Delicacies from a Dhaka-ite

Sushi by Chef Maria

2012-02-05T14:15:00.000-05:00

So lucky to have a roommate who is equally a foodie as me :D

CHef Maria Khim making sushi in our kitchen:

Meal at my home in Oakville by Chef Shahida

2012-02-03T12:15:00.000-05:00

Toronto has a special place in my heart, I've been there even in my mother's womb.

But as my own person my first ever trip by myself was to visit my friend Menz after my O'levels and thus I found a home in Oakville at the Rahmans.

Shahida Aunty was one of the first people in my life to know and tell me I was a singer at age 17, (back in the days when I was planning to be a corporate lawyer who sang on weekends for fun.) It was in their basement I sang my first Lalon Geeti, it was on their steps I first burst into tears mourning the death of my DU, it was in their living room I sang my first ghazal, and in Menz's messy bedroom discovered Bob Dylan . So yes this is a VERY VERY special home for me.

And of course when the food is that yummy my pictures dont come out so well. PLus I hadnt seen the Rahmans for years so I was busy gabbing and listening to the beautiful Samah who is also a singer and a wonderful one. (incidentally I had taken the wrong train and gone to the other end of Toronto so I was super late :P)

I realised, out of the billion meals I've eaten at theirs over almost a decade, I dont have many, so 2012 I will be doing a full feature. but till then, here is a memory of my blissful meal with The Rahmans.

Super yummy Roast Chicken

Bangali Fish curry with a hint of thai spices- of course the yummiest item has the worst picture.

onek moja salad made by my menz

Family Dinner by Chef Sheriyar

2012-01-31T23:38:00.001-05:00

Yep, it runs in the family; this obsession with food. As loyal readers can tell my Mum, Khala, Mama's and my close friends are all foodies. My B Mama (as called by the cuzzies) being one of the chef foodies as well. Whenever we meet we always have a great meal out or in.

To my delight, 16'e December was spent with my family having our yummy meals, chatting and playing with my baby Cuz.

There was of course a Dekchi of Bhaat of which 50% was eaten by me and my sister. But other than that was an elobarate Bangali fusion meal of murgi, begun, daal and of course lebu. (as in many stances I was so busy devouring I forgot to take my beloved plate pics :( )

Roasted eggplants with tomatoes

Daal with Melted Amrra

Baked Chicken in Various Spices

My mama's heavenly Brownies

of course we had some vanilla ice cream to accompany

The cookers

The eaters

a Special Spicy Salmon only in Samdado

2012-01-29T10:10:00.002-05:00

So I'm a huge sushi and salmon lover. And I ALWAYS try the spicy salmon maki. And living in dhaka for 9 months in 2009/2010 (when I originally formed the blog) meant that Samdado was my only source of affordable Japanese cuisine. Now I live in America where sushi places are every third door almost, yet for some weird reason I am back in Samdado.

So the weird reason is one. The Spicy sauce in the Spicy salmon maki (or other "spicy" items.) Nusha Madam, (having moved to to dhaka before me and having made peace with Samdado as her regular Japanese place) first introduced this to me, stating this will definitely be the most different spicy salmon maki I have ever had. She was right. Call it Banginess or just its own weird smell and taste. Its a one of a kind.

And beautifully my Only lunch date in the midst of 7 weddings with Mum and Ayesha Aunty, turned out to be at Samdado (Mum is a huge tempura lover)

Must say, it was a pleasure to go back to a restaurant where I knew the waitors names, (not that they recorgnised me. Then again Mum was in the building)

and some random tempura box

Mum's tempura remains

They always have the freshest oranges in dhaka (theres a funny story behind that too)

All Day Dim Sum- Toronto

2012-01-28T18:20:00.004-05:00

Sorry Mash, you couldnt hide this place from us any longer.

My best mate never takes me to his favourite places, let alone cooks for me (ok to his credit he has made some seafood casserole and noodles once! but for a bestfriendship of 13 years 2 meals is not enough!) so accompanied by a lovely lady I finally got a chance to see one of his hidden Toronto treasures. the pictures of non food related things can beb found here for anyone who actually reads this :P http://ghoraghuri.blogspot.com/2012/01/secret-toronto-trip.html

oh Garlic oil..

Oh Chili Oil

oh oils and sauces....

OH BEEF RIBSSSSSS

Covered kolapata bhat

Beef covered rice steamed in Banana Leaves

My favourite dumpling: PRAWN!!

Vegetable Dumplings

Of course I had to try the local cuttlefish curry (if any of you havent noticed Curry is a must for me)

my beautiful date <3

Thank you beautiful date, I have been going to Toronto since I was a child, and not to anyone's fault but my own, I have never ventured out to the real Toronto life (thanks to the abundance of school friends and family with whom i usually spend 72 straight hours addafying in basements, and eating our own ranna bhaat keema). For you I got to see some real Toronto <3

The lovely lady also photographs:P here is me obsessing over my food pics

by Sabrina Hassan

Diner in Dhaka- first meal of 2012

2012-01-27T12:00:00.006-05:00

Dear bloggies, I duly apologize again for disappearing, if regular followers couldnt tell 2011 was a crazy year for me, and I couldnt make my regular weekly posts, however I have MUCH food stored up from 2011 that I dont know where to start.

