Banana Walnut Muffin with a "Surprise!" Centre: My Debut :)

A brand new kitchen. A spankin' new oven. A kick-butt cooking range. A full cookbook left to try. A deliriously happy me.

I'm back, and this time for good, with a whole new set of things to try. I've missed you. I've missed you a LOT. So we've renovated our kitchen, and after very little badgering (which on its own is a wonderful omen to begin with), I decided to don the apron and matching oven mitts (which I bought), grease out the muffin pans (also), test out the cake tin (I'm all about the impressive looking equipment, guys!), 50 pretty pink muffin liners AND an egg beater, I decided the world is ready to eat my baked goods. I wish impressive sounding background music happened in real life too, because this moment, you know, just calls for it.

For a first recipe, an impression-maker if you will, I needed something that you cannot go wrong with. You should not invest a lot (money and effort) if you're taking baby steps, because once you're thorough with the processes, there will always be a lot of time for getting exotic ingredients. For now, I had some pretty over-ripe bananas in the house. So banana cake/bread/muffin was the way I went, thanks to Rachel Ray.

Having all the ingredients at hand was a blessing. I also had the pretty 0.5 tsp to 1 tbsp measuring spoons that I bought on my stint in Mumbai which made it simpler for measurement purposes. Mashing up the bananas with a fork, whisking the eggs, sifting the flour and baking powder together, folding in the dry mix into the wet mix, it all needs time, and it takes a real lot more time that what it looks like. A lot of patience, concentration and shoulder power if what you need. If you lack either, ESPECIALLY shoulder power, you're in for a painful evening after!

Given the main ingredient, banana, one would have to add some spice to it, just wake the tastebuds to another taste apart from tropical sweetness. Cinnamon was my choice, because there is something in that nutty sweet flavour that just goes so well with all fruits except citrus. I mixed it into the batter as well as made a little sugar cinnamon mix thing for a topping.

I used about 100g of walnuts for 6 muffins. Yes, I love ice creams, sundaes, cakes and muffins that are stuffed to brimful with nuts and dried fruits. The entire point of using so much in the nuts department was simply because I needed a break of texture. Plus the toasty smell of walnuts is so well paired with a bakery (hint: I love baking!)

The walnuts and the sugar cinnamon mix

I went for a surprise element, something I would love had it been me who it was served to. I plopped a healthy spoonful of Nutella, that luscious decadent hazelnut spread in the middle of the muffin. Calorie counting is not the math  like to do!

I, of course, went berserk with the photos. I have a few that came out very well, and I thank the days I spent yawning, learning Photoshop, to make them a little more appetizing to look at. I use a basic point and shoot, and don't have the equipment required for a truly gorgeous picture. However, I take the photo as I feel it looks yumyum, and then edit it. One day you guys...one day!

The muffins, ready to be popped. PS: Yes that is my new kitchen thank you very much!

Having popped the pan into the oven, I couldn't help but stare at how amazing, how sweet the muffins looked popping out of their papery confines. Cracking up. Yum. Absolute yum. The kitchen soon enough smells like a new bakery.

Buns in the oven. Heh.

Once it's out, I realized that the cinnamon-sugar on top didn't melt. Not one single crystal. :/

The cinnamon and the banana made everything taste inexplicably like coconut. Really?

The things that went wrong:

a) Use granulated sugar. PLEASE!

b) Use softened, if not melted butter.

c) I'm possibly not using banana again. I somehow don't like the stickyness it introduces.

Frankly, the muffin was brilliant. It was moist, maybe even a little too sticky. The Nutella in the middle had lost the creamy thing, and had become a beautiful crystalline mass. I cannot describe heaven better.

So here you are, my Banana Walnut Muffin with a "Surprise" Centre!

The muffins!!! (With the completely unmelted sugar toppings. Inexplicable man!)

