New Year Trip : Pune

To start off - a very happy new year to all of you! May the year be full of good times with food, fun, friends and family! :)

So this New Year's eve a bunch of friends and moi drove down to Pune after work. We reached the city limits at around 10:00 PM, and it being the Eve, obviously no halfway decent restaurant could accomodate a gang of last-minute guests. (We tried calling, we did!) So it was 'rush into the first restaurant with table space and fuel the body's dying metabolic fire' (especially as one of us was getting cranky due to hunger pangs)

We stopped at one of the ubiquitous 'garden restaurants'(garden - aka a few trees with more twinkling lights than leaves, plastic 'patio' furniture, scrubby grass - you get it) scattered around the outskirts of Pune.

Called 'Saundarya', it was prettier than most I have seen, though and it was located en route to the Hinjewadi Infotech Park. I didnt have too many expectations from such a place though the prices were pretty steep - I thought it was a simple case of high demand, low supply which dictated the prices.

Luckily for me, Saundarya came through with some amazing grub. We sipped on Manchow soup (steaming hot, spicy hot and with a touch of tongue-tingling sour), feasted on a chicken banjara kebab that was lusciously soft and yummily spiced, fought over the zingy Paneer Chilly and Veg Crispy (Indian-Chinese aka Sino-Ludhianwi starters) - though the Veg Crispy was accurately described as 'Schezwan Kanda Bhaji' by one of my friends.('Schezwan' being the Sino-Ludhianwi bastardisation of Sichuan)

The main course - Paneer Butter Masala and Murg Mussalam (more like Chicken Tikka Masala with leftover Tandoori Chicken rather than leftover Chicken Tikka)and hot crispy rotis and soft naans was equally tasty. When the same old oft-ordered dishes manage to awaken your tastebuds and give a prod to your palate, you know you have hit upon a culinary winner.

The next 18 hours or so passed by in a wirlwind of long, long drives through the moonlit countryside,
a mesmerising firweorks display atop one of the hills around Pune, singalongs to the tunes strummed on a guitar in the wee hours of the night, a watful of comforting Maggi at 6:00 AM in the morning, a tummy-soothing South Indian breakfast, a delicious home-cooked lunch at a friend's - all culminating in one of Pune's culinary achievements- the chocolate thickshake at Cadby's.

Cadby's is a drink, a dish, a place, a concept. Rich chocolatey milkshake (I doubt there's ANY milk in there, it is more like chocolate icecream churned with even more chocolate) with surprise nuggets of milk chocolate buried deep within and topped with a half-an-inch thick layer of chocolate rubble.

You cant sip this heavenly concoction with a straw - it needs to be 'eaten' with a spoon. As you wade through the chocolate carapace on top and start dredging through the intensely chocolatey milkshake underneath, you are bombarded with half-molten chunks of real chocolate. Every gulp is a revelation of rich chocolatey goodness, unlike any ever tasted before. Even a die-hard chocaholic like me can manage to reach the bottom of a half-glass but the truly intrepid (one of my friends is one!) can take on the full glass and emerge victorious in a haze of suagr-and-chocolate-and-cream. :)

Mid way there - whew!
So, the next time you're in Pune, dont miss on this treat to the tastebuds - available at Kothrud and Deccan Gymkhana.

Restaurant review : Amba Bhavan, Matunga (E)

Saturday saw me and my friend VS head to Matunga (E) for some shopping and some me-time at a salon. Sunny blue skies and a welcome break from the muggy heat that's been plaguing Mumbai for the past few weeks (yes, In December! Copenhagen, look this way!) meant that we both were in high spirits and ready to enjoy the day.

After some pampering at the salon and some jewels-and-baubles shopping, we stopped at the venerable Amba Bhavan for what was called 'elevenses' in Ye Olde Days - a quick mid-morning snack.

Amba Bhavan is a Mumbai institution, located in the predominantly South Indian area of Matunga East. The decor is, well, minimalistic with blue walls, formica-topped tables, bench seating and coffee-bean-brown celing fans whizzing away. A steep ladder-like flight of stairs takes you to the loft-like first floor from where you an look down on the diners below.

VS and I (well, OK, only I) were famished and when the waiter came to take our order (typically without a menu) we were keen to order anything that was freshly made and would reach our table in minutes. On being asked for what fit our specs, he rattled off - 'Idli, Wada, Kadhi-wada, Rasam-wada, Kela Bhaji, Upma...'. I was intrigued by Kela Bhaji (Banana fritters) having never tried them before and asked for them to be brought, post-haste. The waiter countered (sheepishly) that they were pre-made and hence, not piping-hot. So I settled for Rasam Wada and it reached our table in record-breaking time. (Its another thing that I spent precious minutes photographing the dish rather than tucking in while it was hot)


The rasam was nice - fragrant with spices and with the right balance of hot and sour. It would have tasted so much better had I sipped it while it was steaming hot, but such is the life of a food blogger.... :) The wadas (fried dumplings made of lentils) would have benefited from a longer soaking in the rasam, though - the centres were still dry and devoid of the zing of the rasam.

