Foodies Notebook

Images of Thailand

2011-07-15T00:13:00.002-04:00

IMG_1170, a photo by water_sss on Flickr.

Visited Thailand in June 2011. Was an quick visit - hope to go for a longer period in the future. The food was fantastic, the people were very helpful, and the place is beautiful. There is something for everyone - you want great food its there, you want nightlife its there, you want tranquility, history, - its all there!

I went in expecting something similar to India - and was blown away by how different and from an infrastructure perspective - how much better Thailand is. Thailand has made it easy for tourist - so don't hesitate, anyone can go see Thailand.

Here's few selected scenes: Flickr link to selected pictures

Food in Thailand

2011-07-14T23:50:00.000-04:00

In our recent visit to Thailand I again realized how much fresh un-processed food is available to the rest of the world and isn't available to us at reasonable prices. A visit to the market in Thailand makes one drool, the variety of fruit, vegetables and even meats is awesome.
And beyond the raw materials restaurants are very reasonable - one can eat a feast in $10US.

Here's a link to a slideshow: Flickr link to slide show

With that said what were my favourites?
1) The barracuda with curry paste @ Jai's restaurant in Khao Lak
2) The massaman curry @ Jai's restaurant in Khao Lak
3) Mango and sticky rice - everywhere!
4) Fried fish cakes - at the Khao lak / Bang Nga market
5) Fried chicken at Chatuchak market in BKK

Many things I didn't get to try as it was a family vacation, and some things I did try were a let down.
The biggest letdown? 'Roti Mataba' recommended in Lonely Planet! Ripoff and not that tasty compared to all the other things available.

Review in a few words: would love to go to Thailand again. Thank you Sister & B-in-Law for having us over.

Kathi Roll

2011-07-03T19:08:00.001-04:00

Veggie Burger

2011-07-03T10:57:00.001-04:00

Shaker Lemon Pie at "Scratch"

2011-07-03T08:46:00.007-04:00

This week, we discovered "Scratch" - the famous bakery in Durham which seems to make everything from Scratch. They close at 6, thats what kept us from going there earlier. We made it finally!! And every bite was worth it. Salil took an afternoon off on Thursday, the day before I start my 4 year long Pathology residency program in UNC Hospitals.

We tried to pies at Scratch. The "Shaker Lemon Pie" had thin slices of lemons stacked in the pie and had that absolutely lemony punch packed in a sweet-tarty pie. The crust was the best I have ever eaten - flakey and light and worth a fight with Salil. The next pie we tried was "Buttermilk Sugar Pie" - not the prettiest of the pies but true to its name. Again not very sweet and had a good balance of sweet, tart and salty! They had several other pies on the menu and I am sure they are all worth every single penny.

Unfortunately, they were not serving lunch by the time we reached, will surely visit on a Saturday for that soon.

Highly recommended!!

Link to Scratch Bakery Website

Fennel-Apple Pasta Salad/ Summer pasta salad

2011-07-02T09:26:00.003-04:00

We are off to a summer picnic with friends and decided to make a cool summery pasta salad. I have always loved the concept of a good pasta salad but never liked the mayonnaise-filled-mess which seems to be so prevalent. Developed this recipe (obviously after some search on the internet) around the juicy, delicate fennel which I picked up at the Farmer’s market in Carrboro. Fennel and apple are a classic combination. I have added some dried fennel seeds to kick up the fennel flavor and some red chilli flakes for the heat at the end of the bite. I wish I could add something more to make the sald more colorful but the flavor of the fennel is so delicate that I am always worried about overwhelming the mild sweet licorice flavor.

4 cups boiled bow-tie or any short cut pasta

Below ingredients finely chopped –
½ apple
1 medium sized cucumber
1 medium sized tomato (deseeded, seeds make it watery)
1 banana pepper
A handful of Fennel fronds for garnish

Thin slivers of ½ a bulb of fennel

Roughly chopped almonds, a handful (the more the better for me!)
1 ½ teaspoon fennel seeds – lightly crushed to release the flavours
½ teaspoon red chilli flakes
½ teaspoon sugar
Salt

For the dressing –
1 ½ teaspoon mustard
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
½ cup good extra virgin olive oil

Whisk the dressing ingredients together and set aside. Let the boiled pasta cool to room temperature before you start building the salad. Mix all the veggies, almonds, fennel etc and toss in the salad dressing. Garnish with the fennel fronds.

Deviled eggs

2011-06-25T12:23:00.001-04:00

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Spinach-Portobello Quesadilla and Cumin-Spring Onion Spiced Black Beans

2011-03-27T14:26:00.023-04:00

I saw this quesadilla recipe on "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" along with a poblano pepper sauce. Will have to try the poblano sauce soon, but here is my version of the quesadilla. I tried to make a simple recipe. The original recipe called for marinating the mushrooms etc, but I skipped those steps since the intention was to create a quick recipe for an easily packable lunch.

Spinach-Portobello mushroom quesadilla

4 small tortillas
1/4 red onion, finely sliced
1 portobello mushroom, sliced (baby bellas will also work)
3 cups baby spinach, (rough chop if using regular spinach)
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds (optional)
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 jalapeno pepper (deseeded and finely chopped)
1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
salt to taste
olive oil
grated Mozarella cheese or mexican blend

Filling: Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a small skillet. Once the oil warms up, add garlic, jalapeno pepper, sesame seeds and cumin powder and slightly saute for 30 seconds. Add the onion and saute for a minute. Add the mushrooms followed by vinegar, once the mushrooms have warmed through. Stir well and add spinach. Mix in salt and sugar and take off the heat after about a minute when the spinach wilts a little bit.

I use a non stick skillet to assemble my quesadillas. Place cheese, filling, cheese n half of the tortilla and fold over the other half. I prefer mozarella because I find it holds a quesadilla better due to its stickiness.

Cumin-spring onion spiced black beans

Olive oil
1 jalapeno, deseeded and finely chopped
2 sping onions, finely chopped green and white parts
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 can of black beans, 16 oz
1-2 teaspoon lemon juice (as per taste)
salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar

For me, a mixture of jalapeno, cumin powder, paprika and lemon juice is the essence of mexican cooking. I may be completely wrong about this, but thats "mexican" in my kitchen!

Start wih a tablespoon of olive oil and add jalapenos, spring onions, cumin and paprika when the oil is warm. Once the onions sizzle and the aroma fills your kitchen (less than a minute), add black beans, salt and sugar. The canned beans are cooked, so it will only take a minute or two for them to warm up and soak all the flavors. Finish with a squirt of lemon juice.

Now, thats a weekday lunch-box I am looking forward too! I made 4 quesadillas and beans, enough for Salil and I for two lunches.

Tom Yum Soup

2011-03-04T14:17:00.000-05:00

This one is one of my child hood favorites and it comes as a surprise that even before chinese, thai cuisine was a norm, Tom-Yum Soup has been available in plenty. This simple, thai soup is a comfort food for me and reminds me of “Nanking” – the first asian restaurant in my home town of Nagpur in central India.

The key to this simple soup is a good stock. We made a shrimp and chicken stock using peels from the shrimp, bones and skin from a rotisserie chicken breast and flavored with cilantro stems, lemon grass and ginger.

The next key ingredient is the thai red-curry paste. I used a store bought paste this time but making it at home is high on my to-do list. I believe in home-made stocks and feel like it is about time to take my spice blends equally seriously.

5 cups of shrimp stock
1.5 cups baby-bella mushrooms (quartered)
2 stalks of lemon grass (cut into finger long pieces)
4 kaffir lime leaves (optional)
0.5 inch piece of galangal (can substitute with ginger)
4 red chillis (I used “kashmiri” chillis – they have a nice deep red color but are not very hot, I also shook off most of the seeds to reduce the heat)
1.5 table spoon fish sauce
Juice of 1.5 limes
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 tablespoon red curry paste
1 to 1.5 cups coconut milk (as per desired creaminess)
Cilantro and scallions for garnish.

Some of the recipes I researched used a tom-yum soup paste and a thai red chilli paste, but I went with the red curry paste since it is very easily available and multi-purpose.

Most recipes called for mixing in the ingredients and bringing the soup to a slow simmer and boil and then stirring in the coconut milk at last. I tried a different approach. I tempered the galangal/ ginger, kaffir lime leaves, red chillis and mushrooms in a teaspoon of hot vegetable oil. Next I added the red curry paste, lime juice and sugar and stirred for about a minute before adding the stock etc. As the soup came to a slow boil, I finished by adding the coconut juice and garnished with cilantro leaves and chopped scallions.

If you want to make the soup a little heartier, stir in peeled, de-veined shrimps and/or small asian flavored meatballs along with the coconut milk.

Dumplings

2011-02-13T12:32:00.002-05:00

Anita shrimp curry

2011-02-13T12:29:00.002-05:00

Went on Saturday night to our friend Anita&Subodh's place for a get together with other Charlotte friends. Two dishes that I absolutely loved - the shrimp curry (pictured above) and a cold spinach/yogurt salad.

The shrimp curry was a south indian flavoured spicy hot curry with a strong smoked paprika flavour. Was very surprising - kept me guessing for a while, as it tasted like really good barbe-cue chips that you can't put down. Was unique in that I had not had smoky paprika in indian food - went very well with roti's and rice.

To go with this spicy barbe-cue curry was a cold spinach and yogurt salad. Something that I would normally abhore! Again the flavours were amazing and made me want go get a third serving.

If only I hadn't had three Stella's, the spinakopita's, the gree-pea crostini's, and the crab dip with crackers! Will have to get the recipe from Anita or just make another trip :)

Tiramisu

2011-02-06T11:08:00.000-05:00

Saw this receipe on "David Rocco's Dolce Vita" and was surprised how simple it is to make tiramisu. Decided to try and it and above are the pictures of our first attempt.

5 eggs

5 tbspoon sugar

250 grams / 8.8 oz Mascarpeno chesse

Lady fingers

Espresso/ strong coffee with good flavor

1/2 oz Vermouth

1/2 oz Amaretto

David's rule is 1 egg yolk for 1 tablespoon of sugar!

Start with separating the eggs really carefully. To the yolks, add sugar and beat well until the sugar melts into the smooth golden yellow yolks. Mix in the cheese in small batches and blend with the egg yolks and sugar.

Beat the egg whites separately till they become fluffy and stiff. This was the first time I was doing this and even with a electric beater, it took about 6-8 minutes.

I had heard on food shows that steel bowls work the best for eggs, so I did mine in steel bowls, but glass bowls should work well too. Once the egg whites are ready, fold them gently into the egg yolk mixture. The cream filling for the tiramisu layers is done.

Next up, get the coffee ready in a small bowl. A standard espresso maker should work, we just bought two shots of espresso and mixed in about 1/2 a cup of regular coffee along with the Vermouth and Amaretto. Soak the lady fingers in coffee before layering them in a glass baking tray. The lady fingers absorbed a lot of coffee fairly quickly, so a quick dip is enough. Follow the layers of the cookies with cheese-egg mixtures. Set it in the fridge for 4 hours and then top off with grated chocolate.