Banana Walnut Muffin with a "Surprise" Centre

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/3 cup flour
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I put about 3 times as much)
• 1 or 2 mashed bananas
• Yogurt or buttermilk
• Butter

Method:

• Preheat oven to 180 C. Line a 6 cup muffin pan with pretty pink frilly paper cups :)
• In a small bowl, mix a little bit of the sugar with a bit of the cinnamon.
• Sift the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and cinnamon in to a dish. Add the chopped walnuts. If you want, lay it out on a bakeproof sheet and toast it for a few minutes. The aroma is dangerous, because you'll eat it all up and leave nothing for the muffins.
• Mash the bananas. Beat together the egg and yogurt. Introduce the banana. Add the butter. Cool the butter a bit, else you'll have a happy omelette floating in there from the heat and the eggs.
• Put the dry mix into the wet mix little by little and fold in. Don't add the full thing at a go, you'll either sneeze away all the flour or you'll end up with a lump that you'll look at and say "Huh. Well that's wasn't the way that was supposed to look like."
• Fill into the cups about half way. Put a spoonful of Nutella or peanut nutter or white chocolate chips or an engagement ring inside it. Add the other half.
• Sprinkle on some of the sugar cinnamon topping. Bake at 200 C for about 12-15 minutes till the tops rise and crack. Insert a toothpick in the centre and if it comes out clean, you're good to go!

The Nutella centre. Ah!

'Til next time guys!

Enjoy!

A Long Overdue Apology

Heh. Aheh. Hi!

I'm head-hanging-shuffle-footed ashamed of myself.

Whatever I'll say now will sound like an excuse, but I really really was tied up. I did not forget, thanks to Maulik, Deepti and R who kept on asking me for more posts. Big shout out to you guys!

A lot has changed, and yet nothing has really.

Many of these deserve posts of their own and will soon do.

I am now employed. With a computer. And an email and intranet ID. And a phone. Visiting cards. And best of all, a name plate. I am, officially, a grown up. How excited that leaves me is for you to imagine. You know me!

I relocated to the city of Mumbai for two months, where I stayed with the best two people in the whole world, one of whom I have known for upwards of 4 years, one who I barely spoke to for two years, and now is one of my closest friends. Made some of the best memories of my life with these two. I had the time of my life there: I made many new friends, I welcomed a new life of a..ahem..responsible adult! And most of all, I cooked every day! That my friends is a post I promise is up next.

I still love food, and will try my hands at anything. Since I'm back home now, I'll have more time on my hands to cook up more stuff.

Work keeps me busy from 9 am to ~11:30 pm, this, guys, is the true reason I have not been able to update this space in SO long.

Yeah guys, I screwed up big time. I'm so sorry.

I will try my best to update this space twice a week. Take me to task if you will!

I'm back guys, this time for good!

'Til the next mouthwatering post.. :)

Success! Greek-inspired Lemon Coriander Chicken Burgers

After a self (read Mom) imposed exile from blogging (thanks to preparing-for-writing-for-90-minutes-stuff-that-I'll-never-use-in-my-life, i.e, exams), I'm am now a free bird. Sort of. I am now an MBA with a job that starts in a month. Needless to say, knowing me, I jumped at this chance to ravage the microwave, to destroy the kitchen and wreak similar such havoc. Cook (believe me, I'm not exaggerating. When I cook the kitchen looks like a war zone).

And cook I did. Greek-inspired Lemon Coriander Chicken Burgers. They were FANTASTIC even if I say so myself. R sulked from across the city that he wants it. THAT good. The burger had that Greek lemony-garlicky-herby smell that makes one think of olives and Athens and a vacation. The chicken was very tender, juicy, falling to the touch and still soaked in all the goodness of the marinade. The buns could have been a bit better, given that this was crumbly. The garlic aioli was to die for, it served so well as a spread as well as a dip. The chicken was a bit under-seasoned, but that I owe to me not having an idea of how much salt to add. It all comes from practice (this I say to an ambitious myself and a very worried looking mother).

I now get Food First on my TV, and that means that instead of watching FRIENDS on repeat mode, I'm now listening to Gordon Ramsay teach how to pick, wash and saute mushrooms, Miguel Maestre make yummy tropical foods, Claire Robinson whip up gourmet stuff in less than 5 ingredients. In short, for this holiday, I'm all set. This recipe I've taken from Chris Saleem's Boho Kitchen. I have photos too (eeeeee! I have photos of MY cooking! Can you imagine?)

