Saffron Trail

ChefAtLarge Table: The big Sunday Brunch at Novotel

2013-05-17T07:32:00.000+05:30

Novotel, located in Outer Ring Road, one of the business districts of Bangalore, targets customers for both business and leisure. Their signature restaurant, The Square, offers a global buffet concept with a mix of live cooking added to it. The Sunday brunch is mainly laid out in The Square and it extends into their new restaurant Blue Terrain, on the first floor.

As a part of Chef at Large bloggers table, we were invited to one of the Sunday buffets. It's fun to meet the fellow bloggers (in this occasion with the spouses & kids), for a relaxed weekend meal over conversations. When we got in, the others were already tasting the food and clicking pictures (well of course!) and seeing the vast spread laid out, I was surely in a spot as to what to eat :) A few sips of their house sangria was very much in order.

Where you start all depends on what you are in the mood for. If it's breakfast you are after, there's a variety of freshly baked breads, with bacon, chicken sausages and baked beans to choose from to construct your own version of the full English breakfast. You can get freshly made eggs, waffles, pancakes, french toast and dosas to order, at the live stations specially set up for all of the above.

After this, it's a good thing to do a full survey of what's on offer, because there's an enormous variety here - A whole range of veggies, meats, cheeses and dressings to make the salad of your choice, Pav Bhaaji / Kheema Pav station, SE Asian curries, noodles, soups, South Indian varieties, Continental varieties, Pasta and Pizza stations. Needless to say it's impossible to even taste everything and it can even get a bit overwhelming with one not knowing what to eat.

I started with a salad picking some of the fresh vegetables on display with the Italian dressing. A little more attention to keeping all the raw ingredients covered (especially the cold cuts) will get them more points on food hygiene. Since I love Mediterranean food, I hovered around the antipasti section which had the mushrooms, rosemary olives, hummus, tabbouleh, marinated cheeses and eggplant and chose the hummus with some bread, along with some olives and mushrooms.

Some of the kababs, the saffron fish etc. were lying on the hot plates for too long, looking somewhat shrivelled and overcooked. It would be good to do the basic prep and then prepare these nibbles when the customer asked for them. From the mains, I had a Mediterranean Style Grilled Veg with Cous Cous, which was a good dish, the vegetables generously grilled and flavoured and the couscous light and fluffy. I would have loved to have a go at one of the Thai curries which I was told had the options of red, green, massaman and yellow curry, unfortunately I didn't find when I was looking for it and so had to give it a miss when I discovered it well after dessert :)

This brunch extends to Blue Terrain on the 1st floor which is a barbecue restaurant by the poolside. You could choose from chicken, fish, meats and also a selection of vegetables, fruits and paneer. Personally I wasn't over enthusiastic over the barbecue spread at the poolside, probably because I'm vegetarian, or because the spread at the Square was so much better. The vegetables on skewers and the grilled fruit were two of the dishes I liked here. The paneer dish was quite under seasoned and didn't have anything much going for it. With their menu listing a number of rubs and marinades, I'm sure they could have done better with the paneer after informing us of the available options. The swimming pool here is bound to be a hit with the kids and adults to love to swim and work up an appetite. My meat eating friends quite enjoyed the steaks done to their liking and the chicken on skewers.

Grilled veggies, Paneer Tikka, Grilled fruit, Mango Mojito

After a few nibbles on the barbecued stuff and cooling off with mango mojito, we went back down to the Square, to escape the heat of the outdoors and to have a taste of the desserts.

The dessert counter again had plenty to choose from - the macarons especially were very well made! A live churros counter where you could choose to have the churros with chocolate, vanilla or caramel sauce was interesting addition to the array of desserts served, such as the Picardi, baked chocolate tart, a blueberry based dessert and a seasonal mango dessert which was a light sponge topped with some chopped fresh mango. I very much loved the mango based sponge dessert and the macarons were just the way they should be - a mix of crisp and chewy. The deconstructed cheesecake kind of dessert served in a glass was definitely the show stealer for me.

Being a mom to a 4 and a half year old boy, I must give special mention to the kid friendly aspects of this brunch. They had a separate menu laid out for kids at a low level so kids can serve themselves, including a special candy section. Kids' menu comprised of fried potato wedges, pasta gratin, mini samosas, fish fingers among other stuff. There was an extremely friendly lady in the lobby with a fully set up table to do anything arty and crafty the kids wanted to do. She also turned out to be so good with face painting and balloon art. The kiddie pool at Blue Terrain means the kids will completely exhaust themselves splashing around and will be ready for a long snooze once you hit home.
(This review is a part of the ChefAtLarge Bloggers' Table)

Novotel Bengaluru Techpark, Opposite RMZ Ecospace Business Park, Marathahalli - Sarjapur Outer Ring Road, Bengaluru – 560103

Sunday brunch-12 noon – 3.30 pm

Rs 1499 (Plus taxes) Includes Buffet at the Square, Barbeque Grills from Blue Terrain, Unlimited Soft Beverages and complimentary usage of pool. One Kid below 10 years of age eats for free with every paying adult.

Rs 1899 (plus Taxes) Includes Buffet at the Square, , Barbeque Grills from Blue Terrain, Unlimited Alcoholic Beverages and complimentary usage of pool. One Kid below 10 years of age eats for free with every paying adult.

Easy Eggless Choco-Vanilla Cookies

2013-05-16T15:06:00.001+05:30

"If I hear "I'm hungry" one more time, I'm going to check myself into a nearby hotel and switch off my mobile phone!"

That's me telling my four year old, who tells me he's hungry every 15 minutes and the minute I rustle up something, he conveniently forgets about his hunger and runs off to rebuild a Lego castle for the 500th time. But yesterday, I went out for a beautiful wine evening at The Sheraton #socialhour- it's when people at Sheraton Hotels around the world come together for a toast at the decided time. What's more, the wine served at each hotel across the world is from the same winery, for that week. After multiple cabernet sauvignons & rieslings, a good night's sleep at my cousin's place & breakfast with a wonderful friend at the legendary Veena Stores, I'd had enough of me time and couldn't wait to get back home to my mischief monger boy. So today, when he said "I want cookies, mummy" - my guilt pushed me faster than a runaway train to start the oven and then think of something to bake on the spur of the moment.

It started with creaming some butter & sugar, added flour and one thing led to the other. I ended up with these oh-so-cute brown & cream cookies. When I posted the pics on Twitter & Saffrontrail FB page, I was goaded into doing this quick post on how I made them. I'm sorry I'm unable to provide very exact measurements, I hope it's very close to the quantities I've used. Anyway cookies aren't as unforgiving as cakes, so they should turn out okay! They only take 20 minutes, and I promise it will make your child (or the inner child in you) smile :-)

Recipe for Half & Half Cookies
Takes under 30 minutes
Roughly 30 cookies of ~ 2" diameter

Ingredients
4 heaped tbsp soft unsalted butter (if salted, reduce the salt by a pinch)
1/2 cup sugar + 1/2 tsp sea salt - pulsed in mixer for few seconds
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract or powder
1/2 cup all purpose flour (maida)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour (atta)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp cocoa powder
few tsp cold water
1-2 tsp cold milk

Directions

Preheat oven at 180 C.
Line a big baking tray with tin foil or parchment.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar-salt mix with a spoon for 2 minutes, adding in the vanilla extract, until well combined.
Sift the flours and baking powder together on a sheet of paper or mix it with a fork in a bowl and add it to the creamed mix.
Mix well until it forms a dough, adding 1-2 tsp of cold water or milk to bind, if required.
Divide roughly in half. Keep one half aside. To the other half, add the cocoa powder, a few drops of cold milk and knead gently to make a smooth but stiff dough (or you cant slice them).
Now you'll have two rounds of dough, one white and one brown.
Divide each into two logs, to get two white logs and two brown logs.
Join one white log and one choco log and roll into a log on a clean smooth surface. It's not necessary, that the white and brown parts are exactly half and half, don't stress out over this-just make sure each log as some white and some brown.
At this stage you could refrigerate for 15 mins or so and then slice into 1.5 cm thick slices or go ahead without chilling.
Place each slice on the baking tray leaving some space between each cookie.
Bake at 180C for 10-12 minutes, until the white parts start turning golden. At this point they will still be very soft, so don't overbake. They will crisp up as they cool
For chewy cookies, remove them a little earlier.

Note
You can bake as many as you want at a time and freeze the remaining logs / slices to bake as and when required. You dont need to thaw the dough. Slice frozen dough and bake as it is in a preheated oven-adding 1-2 minutes extra for fresh cookies on demand :)

The Punjabi Food Festival at Jamavar, Leela Palace, Bangalore

2013-05-13T21:27:00.000+05:30

Some of us bloggers and food writers were invited for the Chef's tasting table on occasion of the Punjabi Food Festival at the Indian restaurant, Jamavar, the Leela Palace. Chef Farman Ali, the Corporate Indian Chef at The Leela Palace Bangalore had designed the menu using his innovations on traditional Punjabi cuisine.

The menu was selected from the vast special menu that's out for the two week Punjabi Food Festival from 13th May-26th May. Jamavar has four food festivals in a year, two showcasing North Indian cuisine & two from the South.

The current festival gives the food connoisseur a wide range of Punjabi dishes to choose from - both vegetarian and non-vegetarian. We started the meal with a refreshing Ambi Panna- a raw mango drink before moving on to starters. There's also the thandai and a variety of shorbas to start the meal with.

The vegetarian spread of starters comprised of palak di tikki, paneer amritsari, and gande di bhaji (onion fritters). This Palak tikka was like no other I've ever tasted. Soft inside with bites of corn for texture, crisp on the outside and the roasted tomato chutney on the top not only provided a brilliant contrast of colour but also of flavour.

Palak Di Tikki

Tomatoes roasted in the tandoor and ground with a mix of spices for the perfect balance of sweet, sour and spicy was what made this chutney extra special with great depth of flavour. If there is one thing you must taste from their special menu, I'd recommend this one. The other starters recommended by the chef are tandoori kukkad di chaat (tandoori cooked chicken tikka tossed with chutney and vegetables), jheenge de pakore (tiger prawns marinated in a tangy masala coated with gram flour & deep fried), machhi de tikke (fish tikka).

In the vegetarian main course, we got a taste of curries showcasing different flavours and textures. Amritsari vadi paired with potatoes in a spicy-tangy sauce, the legendary sarson da saag with generous quantity of white butter (they didn't leave out the extra butter and jaggery when serving this), and the simple home style gobhi mutter where big florets of cauliflower mingled with plump green peas in a delicately spiced mix. Some of the other options from the extensive festival menu are Jheenga kadai, Kukkad Sarson da, Lobster masala, Bharmay Kareley and Bharwaan Guchchi Kesari. Of course, no self respecting Punjabi menu is complete without the ever popular Mah Ki daal, tasted as luxurious as the silver cups they were served in.

What's a festival meal without some sigh-inducing desserts! Punjabi cuisine has some lesser known desserts like badam te gurh da halwa (almond-jaggery fudge), Pinni Nabha Di (sweet made using udad dal & dried fruits which were served as a part of the tasting plate. Also served were the ever popular desserts like kesar pista kulfi, jalebi-rabdi and a slice of fruit. Chef Farman Ali was also talking about Haldi ka halwa something I've never heard of, where fresh turmeric is ground and roasted in ghee before proceeding to make a halwa with it. This is not a part of the menu, just the constant innovation the chef tries to bring in by introducing ancient foods to the modern palate.