Eggplant and Mushroom in Hotpot

2011-02-03T19:32:00.002-05:00

Eggplant and mushroom hotpot - S2 at Gourmet Kingdom

A mild yet flavorful vegetarian dish, brings a nice balance along with the other hot and spicy entrees!

Mouth Watering Chicken

2011-02-03T19:30:00.002-05:00

Mouth Watering Chicken - L10
Gourmet kingdom

An interesting cold dish. We guessed the preparation - whole chicken is first boiled and then cooled in a bath of ice water. The thick slices are then served in a spicy oil garnished with fresh cilantro. You can taste chillies, vinegar and a touch of sugar. A great appetizer to begin a mouth-watering meal!

Gourmet Kingdom "Chinese New Year" Dinner

2011-02-03T19:27:00.003-05:00

When I was writing this post, I realized that we have so many mentions of Gourmet Kingdom on the blog that we need to give it its own special label!

This picture was taken on our recent trip to the restaurant with a chinese friend and her family to celebrate the new year! It doesnt do justice to the numerous delicious dishes we sampled.

Hot tea (Y8) - always good and comforting.

Special Green Bean Jelly (L17) - very intersting! Great texture on these noodles made with green bean starch. A cold appetizer in a chilly-vinegar sauce with a punch. Very similar to the mouth watering chicken in taste.

Seaweed with sweet and sour sauce (L5) - If you like sweet in your savory, this one is for you. The seaweed reatins its texture and has a nice bite to it.

Osmanthus flavor cultured sticky congee (Y3) - the dessert actually came first and the preparation was quite intersting. The rice soup was flavored with the osmanthus flower, with bits of egg-white floating around. A deceptive dish - the look of it makes you expect a savory soup.

Pickled Bird Fish fillet with chilly sauce (H18) - this one was by far our most favorite, may be since it was the most familiar to us Indians! The "pickled" aspect is very very mild as the chilly peppers are the pickled element and not the fish!

Salt and Pepper Pork Rib (Z7) - A tasty piece of pork! They were dry and came in little pieces, so I appreciated not having to deal with the mess. Made a wonderful snack the next day.

Tian Jin flavor dumpling (F2) - the same old dumplings - simple and very tasty.

Dan Dan noodle (F20) - Different from the ones they serve in PF Chang's. The noodles were thicker and by themselves had a lot more flavor. Its a cold dish in Gourmet Kingdom and had a wonderful chilly oil sauce.

Soup with lily flower (?) - Cant remember the name of this one. The lily fronds (pestel) were floating in a mild broth. Will have to check with Feng for the exact name. Stay tuned.

The key to enjoying your meal in Gourmet Kingdom is to go in a group of at least 4. The portions are enormous and you will end up with lots of left overs. The spicy dishes keep well and make for a great lunch the next day.

Gourmet Kingdom (Ba Shu Chuan Cai)
301 E Main Street
Carrboro NC 27510
Phone number: 919-932-7222
http://www.thegourmetkingdom.com/default.html
Google place page

Dumpling Extravaganza

2011-01-16T09:42:00.000-05:00

Our friends Antti and Fan invited us and a few other folks from work for dinner - a Dumpling Extravaganza. They fed us appetizers and then put us to work!

It was definitely a gourmet evening which started with Bone Marrow. They got the bones from Harris Teeter (our neighbourhood grocery store) and roasted them in the oven. Unfortunately, I do not have the exact recipe but I do have a picture of the finished product. Salil was all excited, but I was a bit hesitant about putting bone marrow in my mouth.

Fan expertly scooped out the marrow and spread it like butter on a piece of toast. It was topped off with a simple celery salad. My apprehension vanished with the first bite. It was like eating the most luxuriously buttered toast I have ever put in my mouth. There was not much of a texture to the bone marrow itself, but it definitely made for a tasty bite along with the crunchy bread and lemony celery salad!

With an abundance of drinks, chips, mini crab cakes and chatter, we got down to the dumpling making bussiness. Fan and Antti had made two stuffings. One was ground pork with chinese cabbage seasoned with grated ginger, soy sauce and a bit of bone marrow soup. The other one was ground pork and shrimp with shittake mushrooms. The dumpling wrappers are easily available in asian markets. Making the dumnpling itself was rather easy - a little bit of water to seal the edges was all that was necessary. Fan steamed some of the defective pieces which were in the danger of unwrapping when boiled. She boiled some and pan friend others.

Three simple yet very delicious dipping sauce were served with the dumplings. Fan made the first one by frying some flower peppers in vegetable oil adding it to soy sauce and rice wine vinegar. The next sauce was a store bought chilli pepper sauce with peanuts etc. The label in the picture is in chinese, but its worth going on a hunt for this one. The third sauce was a simple refreshing mixture of soy sauce and rice wine vinegar.

The dinner ended with a big box of Godiva biscuits passed around the room!

Batts grill

2010-12-30T11:25:00.008-05:00

Batt's Grill is our favorite sea food place anywhere in the world...may be anywhere in the world other than British Columbia! Located in Surf City, NC; this is the highlight of our summer beach trips. We found this place in the summer of 2007 when we were at the beach for our friends Matt and Crystal's wedding and had a strong recommendation from the locals.

Batt's is a no non-sense fried seafood place. You can have a plate of fried shrimp, oysters, fish, clam strip - alone or in various combinations. They also make chowders and baked stuffed crabs and such but honestly, nothing beats a plate of seafood. Their hush puppies are great and come with the seafood plate along with two other sides. There is a wide variety to choose from - green beans, corn, mashed potatoes, fries, peas, black eyed peas, cole slaw, rice and more. What Salil loves is the fact that you can get desserts as sides and they make some good banana pudding!! An endless cup of sweet tea on a hot summer day is a bonus.

All in all, a highly recommended place. Though the prices have gone up in the last couple of years, they are nowhere close to the other touristy places. For $6-8, expect a good comforting meal without too many frills. Fortunately, they dont smoke in the restaurant anymore!! Surf City/ Topsail Island area is very accessible from the triangle and is much less crowded than Wilmington or Myrtle Beach.

In addition to our summer trip, we went to the beach this year for thankgiving. Batt's had an amazing thanksgiving spread for $6. Salil had his best birthday meal that day.

Kebab roll

2010-12-01T12:06:00.002-05:00

Kebab roll at restaurant Kashmir, corner of 8th ave and 39th street
for 3.99 not bad wish the Naan was fresh :(

Coconut soda

2010-12-01T10:20:00.001-05:00

Why can't we get this in NC it's awesome.

Hot sausage sandwich

2010-11-19T13:57:00.001-05:00

Primanti brothers sandwich in Pittsburgh - this Pittsburgh establishment is famous for the fries being inside your sandwich, instead of their usual role as a side!

Mango Salsa

2010-11-16T13:43:00.000-05:00

Mangoes came up in a discussion and I decided to have a bite. Being a "self proclaimed mango snob" I refuse to eat anything but the best. And the best is found in India during the harsh summer months. In the US, there is Brazilian mangoes....not quite the same but will work in a salsa. Even if I have offended you, do try the salsa recipe. Its good.

1 mango ( just shy of completely ripe, we need the tarty sweetness)
3 medium sized tomatoes
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
1/4 cup green onion (white and green parts)
1/2 cup chopeed cilantro (sorry, parsley wont work!)
1 or 2 jalapeno peppers (you can reduce the heat level by removing the seeds and using only the green flesh)
Juice of half a lemon (again, based on preference)
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon Olive oil

Just chop all the vegetables finely and mix in lemon juice, olive oil, condiments etc. Salsa is done! I personally think it tastes better the next day when the flavors have had a chance to mingle.....but can you really wait that long?

The same recipe will also make peach salsa....just use peaches in the place of mangoes!

Sorry folks no picture, ate it all :).

Iggy's at Providence

2010-10-31T18:53:00.002-04:00

Had a quehog....baked stuffed clam for the non Rhode Islanders. We are big fans of "family guy" and must try anything with that name!

Have been busy lately and the lack of our experiments in the kitchen is obvious, but we are trying to log the restaurant adventures. Iggy's is highly recommended if you are in the area. Notice the address in the picture!

Quehog (?)

2010-10-31T18:52:00.004-04:00

at Iggy's!

Clam shell stuffed with clam, bread crumbs, parsley, spices....just needs a squirt of lemon juice :).

Lobster roll

2010-10-31T18:52:00.003-04:00

Finally had the famous lobster roll. Was in RI for work but I think this lobster roll would be worth the trip by itself.

Need to make one at home...will keep you posted about that as and when it happens!

Fish filet in Bashu sauce

2010-10-31T18:51:00.004-04:00

Am just going to say one thing - Gourmet Kingdom has never failed!

Clamcakes

2010-10-31T18:51:00.003-04:00

For a southerner, these are hush puppies with bits of clam and think they make the batter in clam juice. They were absolutely yummy, especially when hot but if you are going to Iggy's once, focus on the lobster roll. Eat 2 lobster rolls if you can, that will undoubtedly be a better use of the appetite.

If you are like Salil with a very flexible appetite, go for these ;).

3 pepper chicken

2010-10-31T18:50:00.002-04:00

Not for the weak at heart, this one packs a punch!

Chiba special roll

2010-10-13T18:13:00.002-04:00

Spicy tuna and cucumber inside, seaweed and roe on the outside. Served with a "salsa" of crab, cucumbers, scallions and lemon juice. As always, a work of art!

Vietnamese crepe at Jujube

2010-10-13T15:25:00.007-04:00

Vietnamese crepe with sweet and sour pork at Jujube, Chapel Hill.

Here is the link:
http://jujuberestaurant.com/

Banhmi at jujube

2010-10-13T15:25:00.004-04:00

Its a crime that they serve this only for lunch on weekdays! But, we made it there recently and finally tasted the menu which we used to look at and drool.

I had a vietnamese chicken sandwich (in the picture). Salil had vietnamese crepe with sweet and sour pork. Amazing flavors, fresh ingredients!

Only in carrboro

2010-10-03T14:41:00.002-04:00

Dosa is a thin, crispy crepe made from fermented rice flour, a specialty in the south of India. Typically, a dosa is stuffed with curried mashed potatoes but people in Carrboro are creative. They had eggplant and chicken in addition to the traditional potato filling. Will have to taste one soon.

Ba Shu Chicken

2010-09-18T20:53:00.002-04:00

This is a follow up to the Gourmet Kingdom review from a few weeks back. We tried the Ba Shu chicken and it lived up to the sky high expectations! Extremely hot, not for the weaker souls. Salil ate most of it. I had an eggplant dish to balance things a bit.