Greek-inspired Lemon Coriander Chicken Burgers

What You Need

2 chicken breasts (cut into 4 pieces each is usually good for 4 people)

Olive oil (for marinade and for frying)

7-8 cloves of garlic

A bunch of very fresh coriander (dhania re!)

Salt and pepper to taste

Juice of one lemon

Onion cut in rings. DO NOT chop. Man I've made that mistake.

Mayonnaise (garlic mayo if you can find it)

Burger buns (please insist on freshness, else like me you'll end up with a plate full of breadcrumbs and no bun when all you wanted to do was slice it)

How I Made It

(Kind of sounds like How I Met Your Mother. No, it's not that long drawn out).

1. First wash the chicken, cut it into smaller pieces if need be. Dry it with tissues. Then pound it gently with a mortar or a hammer to flatten it out, it'll cook way better and faster. Why dry it first is because if it has water in it, it will turn into keema when you pound it.

2. Make the marinade. Crush the garlic cloves, but don't mash them. Leave some whole bits. Take olive oil enough to soak at least 8 pieces of chicken, the lemon juice, salt and pepper, the garlic and the coriander. Before you put the chicken in, cut slits in them, it'll help absorb the lemony-garlicky taste better. Give it a nice maalish (stuff the cloves of garlic in the slits) and refrigerate for at least three hours. Just before sending it into the fridge it will look something like this:

The marinated chicken

3. The rest is really easy. Take oil in a pan and fry the chicken pieces. The oil will splutter like its life depended on it. Take care not to let the garlic burn, keep it moving in the pan. Fry it till the surface becomes nice and golden. Keep the fried chicken aside. Sneak a few bites :) The chicken should look something like this:

The gorgeous golden fried chicken

In the bottom left you can see some crumbs. Those are actually fried garlic and chicken bits. Lovely snack they make!

4. Slice the buns, spread the garlic mayo generously. A lot of flavour comes from this. It provides a base from which the taste of the chicken springboards. Plus the for a burger there is nothing called too much moisture. Put the chicken, as you see fit. Place the onion rings. If you want you can use lettuce too. Keep it in ice water for the crunch. Place the top half.

There you have it. A really delicious Greek flavoured burger. If you want, you can serve it without the bun too, like I did for one plate. If you want you can put it in a pita pocket or simple layer a roti with the garlic mayo and fold it. Add as many fresh vegetables as you want. Drizzle with a mix of olive oil, lemon juice and salt & pepper. This is what my first independent attempt looked like after it was done plating:

The special plate for my special grandmother

Certified delicious!

Try it and let me know how you liked it, and any changes you think can be made. 

Till later!

A Homage to My Roots..and Oh! Calcutta

Spoiler Alert: 

Very long post devoted to my culinary roots up ahead!

Also, none of the pictures below have been clicked by me. Attributions can be found at the end.

With that out of the way, now for the good stuff.

R needs to be introduced to Bengali food. He is a serious North Indian food snob, not without reason I agree. And I think it was time he came of age..uh, sort of. Let's take slow baby steps. Let's start with vegetables. Then boneless fish. Then the fish that perplexes seasoned Bengalis: Ilish. That is the Bengali's version of Arthur's sword, having conquered all the bones. Needless to say, I've got a long way to cover!

Bengali cuisine is in itself such an experience. I am Bengali and yet I am not tired of it, in spite of having spent my living years having it twice a day. Because you know, the cuisine does wonders with the most basic of elements. It's humanly impossible to get tired of it. A simple rui maach jhol (rohu, or salmon curry) can be made in, by MY count, at least 7-8 different way. Only grandmothers would know how many more ways there are! With onion paste sweetened when fried crisp. With the sharpest mustard paste, sweet coconut paste and a bite of slit green chillies. Stewed with fried potatoes, ridge gourd (jhinge) and pointed gourd (potol or parwal), the perfect soothing dish for summers, the soft seeds of the gourd popping in a burst of sweet juice. With tomatoes and coriander in a refreshing curry. Simmered with coriander-chilli-garlic paste, to create a heady aroma I can usually detect from two floors away. I can go on!