The special menu also has set menu options at INR4000/person comprising of 3 starters, 4 mains, roti, rice and desserts.
To check the whole bunch of pictures from the Chef's table I attended - click here (Facebook album)

Details:Jamavar, Leela Palace, 23, Airport Road, Bengaluru
Punjabi Food Festival from 13th May-26th May 2013
Open for lunch & dinner
For Reservations, call 080-3057 1344 / 1234
Meal for 2 - Approx INR5000

Molaga Maanga - an instant raw mango pickle

2013-05-08T13:22:00.000+05:30

This was the only pickle I liked as a kid, which I had fondly christened- 'square maanga' because it was cut in a square dice. In the hot summers of Bombay, curd rice would taste divine anyway. A tiny bit of this square maanga with the curd rice would always take it to another level of divine. Often, my granny would mash the rice and curds until smooth and give one big spoonful of this in my hand with a small bit of this pickle on top of it, all ready to be gobbled up. No chewing required. I can guarantee you that using the above tactic, a small mountain of thairsaadam (curd rice) can be easily demolished even by someone who claims to hate this Tamil comfort food.

In weddings, this pickle is usually made fresh on the morning or the previous day and when served with the wedding meal, it is still crunchy. The caterers often give the leftover pickle to the family and it actually tastes a lot better after 4-5 days of soaking in the spices, gets a lot more softer with more rounded flavours.

For this, use fresh, raw mangoes, with a very firm flesh. No need to peel the skin. I've used mangoes from the tree in our Chennai house. I don't know the exact variety, but this one has a very small stone and plenty of flesh. 3 mangoes yielded roughly 10 big ladles of finely chopped pieces- I'd assume this would be roughly 7 cups in terms of metric units. I'm sure different families have different recipes for this, but this one is from my amma & chithi, joint instructions provided over the phone. Make sure all the utensils used for pickling and throughly clean and dry or the pickle has a tendency to spoil quickly.

Wash and dry well 3-4 raw mangoes. No need to peel the mango. Chop the flesh into a fine dice. I've cut them into thin strips this time, but I prefer them to be cut into tiny cubes. Remove as much flesh as you can from the stone and dice it. Collect this in a large bowl.

Use a dry ladle, katoris or measuring cups to check the quantity of diced mangos. You can use any such utensil to measure the diced mango, just that you need to use the same utensil to measure out salt, red chilli powder and other spices. The main measurements are those for salt and red chilli powder, the rest can be adjusted easily.

10 ladles of finely diced raw mango ( 3 big raw mangoes ~roughly 1.2kg~7 cups of diced mango)
1 and 1/4 ladle of salt (roughly 3/4 cup iodized salt)
1/2 ladle red chilli powder (roughly 1/3 cup)
1.5 tsp turmeric powder
3 tsp mustard powder (take mustard seeds, lightly roast and powder in small jar of mixer or with a rolling pin, measure out 3 tsp)
1.5 tsp fenugreek powder (similar method as above)
1/2 tsp asafoetida powder
1/2 cup gingelly oil or regular rice bran / sunflower oil

Heat the oil. Just before it starts smoking, remove from heat. Add the salt, chilli powder, turmeric powder, mustard powder, fenugreek powder, asafoetida. Stir well with a dry spoon.
Place the diced raw mango in a nicely dried large bowl. Pour the oil with the spices on top of this and stir well to mix with a dry spoon.
If you have an earthen pot, keep it in the sun or microwave it until it is thoroughly dry and sterilised. If you dont have an earthen pot, use a glass bowl or ceramic bowl.
Add the raw mango dice with spices into this. Cover with a tight fitting lid and then tie a muslin cloth around this (optional).
Keep this in a clean, dry place in the kitchen. Once everyday, give it a good stir and mix up for the next 3-4 days.
No need to keep in sun. After 4-5 days, fill into 4-5 clean and dry glass bottles or ceramic jars. Place the pickle in refrigerator, where it should last for 2 months or so. Always use a clean, dry spoon while serving.

{i know you want to ask me where I got that cute barani (pickle jar) from. I got it from Grand Sweets, Adayar- they sell it for INR 50 a piece}

Saffron Trail Food Times Edition 02

2013-05-02T14:23:00.000+05:30

It's turning out to be quite a task to keep track of the food scene in Bangalore. New restaurants are opening almost every week. Restaurants are coming up with the idea of food festivals and new menus to introduce their patrons to new flavours. Here are some of them being featured in the second edition of my food news post.

Some of foodbloggers were invited to a chef's table at Saffron, Park Plaza, famous for its kababs & cuisine from the NWF Province for a tasting from their new menu.

Bhunee chaat, palak shorba, chutneys & condiments, raw papaya launji

The menu for was planned meticulously by Chef Mohd. Ishtiyak, who is fondly known as Master Chef – India of the restaurant. Right from the condiments platter which had pickled shallots, raw papaya launji, mint chutney, hung curd chutney among other mouthwatering items, his deep Indian traditions and attention to food preparation was evident.

Panchrattan seekh kabab, Blueberry cocktail, Mutter aur corn ki shammi

The aim of the menu was to showcase Indian spices- a few preparations had over two dozen spices ground for the marinade. The simple style of preparation, whether meat, seafood or vegetables marinated and cooked in the clay tandoor at high temperatures was the hallmark of the menu. This focus on rustic cuisine preserving the flavours and ingredients can be experienced at this restaurant. The Bhunee chaat (using a mix of fruits & veggies) and the panchrattan seekh were my favourites!

Bread basket-Bhutte tamatar ki subzi-Subzi Abir

Saffron, Park Plaza, 90-4 Outer Ring Road, Marathahalli, Bangalore.

Meal for two - INR 2000 plus taxes

***

And 100 ft Rd Indira Nagar gets one more restaurant. This is La Tagliatella, an Italian restaurant chain from Spain which opened its first Indian outlet in Ambience Mall, Delhi. Their focus is on cuisines from the regions of Piamonte, Liguria, and Reggio Emilia of Italy.

Their portions are quite large (serves groups of 4 well) and their salad is actually a 'big' salad too. While the pricing seems somewhat steep at first, one look at their portions and quality ingredients used, they seem to be justified. Almost all ingredients such as flour, cheese, tomatoes etc are imported to maintain the same quality across restaurants in all countries. We tried this place pre-opening and I can say it has a lot of scope. Their pizzas are made in Morello Forni pizza oven which simulates the wood-fired oven & is very eco friendly as compared to the wood-fired oven. The decor totally transports you from a high street shopping place in Bangalore to a quaint cafe in Italy. A word of caution-make sure you leave sufficient space in your tummies for dessert-their tiramisu & Mascarpone-cream are truly sublime.

766, Amrest Bunglow, HAL 2nd Stage, 100 feet road, Indiranagar, Bangalore

Meal for two-Around 1800 plus taxes | Valet parking | Only wine served

***

A couple of ongoing food festivals are the Beer & Burger festival at Windmills Craftworks, a microbrewery-restaurant and a jazz theatre with live performances on weekends. You'll find a range of vegetarian, beef, pork, chicken and seafood burgers paired with beer of which you get a complimentary 1/2 pint glass. 331, Road No. 5 B, EPIP zone, Whitefield, Bangalore, India 560048, (80) 2569-2012, +917259024652

St.Marks hotel is celebrating a Maharashtrian Food Festival, vegetarian food buffet at 499 per person. It's on until 5th May, so hurry if you are a fan of regional cuisines. My friends tried this yesterday and have given it a big thumbs up. They are open for lunch and dinner.
Curry with a 'K', St. Mark's Hotel, Lobby Level, Plot No. 4/1, St.Marks Road, Bangalore.
+919019150966

A Vegetarian Mediterranean Brunch menu

2013-04-28T17:29:00.000+05:30

So I was up early this morning (if you consider 6.15 am early for a Sunday morning). I was going to have some relatives over and I had no clue what to cook, except for the fresh vegetables and ingredients I had for inspiration. Since 'what to cook' and 'how to plan the menu' is pretty much the biggest problem for most cooking enthusiasts, I've decided I'll share my menus whenever I end up cooking something fun like today.

I shopped for some of the ingredients at Total Mall (Sarjapur) picking up some interesting stuff from the Pesticide Free section. The baby carrots and baby bell peppers in bags were pretty much the inspiration for this menu. Then I decided to add a simple pasta dish to the menu. The unbelievable heat at this time of the year was the inspiration for the juicy watermelon-grape-feta salad. And because I have a no-fail Focaccia recipe that I often fall upon, and I had some extra time on hand and I knew the oven would be running for the other dishes anyway, I added that to the list. The dessert was an after thought, but there's a divine eggless chocolate dessert on Aparna's blog that doesn't involve much effort or ingredients, but is sure to be a win. I tried it for the first time today and it sure wont be my last. I wish I had taken pictures of them all, but apart from a couple of pics during prep, I don't have any to share.

Menu

Rosemary Onion Focaccia

Watermelon-Grape-Feta salad

Baby bell peppers stuffed with herb garlic millets

Roasted baby carrots with shallots

Penne in Marinara sauce with hidden veg

Chocolate Creme pots for dessert

Rosemary Onion Focaccia
Adapted from this Bon Appetit recipe, I skip the chilling overnight step.

Watermelon-Grape-Feta salad with fresh basil
Follow my recipe, but add sweet red grapes and use basil instead of mint

Baby bell peppers stuffed with Herb & Garlic Millets (can be made vegan)
Cut out the tops and scoop out seeds and membranes from bell peppers. Cook millets as per this recipe. Saute finely chopped garlic, onion, carrots, sprouted moong in olive oil. Add plenty of fresh basil and the cooked millets. Season with salt, pepper, chilli flakes and dried basil. Stuff the bell pepper halfway with prepared millets. Add a chunk of mozzarella cheese for a surprise and fill it with millets till the top. Cover with the cut out bell pepper tops which will serve as a lid. Brush with oil and bake at 200C for 20 mins. This recipe is vegan if you omit the cheese.

Roasted baby carrots and shallots (vegan)
Follow this recipe adding shallots along with the carrots. Toss with olive oil infused with sea salt, fresh or dried rosemary and black pepper. Bake at 200C for 20 minutes. These carrots were really small so didn't need longer baking time.

Penne in hidden veg marinara sauce (vegan)
Adapted from this video

Chocolate Creme Pots (eggfree, vegetarian)
Eggless dessert from Aparna's blog

The secret to making fully loaded Nachos

2013-04-23T18:08:00.000+05:30

It's been unbearably hot this month in Bangalore. And being the good girl I am, I have been focussing on making the most of the sun, such as sun drying tomatoes, making sun tea and getting my daily dose of vitamin D.

Those who follow me on Instagram might have seen my gleeful updates on restarting my kitchen garden. We sowed a ton of seeds 3 weeks ago and each morning, I would take my coffee up there to talk to the little seedlings and watch each one come out from the soil and take head count (just kidding there!). As usual, I jumped too soon. There's this nut-job of a stray dog who climbs up on our terrace garden every single night and he has taken it as is life's singleminded motto to dig out every inch of soil in the garden, and along with it every thing that I sow. It is such heart ache for me that I cannot bear to step into the garden and see the mini earthquake unleashed by that 10 kilo dog. He sure was an earthmover in his previous birth! Now that I've vented my anger and frustration, I can get back to talking about good food things.