Also went to Gourmet Kingdom for lunch with the lab-mates. The menu is standard chinese lunch menu with Broccoli and Beef, Kung-Pao Chicken and the works. The lunch entree came with a bowl of soup and a small salad. The taste was refreshing, unlike the usual oily chinese fare. Portions were generous and the price was exceptional. I think my chicken and brocolli was priced at $ 5.75. Highly recommended, especially if you are a graduate student who is getting tired of the regular chinese take-out.

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Eggplant in garlic sauce

2010-09-18T20:52:00.003-04:00

at Gourmet Kingdom.
http://www.thegourmetkingdom.com/

Home-made Shrikhand

2010-09-05T17:11:00.000-04:00

Shrikhand is a renowned dessert from Maharashtra. This is a Marathi person's answer to Gelato. We followed a recipe from Salil's dad and it worked perfectly for us. We cant take the credit for this one though. Being a true scientist, he gave us the "formula" and not a recipe! We had 9 people coming over for lunch and so the scale is much more than we normally have on the blog. But the Shrikhand will keep well in the fridge for a at least a couple of weeks and will make you come back for more. Shrikhand can off course be a stand alone dessert at the end of a meal. But we like to make shrikhand-puri.

Puri is a fried bread and I cant believe that wikipedia actually has an entry to describe puri. They have done a much better job of describing it that I would ever do.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puri_(food)
But, I am surprised to see that shrikhand is not mentioned in the accompaniments :(.

The thing is actually quite easy to make, especially in the US where the yoghurt and sour cream is easily available. My mom starts from fresh milk, makes her own youghurt/curd.

50 oz plain youghurt ( extremely important to use full fat, cream on top kind) - this is not the place to save some calories. If you are going through the trouble of making it, might as well enjoy it to the fullest.

50 oz sour cream (again full fat - gives a nice mildly sour punch)

2 cups raw/refined sugar (this makes relatively mildly sweet - most Indians will complian that its not sweet enough, but I study diabetes for a living!)

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground cardomom

1 cup nuts (we used crushed toasted hazelnuts which are not to be found in India. More common will be pistachio, almonds or cashews or all three)

saffron ( how much saffron is difficult to tell. If you have the real good one - which may not essentially be the most expensive one, as we found out the hard way - little will go a long way! Its best to soak it in a TBS or two of warm milk, let it seep through the milk for about half an hour and then add the golden yellow milk to the shrikhand. We are not looking for much color, but just the fragrance of saffron)

Muslin/ cheese cloth - a clean 100% cotton scarf will work as long as you are okay with it smelling like a baby/ old milk for a long time even after many washes!!

Hang the youghurt and sour cream in the cheese cloth and let it hang overnight, to get rid of the excess moisture. We did it in two batches given the amount we had. Once the mixture is hung, get it out in a bowl, add sugar, saffron, cardomom and nuts. Chill it in the fridge for 6-8 hourse allowing for all the flavors to come together.

I promised you, its easy to make.

Gourmet kingdom - a pleasant surprise

2010-08-29T22:57:00.002-04:00

Gourmet Kingdom in Carrboro. Awesome fish in Schezuan bean sauce!

Gourmet Kingdom in Carrboro - a not particularly attractive looking chinese buffet. Many locals go past it without giving it a second look. I went there a long time ago, when it newly opened and was actually pretty good. The fact that I was new to USA and the novel concept of a bountiful buffet must have also played its part to attract me here. But as the days went by, the quality of the buffet went downhill and I explored and found many other deserving places in the Chapel Hill/Carrboro area.

But now the locals are in for a hot surprise. Gourmet Kingdom has a new management and they have ditched the buffet. The place now serves a schezuan cuisine and they seem to be really very good at that. We went there on a sunday evening and the place was packed. Many asians, always a good sign if the locals are eating there!

We had the fish in schezuan bean sauce which is one of their signature dish. Hot is an understatement!!! I am wary of hot dishes because I always feel that the heat kills all the other flavors. But this one was good. The fish was perfectly cooked on a bed of chinese cabbage and topped with this spicy hot chilli-garlic schezuan secret paste. We got some bok-choy and black mushrooms, turned out a great choice to cool the tongue down which was literally on fire after the fish. The two plates were served with a generous portion of white rice.

Great food but the service was slow. Next time - Ba Shu Chicken!

Bhindi fry

2010-08-22T11:51:00.003-04:00

Bhindi or Okra is a favorite of both Salil and I. With its tremendous potential to become slimy, okra need to be handled with some love and care. This is my version of a popular Indian vegetarian okra dish. Its simple, yet packs some good flavor and great nutrients.

Before I go into the ingredients, I wast to introduce everyone to Fenugreek seeds. Known as "methi" in India, this is a green vegetable - a bit bitter and honestly, not my favorite. The seeds also have the same bitterness but if used in reasonable small quantities, it adds a complexity to the flavors. Below is the wikipedia link for the geeks - notice that its packaged and sold to many "supplement-loving-healthy-eaters" and it will be nice instead to just incorporate in our diets in some tasty way.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenugreek

Now coming to the ingredients:

1 pound okra, cut legthwise into long thin strips
15 fenugreek seeds crushed into a corse powder in a mortar
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon asafoetida or hinga (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asafoetida)
2 TBS vegetable/ canola oil
1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder
1/4 teapsoon sugar
2 TBS fresh lemon juice
salt
coriander leaves for garnishing

In a flat and wide saute pan, heat oil. Test to see if it is hot enough - drop a cumin seed and the oil is hot if it foams. To the hot oil, add the cumin, methi powder, hinga and turmeric. Once the oil foams move things around for about 15 seconds and add the chopped okra. Saute the okra for about 10 minites stirring occasionally. By this time, there will be mucousy strings going through the pan. Add salt, sugar and chilli powder, mix well and cober for about 10 minutes. The duration of cooking will vary depending the okra. I personally never use the frozen okra - its too wet for me and the point of bhindi fry is to get a semi-crisy end product.

Remove the lid and add lemon juice. The acid gets rid of the slimyness and helps to dry things up a bit. Let the okra sit on slightly high heat to crisp up. The surface area of the pan and thin-ness of the vegetable will be the key here! Garnish with chopped coriander/cilantro.

Lemon juice and sugra cut through the bitterness of the fenugreek/methi seeds and makes for complex, multiple layers of flavor.

Pistachio gelato with Fig-Ginger-Caramel sauce

2010-08-16T21:26:00.001-04:00

8-10 dried figs
2x1 cm piece of ginger
4 oz ginger ale
2 TB brown sugar

Chop up the dried figs into small pieces and mash them a bit (in a mortar). Finely grate the giner into a paste. Add them to a sauce pan with sugar and ginger ale. Bring to a simmer on low-medium heat. Let it cook the figs have softened and wilted into the dark brown caramelized sugar sauce.

"Ciao-Bella" pistachio gelato topped with the sauce made for a fantastic desert - made our ordinary wednesday night extra-ordinary!

Jambalaya

2010-08-15T12:42:00.002-04:00

I was watching Food Network this suday, trying to keep myself occupied while Salil was working and saw this incredible Jambalaya recipe on Ina Garten's show. I admit that this is the first time I paid complete attention to a cooking show, took notes, bought fresh ingredients and made lunch.

2 links of Andouille sausage, chopped to bite size pieces
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup roasted green peppers (use 1 cup if they are not roasted since roasting concentrates the flavors significantly)
1 finely chopped jalapeno pepper
3 big garlic cloves, finely chopped
4 cups chicken stock
2 cups long grain rice (I used Basmati)
10 big shrimps, peeled and deveined
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup chopped scallions

Heat some olive oil in a deep, heavy bottom pan and saute the sausage on medium high heat. Once the sausage turns brown on the edges (about 10 minutes) take it out of the pan and set aside. In the same pan, add a couple teaspoons of olive oil and saute onions and celery untill they are soft. Add the roasted green peppers and warm them through for a couple of minutes.

Make a well in the bottom of the bowl by moving the vegetables to a side and add a teasoonful of olive oil. Add the chopped garlic and jalapeno peppers. Stir in with the rest of the mixture after 1 minute.

Wash 2 cups of Basmati rice, remove excess water and add it to the pot. Warm the chicken stock in a separate sauce pan and add 3 cups of stock to the rice. Cover and let it simmer for 15 minutes. Add the sausage and the rest of the stock depending on the consistency and the level of done-ness of the rice. In my hands, the ratio of rice to liquids at 1:2 works best. Season with salt and pepper and simmer for another 10 minutes untill the rice is tender. At this stage, turn the heat off and add the shrimp, cilantro and scallions to the pot. Bury the shrimp delicately under a layer of hot rice and cover. The shrimp will steam and turn curvey and pink in about 12 minutes. Garnish with some scallions and jalapenos!

I loved the results..the cooking time for shrimp turned out to be perfect. This was my first attempt at the Jambalaya and I can see it becoming my go-to comfort food fairly quickly.

Overconfident cook!

2010-08-14T17:53:00.001-04:00

This is a follow-up to yesterday's post "Stuffed Banana Peppers - Italian Style". Now that I have become quite the over-confident cook, I posted the recipe here while the peppers were in the oven without quite waiting for the final outcome. (Notice the picture in the original post is raw stuffed peppers waiting for the oven to heat up.) Here is the little story of the aftermath. Needless to say, Salil teased me to no end calling them "Pooping Peppers" and even made my failure public via facebook. But, I am an honest cook and for the scores of friends and family who follow our blog and depend on us for the next big idea., I had to come out clean ;).

After spending so much time to carefully pipe the filling in the peppers through the small hole on the top, we baked them. The stuffing swelled and out it came through the same little hole.

Well, I saw the recipe on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and decided to make my own version. After stuffing, they battered the peppers and deep fried them. I guess the batter and an appropriate oil temperture held the stuffing inside.

I needed to skip the frying part and decided to bake them instead and found these delicate little stuffable peppers. Lesson learnt - slit them lengthwise and stuff. Apart from the accident, the whole thing was quite yummy :).

Thats what I love about failed experiments in the kitchen over failed experiments at my lab bench.....I can still eat them!!

Turkey Chilli

2010-08-14T17:01:00.002-04:00

Its a 105F outside and I decided to make a bowl of chilli. Have a bad bout of cold and desperately need some comfort food. If it gets too hot, may be I will go get an ice cream to balace it all!