Prawns. Oh god those lovely things. My family demands two styles, that my mother (God Bless that sweet lady!) has to make simultaneously. Not that anyone complains. One is in a very light curry with potatoes and onions and cumin seeds, that makes a soupy mixture with rice that you mash the tender juicy potatoes with. Another which is for me, is a richer gravy of onion ginger paste, with potatoes. As I write, I realize that the ingredients are same, just two ways of preparing it makes such a massive difference in taste! These prawns, if any left (that's a recurring joke) finds itself into sandwiches as I've mentioned here.

Why I can never have caviar and sashimi is this: it's RAW (or at least processed). How do we have fish eggs or roe? Fried in balls in hot mustard oil with green chillies so that the flavour soaks, broken into ghee-rice and inhaled! That's why the idea of caviar and sushi is something that I abhor as a Bangali.

That's just the fish. Leave a true Bengali in the company with one banana tree, and see what she makes out of it. Eat the bananas. Make mocha-r chop (cutlets of banana flowers) and mocha-r torkari with kishmish (a subzi of banana flowers with diced potatoes, fat juicy raisins spiced brilliantly with garam masala and topped with Ghee just before serving) with the flowers. 

(The Banana Flower or mocha)

(Mocha-r Chop)

Thor-er torkari with the core of the trunk, which has a crunchy consistency of glass, with potatoes. Kanchkola bhaath, kanchkola being raw bananas, boiled and mashed with ghee, eaten mixed with hot rice. God I want to go home! For a Bengali there is no vegetable, and no part of a vegetable that cannot be cooked. Chhenchki, chochchori are the mixed vegetable dishes that form part of main course. Anything edible goes in it. Stems, leaves, roots, even entrails of the fish that does not make its way into a curry. It is the resourcefulness of the Bangali housewife, tested by the shukto  she makes. There are vegetables a non-Bangali (and many times even a Bangali) hasn't heard of. The tender leaves and stem of okra which we call kochu. Cooked with black seeds and garlic. I promise, ask my mother, I don't leave any rice for fish! Or poppy seeds (posto or khus) made into a paste and steamed with pure mustard oil, onions and chillies. I cannot describe the heaven that is. Or the mundane pumpkin diced and cooked with garlic. I maintain that non-Bangalis will enjoy the absolute variety of Bangali vegetarian dishes much more than fish. There's just so much!

I can keep writing about Bengali food, but that would require more memory that Blogger permits. Oh! Calcutta is one of those restaurants that puts up on an alter the already upper crust Bangali cuisine. A decor that brings back days of the Raj. A cuisine that is perfect for a bonedi Bangali biye bari (a wedding celebration of the aristocratic Bangali families). Menus that would bring a well muscled Bangali salivating for the dishes on offer. We went for the buffet (you know R and me) and literally, had a feast.

We were started on the Steamed Bhetki Fillet. It was the best piece of fish I have EVER eaten. It had the smell of mustard, but not the tear inducing bite that may well reduce the experience of someone who isn't used to it. Tender like butter, but holds it own on the fork. I could keep on having it! This was R's personal favourite. (The photo below was not taken by me, yet it absolutely captures what we had.)

(Bhetki Paturi, or Steamed Bhetki)

..chased down with mutton kebabs (too spicy for me, R chows down mine as well as his), aloo badami (potatoes in a nutty sauce..a bit bland) and vegetable fritters..fried in batter. This is something we have nearly daily with our daal bhaath and I don't expect to pay through my nose for it!

We moved on to the buffet, where we started on chholar daal and phulko luchi. Chholar daal is split chana daal, cooked with aromatic garam masala, with chips of coconut and plump sweet raisins. Some areas of Bengal also puts mutton bits in it. Phulko luchi is puris or fried bread made out of maida or white flour, and deep fried, so that the air trapped makes it look like a fluffy white pillow, like this:

(Phulko Luchi)

Chholar Daal)

We loved it, I because it was home food for me, and R because it somehow matched his taste. It's a fun feeling to sop up flowy daal with a quarter of a luchi, because the taste just pairs very well. It's a doughy sheet, with the crunchy film of fried dough on top, with bursts of cinnamon-bay leaf (tejpatta)-cardamom-clove flavoured daal soaking it through, the pulses themselves soft and pliable but not mushy. 