Since the last few Fridays, I've been making a big platter of these fully loaded nachos for dinner. It's like a big salad with lots of veggies, beans, cheese and of course tortilla chips. If you get down to baking these chips, then you have a completely healthy, high fibre, high protein snack ready to serve for a house party. I plan to bake these chips in advance for this weekend.

This is the perfect party dish, easily scaled up. You can assemble these in smaller foil containers, sprinkle cheese and bake so it can be shared between two people.

Preparing the beans:
These are not exactly refried beans because in the former, they are mashed to a coarse paste. Here the beans are pressure cooked until soft but each holding their shape and not mushy. They are then sautéed with some seasonings and kept aside for use in the nachos. You could make these ahead of time and refrigerate up to 10 days in an airtight container.

Ingredients
1/2 cup raw rajma ( I use the smaller Kashmiri variety)
pinch of baking soda
2 tsp olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 tsp cumin powder
1 chipotle chilli or a regular dried red chilli, finely chopped or 1/4 tsp chilli flakes
3/4 tsp salt or to taste
2 tbsp finely chopped coriander

Directions
Soak the rajma overnight with a pinch of baking soda.
Drain, wash well and add 1 cup water to this or enough water to completely immerse the beans in a utensil that goes inside the pressure cooker.
Pressure cook the beans for 10-12 minutes. (After two whistles, keep on sim for 10-12 minutes) The cooking time depends on the size of the rajma, for bigger sizes you may have to cook for slightly longer time. You want the beans to be cooked thoroughly, pressing with the back of the ladle or the thumb should mash it to a paste but it should hold its shape. Drain any excess water and keep aside.
In a heavy bottomed pan, heat the olive oil. Saute the onion and garlic with a pinch of salt until the onions are soft. Add the drained cooked rajma, cumin powder, chipotle, salt, coriander. On a low heat, gently saute and let all the seasonings coat the rajma for 5-7 minutes. Once this is done, keep aside until use.

Fully Loaded Nachos
Printable version here
Serves 4

Ingredients
200 grams Tortilla Chips - salted or flavoured (I use the salted variety of this brand and find them extremely crisp with good taste)
1 big onion, finely chopped
2 medium tomatoes, deseeded and finely chopped
1 large green capsicum, deseeded and diced
1/4 cup cooked corn kernels (optional)
some sliced pickled jalapeño (how much or how little, depends on your preference)
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 cup of seasoned rajma beans (method above)
Fresh coriander, chopped

Directions
Preheat the oven to 200C. If you are using an OTG with heating coils on the top and bottom, make sure the top heating coil is on, for the cheese to melt.

In a large oven proof dish place half the chips in one layer. Top with half the onions, tomatoes, capsicum, corn, jalapeño, rajma and cheese. Place the remaining chips in a single layer over this and sprinkle all the remaining ingredients with coriander and half the cheese right on top.

Place this in a hot oven for 7-8 minutes until the cheese melts.
Remove from oven and eat right away. If serving young kids, make a small portion separately minus the jalapeños and use plain boiled and salted rajma in their dish.

Some tips:
Use fresh and crisp chips for a crispy crunchy dish.
Once you top with all vegetables, do not waste time. It needs to go into the oven immediately or the tomatoes will start making the chips soggy.
The more cheese you use, the more delicious it will be. Use a sharp tasting cheese for a tastier dish.
If you dont have an oven, this dish will taste good as it is, only the cheese wont be melted :)

SaffronTrail Food Times Edition-01

2013-04-08T18:36:00.002+05:30

This is the first edition of the SaffronTrail Food Times, where I'll try and share food news in and around Bangalore- be it new restaurants in the city, food workshops that enthusiasts can participate in, food festivals hosted by restaurants and so on. I'm thinking of having this a fortnightly or monthly column. If you have anything interesting for me to share here (Bangalore based), do mail me at saffrontrail [at] gmail. Please understand that I shall use your information at my discretion and cannot promise to post everything that comes my way.

SAFFRONTRAIL FOOD TIMES EDITION-01

Weekend Breakfasts in Bangalore

We found two breakfast places which couldn't be more different from each other.

One serves up the Full English Breakfast, cocktails you can feel less guilty about over drinking in the morning, absolutely sinful Red Velvet waffles and thick French toasts. I don't know if you've guessed, we're talking about the 'Breakfirst' at Monkey Bar. Apart from eggs, waffles and toasts, vegetarians have a few other choices like the Handwo, Chilli Cheese Vada Pao and a really big croissant called the Mobar Maxi Croissant. There's a Big Bang breakfast specially for vegetarians called the Garden City which comprises of gratinated vegetable crepe, feta stuffed mushrooms, hash browns, grilled tomato, baked beans and jumbo toast. Mobar has tied up with theindianbean.com to serve up a specially formulated single estate coffee blend, so you can be sure that you're in for some good coffee.

Expect to be put behind by INR1500 for two people. There's good music and the company of breakfast loving enthusiastic morning crowd and one must give them points for innovation (Red Velvet Waffles, Pita with Pandi etc.). The good part is you can skip lunch altogether and have a long snooze after filling up here.

Monkey Bar, 14/1 Krishna Manere, Wood Street, Richmond Road, Ashok Nagar, Bengaluru - 560025. Phone: 080 41116878/ 79 | www.mobar.in

Weekends 9 am-12 noon

The other breakfast we loved was the all you can eat spread at Kamat Yatri Nivas (Hoodi). The South Indian breakfast serves all the usuals. The Masala dosa, vada, kuzhi paniyarams are freshly made in small batches. The other items served are masala idli, puri-chana, khara-baath, bisi bele baath, mangalore buns, akki rotti, watermelon juice, fruits, rosogulla, coffee/tea. They also had bread, butter, jam and some other things I may have missed. The buns were delicious, and our friend said that the kuzhi paniyarams were as good as the ones he had eaten at a small eatery in Coimbatore. I don't think there's any other breakfast in Bangalore that can beat the 'VFM-ness' of this one. If you live in and around Whitefield, don't miss this. It is a steal at INR 125/adult, 75/child.

Kamat Yatri Niwas, Graphite Road, Hoodi Circle, Whitefield. Phone: 080-28459075 | kamatyatri.in - Weekends 7am-10am, no reservations required.

CBTL celebrates 50 years with a new menu

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf has introduced a new menu with more focus on healthy and gourmet options.

We liked their Japanese Cherry Green Tea and Swedish Berries Tea, both made using loose leaf tea bags. These are a perfect choice for those who want to spend time in a cafe without loading up on calories. For those who like their high calorie drinks, they also have a Hot Double Chocolate with Caramel Swirl and whipped cream :)

Among their healthy eating options, I liked their Roast Vegetable with Hummus. Their Greek salad however was a disappointment because of tons of fake feta. Even if it was paneer, it was a stale one. Their muffins are the giant American size, I'd recommend it be shared between 3 people! Their Chocolate Chunk muffin was loaded with chocolate chips. Try their signature Ice Blended coffee in your favourite flavour.

http://www.facebook.com/TheCoffeeBeanIndia

Branches: Koramangala, 1MG Rd Mall, Inorbit Mall (Whitefield), Phoenix Market City

A cozy cafe inside a mall- Plus 91

Photo courtesy: Aravind Balakrishnan

Newly opened at the buzzing Phoenix Market City mall at Whitefield, they are the modern upmarket version of a multicuisine restaurant with a bar. From chaats to steaks, they have it all on their menu, along with an extensive alcohol and drinks menu. Theirs is a cozy ambience of a street corner cafe, with a little outdoor section. The indoors nearly makes you forget you are in a mall. The fact that they have a jukebox gives them extra points from my side. We were invited for their pre-launch Sunday lunch and they were playing vintage disco for which I'll give them two thumbs up. We tried the radga patties, a modified version of sev puri (using baby papads instead of puri), paani puri, frankie, paneer tikkas and the sizzler. While the penne pasta in tomato sauce was perfectly made, the chaats needed some help from the roadside chaatwala in terms of textures and flavour. The feedback was passed on and I hope they'll get better in that department. As they have an extensive appetisers menu, I think this will be a good place for a couple of after work drinks and small bites, for those working in and around ITPL. Their dessert menu is limited to three items. In case you're wondering about the origin of their name, it indicates India's phone code :)

Plus 91, Phoenix Market City, 1st Floor, Mahadevpura, Whitefield Road, Bangalore-48.

Phone- 80-65995666 | https://www.facebook.com/Plus91India

Hours: 12 noon-11.30pm, walk-ins welcome

A Jammy Weekend: Recipes for Strawberry-Balsamic & Fig-Vanilla-Black Pepper Jam

2013-04-07T20:26:00.003+05:30

A little cafe surrounded by a kitchen garden - windows with fluttering lace curtains - a big oven on one side - cinnamon, yeast, vanilla scents in the air - sounds of happy chatter - the aroma of fresh coffee brewing - people waiting in anticipation of a simple good time - a cup of good coffee or choice of tea with a scone or a muffin topped with some homemade jam - A girl can day dream right?

On Thursday, I ordered more fruit than I usually do for a week, especially strawberry and figs, with the intention of making jam. I'm not much of a jam sandwich person. Give me a Mumbai style coriander-mint chutney and cucumber sandwich any day. But when you have a little boy at home who'll say 'I'm hungry' at the most unpredictable times of the day, it is good to have a loaf of bread and some spreads handy to make a snack in 2 minutes. He likes my 'Chocolate coconut Peanut Butter' - well, I like it a lot myself and each batch gets over in a matter of 2-3 days. So I decided to make some jams anyway. What better way to preserve the goodness of seasonal fresh fruit for a couple more months?

There's a lot more I'd like to write about on 'jamming' but the weekend chores beckon and I promised a few people that I'll be sharing the recipe on my blog before the end of the weekend, so here are the recipes for the two jams.

If you always wondered what the difference was between jelly, jam and preserve, read this.

I'd say my recipes are in between a jam and preserve, because while they do have a chunky texture, it is not 'that' chunky because the fruit was fairly finely chopped to begin with. Contrary to popular belief that jam making is the job of old matronly housewives who wish to slave in the kitchen all day and night, these jams don't take more than 30-45 minutes each, including fruit chopping time, especially because we're making only a small quantity at a time. Also, in both these jams, we don't need any added pectin because both fruits are full of seeds inside them which are a natural source of pectin. As for fig jam, most recipes from international websites don't ask for the fruit to be peeled, but Indian figs are very thick skinned, therefore better off peeled.