1/2 pound ground white turkey
3 large cloves of garlic
2 serrano peppers
1 medium onion
4 medium tomatoes
kernels from 1 fresh corn
1 8oz can of black beans
1/2 bottle dark beer
2 cups vegetable/ chicken stock
1 cup 2% milk
1/2 teaspoon smoked sweet paprika
shredded cheese
olive oil
Salt

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a deep pan and add ground turkey to it. Break up the meat stirring constantly untill it becomes opaque white and turns slightly brown at the edges. Add finely chopped garlic and serrano peppers. I de-seeded one of twon peppers to control the heat. Saute for 2 minutes and add finely chopped onion. Saute on medium low heat for 15 minutes till the onions become translucent and then become pinkish-brown.
Meanwhile, quarter the tomatoes, sprinkle salt, peppers and olive oil and slow roast them in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes. It will concentrate the tomato flavor without drying them out completely. I used fresh tomato from the farmers market but canned crushed tomatoes will also work. Once the onions start to turn brown, add the chopped roasted tomatoes and cook for about 10 minutes till the tomatoes cook completely.
Add corn, black beans and beer and let it come to a boil for another 10 minutes. Now, add stock and milk and let it come to a final bubble.
For a thicker chilli, add a small can of tomato sauce with the chopped tomatoes. I prefer a subtle tomato flavor but this recipe makes a rather soupy chilli.

Enjoy!

Stuffed Banana Peppers - Italian style

2010-08-14T16:55:00.003-04:00

For 2 portions

4 small banana peppers (choose small, straight for ease of filling)
2 tablespoons ricota cheese
2 teaspoons pesto (I used home made frozen pesto, store bought will do)
Zest of one lemon
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/4 cup ground roasted cashewnuts (or whichever nut you like)
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1 finely chopped de-seeded serrano peppe
olive oil to make a tooth past consistency stuffing

Cut the top off from the pepper and patiently de-seed it through the small opening at the top. Mix in the rest of the ingredients to make the stuffing. Using a piping bag (small plastic bag with a corner cut), fill the peppers with the stuffing. It takes some patience to push it all the way to the end. I used the blunt end of a skewer to push the stuffing deeper.

Brush some oil and bake in an oven at 350C for 10-15 minutes.

Caviar and Salmon-dill dip

2010-08-01T10:36:00.005-04:00

A great side dish. All the ingredients can be found at the international isle local grocery store.
Nice Italian round bread (buttery and dense). Layer the bread with a thick spread of butter and top with salmon caviar. Or top with smoked salmon, dill dip.

Beef with Plum Stew and Oven-roasted Rosemary Potatoes

2010-08-01T10:36:00.004-04:00

The star of the meal at the dinner at our friend Svetlana's house. Too complicated to guess the recipe but too good to not share and remember!

Mmmm. Sundae

2010-08-01T10:35:00.002-04:00

A Sundae from Maple View Dairy ice cream store in Carrboro downtown.
Had the roasted almond ice cream, with dark chocolate fudge, strawberries, and pecans. Offcourse topped with whipped cream and a cherry :)

A Georgian Dinner Night

2010-08-01T10:12:00.002-04:00

Due to my ignorance about Georgian food, I have no idea what the name of this dish is. So, I am going to call it Spinach-Walnut Balls. We had this at my friend Svetalana's house when we went over for dinner. Guys, this is Georgia ex-USSR not the south of USA! The meal was excellent and this was a first opportunity for Salil and I to sample authentic Russain food. When we go to Genya's house, its all about Halwa and Tea. His mom and aunts need to visit more often :). Svetlana had prepared quite a spread but for me, this dish was the star for the surprise quotient. I approched it gingerly....big green balls! But I took a bite and was blown away. Below is the recipe which Svetalana told me and I guessed from the taste and flavors.

Fresh Spinach - washed and boiled
Garlic
Walnuts
Pomagranate seeds
Salt and Pepper
Sauted finely chopped onions

I eyeball everything and the quantities below are my educated guesses. So, am hopping that some of you are like me and will figure out a way to make it.

Boil the fresh spinach leaves, squeez the water out and put in a blender. For about 2 cups of processed spinach, add one big clove of garlic. Process it in a blender. To the spinach mixture, add half a cup of onions sauted - just transparent and soft, dont let them turn brown. Add about a cup of ground walnuts and a tablespoon of pomogranate seeds. Season with salt and pepper and make into balls. Svetlana served them in a lettuce cup. I think it made a great side dish with our meal of beef and plum stew, salmon, bread with caviar and salmon-dill dip, russian salad with beets, carrots, potatoes and pickles and oven roasted rosemary potatoes. End of the meal was a mild green tea in Royal Albert tea-cups with a slice of a berry-torte.

Thanks Svetlana!

Fifteen minute, kicked-up Pasta

2010-08-01T10:11:00.004-04:00

(Post by Avani)

Although I love Italian food, it has taken me some time to warm up to anchovies and more so to start cooking with them. Decided to brave it and developed this simple recipe inspired from Rachel Ray's 30-minute meals show.

A small can of Anchovies fillet (6-7 small fillets), chopped
3 large cloves of garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon chilli flakes
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 cups store bought marinara sauce
1 cup sliced white mushrooms
1/2 pound pasta (spaghetti/penne whatever you like)
10 small meatballs (I used sun-dried tomato and basil chicken meatballs from Trader Joes. Guys, dont frown...its a fifteen minute, kicked-up pasta!!)
Parsley
Shredded Jarlsburg cheese
Chopped black olives (optional)

Heat olive oil in a shallow, wide pan. Once the oil starts to ripple (dont let it smoke though), add chopped anchovy fillets, garlic and chilli flakes. Its important to add the fish before the garlic...we are not going for the burnt garlic flavor here! Feel free to change the amount of anchovies/chiili flakes and garlic to suit your palate. Whisk the mixture with a fork gently and reduce the heat to low.

The anchovies will almost melt in the oil and aroma will fill up your kitchen. At this stage, add the sliced mushrooms, chopped olives and the pasta sauce. If you have some extra time on hand, use grilled mushrooms (400C for 15 minutes in a thin layer with a splash of olive oil). Once the sauce heats through, add the de-frosted chicken meatballs and pasta. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Remember, the pasta sauce is already well seasoned. Garnish with chopped flat leaf parsley and grated cheese. I chose jarlsburg for its creamy, milky, neutral taste to cut through the strong anchovy flavor.

I have to admit that I am a convert now. Anchovies are yummy and if used in the right proportion, they will give a lot of depth to your sauce.

Summer Sling

2010-08-01T10:10:00.005-04:00

1/4 teasp tamarind concentrate (tamicon) with water - stir into a 1 ounce shot glass. Toss into a shaker.
Add 2 ounces frooti drink
4 ounces Ceres Lychee juice
Shake with ice in a shaker
pour into two glasses with ice
Top each glass with 4 ounces of Hansens cane sugar Giner Ale
to make it alcoholic - add 1 ounce of Vodka or Gin (both work great).

Great drink - tropical flavours without the sugary sweetness.

Super Spud

2010-08-01T10:10:00.004-04:00

Went to a deli on Franklin Street this friday and got a spud...was a little disappointed with the hugh amount of cheese but lack of other interesting toppings. So, Salil and I decided to come up with our own recipe for an overflowing potato! You can get as creative with the toppings, but here is what we had last night.

The POTATO: 2 good, uniformly cylinder shaped russet potatoes about half pound each. Clean the potatoes under running water to get rid of all the dirt. Dry them well, and poke deeply with a fork about 5-6 places so the steam can escape. Coat them with oil and sprinkle salt liberally all over. Pre heat the oven at 350C and set the potatoes in the top rack for 60 minutes. Keep a tray in the bottom rack to collect the drippings if any.
At the end of baking, the skin should be crispy but the flesh inside should remain soft. Cut the potato in half and you can mash/ slash it a little with a dab of butter. Its ready for the toppings now.

TOPPINGS:

Mashed gruyere cheese: This was the first layer and it melted instantly on th soft hot potato. Gruyere has a bold taste - slightly bitter. But I put very little cheese, just enough to make a thin layer on the potato and the bitter taste paired perfectly with the starchy sweetness of the potato.

Sausage: I used 2 chicken andouille sausages but any spicy sausage will work here. Take the sausage out of its casing and chop up real fine. Put a teaspoon of olive oil in a saute pan and once the oil heats up, add the sausage. Let it cook on medium heat untill the sausage browns and you see some oil/fat separateing out into the pan. Should take about 15 minutes.

Mushrooms: I used regular white mushrooms, chopped finely about 2 cups raw. Sauted them in the same pan after the sausage was done to get the yummy flavor of the pan drippings. Seasoned lightly with salt and pepper. Mushrooms will shrink conbsiderably after cooking but the flavor will concentrate, so a little goes a long way.

Chick-peas: This was mainly to bump up the protein content of the meal, but potatoes and chick-peas are a classic combination in the Indian Street food scene (paani-puri), cant go wrong with that! Heat a teaspoon of oil and saute a finely chopped shallot or a very small onion. Once it starts to turn brown, add finely chopped fat big clove of garlic. Let the garlic cook for about 30 seconds (dont let it turn brown, completely changes the flavor profile) and add 1 cup chicke peas (soaked overnight if using fresh or use a can). Once the chickpeas are coated with the onion garlic mixture, add a tablespoon of water and cook for 10 minutes till the water evaporates. For a dash of color, add a small pinch of turmeric to the onion. Season with salt.

Finely chopped jalapeno peppers, deseeded: Dont take off the seeds, if you are brave. Want more heat, use the small and thin Indian chillis or the thai chillis. Want a milder flavor, skip this topping.

Finely chopped green onion.

Assembly: Once the potao comes out of the oven, add a layer of cheese that will melt on the potato and hold all the toppings like a glue. After this, go nuts! Dont forget to add a dollop of sour cream or whipped curds, especially if you have the chillies.

I figure that this is a great dish for entertaining. As long as you have an oven, you can bake any number of potatoes at the same time. Get creative with the toppings and the guests can build their own! Other topping ideas - chopped olives, salsa, italian pickeled vegetables...

Pick a theme and run with it :).

Baked Oysetrs learnt from Jacques Pepin

2010-07-21T15:59:00.000-04:00

(Post by Avani)

A few months back, Jecques Pepin showed this very simple yet sophisticated recipe for baked oysters. On our recent trip to British Columbia, we bought fresh oysters and I remembered the recipe. This is my take on it since I didnt recall the exact details. The thing I definitely remembered was that oysters have a mild and delicate flavor profile, so we dont want to use too many ingredients to overpower them.

12 fresh oyseters, freshly shucked, in the shell
1 green onion, chopped
1 small jalapeno pepper. deseeded and chopped very fine
fresh lemon juice
Olive oil

Arrange the oysters on a baking sheet and drizzle with a couple of drops of olive oil per oyster. Sprinkle with a small pinch of jalapeno and green onions and a couple of drops of lemon juice. Bake at 350C for 4 minutes. Serve hot.

A lot of foodies claim to love raw oysters. I honestly didnt enjoy the experience. I thought I will be okay with the texture since I love sashimi, but overall it felt like seawater, sand and slime! But the baked oysters were amazing - the oven changes the texture completely and the mild jalapeno and lemon juice flavor neutralizes the saltiness of the oyster to make it a party in the mouth!!!

Fifteen minute kicked-up Pasta

2010-07-21T15:57:00.000-04:00

(Post by Avani)

Although I love Italian food, it has taken me some time to warm up to anchovies and more so to start cooking with them. Decided to brave it and developed this simple recipe inspired from Rachel Ray's 30-minute meals show.