We moved on  to the multiple chochchori and chhenchki (these two being dry and drier versions of a subzi, made with remains of vegetables. How a remain of a vegetable can taste so nice, only a Bangali would know!) and alur dom. The alur dom or Dum Aloo, was murderously red in my opinion, and hence didn't try it.

The Non-vegetarian selection had the Railway Biryani, that is to say Mutton Biryani. I didn't have it, because I was knee deep in daal then, but R said the mutton was very tender, and god quality, and the rice was done just so. Fish was available as shorshe rui,  that is salmon steaks in a curd-mustard sauce, flavoured with chillies. This was really quite nice. It had the tang of curd, the zing of mustard and the aroma of the chilli. What often happens is that the zing of mustard reduces grown men to tears and reduces the eating experience because you're too busy fanning your tongue. Bangali shorshe bata (mustard paste) is simple mustard seeds ground on a stone with water, and no sauce, no packed smooth grainless mustard sauce can replace the small bits of brown peels in the gravy.

(Shorshe Maach)

There was prawns too, as kacha lanka chingri (Green chilli prawns). The quality of prawns was very good, crunchy yet cooked, firm yet soft. It was tail on, so one had to go through that very pleasurable treasure hunt of pulling at the tail gently yet firmly, toeing that line carefully so that the entire tail meat comes out. If it doesn't, one may well get to hear the choicest Bangali expletives (which there aren't many of). There was Lahsun Murgh, a version of Chicken in 40 Cloves of Garlic. Nice, nothing to write home about.

Interestingly, there was this thing called Plastic Chutney, which is at its simplest a chutney made of thinly sliced raw papayas, which gives the look of cellophane. This was something I had the pleasure of having last when I was 12. I veritably jumped on the table to grab at it, and was not disappointed. Oh! Calcutta also has a sweet system of serving chillies speared on a toothpick. I now see many places copying that.

The dessert platter was extensive. Raspberry Mousse in the tiny cups I've mentioned in my previous post, bread and butter pudding (undoubtedly as a vestige to the days of the Raj), ranga aloor sandesh (sweet cakes made from sweet potatoes), malpoa (mini dense pancakes in sugar syrup), sabudana payesh (pudding of tapioca pearls), etc.

(The famous Sandesh)

All in all, frankly, the vegetarian options were as usual better than the non-vegetarian, because there is just so much more to try out. It gave me a taste of the home food I was missing, not because of the elaborate way of preparation, but because of the kind of foods available. The tastes I tasted. The smells I smelled. I give Oh! Calcutta 4 out of 5 chicken legs.

Bangalis, enjoy yourself, take some time out to regain the flavours our didima and thakuma had us taste from their hands when we were small. Non-bangalis, savour the million flavours of the east coast of our country!

Until next time!

Photos courtesy: 

Luchi - http://ahomemakersdiary.blogspot.com/2010/10/shubho-mahalaya-with-luchi-and-alu.html

Chholar Dal- http://leirang.com/2010/01/27/cholar-dal/

Mocha- http://www.aloha.net/

Mochar Chop- http://www.salkkaaram.com/2007/09/vazhappoo-banana-flower-cutlets.html

Shorshe Maach- http://www.flickr.com/photos/52569650@N00/3899796535/

Sandesh- http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahaar/2979133739/

Steamed Bhetki- http://chakkhamittha.blogspot.com/2010/11/bhetki-paturi.html

Ah, Barbeque!

Yes I know I have fallen off the face of the blogging world. Hold on. ........and I'm back!

Now that R's and my journey in Pune is nearly over, and we still have some space left in our collective stomachs, we have decided to let out tummies burst with all the food we haven't yet had. Barbeque Nation was one such place.

Now make no mistake, R and I are by no means the biggest stomachs in our circle. There are at the last count at least two others. You'll be happy to know though, that I'm the only girl in there! Here's to me (and my tummy)! Anyway, I digress. They had spoken at length about Barbeque Nation, and not a bit of it was unsavoury. In fact, what one of them said was pure statistics.."9 starters, 16 main courses, 7 desserts in the buffet". Like you, I simply "did the math"!