Strawberry Balsamic Preserve
Recipe adapted from Epicurious

Ingredients
750 grams strawberries (washed, patted dry and tops removed- I bought 1 kg and this was what I got after eating a few and removing the tops)
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp water
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp butter

Directions

Finely chop the strawberries-you'll get roughly 2 1/2 cups of chopped fruit
In a heavy bottomed steel or anodised pan, put all the ingredients together, on a medium flame, bring this to a simmer.
The butter prevents the mixture from foaming and splattering too much. In fact, mine didn't splatter at all.
Simmer for 20-25 minutes, until the mixture is thick and translucent. Keep stirring off and on. Don't worry if it's still a bit flowy and it will thicken further on cooling. So, switch off before the jam turns thick.
Remove pan from heat and cool thoroughly.
Meanwhile place two empty clean and dry glass jam jars bottles without their lids in the microwave for one minute. This is to quick sterilise the bottles.
Once cooled to room temperature, spoon the jams into the two jars. I'd say I got roughly two jars of 300-350 grams each.
Close them tight and keep in fridge. Use within a month.

Recipe for Fig-Vanilla-Black Pepper Preserve
Adapted from Taste

Ingredients
Roughly 1 kg fresh figs
1 cup sugar
half a vanilla pod (or use a cinnamon stick + 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon)
1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar or lemon juice or balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp butter

Directions

Wash, dry and remove stems of figs. Peel and chop finely.
Slice the vanilla pod and scrape the seeds with the end of the knife, add this to the chopped figs.
In a large bowl, add all the ingredients, including the scraped vanilla pod, cover and keep overnight. [at this stage you could either keep the bowl of ingredients covered in the refrigerator overnight and proceed with jam making in the morning or proceed with the process immediately. I left it in the fridge overnight]
After the mixture has sat in the fridge overnight, transfer them to a heavy bottomed steel pan or anodized pan, bring to a simmer on medium flame.
Keep stirring off and on so that the sugar does not stick to the bottom and burn.
In around 20 minutes, the mixture will start to thicken. Remove from flame. Cool thoroughly.
Meanwhile place two empty clean and dry glass jam jars bottles without their lids in the microwave for one minute. This is to quick sterilise the bottles.
Once cooled to room temperature, spoon the jams into the two jars. I'd say I got roughly two jars of 300-350 grams each.
Close them tight and keep in fridge. Use within a month.

P.S. Sorry for the longish title. I didn't want you to think that my jammy weekend had anything to do with Rahul Dravid.

Foxtail Millet & Basil Patties - Another recipe using this wonder grain

2013-03-30T07:56:00.000+05:30

Foxtail Millet is clearly my best food discovery of 2013 so far. I've eaten it in place of rice, added it to salads, made tiffin items like upma, tomato 'baath' and it has never disappointed me. The best thing with this grain is that by controlling the extent of the cooking, you can get it mushier (to eat with the accompaniments you would eat rice with) or al dente enough with each grain separate (for salads). By cooking it to a mushier texture, you can also make these superbly textured and flavorsome patties. They don't have much of a taste by themselves so you'll have to add strongly flavoured ingredients to make these delicious patties - which is why I've chosen basil, garlic, onions and cheese. But go ahead and try your own flavour combinations.

A few nutritional pointers about Foxtail Millets
It's naturally gluten free, so those who cannot eat wheat and wheat based products and don't want to eat rice for all your meals, this is a very nutritious alternative to providing the necessary carbohydrates in whole grain form.
It contains twice the iron of wholewheat and very rich in magnesium. Magnesium is known to reduce migraine attacks, reduces severity of asthma and keeps blood pressure under control.*
It also contains a good amount of silicon. "It contains 4 times the amount of silicon in whole wheat (160mg/100g) which is required for hair growth, blood circulation, protection from mental fatigue, arthritis and infection.*
[*Source: Laugh With Health: Your Complete Guide to Health, Diet, Nutrition & Natural Foods, Manfred Urs Koch]
The high fiber and protein content make sure that you stay full for a long time after eating millets.
This grain is extremely diabetic friendly, so if you are cooking for diabetics in your family, make sure you stock up on this grain at home. I will go ahead and say that is the best alternative to quinoa available in India, locally grown and wont cost you an arm and leg and a huge carbon footprint that it takes to import the grain from the other end of the world.

Do read my story Superfoods in your Backyard published in Mint this week!

Recipe for Foxtail Millet & Basil Patties

Ingredients
3/4 cup foxtail millets
1/2 cup roughly chopped basil
2 cloves garlic, grated
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup coarsely grated cheddar or any other hard cheese
1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper (or more as per taste)
1 tsp salt
2 green chillies, finely chopped (optional)
2 tbsp olive oil or any other cooking oil

Directions

Rinse the millets in water, place it in a container that will fit in the pressure cooker and add 1 3/4 cup of water to it. Pressure cook for 2 whistles and on sim for 5-7 minutes. Once the cooker is cool enough to open, remove the millets, mash with a spoon and keep aside.
To the mashed millets, add all other ingredients and mix well with fingertips.
If you want to make this gluten free, omit breadcrumbs and use 2 medium potatoes, boiled and mashed instead.
Divide this into 6-8 balls and flatten on your palm to make patties as shown in the photos and keep in one layer on a plate.
At this stage you could cover the plate with cling film and refrigerate for few hours until you need to make them.
Grease a non stick tava, once moderately hot, place the patties in one layer. Once the bottom side turns golden brown, turn to the other side and cook for another 5 minutes until crisp and golden.
Serve immediately with ketchup, chutney or marinara sauce.
Omit the chillies if you are sharing this with young kids :)

My interview with Kate Bracks - Masterchef Australia winner at the Whitefield Baking Company, Bengaluru Marriott

2013-03-25T12:19:00.000+05:30

Ever smiling Kate Bracks

If you followed my Facebook Page updates and the Twitter updates over last two weeks, you might have known how crazy excited I was to get a chance to meet Kate Bracks, winner of Masterchef Australia 3. Kate was here for the opening of Whitefield Baking Company at the Marriott Bengaluru.

The raspberry-chocolate-hazelnut muffins Kate made for us

It was lovely to be able to meet her twice, once as a part of the Press Meet and another ladies soiree organised by GM Matthew Cooper's wife, Lynden, where Kate demonstrated some of her favourite recipes and we could exchange conversations over a superbly laid out special lunch spread.

Marriott Bengaluru GM Matthew Cooper with Kate

Some of the colourful treats at the Whitfield Baking Company, which is very tastefully done up and the several baking implements giving it a very homely feel. I'd like to thank Marriott's the GM for allowing us this wonderful experience of meeting Kate and getting thoroughly inspired.

For entire set of pictures, check the album on Saffron Trail Facebook Page

Never imagined I'd be with Kate in one frame :)

I managed to have a one-on-one interview where I asked her about food, Masterchef, family & India. Here are some of the excerpts...

[This was first published in livemint.com on 15 March, 2013]

Kate Bracks, winner of the third season of the hugely popular cooking reality showMasterChef Australia, was in Bangalore recently to help promote the café Whitefield Baking Company at the newly opened Bengaluru Marriott. We got a chance to ask her some questions. Edited excerpts:

When did you get interested in cooking and what is your first memory of cooking?

As a kid, I remember standing next to my Nanna in the kitchen helping her out with an apron wrapped around me. But my first real memory of cooking by myself is from when I was 8. It was the long summer holidays and I was terribly bored when my mum asked me to cook something. So I went into the kitchen and I spent a good amount of time making this layered coffee cake with piped icing. I remember feeling all happy about how it turned out. And I guess that’s when I fell in love with cooking. And this was the exact same dish I made in the initial round of the MasterChef contest where they asked us to make something that was a dear memory.

Even during the seven months that you were away from home for the ‘MasterChef Australia’ contest, it must have been tough to stay away from your children in a somewhat restricted set-up. How did you manage that?

It was tough. I went in thinking I’m not going to last the entire contest and that somewhat helped me hang in there. Towards the end I was torn between wanting to go ahead in the contest and wanting to go back home to be with my family. I managed to handle it solely by taking each day as it came. The episode where MasterChef brought in our families as a surprise, asking us to cook for them, was one of my favourite moments in the show.

How did you handle the pressure of cooking in the ‘MasterChef’ kitchen?

To be honest, I kept reminding myself that it’s just food and it’s just a contest. Many times I felt incredible nervous energy before a challenge, so yes the pressure was there. One of the things that helped me a lot was being a mum. Especially when you are a mum to young kids, there are times when you don’t get sleep one night and the next day you just have to be up and going. And it wasn’t much different on the show. My mantra was “just keep going, it’s just food, it’s not a matter of life and death”, and that helped.

How has winning ‘MasterChef Australia’ changed your life?

The biggest change for me was going from full-time home-based mum to full-time working mum. It also gave me a job dealing with food and people, two of my biggest loves, and I get to do work that doesn’t feel like work. Even now, I’m in India on work, but this hardly feels like work! I do feel blessed.

Before ‘MasterChef’, what was the favourite dish your family would ask you to make for them?

My kids always loved burritos, so that’s what was made by popular demand at home. I don’t know if that’s our favourite but we had to go with the kids’ favourite. Otherwise the standard Aussie family dish is sausages and veggies and we used to have that often. We still do.

After ‘MasterChef’, does your family expect you to cook more gourmet stuff?

Once I got back home after winning the MasterChef title, my kids were actually scoring my dishes and telling me things like “this is not your best dish, Mum!”. Yes, there were slightly raised expectations but I quickly brought them back to reality (giggles). But on a serious note, in the MasterChef kitchen, you get 2 hours of uninterrupted time, equipment and ingredients all laid out for you to put up a dish whereas at home, with the kids around, the phone ringing and other chaos, I’ve got just 20 minutes to put food on the table. So that makes a big difference.

What’s a traditional weekend meal on your family table like?

Our traditional Sunday table would have be a roast, especially lamb. My father was a meat wholesaler and he specialized in lamb—so it was always roast lamb with gravy, baked potatoes, carrots or pumpkin with either lemon pudding or lemon meringue pie for dessert. Those are still my favourite desserts.

You’ve been a teacher, are mum to three children and now you teach children how to cook. How early do you think children can be introduced to cooking and what are the top three dishes you think they can manage well?

I think they can help from the day they can stand up but you should be willing to put up with the mess. When my son was two years old, I stood him up on the table and said “let’s make a cake”, and even at that age he could name the things that went into making a cake.

Young kids can pour, spoon, mix—yes, it’s a bit messy but it’s about sharing that experience with them. Older kids can handle heat, fry-pans and more advanced cooking with adult supervision. Kids enjoy making pancakes. Older kids can help in making vegetable fritters, which I feel is a great way to make them eat veggies. Cakes are a good start, helping with the measuring, stirring, spooning, etc.

My 10-year-old daughter comes up to me on a Sunday morning with the offer of making porridge for the family. So our kids are capable of more than we think they are.

Your book ‘The Sweet Life’ is out. What are your other plans?

At the moment I’m working with the local awarded chef on putting out a product line. I get to work in the chef’s kitchen all day and then I get to pick up my kids from school. It’s totally different from the pressures of working in a restaurant kitchen and the late nights. This way I get to do the things I love and be there for the family as well.

Is this your first trip to India? Do you cook/eat Indian dishes back home? If yes, what’s your favourite?

This is indeed my first trip to India and I’ve been loving the food that I’m tasting here, my favourite being the Indian nachos at Queens (a restaurant in Bangalore)—little crispy discs with yogurt and sweet and sour stuff (she means sev puri). As long as the food doesn’t get too spicy and overwhelm the flavours, I can handle Indian food. As clichéd as it gets, I was given a butter chicken to eat here at the restaurant, but this was nothing like what we get back home. It was that delicious!