A small can of Anchovies fillet (6-7 small fillets), chopped
3 large cloves of garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon chilli flakes
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 cups store bought marinara sauce
1 cup sliced white mushrooms
1/2 pound pasta (spaghetti/penne whatever you like)
10 small meatballs (I used sun-dried tomato and basil chicken meatballs from Trader Joes. Guys, dont frown...its a fifteen minute, kicked-up pasta!!)
Parsley
Shredded Jarlsburg cheese
Chpped black olives (optional)

Heat olive oil in a shallow, wide pan. Once the oil starts to ripple (dont let it smoke though), add chopped anchovy fillets, garlic and chilli flakes. Its important to add the fish before the garlic...we are not going for the burnt garlic flavor here! Feel free to change the amount of anchovies/chiili flakes and garlic to suit your palate. Whisk the mixture with a fork gently and reduce the heat to low.

The anchovies will almost melt in the oil and aroma will fill up your kitchen. At this stage, add the sliced mushrooms, chopped olives and the pasta sauce. If you have some extra time on hand, use grilled mushrooms (400C for 15 minutes in a thin layer with a splash of olive oil). Once the sauce heats through, add the de-frosted chicken meatballs and pasta. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Remember, the pasta sauce is already well seasoned. Garnish with chopped flat leaf parsley and grated cheese. I chose jarlsburg for its creamy, milky, neutral taste to cut through the strong anchovy flavor.

I have to admit that I am a convert now. Anchovies are yummy and if used in the right proportion, they will give a lot of depth to your sauce.

Visit to Port Alberni - Crab recipe

2010-07-10T22:13:00.000-04:00

Had an amazing trip to Port Alberni, British Columbia. Where you ask is Port Alberni? It's a 3 hr drive from Victoria the capital of British Columbia, Canada. While it isn't isolated it takes a loooong time to get to.
First we took a long cross country flight to Seattle, then the light rail from the airport to Seattle downtown, then walked to the ferry terminal. From the ferry terminal we took a 3 1/2 hr ferry to Victoria. In Victoria dad picked up up for a 3 hr drive to Port Alberni... Was it all worth it. Yes for multiple reasons. Got to see family after a long time and also the natural sights around Port Alberni are spectacular.

Food:
Day 1: Sisters home made Tiramisu & Lasgania
Day 2: Morning - fresh corn and quinoa porridge - yes pretty tasty. Lunch - Left over Lasgania, poutine . Picked up fresh crabs & shrimp. Dinner: Sauteed Crab with Singaporean Chilli crab sauce, pan fried garlic-lime shrimp, pan fried indian style Salmon, Corn bhel, roasted bell pepper yogurt raita.
Day 3: Picked up Salmon from a fisherman in China creek - came home and had sashimi... was very fearful of getting Salmon parasites but phew no parasites. Dinner - crab cakes from left over crab meat and sabu-dana kichidi
Day 4: Lunch - Matterson House Restaurant in Ucluelet, BC - I had Oyster burger (yum), Dad had a yummy Halibut burger, others had Clam chowder with fresh baked bread, shrimp quesadillas, and amongst the best hand made burgers (mmm beef). Dinner - skipped it and had left over Tiramisu
Day 5: Lunch - Goats on the Roof lunch - mmm poutine, chicken pastries, clam chowder, fish & chips, ... Dinner - Seafood bisque made by sister and more Salmon Sashimi, Salmon-Fig-Parmesan bruschetta, wild rice salad.

On the way back my sister made us some salmon sandwiches - thank god, we were able to keep ourself stuffed during the looong ferry ride and the flight.

Unfortunately other than the Crab and Sashimi I didn't cook much and therefore have no recipe's. Have to say it was amongst the best food vacations even though we didn't go to any star chef restaurants and mom didn't have to slave away cooking indian food in the kitchen!

Crab Recipe:
Ask the fisherman to kill the crab by breaking it in two and cleaning out the guts.
Heat oil on medium, toss in 1 tbsp of onion (diced), and a 1 chopped thai chili. Let the oil pick up the flavour for 30 sec and toss in the Crab.
Cover and shake the pot to make sure the oil coats the Crab. Time for 2 min.
After 2 min pour in 1/2 cup of water cover and cook for 4 min.
Done !! The Thai chili gives the crab meat a nice mild heat - an awesome additon to the sweetness of the Crab meat.

Sauted Green Pea Sprouts (Post by Avani)

2010-05-22T10:53:00.001-04:00

Saw Food Inc and King Corn in quick succesion and my trips to the Farmer's market suddenly became more frequent. In search of interesting "greens" which we will like, we came across Pea Sprouts. These are actually from the young sweet pea plant with small green leaves sprouting off soft stalks. They cook fairly fast and have a mild taste unlike many of the other greens which are a bit too strong for my taste. The same day we discovered this amazing vegetable, we also picked up some fresh green garlic which became a perfect condiment for the delicate taste of the pea sprouts due to its mild taste and aroma.

Pea sprouts - since they are so light, its hard to judge the weight but the bag was probably the same size as the pre-packaged grocery store salad bags.
1 stalk of green garlic ( looks similar to a scallion/ green onion)
2 tsp soy suace
2 tsp vegetable oil

Heat vegetable oil in a shallow, wide saute pan. As the oil heats, add finely chopped green gralic (bulb and top) to the oil. Saute for 30 seconds and add pea sprouts. I did not cut them, the leaves are so small that I left them as is and just plucked some of the bigger bunches into smaller ones. They will cook down in about 2-3 minutes and I prefer to undercook them where they retain the bright green color. Finish off the cooking by adding a swirl of soy sauce.

This dish is a great side with a spicy meat or fish dish. Will go great with the shredded chicken with tofu and hot peppers and steamed rice.

Fwd: Sweet Corn Soup

2010-05-22T10:44:00.003-04:00

Salil's Sweet Corn Soup (perfected by Avani)
This is a quintessential star of an Indian Chinese meal and needless to say we love it. The soup is garnished with a liberal drop of soy sauce, chilli sauce ( the Indian version is usually made with green
chillies) and chopped green chillies in vinegar.

1 can (15 oz) cream style sweet corn
1 can (15 oz) white corn
2-3 cups chicken stock/ vegetable stock or water
1 teaspoon grated ginger
pinch of salt
pinch of black pepper
3/4 cup mixture of finelly chopped carrots and bell peppers
1/3 lb boneless ckinless chicken breast cut into thin stripes (optional)
1 egg - lightly beaten (optional)
1-2 tsp corn starch
Finely chopped green onions for granish

In a sauce pan, mix both the cans of corn, stock, ginger, salt and put
it on a low flame. Stir the mixture and let it heat slowly without
coming to a boil. Add chicken and vegetables to the soup and let it
heat slowly untill the chicken cooks up which should take about 7-8
minutes. (Vegetables can be added at a later stage depending on the
desired rawness). At this stage, you can adjust the thickness of the
soup with additional stock/ water and add the corn starch dissloved in
water to bring it all together. Once the soup has come to a gentle
boil, add the beaten egg with the help of a fork to make thin, long
egg filaments. Season with green onions/ green chilli vinegar/ chilli
sauce/ soy sauce/ freshly ground black pepper.

2010-05-22T10:42:00.001-04:00

Chckn dopiaz

2010-05-10T12:46:00.003-04:00

2010-05-10T12:46:00.001-04:00

Sent from mobile device.

Made chicken do-piaz on Sunday. Turned out awesome

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2010-04-30T19:10:00.000-04:00

Alivias in Durham

2010-03-27T18:35:00.001-04:00

Shredded chicken with baked tofu and hot peppers

2010-03-24T19:59:00.002-04:00

We had this dish at Red Lutus, our favorite chinese restaurant and fell in love instantly. Its hot, its clean, its simple! Broke down the taste and created the formula in my head. Here is my version.

1/2 lb Chicken tenders/ breast (boneless)
6 Jalapenos
1/4 lb Spicy tofu
1 1/2 tbsp Soy Sauce
2 tbsp Vegetable oil
1 tsp Sesame oil
1 tbspn Rice Wine vinegar
Small pinch of brown sugar
Green scallion tops

Cut the chicken and tofu in thin strips about (3-4 cm by 0.5 cm to be precise). Remove seeds from 4 out of the 6 jalapenos, make sure to remove the ribs completely since thats where the heat lives. Halve them lengthwise and cut into thin stripes. Without deseeding, prep the other two jalapenos in the same way. Depending on your heat tolerance, you can change the number of seeded vs deseeded peppers. That takes care of the prep work, now on to the actual cooking.

Heat 2 tbsp vegetable oil in a saute pan, as it heats up, add a tsp of sesame oil. Once the oil is hot, add the jalapeno peppers with seeds intact. Saute for 30 sec and add the chicken. Since the chicken is in thin long pieces, it should cook up fairly quickly - in about 3-4 minutes. Follow it with tofu and the rest of the jalapeno peppers and mix well. After another 4 minutes and making sure that the chicken is completely cooked, add soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar and green scallion tops and take it off the heat.

Best served with a steaming bowl of plain white or brown rice.
(Post by Avani)

Fish in chili bean sauce

2010-03-24T19:58:00.001-04:00

Sashimi roll

2010-03-22T20:22:00.001-04:00

Course 1

2010-03-20T18:44:00.001-04:00

Kanki tonight

2010-03-12T19:11:00.000-05:00

Long time no post - Wine

2010-03-08T20:40:00.000-05:00

Its been a long time since we posted anything. Past few weeks have been great - we've cooked quite a bit, since most of the cooking has been by Avani here haven't been any posts.
To get back into blogging I am going to start by a Wine review. We had a wine tasting party last weekend - a great time for everyone. Food flowing out of the kitchen, bottles being uncorked and the conversation getting louder until late in the night when the volume slowly goes down...
Larry taught me to think about wine similar to the way I think about investments. If I can get two wine bottles for the same price, I dont want to settle for the good one, I want the great one!
Here's a few of the wines in the recycle bin
1) 2008 Alamos - the wines of Catena, Malbec, Mendoza, Argentina (Harris Teeter) - Review good but not great, tannic, not worth other wines at a similar price.
2) 2007 Pillar Box Red, Blended red, Australia (The Fresh Market) - Review good, will buy again.
3) 2008 Horse Heaven Hills Columbia Crest, Chardonnay, Patterson, Washington State (The Fresh Market) - Review very good, good white, crisp not-too-sweet, comparable to Robert Mondavi (next).
4) 2008 Robert Mondavi Private selection, Chardonnay, California (Harris Teeter) - Review great! We like it!
5) 2008 Deakin Estate, Shiraz, Australia (Whole Foods) - Review good, not too spicy/ peppery. I like that in a shiraz.
6) 2007 Spanish Sons, Tempranillo, Vino De La Tierra of Castilla Y Leon, Spain (The Fresh Market) - Review great, among the best of the evening - will definitely buy again.
7) 2008 St Donatus Estate Balatonboglari, Merlot, Hungary (? store) - review very good.
8) 2006 Pine & Post, Cabernet Sauvignon, Washington state - review very good, had most of it the next day and glad that we got so much of this one left over as it was one of the last couple of bottles opened.
9) 2009 Cristalino Metodo Tradicional, Rose Brut, Spain (? store), sparkling wine fermented in the bottle - review good, standard Rose!
10) 2009 Childress Vineyards, Starbound Blueberry Dessert Wine, North Carolina (? store) - Review good. A sweet ending with a tar heel special!