So off on a Saturday we went. A little out of the way it is, but what good thing isn't? It's on the ground floor of a mall, which didn't bode too well from the outside. Once inside, it was much much better. A word about the decor. I've heard of mixed signals before, but this put my radar out of business! There was wood, there was a little bit of blackened metal (which with wood looks very rustic), there was soft yellow light. There were paintings. Then there was glass. And in the strangest of twists, there was a hand painting of "Finding Nemo" on the glass, which was the front for the now-you-see-it-now-you-don't kitchen. No, don't ask. Yes, why indeed, answer by all means!

Okay now the good stuff. The food. Our table was for two, with a removable tile in the centre, and small stands for sauces on the side. In a minute, the staff removed the tile, and put a live grill in its place. Yes, with the red coals and stuff. Here, this is a picture:

(The live grill with the marinades)

For drinks there was an option of beer (R had the smile of a happy cat on him) and mocktails (my turn). I took a lychee thingy, that inexplicably was blue. I admit it was terrific. 

There was a place setting of all the delights about to befall us, when the servers brought us skewer after skewer of heavenly delights like:

• Paneer tikka (very very soft paneer, huge chunks, very understated marinade, very nice)
• Peking spices vegetables (meh, so-so, unmemorable taste)
• Cajun potato (absolutely delicious! It's like small potatoes in a curd-onion mildly spicy mixture)
• Lebanese mushrooms (tasty especially since I'm a mushroom junkie, but nothing special)
• Ajwaini Fish (melt in the mouth, INCREDIBLE)
• Chicken Mushquila (essentially chicken tikka. In our case, rock hard and burnt to cinders)
• Mutton Pudina Seekh (quite tasty, not the real thing though)
• Peshawari Tangri (heaven)
• Parsley Prawns (double double heaven)

(From L-R, you can see the chicken mushquila, fish ajwaini and parsley prawns above..and the beer)

The "Tangri" meaning leg (of chicken), was in a gentle marinade, that gave a solid kick when roasted. The leg was massive, and very very tender, but beautifully well done. The prawns on the other hand, were heavenly. It was a coriander leaf marinade (I don't buy the "parsley" bit) but will you hear me complain. Oh no no. Crunchy, yet cooked through and through. Tender, yet retaining that fresh body to it. Four to a skewer. The stands beside us was full of sauces and basting liquids, which we could brush on the skewered food, and grill away to high heavens. The best part? It was Unlimited!! The servers just kept on refilling. Not a tweet of complaint from us!

(R happily chowing down the umpteenth helping of Parsley Prawns)

Now main course. I don't know why, but every buffet I've been to, including our past experience, has disappointed sorely in the main course. The menu here was thus:

• Chicken Hot and Sour Soup (same thing over and over again)
• Vegetable Tom Yum (Just don't)
• Chicken Dum Biryani (which wasn't all too bad)
• Mutton Rogan Josh (tasty, quite tasty)
• Jeera Murgh (ummmm.....)
• Fish in Soya chilli sauce (battered out of their minds, but the quality of the fish itself was very good. the sauce was humdrum)
• Paneer Kadhai (I'm from Delhi. This is like a birthright I demand perfection and authenticity in, which I didn't get)
• Aloo Do Pyaza
• Mix Vegetables Dry (why bother?)
• Vegetables in Hunan sauce (Unimaginative)
• Brown Garlic Noodles (I jumped on this. I shouldn't have. The same noodles in soya sauce. Same taste, same colour, same smell)
• Pasta in Tomato Basil sauce (Too sour and tomatoey. No sign of basil)
• Dal Tadka
• Dal-e-Dum (Both of these were in fact, very very very good)
• Plain Rice
• Peas Pulao

See it's a simple thing. I understand that a buffet has a free-for-all situation, but putting Chinese (ahem) and Indian in the same buffet is a no-no. How would you like it if your Fish in Hunan sauce was rubbing shoulders with Dal-e-dum? Nope nah-uh. Barbeque Nation too screwed up its main course BIG time.

The desserts were rather nice: Angoori Gulab Jamun (tiny marble sized perfectly golden brown soft gulab jamuns), Ice Cream with an option of fudge, pineapple or strawberry sauce (enough to send any human over the edge), Walnut Chocolate brownie (nice, soft and chewy), Fresh Fruit, Phirnee (quite tasty, it was my first time, R testified it was good), blueberry cheesecake (hacked to tiny little squares) and kiwi mousse (in tiny plastic mini-goblets). Dessert was nice and expansive, I appreciate that.