How to make the perfect boiled egg?

2013-03-22T10:58:00.003+05:30

“I have met a lot of hardboiled eggs in my time, but you're twenty minutes.” OSCAR WILDE

Before you scoff at me for writing this post - a properly boiled egg with a little sprinkle of salt and pepper is one of the simple joys of life and equally easy to mess up. Had with toast, or just by itself as a mid-day snack, or in your kid's lunch box, it's wholesome, easy and hardly takes any special effort.

My earlier method of boiling an egg was to place it in a pan full of water and boil the hell out of it for 10 odd minutes, drain and peel. While this works well, the egg sometimes turns rubbery and the unpleasant grey sulphur ring inside that makes it so unpalatable.

The full credit for my current technique goes to Mark Bittman and his book 'How To Cook Everything Vegetarian'.

So here are my tips on getting the perfect boiled egg

Buy the best quality eggs you can get.
It helps if the eggs are not utterly fresh. A few day old eggs are so much easier to peel off than fresh eggs.
Place the eggs in a deep pan. Cover them with tap water.
Place this on the stove.
Bring the water to boil.
They say swishing the water in the pan in circles helps center the yolks, in case you plan on making deviled eggs.
Once the water comes to a rolling boil, turn off the flame. Cover with a fitting lid and let it sit for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, remove the eggs with a slotted spoon and place in a bowl of chilled water for 10 minutes. This prevents the grey sulphur ring.
Crack the egg at several places on counter top or with a spoon and peel off the shell or place in refrigerator until you need to use them.

5 things you can do with boiled eggs

Quarter them and add them to salads. Egg and potato salad is a delicious combination, but you don't have to restrict yourself to this alone.
Make egg curry
Saute sliced ginger, garlic, onions until the onions caramelise and add quartered boiled eggs to this, with seasonings to make Burmese style egg appetiser.
Dip boiled egg in batter and deep fry to make delicious egg bhajji.
Slice the boiled egg. Slice a tomato. Make egg & tomato sandwich.

What are your favourite things to do with boiled eggs?

My experiments with baking a basic whole wheat bread (Recipe inside)

2013-03-14T08:31:00.002+05:30

At the beginning of 2013, I asked for your feedback on my Facebook Page on the kind of things you'd like to see on the blog this year and that I'll try and incorporate some of your recipe requests. And the one thing that was a popular demand was a healthy loaf of bread. So here's my attempt to share with you a detailed recipe for a sandwich loaf.

I've tried baking whole wheat bread on several occasions. It has led to a variety of results- my househelp giving me puzzled looks on what that seemingly edible brick is doing on our counter top, me wondering if I should let it dry out in the sun to be used later as a weapon for self defense, my son making me swear that I will not sneak it inside his lunch box, me quietly disposing it in the main trash can of our community, so it can never be traced back to me. But yes, I'll say this one thing. I never gave up. I kept trying from a variety of sources - books, blogs, my own improvisations. Recently, I came across this recipe in the kitchn and there was so much confidence in the tone of that post, it almost felt like a friend had her hand on my shoulder and told me that "this will work!" and work it did.

Other breads you can bake - Cinnamon Rolls | Pesto Pull Apart Loaf

You can be rest assured that this bread is a 100% handmade. No food processors, Kitchen Aids, Bread Machines were involved in the making of this work of art. Oven, yes - I did use an oven :)

You may ask if this is Whole Wheat bread a 100% whole wheat? To be honest, this one has 50% all purpose flour (maida) and 50% whole wheat flour (atta) - so if you trust your Atta to be 100% wheat, you can be sure that this bread is 50% whole wheat. And that is quite healthy given that the soft, spongy, melt in your mouth sliced bread labeled as whole wheat available in supermarkets is definitely NOT even 50% wheat, or they've added a ton of other ingredients to make it soft and fluffy. The goodness of this bread is once you've mastered this basic loaf, you can keep playing with it in terms of other ingredients added to it such as a variety of other whole grain flours, seeds, flavourings etc. But I'd surely request you to try it just like it is if you are a first timer.

This makes 2 loaves of roughly 600 grams each

Ingredients
2 3/4 Cup Atta (whole wheat flour)
2 3/4 Cup Maida (all purpose flour)
2 tbsp flaxseed powder (optional)
1 tbsp salt
1 cup lukewarm water (very slightly warm) plus some more
2 tsp instant yeast or active dry yeast
1/3 Cup Liquid Jaggery or Honey
2 tbsp olive oil / vegetable oil / melted ghee
1 cup lukewarm milk

You also need two 9x5 loaf tins greased and kept aside.

Directions
THE FIRST STAGE - ROUGH DOUGH
In a small bowl, sprinkle yeast over 1 cup lukewarm water-stir with a spoon, cover and keep aside for 5 minutes, until it becomes slightly frothy.
In a large bowl, add the flours, flaxseed meal and salt, stir with a fork and keep aside.
In another bowl, mix all the liquids- liquid jaggery/honey, milk and oil with a fork and keep aside.
Once the yeast gets frothy, make the well in the flour and add the yeast-water and other liquids. Stir with a wooden spoon until all the liquids are absorbed by the flour and it sort of comes together.
Remove this onto a clean counter top or working surface and gently knead, adding up to 1/4 cup more water if this dough is too dry. Knead for 2-3 minutes until it all comes together to a rough ball. Cover this with a big bowl and let it rest for 20 minutes. This allows for the liquids to be well absorbed by the flour particles yielding a softer loaf at the end.

THE SECOND STAGE - KNEADING & PROVING
Once the dough has rested for 20 minutes, you'll find this easier to handle. It has to be kneaded (here, you could use a Kitchen Aid or Food Processor) for 10-12 minutes. By kneading I mean-pushing the dough away from you and folding it back on itself towards you. Repeat this process for at least 10 minutes, you'll the the dough getting progressively more elastic and soft. Once this is done, shape into a ball. Grease a huge bowl with oil, place the ball in this - cover with a fitting lid + tea towel and keep in the warmest area of your kitchen. You need to give the dough 1-2 hours for it to double in size and this totally depends on the weather conditions, which is why I cannot give you an exact time. If you wish you could keep the dough ball in a plastic transparent box, marking the level with a marker and then marking the level where you expect the doubled dough to reach, so you know that it has indeed doubled in volume.

THE THIRD STAGE - MINI REST
Once the dough has doubled, with a sharp knife divide it into two equal parts. Do NOT be rough with this and punch any air out. Gently shape each half into a ball and keep aside to rest for 10 minutes. This will make the final shaping easier.

THE FOURTH STAGE - SHAPING LOAVES
After 10 minute rest in the previous stage, follow the shaping procedure for each ball. Gently push out into a rectangle and go ahead with the step-by-step shaping instructions given here. I followed them to the tee each time and they worked perfectly. The end result should be a taut dome shaped top of each loaf. And I cannot emphasize enough to do the shaping with light, gentle hands so that you don't push any air out of the loaves. Place the shaped loaves into two 9x5 loaf tins. You could brush water on the loaves and sprinkle any whole grains or seeds on the top to give it a more gourmet look - for eg: whole oats, millets, sesame seeds, or sift 1 tsp of all purpose flour over the top.

THE FIFTH STAGE - PROVING THE LOAVES
Cover the tins with a tea towel and keep in a warm place until the dough rises to the edge of the tin. If you are impatient with this stage and put it into the oven prematurely (which I have done many times and suffered), you will not have well risen loaves, because this bread will only puff mildly in the oven, maximum rise is before it goes into the oven. This takes around 40 mins-1 hour, like I said, do not rush this stage. The middle of this stage is when you turn on the oven to preheat at 220 Celsius / 450 F and let the oven heat at this temp until the loaves rise outside to final level.

THE SIXTH STAGE - BAKING THE LOAVES
When the loaves have risen to just above the tins, brush them with some water. Using a sharp bread knife, make an incision along the length of the loaf. This not only makes the bread look good, but also helps it rise well. Reduce the oven temperature to 190 Celsius / 375 F and bake for 30-35 minutes, until the top is nice and golden brown.

THE SEVENTH STAGE - COOLING
Turn out the loaves from the tins. If you have greased the tins well, you wont have problems with this. Turn them upside down on a cooling rack and keep them covered with a breathable cloth like a muslin or so. You could leave them like this overnight or at least aim for an hour or so. During this stage, the bread continues to cook inside and it becomes easier to slice the following morning. If you try to slice the bread as soon as it is out of the oven, consider all your effort wasted, because the inside of the loaf WILL be wet and you will be disappointed with the result. Loaves HAVE to be cooled fully before trying to slice them. If you want to experience the joy of breaking into warm bread just out of the oven, reserve it for the small dinner rolls.

THE EIGHTH STAGE - SLICING
You've been patient - allowed the loaf to cool overnight. You will now be rewarded with sweet smelling, delicious bread slices for breakfast. Place the bread on a chopping board and with a sharp bread knife, slice it as thick or thin as you want.

Tips

I get started with the process at around 5/6 pm in the evening & it gets baked by 9/10 pm or so, then let it cool overnight before slicing them in the morning. This process works well for me.
The original recipe says 8-10 mins of kneading in food processor (second stage), so make sure you knead at least for 10-15 mins when you are kneading manually. And following the push away-bring back technique for kneading.
If you don't have loaf tins, looks for bread shaping instructions that show you how to shape a free form loaf like focaccia or a dome shaped loaf. The proving and baking times have to be adjusted accordingly. Just make sure that during the final proving, the shaped dough rises really well before putting into the oven.
Don't be afraid to make two loaves at one go, unless of course your oven will only take one tin at a time, in which case, halve all the ingredients and proceed accordingly. Do note that proving times may be less after the second stage.
I buy liquid jaggery from here (Bangalore) but you can mix some crushed jaggery to water, let it liquify on low heat and keep aside to use in recipe or use honey instead. This provides a mild natural sweetness to the loaf and also the brilliant colour without using any additives or artificial colouring agents.

Lastly, bread making is an exercise in patience. You have to allow the bread to pass through each stage and it depends on a lot of factors. You cannot rush through. You may think- WHOA this takes 3-4 hours, but most of it is inactive time, it only requires your passing attention for a few minutes at a time. It's good to keep a little notepad or keep track of the times on your phone, so you don't miss the time windows for kneading, resting, proving etc. A bit of precision and a lot of patience goes a long way in baking that perfect loaf of bread. Don't let the number of steps or the huge number of words written to explain the process overwhelm you. It's quite simple actually. Try it and let me know how it turned out!

On Smoke House Deli - Bangalore

2013-03-10T10:31:00.000+05:30

Me with Riyaaz Amlani
[Photo courtesy: Swapna Venkatesh]

I think it was the year 2003-2004 when a bunch of friends discovered Mocha on Hill Road, Bandra. Mood lighting, mix and match of antique and modern furniture, the smell of strong coffee and hookah smoke hanging in the air along with some great music selections made it quite the perfect place to hangout.