Pan roasted Salmon & Fennel

2010-02-07T20:13:00.000-05:00

Indegredients:
Salmon
Fennel
2 cloves smashed Garlic
Toronto Steak seasoning
Pepper
Salt

Process:
Heat oil at 4 - medium heat, put in 2 smashed cloves of garlic (peel and smash down with knife).
Once garlic has started to brown remove it from pan.
In this oil put in finely chopped Fennel (take bulb of fennel and slice it into thin rings - remove core. Then quarter these rings)

Take skin off salmon, sprinkle with kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper. toss on some toronto steak seasoning

After 5 min of sauteeing the fennel toss in the salmon - time for 2 min
Turn over salmon - and sautee other side for 2 min

Pour in a dash of Chablis or good white wine.
done!

Kari Ayam - Malay chicken curry.

2010-01-31T11:39:00.005-05:00

It snowed all Friday night and Saturday during the day. Couldn't go out anywhere and was craving Roti Canai from Merlion - a local restaurant specializing in Singapore/Malay food. We're not that bad at cooking and we have the world at our fingertips! Decided to look-up a recipe for Roti Canai curry. See my previous rant blog on trying to find a recipe. Finally found something called Kari Ayam which seemed to fit the bill. I took the recipe and adapted it to my kitchen - and decided to document the recipe with more detail. I don't know why recipe's use measurements in grams - WTF - am I supposed to have a weight measure in my kitchen? I use cups, spoons...etc. I don't have a laboratory with a milligram weighting scale!

Results:
A good tasting curry - not quite what is served in Merlion :(
Something is missing or too much. My hypothesis is that the shrimp paste is essential and I went overboard on the corriander seeds.

Am going to now eat this with some Malay roti (bought frozen from store) and stare out the dining room window at the snow.
... After eating - Holy Yum! Pretty good - will make again.

Ingredients:
Curry paste ingredients-
2 cloves
2 peppercorns
8 dried chilis - seeds removed
1/2 tbsp corriender seeds
1 teasp fennel seeds
1 teasp cumin
bottom of stock of lemon grass (2 in piece) chopped in small pieces
1 1/2 cup onion
1/2 teasp ground turmeric powder
1 teasp galangal minced

oil saute ingredients -
2 cloves
2 pepper corns
1/2 cinamon stick
1 star anise
12 curry leaves
2-3 in piece of lemon grass chopped finely

1/4 teasp anchovy paste - I didn't have dry shrimp paste
1 teasp fish sauce - again I don't have shrimp paste

Other ingredients -
3/4th tbsp salt
1 teasp brown sugar
1 teasp regular sugar

Process:

Put chilis in 1 cup of water and soak - 20 min - don't throw away water use later.
Start sauteeing onions - 20 min
Roast cumin, corriender, lemongrass in pan - once fragrance grind in coffee grinder with peper corns, cloves and turmeric powder

Put sauteed onions, teasp of galangal, soaked chilis and 1 teasp of spice powder into a blender and grind.

In a pan heat up oil - once heated thrown in cloves, peppercorns, cinamon stick, star anise, and curry leaves
sautee for 5 min

throw in the anchovy paste&fish sauce into the oil sautee - throw in chicken and sautee for 5 min.
Toss in the onion paste and the spice powder

after 5 min add in the the water from the chili seeds
add in 1 can (165ml) coconut milk
add salt & sugar

Simmer till chicken is cooked

Serve with rice or roti paratha (malaysian roti - found in frozen section of indian store)

Aargh... sooo hard to find Malaysian chicken curry recipe

2010-01-30T20:16:00.001-05:00

Why soooo hard you ask? every recipe uses 'curry powder' or 'curry paste' - does no one make food from scratch knowing what the ingredients are? Well it turns out you have to know what you are looking for - can't be looking for Roti Canai - seems that's just the roti and it is served with many many different types of curries. If you search for Roti Canai Curry or Malaysian curry you get all the recipes with 'curry paste'.
Finally I found one of the curries names 'Kari Ayam' and found the curry paste recipe!!
Going to try this out tomorrow: Nonya Food - Kari Ayam
Perfect recipe when its snowed outside and am stuck at home - going to eat a nice spicy chicken curry with flaky roti paratha. mmm.

Avani’s Mexican Tortilla Soup with bitter chocolate and chipotle peppers

2010-01-30T13:55:00.003-05:00

I saw Rachel Ray make this recipe on her show. But since I never write things down, I didn’t note down this one. Today I am making my own version with some bitter chocolate. We made some chicken stock last night and am using that for this soup.

Chicken stock: Got a rotisserie chicken breast last night to make some sandwiches. We shredded up the meat and used the bone and skin to make the stock. In a cold pot (I think this is important), put the chicken bones, skin, carrots, bay leaf, peppercorns and a couple cloves of garlic. Pour about 6 cups of water and let it simmer on slow heat. I happened to have carrots on hand but celery, onion etc will be wonderful. Let the stock simmer for a couple of hours, let it cool, strain and its ready to use.

The soup

2 small shallots or a quarter of a red onion

1 jalapeno pepper, deseeded

2 small or 1 large chipotle peppers

2 large cloves of garlic

Olive oil

1 cup black beans

1 cup corn

1 cup shredded chicken

½ cup mushrooms

½ cup green peppers

Chicken stock

Bitter chocolate

Brown sugar

Cumin powder

Tomato paste

Fresh avocado

In a saucepan, take about 2 cups of stock, and add 1 tablespoon of finely chopped bitter chocolate, same amount of brown sugar and pieces of deseeded chipotle pepper. Let it simmer for about 15 minutes while we make the soup base. We will later strain this into the soup.

In a soup pan, heat some olive oil and add finely chopped garlic, jalapeno pepper and onion. Let the onions sauté, add 1 teaspoon of cumin powder as the onions turn brown. Stir in the mushrooms and peppers, after they have softened a bit, add the beans and corn. Stir for a couple of minutes followed by the shredded chicken. Follow the chicken with 1 heaping tablespoon and no more of tomato paste. We don’t want the tomato to overcome the “mole” taste from the chipotle and bitter chocolate. By this time, things will be sticking to the bottom of the pan….thats a good thing . Now, strain the simmering stock with chocolate and peppers in. Add 3 more cups of chicken stock. Season with salt and let it boil one last time so all the flavors come together.

Meanwhile cut the tortillas in thin strips, drizzle some olive oil and crisp up in the oven for a few minutes at 350C. In a serving bowl, put the crisp tortilla chips, and small cubes of avocado (optional) and top off with the soup.

Chiba's special roll

2010-01-28T18:44:00.004-05:00

Special roll made by Chiba at Kanki.

2010-01-28T18:43:00.002-05:00

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mmm - Sashimi

2010-01-28T18:33:00.003-05:00

One of my favourite things to eat in the world - Salmon sashimi. My way to eat it is to put some soy/wasabi on it, a piece of ginger, a bit of the japanese mint leaf (see behind the sashimi) - roll it up and enjoy!

At Kanki - Chiba also makes an awesome miso sauce which complements the sashimi very well.
(the miso sauce complements everything very well)

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Ski beech trip

2010-01-24T17:20:00.000-05:00

Don't take highway 194 all the way to ski-beech - make sure you take 105 off 421 towards Sugar and then
onto Beech. This is a much easier drive.

Where to wax and get your ski's sharpened - Fred's store right on Beech Mtn Drive - in Beech town. You can also rent equipment here for a much cheaper rate than at the mountain. ie. Boots were $5 for a full day. Over at Freds we also got some locally made Jalapeno Jelly - really good.

Where to stay - try the 4-Seasons VCI condos - call them. We stayed at Alpen Inn - too expensive for what they offer. And Top of the Beech in where friends stayed was reasonable but they don't have 1 night stay rooms.

What to eat when at Beech - we drove down into Banner Elk and ate at Banner Elk Lodge/Lodge Cafe - next to Stone Walls. Stone Walls had an interesting menu and was packed but pricy - Lodge Cafe next door had a huge menu but given the large menu and a not so full restaurant it was worrisome so we stuck to the easy to make, can't go wrong things like burgers and chicken sandwiches.

Where to get ski lift tickets - if staying at Alpen inn or Top of the Beech get the lift tickets for full day $12 cheaper than at the mountain.

Lesson Learned from this trip - don't plan a NC ski trip 2 months ahead - the weather might suck. Check the weather a week ahead and if it's sunny go for it. This way you can drive up one morning, ski till 4:30 - rest your body, get up the next day and ski some more. This weekend Saturday weather was good - Sunday morning was cloudy and raining so no skiing :(

Another lesson learned: I am getting old - and even thought I thought I was more fit this year than in many years past, I was never this sore after a day of NC skiing. Colorado Yes - NC no-way!

fish in a bag

2010-01-17T11:19:00.001-05:00

Woke up on a Saturday with no food plans... hmm what to eat? Wife sent me to Whole foods to buy some ingredients for a party on Sunday, where there I tasted some hummus, and ran into some roasted garlic bread and fresh cod. Idea: middle eastern type fish, with olives, hummus, a good bread, some wine. Lunch was starting to look good.
Picked up a nice piece of cod, got an assortment of olives, picked up the hummus and a loaf of roasted garlic batard. Why did middle eastern come to mind? Am reading Anthony Bourdain's 'Cooks Tour' book and the last chapter was about his travels to Morocco. Also the hummus was really tasty - local NC made hummus by EPRI foods.

Came home looked on Food Network and came across a recipe for fish baked in parchment by of all people Rachel Ray. She has good ideas but I find her annoying. The below is a recipe for Fish in parchment or fish in a bag a'la' Salil.

Accompanying the fish in a bag was a piece of the fresh loaf of roasted garlic bread, hummus, and Jalapeno mashed potatoes (these were made by wife).