(Clockwise from left, that's the blueberry cheesecake, the angoori gulab jamun, kiwi mousse)

(The Walnut Brownie, with ice cream and fudge)

Barbeque Nation was a good experience, on the expensive side, but very good nevertheless. I'll give this one a 3-and-a-half-chicken legs. I suggest go there with a good bunch of famished friends for the birthday of one of them. That'll get true value for munny! :)

Happy Eating!

Guest Post: Eid at Karim's!

Today my food-nama is being graced with the words of my fellow foodie, R of A Blind Man's Eye. A photographer by passion, he's the one to go to if meat is in question! On the occasion of Eid, R takes the seat!

Eid Mubarak everyone. For starters let me clarify this is not Aishwarya’s pen but her fellow eater R’s pen umm... keyboard, which has earned its well deserved spot as a guest writer here. And for the first time on Aishwarya Eats you will read up of a restaurant where Aishwarya has not eaten, whereas I on the other hand, have grown up with its menu tattooed on my memory and the taste colouring my soul purple with joy. When you live long enough at a place, you are that place. This definitely holds true for me and Old Delhi’s legendary Mughlai restaurant Karim’s.

A rickshaw ride from the majestic Red fort to Gate no. 1 of Jama Masjid brings a palette of sensory contradictions for an alien to the locality. The odour of rotten fishes, unsold in the day’s market making their way to a poor man’s kitchen is nullified by an ittar (perfume) shop. A street urchin running along your rickshaw to claim the bunch of coins in your pocket which make noise as the rickshaw speeds over the bumpy road leading to Matiya Mahal.

Matiya Mahal (Mud Palace) was a cluster of temporarily mud built homes of the workers who built the magnificent Jama Masjid in 1656 A.D. After toiling in the sun for hours, the devout worker would feel content with a couple of hot kababs and portion of bread for the day’s reward. To cater to thousands of workers every night, hundreds of kadhais and tandoors were lit every night. More than 350 years later, their fire persists unfathomed, producing delicacies beyond comparison.

As the rickshaw halts at Gate No.1 of Jama Masjid, a first timer would silently abuse his/her host for bringing him/her to a place which seems like a circus on the move to the untrained eye. The broad lane opposite Gate No.1 of the Masjid is the food lover’s Mecca (Jama Masjid in this case!) In all probability the person leading you will disappear in thin air and a panic phone call to your host will make you realise that he took the first left in a line which was nonexistent for you. You will find your host reappearing literally from between the walls to guide you to Gali Kababiyan, the proud ultra lean street on which Karim’s Hotel and Restaurant stands since 1913. The exhaust fan welded to a large grill will blow smoke and the aroma of golden brown mutton kababs being grilled over a bed of small enthusiastic coal pieces. After an unavoidable wait for a table (thank your stars if you don’t have to) a pathan suit clad waiter will guide you to a table in one of the 4 eating halls spread around Gali Kababian with an open kitchen in the courtyard.

After so much of an experience you will feel “bring me food, cold/hot, raw/cooked/burnt irrespective of its state bring me foo.....d.” What adds to the endless minutes is trays decked up with biryani, breads and curries served left right and centre but at your table. Without keeping you further hungry I shall go to the meat of this write up.

Suppose you ordered for a plate of mutton/chicken seekh, a plate of shaami kababs (blasphemy to think of chicken here) a mutton stew, a mutton pasanda, half butter chicken/chicken changezi, Khamiri roti (Thick bread from oven prepared with yeast) on repeat mode and a sheermal a.k.a bakarkhani (sweetbread resembling waffles.)

The Seekh kababs are slender which melt in your mouth effortlessly. Juicy and hot mutton would fill the cavities of your teeth while your tongue would wage a war to get the last ounce of mutton to grace your taste buds. The Shaami kababs might taste bland after the spicy and juicy seekh but that’s the purpose, to give a subtle taste not everyone can relish and bring your taste back to neutral before the main course comes.