But to mark my 150th post I thought I should start afresh with my first meal of 2012 and my Dhaka trip posts, and slowly sneak in my 2011 stored posts later on during the year.

2012's first meal was an interesting one , my friend IZ (whose culinary skills I only learnt off that very day) arranged a post NYE breakfast party, with diner food made on the spot. The eaters varied from those of us having partied all night came for warm meal, or even those who stopped by before work on 1st Jan. from 4am to 8am IZ and Gib Bhaiya made fresh steak and eggs accompanied by the various sides made from earlier that night.

I however being the weirdo I am, ate bites off other people's plates as I was way too tired to get up and eat on my own, and thus may have missed the 40 people who came and went from 4am-8am (I had passed out the minute I arrived :P) (thus the blurriness of my pics, the only time I got up was to document the meal-of course :P)

Here are some of the items.

Fried Chicken

Tomatoes with Mozzarella (yumm)

Creamy Mashed Potatos with parmesan

Baked Beans

Hash browns (there's a reason the picture didnt turn out well, they were store bought. me and my instincts :P)

Pancakes

And of course my favourite part of the eating, the Plates:

The Chefs IZ and GiB Bhaiya

And of course the women who allowed the men to bask in their glory

Sri:

Shar

Cooking for Rousseau

2011-11-17T11:31:00.000-05:00

My mate Rousseau was my first visitor to my Boston home, we had a big gig at Berklee :)

So in the midst of rehearsals, catching up etc, I made him a quick meal of some of my cooking.

Baked Chicken: Recipe is marinate chicken with Cajun Spices and brush with oil and bake in the oven :)

This is my seafood recipe: Garlic, milk, butter and salt sauteed in with mixed seafood.

and some random salad.

Thai in New York

2011-11-13T13:56:00.000-05:00

Faithful blog readers know about my quest for good green curry in America. Thanks to Shamin Apa I have found a spot in NYC which has a decent curry. http://sripraphairestaurant.com/

Here is our meal of Tom Yum, Clear Soup, Thai Curry and Seafood:

Jamming At Harvard Square

2011-11-09T15:31:00.001-05:00

Neville Bhai's visit to Boston :D

I like this pic Neville Bhai took of me :D

After our meal we ended up jamming with the street musicians :D

Chef Hillary's Pasta Meal

2011-11-09T15:18:00.004-05:00

Something me and my best mate Mash share amongst many other things is our love for food and parents who love food. Like my mum and dad, Mash's mum and dad are huge lovers of "good" food.

Chef Hillary (or Aunty as I call her) had limited time to feed me, and debating between heating up biryani and making something fresh, to my delight she made something from scratch as we chatted away in the kitchen

Uncle made us some Fresh Green Tea with Mint while we chatted

Her Pasta recipe:
Chicken Minced (Keema) mixed in with sautéed onions and garlic. Add tomato sauce and vegtables and let it cook. Stir and serve with sautéed Portobello Mushrooms and slice of Roast Chicken!

The amazing Chef and I

My Plate :D :D

Cookies by Chef Arianna and Chef Sabrielle

2011-11-08T23:46:00.001-05:00

My wonderful friends Arianna and Sabrielle had a surprise awaiting my arrival at their place:

SUPER DUPER yummy choco chip Cookies. I am not exaggerating, they were Brilliant! I am looking forward to more culinary ventures on their part, and my eating of them hee hee!

Chef Sabrielle :P

The Darling Chefs with their masterpieces

Marliave- 2nd time round

2011-11-01T14:49:00.003-04:00

So I went back there. I HAD to, the food was so good.

I wasn't planning too, at All. But was in the area during restaurant week and thought about how long I hadn't had a grand meal. It was half off anyway.

There I was, a lovely meal by myself.

Being alone is nice

Olive &Oil

Escargo

French Brilliance- steak covered in soft cheese pastry and gravy

The Flower by my table

Me and AR Rahman enjoying our lunch

The Pilot Bar- with Sal

2011-10-31T15:14:00.001-04:00

While I was recording with some friends in Toronto this is where we went when we had suffocated our heads with music technology.
An old friend from Dhaka is the bartender of this place for many years, so we went to hang out with him and watch him in action.

I recommend the appetizer platter

Sal at work

"Chef with the ingredients"

Feng Shui- Framingham

2011-10-31T14:10:00.000-04:00

The Kind Quats took me out for a super meal when I was visiting in Framingham.

And here is our grand meal:

Salad

Soup

Fried Rice in the making

Volcano

my company

Hot Dog Mix

2011-10-22T03:00:00.000-04:00

A yum hot dog quick meal with sausages and corn in tomato sauce.

Yum

Watching Russel Peters with the Chef

Indian yummies in royal company

2011-10-18T15:34:00.001-04:00

Whenever Guruji Nana is around I seem to enjoy some authentic Indian food somehow or the other.

This time Tripty Khala made some Dhokla. it was soft, spicy and perfect.

Some sweets from India :)

with the chef and honourable guest.