I still remember their unique concept of having price tags on furniture and art, so you could literally buy a chair and take it home if you fell in love with it. Later, there was one in Juhu with a most perfect location across the sea and you could sit on their comfy sofas, order a huge mug of coffee and catch up on all the gossip with friends or just people watch. It's been 10 years but my tastebuds remember their fantastic apple pie and one hell of a killer dessert (taste & calorie-wise) which I think was named 'Death by Chocolate' & of course I remember feeling all 'posh' having to choose from a menu featuring coffees from different parts of the world. Don't scoff at me, I was after all in my 20s then! I remember hearing the name Riyaaz Amlani who was behind this chain of coffee shops and admiring his creativity. And then his name was all over the restaurant scene in Bombay, with the Salt Water Grill at Chowpatty and dozens of other restaurants around the country.

It was such a pleasure to share a table with Riyaaz and a few other foodblogger friends to celebrate the opening of Smoke House Deli, their first restaurant in Bangalore. Day 2 of opening, and the restaurant was buzzing from 8 pm onwards- credit it to the location (100 ft road, Indira Nagar) or the building that now stands like a show stopper on 100 ft road or the fantastic menu & drinks.

One thing that catches your eye as soon as you enter are the hand sketched walls - black on white, and you keep looking at it for the entire time that you are in the restaurant. Quotes, quaint old Bangalore institutions, new music bands and more, all find their place on the walls, including the depiction of a haunted house in the city.

The credit for this goes to the Busride Deisgn Company whose founder Ayaz himself gave us a walking tour of the walls. Yes, that's right!

The drinks menu include plenty of fresh fruit flavours, with an interesting mix of spices and some of them even use smoked fruits. Between the 5 of us, we ~~tried & tasted~~ drank the watermelon martini, green apple martini, smoked musk melon martini, smoked pineapple & vanilla martini and many more that will be kind of embarrassing to admit on this blog!

Their menu lists a range of fresh fruit, herb & floral infusions out of which the Californian Plum, Star Anise & Lily was pretty sensational.

Among the vegetarian appetizers, the tofu sesame sliders looked and tasted amazing, with the sesame oil aroma wafting through the dish.

The spiked cottage cheese skewers, the paprika puffs with wasabi salsa both had bags of flavour. My favourite salad was the asparagus with grape, smoked fig and white balsamic vinaigrette. My perfect salad has to have a balance of all flavours - salty, sweet & sour and a mix of textures and this one hit all the right notes.

While the table was tasting a variety of mains, the spinach ricotta ravioli was generously stuffed and perfectly cooked, a little niggle for me was that I don't like my ravioli smothered by too much sauce. The wild mushroom risotto was something everyone on the table dug into with gusto. While I gave the desserts a miss, I feasted my eyes on some of the beauties in the display counter, early in the evening.

For entire set of photos - check Saffron Trail's Facebook album

Smoke House Deli
Category: All Day Dining / Bar / Breakfast
Price: A meal for 2 with a drink would cost roughly Rs.1500 plus taxes

No. 1209, Ward no. 12, HAL IInd Stage, 100 Ft Road, Indiranagar. Opp. Nike showroom, Bengaluru 560038

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/smokehousedeli
Twitter: @smokehousedeli
Phone: 080-25200898 / 99
They are open from 11 am onwards

Tandoori Aloo & Tandoori Broccoli [no tandoor required]

2013-03-01T18:03:00.003+05:30

Let me start by saying that I don't have a tandoor. When I moved into a home with a little garden, I did have this wild idea of building my own tandoor (a cylindrical clay oven used for baking / cooking heated by burning coals inside it). I can't say I have completely abandoned that idea but this tandoori recipe doesn't need a 'tandoor'. If you have a microwave oven with a grill or the grill function in a regular convection oven, that's great. If you don't have either ovens, you can use a non stick skillet to grill these.

The best part about this recipe is you can make perfectly delicious appetisers using minimal or no oil. Use a low-carb vegetable like broccoli, cauliflower or bell peppers (stuffed or as it is), and you have a perfect low carb vegetarian side dish. For any vegetable, the basic steps are the same.

Step one: Clean and partly cook the vegetable.

Step two: Marinate the vegetable

Step three: Grill

I use the same marinade for both recipes, mostly eye-balling the ingredients to make roughly over a cup of marinade.

Tandoori Marinade

3/4 cup thick yogurt

2 tsp chickpea flour

1 tbsp kasoori methi* (key ingredient, do not omit. Crush between finger tips to a coarse powder and then add)

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

2 tsp coriander powder

2 cloves garlic, grated

2 tsp oil (optional)

In a large bowl, mix all of the above. Cover and refrigerate until use.

For Tandoori Aloo

Parboil 2 dozen baby potatoes with the skins. Either boiling in water for 3-4 minutes or pressure cook for two whistles. Remove, drain well and poke 3-4 holes per potato with the skewer. This is so that the flavours of the marinade can go inside the potatoes.

Immerse the skewer sticks in water for 2-3 hours.

Marinade the par-cooked potatoes with skins in the prepared mix. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, skewer them and place on a grill safe plate. Grill for 5 minutes. Turn to the other side and grill another 5 minutes. Serve with tamarind chutney and green chutney.

For Tandoori Broccoli

Break a broccoli into medium sized florets (around 2 dozen florets). Immerse in a bowl of salted water for 10 minutes. Wash thoroughly. Place them in a microwave safe bowl with lid, add 2 tsp water and microwave on high for 3-4 minutes until partially cooked. Once slightly cool, place in marinade for 30 minutes (refrigerated).

Either skewer them or place them in a single later on a grill safe plate and grill for 5-7 minutes.

Serve with a squeeze of lemon along with a hung yogurt dip or mint chutney

[inspiration for tandoori broccoli came from the brilliant dinner we had at Blue Terrain where this was one of the dishes served]

*Kasoori / Kasuri methi is just dried fenugreek leaves, which when crushed and used in any dish gives a very distinct fragrance and flavour. You cannot use fresh fenugreek leaves or fenugreek seeds instead of this. This can be found in the spice aisle of most supermarkets in India or Indian supermarkets abroad.

Feedback from people who tried this recipe

Tandoori cauliflower for lunch! Thanks @saffrontrail for posting this simple, healthy and delicious recipe :-) twitter.com/Ayeshazh/statu…
— Ayesha (@Ayeshazh) March 2, 2013

Grilled veggies, inspired by @saffrontrail good fun only twitter.com/maxdavinci/sta…
— maxdavinci (@maxdavinci) March 2, 2013

Eggless Buckwheat Crepes : Health on a plate

2013-02-23T08:13:00.000+05:30

Last Saturday, I looked at my dinner plate and I felt "Damn, it should be illegal to eat this healthy on a Saturday night." Yes it was so good that it was bad. And we were watching a brilliant brilliant series to add all the necessary wickedness and spice to this healthy plate.

You may think food bloggers have proper weekly menus and they are always on the top of what to feed their families every single day. In my case, that's so wrong. I print out menu formats. I order my weekly produce and groceries and think of making a plan that will use them in the most systematic manner. But no, that never happens. I'm best when I'm impulsive. And sometimes there are so many bits of assorted vegetables leftover that even the most creative part of my brain wont figure out how to put them together.

I've come up with an idea for such situations. One is to make this all forgiving Tamil dish called Poricha koottu where you throw in every possible vegetable (well, not actually, but it works), add mashed dal, a freshly ground masala and you're done. It tastes fabulous with steamed rice or broken wheat or any such grain. The other idea is if there are 3-4 leftover veggies, microwave them individually and then saute them individually in some olive oil and garlic, adding a pinch of salt and lots of pepper in the end. This is much better than 'boiling' them. Microwaving them for a short burst of time with very little water (1-2 tsp) keeps them crunchy while not keeping them raw and then everything tastes fabulous with garlic and olive oil.

But this post is about buckwheat crepes. Having had the authentic French style buckwheat crepes (galettes) from our local pizzeria run by a French lady and her husband, I was inspired enough to buy a bag of buckwheat flour. I tried making crepes using a traditional recipe (using butter, milk, eggs). While the crepes turned out beautiful, the smell of eggs was not the most pleasant feeling for me. This is my own improvised recipe that's egg free and gluten free, because I've used rice flour along with buckwheat instead of all purpose flour. You do need a good non stick skillet / dosa pan to be successful with this.

Recipe for Eggless Buckwheat Crepes
Makes 5-6 crepes

Ingredients
1 cup buckwheat flour*
1/3 cup rice flour
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup water
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp vinegar
butter or oil to grease pan

Directions

In a mixer jar / food processor, add the flours, salt and water. Spin for 30 seconds, open the jar and bring the contents together using a spatula. Run the mixer for 30 seconds more until you get a smooth batter. Remove this into a bowl and keep covered for 30 minutes.
You can refrigerate this if you plan to use this much later.
Just before making crepes, add baking soda, add the vinegar on top of the soda and 1-2 tsp of water and beat the mixture well. It will fizz up a bit and the batter will become light.
Grease a non stick skillet. Wipe off excess oil / butter with kitchen tissue. When the skillet is moderate hot, take a ladleful of batter, pour it in the centre and with back of ladle quickly make outward circles to spread the batter to an 8" thin lacy round. As soon as bubbles appear all over the crepe (around 45 seconds) turn it to the other side. Cook for 20 seconds, fold it in half and half again and keep warm.

There's another indulgent way to eat buckwheat crepes. Smear Nutella throughout the crepe and roll it up.
Also, my other favourite way to eat these is with a filling of sautéed spinach and ricotta or feta cheese.

Buckwheat flour is naturally gluten-free, high in iron, fiber, protein, selenium and zinc. Read about the numerous health benefits of buckwheat.

*Food Shopping Guide:
You get buckwheat flour in the Gluten Free shelf of Godrej Nature's Basket. It's also available in various organic and health food stores. The one I buy from Nature's Basket is ground along with the skins making it healthier and higher in fibre.

Breaking Bread with Pesto Pull Apart Loaf

2013-02-16T07:22:00.001+05:30

“The smell of good bread baking, like the sound of lightly flowing water, is indescribable in its evocation of innocence and delight...

[Breadmaking is] one of those almost hypnotic businesses, like a dance from some ancient ceremony. It leaves you filled with one of the world's sweetest smells... there is no chiropractic treatment, no Yoga exercise, no hour of meditation in a music-throbbing chapel, that will leave you emptier of bad thoughts than this homely ceremony of making bread.”
― M.F.K. Fisher, The Art of Eating

The food-blogging world is full of inspirations. And there are some bloggers (now friends) whose blogs are bound to leave you with an instant urge to try out something. Aparna's blog Diverse Kitchen is one such blog for me. So when she called out to people last month to bake with her by saying "We Knead to Bake" some 60 other foodbloggers joined her in baking bread and the theme was 'Pull-Apart Breads'.

Pull apart breads are just perfect for a little group of family or friends, sitting around a table where food and conversations flow freely. These breads are totally rustic and they make for cozy eating together where no fancy cutlery is required. I would give you a tiny little warning before making this bread if you live alone. These loaves are so addictive that you'll go 'just one more slice' a few times and before you know you've eaten a whole loaf by yourself. Bake this for others and this bread will win you many friends. Eat this alone and you'll end up...never mind.

You should have this one basic pull apart bread recipe in your repertoire because there are a lot of variations you can do with this. Make a sweet cinnamon bread by omitting the garlic in the dough and using cinnamon, sugar and butter instead of pesto. You can also make an Indian Masala Bread by smearing coriander chutney or using finely chopped coriander, green chillies and garlic with some toasted cumin seeds. The sweet version can be customised for Christmas time by using orange zest, cinnamon, marmalade, ground cloves. Use your kid's favourite jam in the filling for a kiddie's party.