Indegredients:
a nice piece of cod - I cut perpendicular to the spine into 2 inch pieces
tsp anise/fennel seeds
pinch of Hungarian smokey paprika
few olives
Some white wine
butter
garlic powder
kosher salt
sugar
fresh ground pepper
Japanese 7 spice powder
Cilantro (I wanted parsley but didn't have any at home)

Procedure:
Cut large piece of parchment paper - enough so you can fold it over and tuck it under itself.
Place few pieces of fish in center, sprinkle them with kosher salt, fresh pepper, garlic powder, few pinches of sugar (yes sugar) and a dash of japanese 7 spice powder, Hungarian smokey paprika, and anise/fennel seeds.
Throw on some chopped cilantro, and plenty of olives (see pic above), and a thin slice of butter on each piece of fish.
Pour on top some good white wine (I used a 2006 Bordeaux - we didn't finish the night before).
fold the parchment from both sides and roll and tuck the opposite sides under and place in a baking pan
Place pan in oven at 400 for 15 min. (oven was preheated oto 400).
You're done.

Started meal with bread and hummus. Accompanied the fish with potatoes and a glass of Mondavi private selection wine! Cheers to a great afternoon of bliss-full eating.

Food pics from the past 2 months

2010-01-17T00:41:00.003-05:00

Home made Pho with home made broth - used teriyaki meatballs from the store, some spagetti, home made chicken broth - goodness in a bowl. Inspired by Mario Batali's restaurant in NYC we decided to make Shrimp and Cecci at home - for appetizer we had some carrots, apples, and dry fruits accompanied by a Vino. For the main course we had Fettuccine with with parsley butter accompanied by the shrimp and cecci. The shrimp and Cecci might look bla but the shrimp and cecci have been poached in a strong ginger broth, and sprinkled with some chilli pepper seeds - very simple and tasty - make sure to get large fresh shrimp.

My version of a trifle is multiple layers of alcohol and Jello :) The picture above is what I call an Orange bomb. The bottom is an Orange Jello with vodka, the middle layer is a nobake (cool whip, cream cheese, orange jello) orange liquor cheese cake and top is a liquored whip cream with sprinkling of nutmeg. mmmm

Mmm pizza - can't go wrong with a home made pizza - toss whatever you desire. Here we tossed on some olives, red peppers, artichokes, oyster mushrooms and sheep's cheese.

"Aged Parmasean Chesse and Fennel" Meatball soup

2010-01-15T23:46:00.002-05:00

Picked up the meatballs at Whole Foods and decided to make soup since it was freezing outside. Wasnt impressed with the soup recipes I found online and wanted to keep the meatballs at the centre of attention, so I built this recipe in my head. Warning to cooks who follow recipes - strong chance that I dont do a good job with the measurements. Am not a person who follows protocols, do enough of that at work, so in the kitch its all eye-balling. And in my opinion, soup is something where anything goes.....to an extent that is!

Vegetable/Chicken stock
Meatballs (Aged Parmasean and Fennel chicken meatballs from Whole Foods)
Red Onion
Olive oil
Garlic
Green Chilly
Bay leaf
Carrots
Fennel seeds
White wine
Tomato Paste
Whole/ Skim Milk
Bow-tie or any short cut pasta

Heat some olive oil in a deep pot and saute a small red onion, 2 big cloves of garlic and one jalapeno pepper cut into 2 big slices. I left the garlic cloves intact. Once the onion was brown, I fished out the garlic and the pieces of chilly to keep the flavor mild. Add 1 teaspoon of fennel seeds, 1 cup finely chopped carrots, one bay leaf and 1/2 cup of frozen white corn kernels. You can also add celery at this stage but am not a big fan and was also worried about the strong celery flavor masking the fennel. Stir and let the carrots cook for about a couple of minutes. Then add 1 tablespoon tomato paste and mix well while stirring occasionally for 5-7 minutes. Once the tomato paste has cooked, add 3/4 cup of white wine to pick up all the flavor and let it simmer for about 3-4 minutes. Next add 5 cups of stock, vegetable or chicken. We had a home made begetable stock made from brocolli and cilantro stems, carrots and asparagus. You can also heat up the stock separately before adding to the soup, that will reduce the cooking time considerably. Once the stock simmers, add 8 meatballs and 3 fistfuls of pasta. The cooking time beyond this point will vary depending on the pasta you have used. As the pasta is cooking, add about a 1/2 to 1 cup of milk. Garnish with parsley and more fennel seeds.

Avani's seafood gratin

2010-01-13T21:23:00.002-05:00

Recipe by Avani - she made this during our Christmas holidays, one of the days when we had family over. It turned out great!
The recipe is originally by Ina Garten.

I first saw Ina Garten make this dish on her show and loved it. This is my version which lacks some of the high-fat ingredients but tastes pretty damn good. It makes a beautiful entree on any special occasion especially around the holidays if you are in the mood to skip the turkey. For people who are not very comfortable with cooking seafood, its a great way to start.

The below measurements make about 5 servings. (Smallish serving size recommended)

1/2 pound shrimp

1/2 pound halibut/ grouper

1/2 pound bay scallops/ lobster

(I used grouper since halibut was out of season and scallops)

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 cups chicken stock or fish stock

1 cup white wine

4-6 sticks of saffron

1/2 coup heavy cream

1/2 cup whole milk

leeks/ fennel

carrots

parsley

breadcrubs

butter

salt & pepper

In a wide saucepan, mix together the chicken stock, wine, tomato paste, heavy cream and milk and put it on low to heat to eventually simmer. Add the saffron and stir occassionally till it starts to bubble gently at the sides. Drop the shrimp into the sauce and fish it out after 2 minutes or when the shrimp turn pink and curl up, whichever is earlier. The timing is important since we dont want to cook the seafood too much. Repeat the same with the fish and scallops. If you are using cooked lobster meat, you can skip this step. Once you have cooked the seafood, let the sauce gently simmer and reduce almost by half. Season with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, heat up some butter in a saute pan and cook long slices of leeks or fennel and carrots lightly for abour 3-4 minutes. We want the vegetables to retain their crunch.

Next, use 1 stick of butter at room temperature and add about 2 cups of panko bradcrubs, salt, peper and parsley and mix together gently. This will make the crust of our gratin.

Spray some olive/oil or use butter to coat a baking dish and add the cooked seafood and vegetables. Pour the reduced sauce on top and then arrange the breadcrumbs crust. Since the vegetables and seafood is already cooked, we just need to heat the dish trhough and make a golden brown crust. Bake in a 350C oven for 10 minutes and broil for about 2 minutes to get a crunchy crust.

I served my gratin with a good french baguette and baby spinach salad.

Special roll

2010-01-12T19:18:00.003-05:00

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Kanki in Chapel Hill

Yuya Chiba special roll @ kanki

2010-01-12T19:17:00.002-05:00

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Yuya Chiba, a sushi chef at kanki makes awesome special rolls. The
balance on this roll is perfect - the sweet sushi rice, a thin layer of tuna and rice paper topped with a cheese for the cool, the Salmon for the fat and Jalapeno for the heat... mmmm

Yummy Sushi by Yuya Chiba

2010-01-12T19:04:00.002-05:00

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Eating white tuna @ kanki

Eggplant Parmigiana

2010-01-11T23:49:00.004-05:00

This was cooked by my wife as it's a favourite of my dad's. My god it is yummy! Me an person who hates eggplant can't eat enough of this stuff. In picture is some Fettuccine with parsley and olive oil, a chicken cutlet and the eggplant parm with some sauce on the side.

Reference for Parmigiana: wikipedia entry, commonly found in Italian restaurants and amongst the wife's favorite Italian dishes.

Ingredients:

1 big Italian eggplant

Mozzarella cheese

Parmesan cheese

Garlic

Jalapeno peppers

Onion

Parsley

Crushed tomato

Vodka

Heavy cream

All-purpose flour

Eggs

Italian breadcrumbs

Olive oil

Cut the eggplant into quarter inch thick slices, sprinkle salt and pepper and let it rest for a couple of hours, so the the excess water comes off. Set up three dishes with all-purpose-flour + salt + pepper, beaten egg +salt + pepper and Italian breadcrumbs + Parmesan cheese powder in sequence. Flour the eggplant slices followed by egg wash and breadcrumbs and shallow-fry in a pan containing moderately hot olive oil. Repeat the process with all the slices.

Vodka sauce: This is not a typical marinara sauce which seems to accompany a lot of eggplant Parmesan dishes.

Mince or finely chop 4 large cloves of garlic (can use less as per liking) and 1 jalapeno pepper (can remove seeds to reduce heat). Saute in olive oil for a half to one minute. Do not let the gralic turn brown, else the flavor will be too strong. Add one big finely chopped onion and saute for 15-20 minutes till the onion turns light to medium brown. Follow this with one cup of crushed tomatoes and saute for another 15-20 minutes till the tomatoes lose their raw taste. To this, add a cup of vodka and stir for a couple of minutes till most of the alcohol evaporates followed by 2/3rd cup of heavy cream. Season the sauce with salt/pepper and parsley according to taste.

Assembling the dish: I personally do not like to smother my eggplant in too much sauce so the whole thing become a mess. Instead, I assembled it as a sandwich. On a slice of eggplant, smear some sauce and a mixture of grated mozzarella and powdered Parmesan cheese and top with another slice of eggplant. Make a stack of three eggplant slices and top with some more cheese. Bake the eggplant "sandwiches" in the oven at 400C for 5-7 minutes or broil. Garnish with parsley!

Dinka laddu (Indian candy truffles)

2010-01-03T15:17:00.000-05:00

Dinka - what a weird ingredient... I couldn't find a wikipedia entry called 'dinka' but I did find something that i believe is dinka: Wikipedia entry
My mom made this laddu and I've attempted to capture her process below. Dinka is only used in sweets in India but upon seeing it and tasting it I can definitely see huge potential for this ingredient in savoury dishes.

The below recipe should yield 15 or so small truffles or laddus

Indegredients:
1 pack of Edible Gum (Dinka) (100gm)
1/3 cup almonds
1/3 cup walnuts
8 dry dates (kharik)
1/3rd cup dry coconut
1 tbsp poppy seeds
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1/2 tbsp ghee
1 tbsp brown sugar (or gul - jageree)
2 tbsp honey

1) Toast all nuts and coconuts in a pan - grind in a food processor - no chunks remaining.
2) heat the ghee in a pan put some of the gum in the ghee and sautee till it puffs up (it becomes white and puffy- no longer translucent)- once it's puffy remove into a plate and put aside. Repeat this till you have puffed up all the gum granules. Only put few crystals of gum in the heated ghee at a time. It'll take 5-10 turns depending on size of pan... you'll go through a few spoons of ghee.
3) put ground nut mixture with the puffs and sugar into a food processor and grind into a paste - do in batches if necessary
4) put honey into the mixture and some ghee if necessary and form into balls (truffles) - if you don't have honey use some other binder like marmalade or jam..
5) if you want coat it with toasted coconut or something other item

Kultha che pitlah (Marathi dish which is a rou of a certain bean - horse gram)

2010-01-03T13:17:00.001-05:00

Kulith: Wikipedia entry for Kulith
This is a regional dish from the Kokan region of Maharashtra (State where Mumbai is located) - this is the region encompassing the coast south of Bombay and north of Goa.
I believe this is a poor man's dish - a basic roue of oil and the flour of the kulith bean - you eat it with rice and it's amongst the yummiest comfort foods ever. Warning it has a very distinctive taste.

