mei Kun has a bit of work to do on the menu with my suggestion being to bring in greater understanding of oriental food and build a menu that shocks rather than lulls, inspires slack jawed awe rather than a weakly raised eyebrow and most important of all, keeps diners talking about the meal for weeks to come.