Either way, this bread is a showstopper - truly a rustic beauty, so much so, that within 5 minutes of me posting this picture on my Facebook page, a friend who runs a bistro in Chennai wanted the recipe so he could add it to his menu. So try it out this weekend and if you don't have pesto on hand, use your imagination and whatever is available in the kitchen and don't forget to share this with loved ones.

You'll end up with some leftover dough- for which keep a couple of foil tins or smaller tins handy-you could use the same stacking technique or roll it out into a rectangle, smear with butter and pesto, roll lengthwise and cut into one inch pieces. Place these pieces cut side up in the smaller tins and proceed with second round proving. Brush with milk and bake similarly. Note that smaller tins will take lesser time to bake.

Recipe for Pesto Pull Apart Bread

Makes one regular sized loaf plus 2 baby loaves or a few pesto rolls extra

Takes roughly 3-3.5 hours in all, including proving time

Recipe adapted from My Diverse Kitchen

Ingredients

½ C warm milk

1 tsp sugar

2 tsp instant yeast / active dry yeast

3 cups all purpose flour (maida)

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp soft butter or 1 tbsp butter + 1 tbsp olive oil

3-4 cloves of garlic, grated or ½ tsp fresh garlic paste

¾ cup milk (at room temp)

½ cup Pesto

2 tbsp melted butter

Directions

Dissolve sugar in ½ cup slightly warm milk (slightly over room temp, any warmer and yeast will be killed)
Mix the yeast into this and cover for 5 minutes. Milk with froth and bubble, indicating yeast is active.
In a large bowl, take flour, salt, grated garlic, soft butter / olive oil, add this yeast mixture and use upto ¾ cup more milk at room temp. Knead to make a soft pliable dough.
Grease a large bowl with oiled fingers. Place the ball of dough in this and allow to prove for 60-90 minutes, until dough doubles in volume.
After doubling- punch down air gently, make a ball again and on a clean floured surface, roll this out to a rectangle –roughly 20 x 12 inches. Using a measuring scale, cut out the rectangle into a square of 12 x 12 and use the remaining strip of dough to make other baby loaves or rolls.
Brush surface with melted butter and then smear pesto (or any other filling such as coriander chutney, tomato pickle, cheese for other flavours) all over the surface.
Cut this square into 6 equal strips 2 inches wide (a pizza cutter works well for this)
Stack the strips one on top of the other, pesto side up.
Cut these stacked strips again into 2” wide squares (6 squares). So you will get 6 square stacks of 6 layers each.
In a parchment / foil lined loaf tin (not the very broad kind) – line the stacks next to each other like pages of a book, making sure the pesto smeared top of the stack are all facing one direction.
Cover with damp towel and allow this to rise in a warm place for one hour.
Preheat oven at 180C. Gently brush the top of the risen loaf with milk and place this in the middle of the oven. Bake for 30-40 minutes, till it’s lightly golden on the top. Serve warm with pasta or eat as it in like an appetiser.

You can make plenty of variations as mention in (6) – choose from spices like panch-phoron, chilli flakes, roasted ajwain, cumin seeds to sprinkle before cutting into strips and stacking.

A Photo essay of Flavours of the World at Park Plaza Hotel

2013-02-13T16:41:00.003+05:30

The world famous dish from Spain - Paella

Paneer Mirch Ka Shoal from the Indian grills counter which also has the subji aur badam ka sheek, matar ki tikki and Mysore Bonda | Fresh vegetables for grilling | Chicken satays being grilled

Chicken sausages and grilled marinated chicken breast | Vegetarian kababs/ starters plate

The Laksa counter with beautiful, fresh ingredients for soups and stir frys

A variety of Chinese mushrooms - edible, yes! I asked them if they could make me something from that, but it was for decoration purposes, it seems :)

Visually appealing salad arrangements - Beetroot with artichoke, roasted pumpkin with carrot and garlic, homemade chicken roulade, lamb roulade

More Salads

Arabic style biryani

The wide main course spread comprising of Thai curries, stuffed zucchini, mashed potatoes, Kadi pakodi ( I loved this), Gujarati khichdi, Dal Kabuli

The regions covered in the Flavours of the World buffet are the North Western Frontier Province, Rest of India, Far East, South & North America, Mediterranean region in the form of interactive chef stations, grills and hot buffet stations. Apart from this there is a range of desserts to choose from. There's a huge variety to suit every foodie's likes. Only, don't try to sample them all! This event is on on Saturday evenings until April 2013, so if you are in Bangalore, do make it a point to check out the flavours of the world festival and don't blame me if you come back thoroughly stuffed :)

Venue: Mélange,

Park Plaza Bengaluru,

90-4 Marathahalli, Outer Ring Road, Bangalore

Time: Every Saturday. 7:00 PM – 11:30 PM

Until: April 2013

Price: INR 999 plus taxes

With select alcoholic beverages: INR 1499 plus taxes

The CaL Bloggers Table at Blue Terrain: Novotel Bangalore

2013-02-11T14:36:00.000+05:30

Two weeks ago, a bunch of Bangalore food bloggers who are a part of the Chef At Large Blogger's Table were hosted by the newly opened Blue Terrain - a barbecue and bar by the poolside at Novotel, Bangalore.

Since all my fellow bloggers have already written about their experiences, I would like to highlight the things I loved about Blue Terrain.

The ambience is fantastic. The mood lighting is just enough to see the food served on the plate and to allow the magic of the evening sky unfold over you. The pool on one side and the artificial waterfalls, and cool blue lights are just perfect for that evening date. Bangalore weather is nice enough that evenings are always pleasant. In the winters, you'd need something to keep you warm outdoors, though.

The bartenders whip up some brilliant cocktails that use ingredients like blue cheese (yes! That's the Blue Cheese & Jalapeno martini), white chocolate & saffron (Lady Saffron), galangal (in the Wild Voodoo Kick). Aside of the cocktails, there are many softails (the non alcoholic drinks) and a wide selection of Indian and international liquors.
The most dramatic cocktail that breezy evening was the one that Natasha dared to drink- the Blue Fire Shoot, that showed off some amazing pyrotechniques and of course her daring. I loved my totally drama-free Mango Connexion (center of the pic above) made using vodka, mango juice, salt, pepper, worcestershire sauce, tabasco AND a green chilli. Served with a mango jelly on the side, it was the best cocktail I've had in a long time.

The dinner started off with a fresh salad and a thin crust grilled eggplant & onion pizza, both of them were quite faultless. And then we were pretty much hit by an avalanche of good food.

One point of note was that the potato that is the first thing a vegetarian gets served in most places, was conspicuous by its absence (thankfully!). We got more than our share of 5-a-day veggies in the form of maple roasted pumpkin, glazed carrots, masala arbi, tandoori broccoli (LOVED this) and cauliflower. Apart from these, there was the Chatpata Paneer Tikka and Vegetable and Paneer Brochettes with Pimento Marinate.

Tandoori Broccoli

My personal favourites were the tandoori broccoli- utterly fresh, big florettes of broccoli in a flavourful marinade, grilled to perfection and the paneer brochettes.

Tandoori Chicken grilled on the table

My non-vegetarian table mates well all in praise of the huge spread that was served to them comprising of Chicken wings, Fish Hariyali, Lasooni Tikka Zaffrani Makmali Jhinga Peri Peri Shrimps, Lamb Sheekh kebab, Jack Daniel Glazed Beef Brochettes and more. Towards the end, they were pleading with the servers to stop getting them more food :)

Yeah, we are foodbloggers and we love good food, but even we could not manage to order main course after eating so many appetisers. I was sceptical about eating dessert after stuffing myself so much but the dear lady from marketing, Abanti, wouldn't hear of it. We ordered one each of the four specialty desserts on the menu and needless to say, each of the four plates were wiped clean by the 7 of us on the table.

Out of the Kilimanjaro (a chocolate mousse dessert), Baked Cheese “ A La Maison” Yoghurt Sorbet and Berry Compote, Barbequed Baked apple Cake with Caramel Parfait and the Grilled Seasonal Fruits with Toasted Almonds and Rum Ice Cream, my favourite was the cheesecake paired superbly with the mildly tart yogurt sorbet. The Kilimanjaro would score top marks for it's stunning presentation replete with the tiny gold leaf garnish on its peak. It was totally melt in the mouth. At third place was the apple cake and the grilled fruits was a little lackluster purely because the other three desserts were so spectacular.

To summarize - a lovely ambience, well stocked bar, innovative cocktails, a wide menu of excellent food and attentive service are all good reasons to dine at Blue Terrain. It would make the perfect setting for a romantic dinner for two. I hear they are planning to start a Sunday swim and brunch soon. What's better than working up an appetite with a swim and indulging in some good food!

DETAILS

Blue Terrain- The Poolside Bar & Barbecue Restaurant

Novotel Bengaluru TechparkOpposite RMZ Ecospace Business Park,Marthahalli - Sarjapur Outer Ring Road, Bengaluru – 560103, Karnataka, IndiaTel.: +91 (80) 66700600

www.novotel.com

Pictures courtesy Chinmayie & Swapna.

Foxtail Millet Salad - An old grain in a new avatar

2013-02-06T13:00:00.000+05:30

Foxtail Millet

Recently, Hindu carried a story on Foxtail Millet on how it used to be the staple of people in rural Andhra and how it was put away when people were supplied with subsidized rice. It has a very short crop cycle of 60-90 days and it can be grown in any season. The article states the re-emergence of this forgotten grain as a diabetic-friendly food, high in fibre, protein and low in glycemic index (causes steady increase in blood sugar post consumption as compared to rice).

In India: Tinai, chamai, kavalai, kambankorai are some of the names for millet in Tamil. Nuvanam is millet flour. The gruel made from millet, the staple of Ancient Tamils, is called kali, moddak kali, kuul, and sangati. Korralu (Telugu), Navane (Kannada) [Source: Wikipedia]

It cooks as easily as rice in the pressure cooker or using the boiling method. It can be easily eaten with all the side dishes that you would eat with rice - eg. sambar, rasam, curds, dal etc. You can even make pulao, khichdi, pongal, upma and other such dishes with this. If you cook it carefully, each grain stays separate after cooking, and it goes beautifully into salads, adding a lot of body and fibre to your salads. I've read that you can soak and sprout them similar to 'ragi' and powder the sprouted millets for making gruel like weaning foods for babies. The fact that it's naturally gluten free is a boon to people with gluten intolerance.

Other health benefits of foxtail millet include reducing bad cholesterol and high antioxidant levels.

This is my first time cooking with this grain and I'm extremely happy with the ease of cooking, texture and taste. It comes close to couscous in texture, only more easily available, much cheaper and locally grown. You can easily precook and refrigerate this so you can add it to soups, salads, burgers, muffins, pancakes - the list is quite endless.