While we demolished the Rasam Wada (took us a minute!) our waiter disappeared and refused to reappear. Just when we thought he'd packed his bags and gone for good (I was reduced to muttering - 'I am hungry...I want Kela Bhaji...let them be cold....where is the waiter?!!) his welcome step was heard on the stairs - and he came forth, holding aloft a plate of golden Kela Bhaji!



As he set it down and we gazed transfixed (he looked positively beatific as he bore the plate towards us!), he explained "A fresh batch just got made so I got them for you!" Plus, he got us true-blue South Indian filter coffee in steel bowls - which he poured from bowl to bowl froma great height (stretched/pulled coffee like the Malaysian 'teh tarek' or 'Pulled' Tea) to get a healthy head of foam on the coffee.


As for the Kela Bhajis - they were heaven on a plate! Crisp on the ouside, and buttery-soft on the inside, the batter was a textural delight. The raw banana slices that it swaddled were cursory, they had no flavour and could have been replaced with absolutely anything esle. But the batter was paradoxically soft-yet-crunchy and lifted the dish to another level altogether.

Both the Rasam Wada and the Kela Bhajis were accompanied by a coconut chutney - not your usual pallid watered-down chutney made with scraps of re-used coconut, but the real McCoy - thick, creamy coconut mildly faoured with spices.

The coffee (rather, the Kaaaaapi) was hot, sweet and invigorating with the robust flavour of freshly ground coffee beans and was the perfect aromatic end to our meal. The service, as told before, was quick, yet warm and friendly.


All of the above delights were ravaged in a matter of minutes (carnage on the table, i tell you!) and set us back by a paltry INR 59. So the next time you're around Dadar/Sion and in need of a cheap, nourishing and tasty feed, you know where to go!

Restaurant Review: Mama Mia, Hill Road, Bandra (W)

Mama Mia is set back from Hill Road, opposite Globus and that is the only reason I didn’t spot it in all the years I used Hill Road everyday. In retrospect, good that I didn’t – given that it’s a shrine to yummy but fattening food, ignorance was bliss!!

I’d been to Mama Mia yesterday with some folks from work (all of us who’d skipped lunch because we were too busy slaving away on a Saturday…sigh), and hence there are no yummilicious snaps for you to drool over – but I hope I can still do a pretty descriptive review. :)

It’s a pretty large restaurant (by Hill Road standards) and has a comfortable ‘hang-out’ kind of vibe – large windows, teeny-bopper ambience (two toned walls, a large screen TV playing VH1, PYT patrons – you get it) The menu is can be divided into 3 categories of sin –
1. Deep Fried
2. Doused in Mayo
3. Baked with cheese

Truly.

Each and every dish falls into one of the above categories. And no surprises, the dishes we tried were all delicious (can one go wrong with an overload of mayo/cheese/deep-fried crunch? I think not. ) But run for the hills if you’re on a diet!

We started with 2 salads (If you think ‘salad’ denotes ‘light and healthy’, like I first did, then - ha!) - the Insalata Di Pollo and the Mixed Meat Salad. I had plugged for the latter since its description on the menu had no mention of mayo, but I guess the ignoramus that I am, I didn’t know ‘cocktail sauce’ was mayo-based! It was undeniably delicious with the flavours of salami and sausage (chicken, not pork) really shining through the lurid orangy-red mayo-based dressing that was zingy and creamy at the same time. The Insalata di Pollo was your routine chicken salad with mayonnaise, just with lots of spring onions. Simple, predictable and yummy. Both the ‘salads’ were wonderfully tasty, in a artery-clogging way. I could actually feel myself getting full on the single serves that I’d had. (The shame!)

Moving on, we tried the fish and chips platter – and this was a winner! The fish fillets were fresh and oh so moist, encased in crunchy golden-brown batter (breading)!! I think the kitchen had marinated the fish first (not usually done in traditional fish n’ chips) which was the reason it was so palate-teasingly moist. The chips were good, nothing spectacular – they were tasty despite their uneven appearance, but not even close to the fries at Le Golden Arches. :) The fish and chips came with ‘’tartare sauce’ - a fizzy (yes, I was jolted, too!) raita-like concoction with grated carrot and greens that I steered clear of.

Next on the agenda were a couple of baked dishes. The one I sampled was a colleague’s all-time favourite dish, called ‘The Bulldog’. She is the one who got us to MM in the first place, citing it s her favourite pig-out palce in Bandra. In the case of the Bulldog, she instructed the waiter to make the dish extra spicy – and what appeared was a heaven-made combination of chopped chicken salami, shredded chicken baked with beautifully just-cooked chewy pasta tubes and a cheesy spicy white sauce (béchamel, what’s that?!) with a blistered cheese surface. Piping hot and tantalizing.