With cream coloured mutton stew, brown badam pasanda and saffron butter chicken/chicken changezi (two different items) on your table, you are not to be blamed of you think of it as a food orgy.

The stew, aah the stew... is made with generous quantities of ghee (oil) ginger garlic and onion paste and khade masale (un-powdered spices) with tenderly stewed mutton. If their menu were to be a list of all time great cricketers, the stew would be Tendulkar! Badaam Pasanda’s fine cooked boneless mutton stuffed with sliced almonds and cooked in a sweet and spicy curry compliment the unique flavour of the stew. The Chicken Changezi is a grand avatar of the chicken curry you find at a North Indian restaurant. Karim’s Butter Chicken comes dressed with fresh cream and dried melon seeds. The saffron curry is blended with a paste of finely chopped cashews timely put while its preparation to give the aroma and taste. Karim’s Butter Chicken has its arch rival 15 minutes walk away at The Moti Mahal (This story later.) After you are done with your meal keep space in your food pipe if not stomach for a fistful of Phirni served frozen in an earthen pot and sprinkled with pistachio.  After your meal you will invariably look at the menu with pleasure to find M.F. Hussain’s sketch of a fish and a water jug with his one line review of the food “The Secret of Good Mood is the Taste of Karim’s Food!” Amen.

P.S. If its not 1 P.M. and you are taking the route back to North Delhi (an ardent food lover won’t mind a slight de tour) stop over at SHRI SIS GANJ SAHIB GURUDWARA at Chandni Chock and grab a bowl of Gyani’s frozen fruit cream with jelly.

Quaint and Old World

Every city, no matter what the percentage of young population, has one nook that is beautifully vintage. It doesn't matter if the shutters are falling loose. It means the windows have opened and closed on a lifetime of winds. It doesn't matter if the stairwells are grimy. It means so many hands has grasped the stairwell for support, and each of them thank it by leaving a piece of themselves behind. As soon as you see a Chinese lantern on a balcony, wood painted over with an emerald green now chipping off, an old man looking out from there, clothes hanging to dry, bars on the window and you can see the side of a refrigerator from there covered with a lace doily, maybe a Merry Christmas sign still on the door even though it's March, you know you are seeing a home not a house. That's a sight that is not too common today, and really gets you thinking who we really are.

In Pune, this place would be MG Road. Home to the Parsi population, and by derivation home to lots of good food. Amongst all of them, which would hopefully show up in this blog before the semester runs out, is one very quaint and old time cafe called Marzorin. We've been in there once before on New Year's Eve 2009. This time, we went to the lovely terrace. There was seating inside, but the terrace afforded a sweet view of the road. Inside, there were the freezer cases of pastries, pastas, macarons etc, although it was a little ominously bare. An interesting part of the decor: there's an aquarium, which, although calms down many children, has frighteningly large fish. It's just.........very very creepy to see them.

The menu is expansive, even if many items are not available. For example, I wanted the Tofu Grilled Sandwich. It wasn't there. We ended up ordering a Brown Bread Grilled Sandwich, a guava juice, a green apple Chiller and a box of fudge. Service: very very slow. More than slow, I think the word appropriate here is laid back.

Now to the good part. The sandwich when it finally arrived was served with a sauce, named Zoom Sauce. But ohmygod the cheese was grilled to absolute perfection, the sandwiches were perfect (crisp but doesn't cut the inside of your mouth, buttery patch in the middle to soak your fingers). Small, but extremely good. So much so that R ran for another one!

The guava juice, was in fact a smoothie. Nice and pulpy! The Chiller was green apple flavouring in a soda base. Extremely refreshing after a tiring day of walking around. Reminded me of the nimbu banta of Delhi. Very fizzy and nice!

The fudge, even though it was in a slightly dusty (hence dicey) plastic box, was more a mousse and less a fudge. Because fudge by very nature is to be cut up in cubes unless it's fudge sauce. Still, studded with walnuts, it was nice. Not the best by any reach of imagination, but nice. Speaking of which I make the best fudge in the world!! R will testify!

All in all, we liked Marzorin because of the quaint old world atmosphere, a relaxing break from a corporate driven life. 2.5 chicken legs this one gets!

Until next time!