Foxtail Millet Salad
Time taken: Under 30 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients
1/2 cup raw Foxtail Millet, soaked for 2 hours in water
1 tsp rice bran oil (or any other cooking oil)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup finely diced red bell pepper
1/4 cup finely diced green bell pepper
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 cups of any lettuce, washed, dried and cut into bite sized pieces
2 cloves garlic, grated
2-3 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves
1 medium potato, boiled, peeled, diced
4 strawberries, diced (optional)
1/2 tsp dried mint
Juice of 2 small lemons or 1 big (3-4 tbsp of juice)
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (or cold pressed coconut oil, if you like the flavour)
Salt to taste

Directions

How to cook foxtail millet: Pressure cook the drained millet with 1 cup water, 1 tsp cooking oil and 1/2 tsp salt for two whistles. Turn off the flame. Remove once cooker is cooled and spread on a plate to cool.
In a large bowl, assemble the bell peppers, onion, lettuce, garlic, coriander leaves, potato, strawberries.
Crush the dried mint between finger tips and sprinkle around the bowl.
Add as much freshly ground black pepper as you like. Add the lemon juice, olive oil and the cooled millets.
Toss well, and add up to 1/2 tsp of salt (or as per taste) and gently get all the seasoning into the salad with a couple of forks.
Serve chilled or at room temperature.

You can find Foxtail Millet at stores like Namdhari's in Bangalore. I buy it from Towness- our produce and grocery supplier. I'm assuming in other cities, you would get it at the traditional grain merchants, organic stores or health stores over regular supermarkets.

Chocolate Coconut Peanut Butter

2013-02-04T13:58:00.001+05:30

There's this joke about Pinterest on how everything is only good to see, and nothing ever gets translated into real life. That's not entirely true. I've come across some brilliant fitness ideas, recipes, fashion ideas on the multiple boards. This recipe is another beautiful discovery from one of the food boards. Very few ingredients and minimal time taken means it's simple enough to make each time a bottle gets empty, elegant enough to be a part of a gourmet gift basket or a simple gift for family and friends. You do need a mixer or a food processor though. It will make many nutritious yet yummy sandwiches for kids (and adults). The evening I made this, I was afraid I will lick this clean straight from the mixer. Scary!

I usually make my own peanut butter, but the two additional ingredients definitely add a gourmet twist to good ol' peanut butter. Coconut oil, used in South India for centuries, got a bad rap over the last few years for being a saturated fat (solidifies at room temp) but it's back in the ranks of healthy food. Organic cold pressed coconut is being consumed raw by the tablespoon by many a Hollywood star. Make sure you use a good quality coconut oil for this. It is of course optional, but it adds LOADS of flavour to the butter.

Homemade Chocolate Coconut Peanut Butter
Makes 1 medium jar
Time taken: 5-10 mins
Adapted from NeverHomemaker

Ingredients
1 cup of roasted skinned peanuts (use ready roasted variety to save time)
1/2 tsp salt (avoid if using salted roasted peanuts)
50-100 grams of dark chocolate, chopped or use 1/4 cup chocolate chips
1 tbsp cold pressed coconut oil (or any edible coconut oil)

Equipment required
A food processor or mixer

Directions

In a food processor or mixer, blend all of the above until it turns into a fine paste. Scrape down the sides of the jar 2-3 times and run the mixer for a total of 2-3 minutes until everything comes together to a buttery consistency.
With a silicone spatula, scrape everything into a clean dry glass bottle.
The butter solidifies in the fridge. When left out it is a nice spreadable consistency and I prefer to leave it out. Prepare a small quantity at a time so that there's no chance of spoilage.

Chocolate Coconut Peanut Butter on Homemade No Knead Sandwich Bread

Use this to make sandwiches or eat with sliced apples or pears. Fruit with peanut butter is one of the healthiest snacks for adults and kids alike.

Savoury sweet potato bake with a peanut crumb

2013-02-02T18:29:00.001+05:30

Ideas lurk everywhere. The other day I was at my son's classmate's house after school as the kids wanted to play and I was hanging around in the kitchen with the parents, drinking tea and chatting up. The dad was preparing an early dinner and one of the dishes was a savoury starchy bake using potatoes and sweet potatoes. I'm not a big fan of sweet potatoes, but I've always loved the Tamil style sweet potato stir fry curry with sambar-rice or in desserts (yes, brownies!) or randomly in some other dishes. I find that sweet potatoes that we get here need a lot of flavour boost to taste great.

This time, I wanted to try out a savoury bake with them. I had noticed our friend preparing a kind of béchamel sauce to go on top of the layered sweet potatoes, topped with cheese. But since we had no cheese at home, I had to improvise with something else. And that's how the peanut crumb happened. It did provide a fantastic texture to the otherwise melty dish, not to mention upping the protein content of the dish.

Recipe for Savoury Sweet Potato Bake
Serves 3-4

Ingredients
2 medium sized sweet potatoes
1/2 cup fresh or frozen green peas
2 cups milk
1 tbsp butter
1.5 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp dried rosemary, crushed
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
1-2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup roasted peanuts, skins removed (you could use ready available roasted salted peanuts too)

Directions

Preheat oven at 180 C.
In a large pan, bring 2 litres water to a boil with 1 tsp salt.
In a mixer / food processor pulse the peanuts till coarsely crumbed.
Meanwhile, scrub the sweet potatoes well with a scrubber and lots of water to remove all the soil. Do not peel. Finely slice them, and add them to the boiling water. Add the peas too.
Check in 4 minutes, if they are partially cooked. If yes, drain the water in a colander and keep aside the veggies.
In a saucepan, heat butter. Add flour and make a 'roux' until all the flour is absorbed in the butter and turns lightly aromatic. Add the milk with constant whisking. If a few lumps remain, it's okay with this dish. Add the salt, dried rosemary, pepper and nutmeg.
Lightly grease a mid-sized baking dish. Place the partly cooked sweet potato slices and peas, gently flattening them down. Sprinkle some pepper over the top.
Add the sauce, lightly smoothening it out with a spatula.
Top with peanut crumbs.
Place in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes or so.
Serve warm with a salad or a soup.

Notes

Feel free to try with other vegetables, similarly sliced - eg: Potatoes, carrots, turnips etc.

If you wish, you could add chilli flakes or chopped chipotle chillies to make this dish spicier. This recipe turns out reasonably seasoned but not spicy at all, suitable for kids of all ages.

You could substitute the peanut crumb with a mix of bread crumbs and grated cheddar. I'm sure that tastes better :)

Leftovers can be warmed in the microwave for 30 seconds and had the following day.

Like what you see here? Follow my Facebook Page. I promise that it's updated much more regularly than my blog with engaging content on food, nutrition and food news and a lot more insights into my kitchen.

The first picture is also my submission to the Food Photo Contest being run by the most awesome Town Essentials from whom we get most of our vegetables, groceries and other home supplies. If you are in Bangalore, you MUST try their service at least once. It's a fantastic experience to be able to shop for stuff at 5 am sitting under the quilt and knowing that you'll get the freshest produce delivered later that evening.

Adios 2012 : My top 5 this year

2012-12-31T08:40:00.003+05:30

While every year is filled with tons of memories, there are a few moments that you happily recall when the year comes to a close. These are what I think my top five of 2012 were...

One
Started writing for BBC Good Food India

Two
Was lucky to be one of the few people selected to attend the artisan bread making workshop with Maurice Chaplais

Pic courtesy: Breadworks/ Maurice Chaplais

Three
Being a part of this parody music track that went viral

Four
Got my first opportunity to be a part of a TV show

Five
Bloggers' unconference at Kanatal

I wish you and your loved ones much peace, joy and fulfillment in 2012.

Merry Christmas

2012-12-25T07:47:00.002+05:30

Oreo Brownies - It doesn't get more sinful than this

2012-12-23T07:39:00.000+05:30

I'm not a fan of Oreo cookies at all. I once even tweeted that they taste like sweetened cardboard and I found a lot of people agreeing with my sentiment. For me, the best cream biscuit will always be Britannia Bourbon. It was my favourite treat as a kid, we waited for someone to get it home as it was never a frequent buy. Now, I have all the freedom to eat Bourbon biscuits with tea every afternoon, but my diet consciousness prevents me from doing so.

But yes, once in a while, I love to indulge in the joy of eating my favourite biscuit. OOPS, I nearly forgot that this post is about Oreo Brownies. These brownies actually redeem the Oreo cookie for me. The catchy ad line in Hindi "Twist Karo, Lick karo, Dunk Karo" has suitably appealed to my 4 year old, who thinks of Oreo has a great treat (thankfully, treat only). So I decided to bake these for his birthday party, both for the parents and kids. I baked them a couple of days in advance and put them in the out of reach refrigerator so it wouldn't get raided well before the party :) And they were MUCH loved by everybody.

The Oreo patterns on top of the brownie not only make them look stunning, different, but also add a great texture when you bite into them. Let me tell you a secret, the cookies are both inside and on top of the brownie. Inside they become soft and chewy and on the top they turn crisp.

Try them with your favourite chocolate cream biscuits - Dark Fantasy or Bourbon for the same effect. These are not 'healthy' brownies. Insanely rich, wicked, FULL of chocolate, very little flour - these are meant to be shared with a crowd. The recipe says 16 pieces, but feel free to cut each square further into half. It's *that* decadent. If you are home alone on a weekend, feeling blue in the mood and you bake a whole tray of this - you are not going to stop at one, and then you'll blame 'that Saffron Trail blogger' for busting your weighing scales. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Recipe for Oreo Brownies

Makes 16 x 2"square pieces

Recipe source

Printable version of recipe

You'll need:

8" square baking pan

165 grams unsalted butter

200 grams dark chocolate (chopped finely)

4 eggs

16 Oreo cookies, cut into quarters

3/4 cup light brown sugar

3 tbsp flour

1 tbsp cocoa powder

Pinch of salt (omit if using salted butter)

How to make:

Line a 8x8 square pan with parchment paper, coming up to the sides, for easy removal once baked. Grease with butter, keep aside.
Preheat oven at 180 Celsius.
In a heavy bottomed pan, melt butter on a low heat. Once nearly melted, remove from flame. It will melt fully in the residual heat. Add the finely chopped chocolate to this and stir till the chocolate fully melts in the heat of the melted butter. Keep aside.
In a large bowl, whisk the 4 eggs with a balloon whisk or electric whisk until nearly tripled in volume.
Add half the sugar along the sides so as not to knock out the air from the eggs. Whisk gently until incorporated. Repeat the same with remaining sugar until the sugar no longer feels grainy to touch in the egg mixture.
Add the chocolate-butter mixture to this. Whisk gently to combine well.
Add 1/3rd of the quartered Oreos to the batter.
In a small bowl, mix with a fork- the flour, cocoa and salt and add this to the above mixture. Whisk well to combine everything together.
Pour this into the greased parchment.
Top this with the remaining Oreos arranged in a single layer all over.
Bake in the middle of a 180 C oven for 40 minutes, until a tester poked into the center comes out nearly clean.
Remove from oven and rest for 10 minutes. Pull out with the parchment intact and cool on a wire rack for 2-3 hours or overnight. Cut into 2" squares (16 pieces) and peel off parchment. Refrigerate for a few hours for a great texture.

Note to self : Dear Nandita, Ditch the diet plans. Make these with Bourbon biscuits for your birthday!

Feedback from those who tried this recipe:

Oreo brownies just out of the oven. Thanks for the inspiration and the recipe @saffrontrail twitter.com/livetimefe/sta…
— 5x7 (@livetimefe) December 24, 2012