By this point I was about to burst (despite the small serves - the mayo/cheese do the job as effectively!) and didn’t try anything else. But I had a pretty clear indication of the culinary philosophy that rules MM’s kitchen – ‘Bring on the cholestrerol!’ seems to be the delicious motto! :)

The pricing is surprisingly affordable with the salads going for Rs 75-85, the Fish and Chips being around Rs 120 (with 5-6 pieces of fish and loads of chips) and the baked dishes around the Rs 120 mark.

My aforementioned colleague recommends that vegetarian folks stay away, there’s not much on offer for them, and I agree. Not that the veggie fare wont be good, its that the USP of MM is its non vegetarian dishes.

In short (haha! – Nearly 700 words till now!) MM is a wonderful place for an evening of indulgence with old friends (or foodie colleagues) with whom you don’t mind appearing like a pig. :) The food is uniformly tasty if not completely authentic. But all that LDL-laden food means that MM should not be a regular stop in your food yatra. :)

Happy Diwali! And an easy recipe to make your Diwali a bit sweeter

Diwali's coming! Wafts of delicious Diwali treats being whipped up by Ma greet me everyday when I return from work. The roads are lined with sellers of firecrackers, mounds of rangoli colours, shimmering lanterns and endless diyas (earthen lamps).

One of the goodies my Mom has recently started making for special occasions is the crowd favourite - kaju barfi. This sweet sensation is soft and rich with cashewnuts and other delights. And what is more delightful is that the recipe is so easy! Few ingredients, simple steps and voila - a delicious sweet is ready for you (or your guests, if you're feeling particularly generous!) to swoon over.

The recipe is my Aunt's - thanks, S Kaku!

S Kaku's Kaju Barfi:

Ingredients:

3 cups ground cashewnuts (coarsely ground, texture that of coarse breadcrumbs)

2 cups sugar

1 cup milk powder (yes!)

1 cup water

A few strands of saffron (kesar), dissolved in 2 teaspoons of warm milk

Silver leaf (varkha) (optional, for garnish)

Method:

Thoroughly mix the cashewnut rubble with the milk powder.

Grease a tray/dish with ghee (unsalted butter for those who dont have ghee)

Make syrup from the sugar and water. If you are the finicky type, you can 'clean' the syrup by adding some milk while it boils and skimming away the impurities that the milk pulls to the surface and then straining the syrup. This ensures that the syrup is crystal-clear. But it is not worth the bother, at least in this recipe.

Boil away on medium heat. The syrup should be thick (A test: When a drop of syrup is dropped into a bowl of cool water it should not dissolve but hold its own)

Now comes the time for some quick action - tip in the dissolved saffron and the cashewnut-and- milk powder mix into the syrup and stir it in briskly, all of this in rapid-fire succession.

Tip out the mass onto the greased tray and spread it out FAST with your palms (its HOT, but cant be helped). Then turn a rolling pin over the whole thing so that you get a smooth, even surface.

Garnish with silver leaf.

Score the tray with criss-crosses, going all the way till the bottom of the tray.
It is crucial that you score/cut the pieces while the nut mass is still warm. You can break up the barfi into individual pieces when it has cooled down, but attempting to cut the barfi after it has cooled down is a lost cause - the pieces will brittly splinter into shards.

So there you go - a simple, straightforward recipe to sweeten this Diwali!

May the festival of lights brighten up our lives. :)

Serendipity - and my tryst with scrambled eggs

Scrambled eggs have always fascinated me - well, at least ever since I figured out that this dish is vastly different than its Indianised version, i.e. bhurji or khagina.

I tried cooking up scrambled eggs several times (too many to count), trying to get the perfect 'pillowy-soft almost-set' eggs. I fiddled around with cooking times, ingredients (cream/milk/cream+milk/cheese and so on), techniques (whisk eggs like mad, add to the pan, add cream and then scramble over high heat/ whisk eggs and milk together, scramble over medium heat/ mix eggs and cream and milk (no whisking!) and scramble over very low heat and so on) but there would always be some thing which would mar the perfection of the pale golden eggs - either they would be too dry or too runny or horrors! - have a perfect just-set texture which would start giving off watery juices as it cooled. :(

And then, a few weeks ago, I chanced upon the best eggs I have ever made - serendipity! What happened was that I had swirled some oil in the pan over medium heat when I got a phone call. Engrossed in conversation, I only came back to earth when I saw that the oil was about to start smoking. To avoid disaster, (and to minimise the washing-up) I cracked open a couple of eggs straight into the pan. Unfortunately they began to set right away due to the high heat, throwing me into panic - I didnt want fried eggs! I tipped in a rather generous splash of milk and stirred like crazy - all the while going on with my phone conversation (the friend at the other end had no clue she was aiding a culinary discovery!)

And what would you say - the result of this dangerous multitasking resulted in the yummiest, most scrumptiously soft scrambled eggs I have ever managed to make. No runny juices, no disappointingly dry scrambles, no large clods of eggs - but perfectly butter-yellow-shot-with-white soft quilt-like eggs.....and, for a wonder I'd got the seasoning perfectly right too. Bliss!

Sometimes, the best things in life happen by chance. :)