Chef Naeela and her Bengali delights

2011-10-17T04:11:00.001-04:00

My Khala is one of the BEST cooks ever. 'Nuff said. I always demand my favourite Bhat Mach Bengali meal when I go.

Chef at work

Bhaji

Begun Bhorta

My Khala's Yummy Fish

Fish Balls in Coconut Curry

My Khala's Special Daal

Oh Amherst, I will be back, because it has the best food in America :D

Crepes in Boston

2011-10-12T09:18:00.001-04:00

i heart rocket

Faarzein Apu's stwawbewwy

of course i had goat cheese and rocket hee hee

I love Bangis :D:D:D:D

Bhuna Gosh and Khichudi by Chef Shusmi

2011-08-18T17:18:00.000-04:00

Yep. We have Chef Shusmi back on the blog again. This gorgeous chef fails to impress us with her culinary talent. As I mentioned, I only went out to 1 restaurant this time in Dhaka, but that was made up for by the home cooked meals I had.

It was Jeff's last day In Dhaka so we made the most of it by roaming around Dhanmondi and then Shusmi gave us this Gorgeous home cooked meal for dinner.


The beautiful Chef


Her beautiful Dining Table


Our Spread

Add caption

The Chef and us lucky eaters :D

2011-08-17T04:18:00.002-04:00

All Bangalis in Boston together to watch the first match of Bangladesh's during the world up. at 5am we all hung out at Darul Kabab cheering our team (we lost that one) and enjoying ourselves at the same time.

And what a lovely time we had, we started off with Jhalmuri and gorom cha. and as the game progressed we moved on to Khichudi, Beef Bhuna, Deem Bhaji, Bangali Salad and of course I asked for some Lebu.

MY HAPPY BAGALI PLATE

Love you my TIGERS.

Oh Calcutta - Banani Road 11

2011-08-17T04:08:00.001-04:00

I'm sure none of you will believe me when I tell you, this time when I was in Dhaka for 2 weeks, the ONLY restaurant I ate at was "Oh Calcutta." I loved this place when I was living in India and was super delighted to have a branch in Dhaka.

Yes, Bangladeshi and West Bengali cuisine have a LOT in common, especially to a foreigner, but to us; we know the difference. It may be "mach'e bhaat'e" Bangali, but our preparation is different, so it's a treat to have the Opaar Bangla taste introduced to the Dhaka restaurant scene.

Me and Mum went and obviously over ordered: Alu'r Dom, Potol'er Dolma and Shorshe Eelish. Yumm!!! Oh missing Dhaka and it's wonderful eats tonight.

(PS to blog readers, have had a rough few months, so haven't had time to blog, but don't worry I have 8 months of pictures Ive taken left to blog.)

Love you food lovers. I'm back :-)

Moby Dick- Back Bay

2011-07-12T23:00:00.000-04:00

Part of our weekly dinners means we also go out every once in a while when once of us cant be bothered to cook: Here is us at Moby Dick one of my favourite joints in Boston:

Eggplant appetiser

Lamb

Salad

Lamb Stew

Weird lamb sweet sour dish

oh my darling coke

The eaters

Restaurant Week Boston 2011: Marliave

2011-06-20T18:34:00.000-04:00

My roomnate M and I had been super excited for restaurant week in Boston, where many of the higher end places, have set menus for less than half the price. So we picked 2 places (1 each) and this was Maria's pick : Marliave.

From the set Menu I picked the Rocket, Beat and Goat cheese salad:

The pretty salad

The hidden crusted goat cheese inside

Our glass of water :D

M picked Escargos with bread..oh brilliant!

My main dish was the Mushroom Risotto:

M had the fish

Front view

side view..mmmm

My desert pick of nuts and cheese

M's SUPERB ice cream and berry desert

The happy eaters :D

Ajo Cafe- Dhanmondi

2011-06-17T13:44:00.001-04:00

Love love love this beautiful cafe, located by the lake. Great Service and presentation and ambience, specially when it's quiet. Good Job Khaled Bhai.

we went for breakfast at 10 am, on one of my luxurious Dhanmondi days, with my beloved Dhanmondi boys.

ABD had the potato wed

I had the Indian veggie option. YES I EAT BHAT FOR BREAKFAST!

Noodles had the Kabab Roll

Did i mention a crow also gave us some service, he threw some random food onto our plates, leaving us unable to finish our meal. hahahaha.. oh Dhaka how I miss thee....

With my boys. miss you

Our weekly dinners- Bangla food and salsa dancing

2011-06-16T20:39:00.001-04:00

Dear food lovers, after a long break I'm back. Don't ask me for how long or why I was gone. But I'd gone down under from everything. And I'm trying to get back.

ANyway here is a meal I made for my turn at the weekly dinner. Tried to feed the Westerners Bangi food, and even got them eating with their hands. hehe (Please excuse the messy pans)

Bangali Salad

Daal with dhoniya pata (Lentil soup with cilantro

Chicken curry as always

Alu bhorta (Bangali mashed potatoes)

The cute ones eating with their hands,

Zak's Cookies

And then we danced the night away with LIve salsa music :D

I love you Berklee, I have great food, friends and great music here. I wish I was happy with just that..