Indegredients:
2 tbsp oil
4 cloves of garlic chopped
2 chillis (if using jalapeno or hotter deseed one of the chillis)
3 Kokum petals (again a very regional kokani indegredient): Wikipedia entry for kokum
1/2 teasp mustard seeds
1/2 teasp cumin seeds
pinch asotifeda (hing)
1/4 teasp red chilli powder
1/4 teasp turmeric
2 tbsp yogurt
4 heaping tbsp of kulith flour
for each tbsp of flour use 1/2 cup water
1 tbsp of yogurt

Process
1) Heat oil on medium heat and do a fodni of the mustard, cumin, hing, chilli powder, turmeric, garlic, chillis
(once oil is heated drop in the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, hing, let it sizzle once u smell stuff then add in turmeric, chili powder, garlic and chillis - take off heat so stuff doesn't burn - toss everything in oil for 2-3 min)

2) Add in kulith flour and blend into the oil - keep stirring on medium heat for 5 - 6 min. The kulith will form little balls with the oil.

3) heat up the water in a kettle and slowly add 1/2 cup at a time and blend in the kulith so the balls of flour dissolve into the water.

4) Reduce heat to medium-low, After you have a homogeneous mixture with no lumps then add the yogurt and the kokum petals

5) Simmer for 10 min on medium-low heat and serve over rice. Add salt to taste over the rice or in your bowl - Am told that the salt acts as a de-emulsifier and it might take apart our nice consistent soupy pitlah.

Dodka (Ridge Gourd) bhaji (vegetable)

2010-01-01T14:28:00.000-05:00

Dodka or (Ridge Gourd) is a vegetable that is commonly found in India and can be bought at most Indian grocery stores. To the left is a picture of the Ridge Gourd. Make sure when you get it not to get the 'Bitter Gourd' or Karela - similar shape but yuck!

Ingredients:
1 Dodka
Fodni:
1/2 teasp mustard seeds
1/2 teasp cumin
Pinch of Hinga (Asotefida)
Pinch of turmeric
1/2 a chili or whole medium Jalepeno deeseded
Other things:
1 teasp crushed peanuts
2 teasp dry grated coconut (or fresh)
1 teasp brown sugar
1/2 teasp sesame seeds (roasted if available)
Few leaves of fresh corriander
Salt to taste (2-3 pinches)

Procedure:
1) Peel the dodka so that all skin is taken off - can use this skin to make a yummy chutney with similar ingredients (don't throw away the peel)
2) Cube the dodka
3) heat in pan some ghee on medium-low heat - till ghee is hot (throw in a mustard seed if it sizzles then ghee is ready)
4) Crush in a mortar the chillis/Jalepenos with the cumin - paste 1.
5) Throw mustard seeds into ghee - let them sizzle for a sec, throw in the hinga - once you start smelling the spices throw in the paste 1 from step above - after a minute throw in the turmeric. - this oil concoction is called a fodni.
6) After a min throw in the cubed dodka - increase heat to medium
7) After 5 min throw in all "other indegredients" - sautee for < 5 min and you are done!

Enjoy with Roti/Chapati. A vege ready to eat in 10 min.

Red Lotus: Chopped fish with pine nuts

2009-12-25T23:51:00.001-05:00

Tried the 'Chopped Fish with pine nuts' off the chinese menu at Red Lotus - good dish to try but I don't know that I'll get it again. It's tasty but wayyy too bland for my taste - it has to be bland so you can taste the pine nuts. So overall the dish is very well executed - it looks beautiful; white fish with finely diced few pieces of green & red pepper in a transparent sauce. The taste of the pine nuts is notiecable and the freshness of the fish can be appreciated but I need a kick of chilli and complexity of spicy flavors that this dish doesn't have.

Goa fish curry

2009-12-25T23:47:00.000-05:00

I also in the past few months made the Goa Fish curry from Cameilla Punjabi's book pg 140 and it turned out to be awesome! It tasted just like any restaurant fish curry I had in India. I'll be cooking it again in the next 2 weeks while my parents are visiting. Shall post my modified version of the recipe. Last time I made it I put the fish in the curry per the recipe and I didn't care for this - as an end product you get an awesome curry but the fish is a boiled pieces of overcooked fish.. Instead this time I am thinking I'll take some small trimmings of fish and add it to the curry for flavor; but take fish filles and pan fry them separately. This way I can cook the fish perfectly and while serving I can have the rice with curry topped with a piece of pan fried/broiled fish ...yum.

Parsee Red Chicken Curry

2009-12-25T23:41:00.003-05:00

This is a recipe I made using Cameilla Punjabi's book - pg 124. My main beef with the recipe is the cooking time for onion is wayyy off and since I can't get Kashmiri chili's my gravy instead of looking red looks like a grey/brown slurry. This gravy is very potent and has a pungent indian spice smell. Taste is good - but below that of the cashew gravy recipe. While this recipe might not be as tasty as the cashew gravy recipe it's quite a bit faster to cook so worth it on a weekend when u need to make a tasty chicken curry.

Indegredients:
1 1/2 lb chicken breast cubed into small pieces
2 tomatoes (small) finely chopped - I don't see why you can't use 1/2 a can of crushed tomatoes

5 dried Red chilis (recipe calls for 10 Kashmiri chilis - I just had standard dried red chilis which are hotter but don't have any color)
1 8oz can of coconut milk
Spice Mix:
1/2 teasp cumin seeds
1 teasp corriander seeds
1 teasp sesame seeds
4 cloves
8 peppercorns
1in cinamon stick
3 cardamon

1 in ginger - chopped into pieces
4 cloves garlic-
1 large onion - coarsely chopped

1 teasp red wine vinegar (recipe calls for apple vinegar)
1/2 teasp store bought garam masala

1) Roast spice mix in pan over low-medium heat for 5 min (heat up pan on low-medium and toss in spices - never have any oil or anything in pan. it should be a dry hot pan)
2) Soak the red chilis in bowl of luke warm water - 15 min
3) Put roasted spice mix, chilis, ginger, garlic, onion into a blender and make into paste - add water if necessary to make into paste.
4) Heat pan over medium heat - add oil to coat bottom of pan. Once oil is hot add blended paste from step 3. Let cook for 20 min - want onion to cook.
5) Add chicken tomato and cook for another 10 min
6) Add chicken and let cook for 10 min
7) Add coconut milk and let it cook for 10 min
8) Add the red wine vinegar and stir in the garam masala - cook 5 min
9) at this point recipe suggests if too spicy add in a bit of cubed boiled potato or add 1/4th cup of water - I didn't do either - and yes it was spicy!

My curry's color was not red it was a brown/grey slurry. So don't worry if 'Red Chicken Curry' is not red it still taste good.

Enjoy over rice or a chapati.

Cashew chicken with Kaala masala

2009-12-25T23:12:00.000-05:00

Made this chicken by using a recipe from Camellia Punjabi's book (pg 112). Turned out to be pretty darn tasty but the color of my dish in no way matches the picture shown in the book. My curry looks like a grey slurry - something out of a gulag movie rathe rthan a burnt brown shown in the book... Well it taste great so I'll definitely be making it again. Below is the recipe with my modifications. I have found a pet recipe peeve - in all these recipes it says sautee onions for 10 min or 5 min! Heck no i'd be eating raw onions if I did this - i have to sautee them for almost 20-30 min to get any results. What gas/cooktop do these authors use?
Kaala masala translates into Black masala - this is a type of spice mixture used in Maharashtra.

Since I had 1/2 the chicken I halfed some of the indegredients (some :)
Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb boneless chicken breast - cubed into small pieces (ask the butcher to do this to save you time)
1/2 cup of dry grated coconut (you can use fresh if you have it) - make sure you don't use the sweetened dry
6 large garlic cloves
1in piece of ginger - minced
2 tbsp coriander seeds
1 teasp cumin seeds
2 dried red chillies (so the book says use kashmiri chilies - I use whatever crap dried red chilies I got from indian store - I think this is my culprit for no color to my gravy)
4 cloves
2 in cinamon stick
4 oz cashews (I used 1/2 a cup) - use non roasted, non salted, shelled
1 large onion - finely diced
oil

1) Heat a large pan on low-medium heat (4) , once heated throw in dry coconut, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, ginger, garlic, red chilies, cloves, cinamon. After 5 min add 1/2 of the cashews.Let the coconut toast (becomes brown). After coconut is brown take pan off heat and let it cool for 10 min. Put this mixture in a blender / food processor and make into fine paste.
2) Add oil to pan and throw in the 1 onion finely diced - let it cook for 20 min till brown. Add the diced onion into same blender as step 1 and blend into step 1 paste.
The recipe calls for adding the onion in step 1 but i found my coconut would burn before the onion cooked so I separated it.
3) Separately using a coffee grinder or mortar/pestle grind the remaining cashews into a fine powder and mix with litte water to form a paste/slurry and set aside.
4) In large pan over medium heat - heat some oil (oil enough to coat the bottom of pan in a thin layer) - add mixture from steps 1&2. Let it simmer for 10-15 min.
5) Add in the cashew slurry from step 3 and let it cook 5 more min.
6) Add the chicken and mix into gravy - cover and let chicken cook - 10 min
7) Add 1 1/2 cup water and let the curry simmer - add salt to taste
8) pour into serving dish and throw some whole cashes on top (roasted or non roasted cashews)

As I said it doesn't look all that great as my chilis didn't give off any color so there are no pics.

Chicken Salil'Marsala (12/25 lunch)

2009-12-25T22:45:00.001-05:00

My own version of chicken Marsala
Indegredients:
1 chicken cutlet (thinly pounded/cut chicken breast)
Capers (1/2-1 tbsp)
1/4 shallot very finely diced
2 cloves garlic - smashed
Lime zest - 2 -3 scrapes on zester (optional)
Coarse grain mustard
Anchovy paste
EVOO (3/4-1 tbsp)
Butter (1 1/2 teasp)

1) Marinate the chicken fillet: sprinkle with salt, put a drop of mustard and a drop of anchovy paste, drizzle with EVOO and some of the pickle water from the capers - rub the chicken fillet all over so mustard and anchovy paste are rubbed over the entire piece of chicken.

2) heat up a small heavy bottom pan (medium heat) drizzle to coat bottom with EVOO, toss in butter - let oil and butter heat up (you can smell it) and the butter gets bubbly

3) Toss in garlic - take off heat for a min, put back on heat after a min and toss in shallot. Let shallot brown up

4) Put in piece of chicken - let it cook on one side for 1.5 - 2 min (might differ depending on thickness, mine was very thin) put in capers and turn the piece of chicken over.

5) Pour in a dash (perhaps 2tbsp) of Marsala wine - wait for a min - the wine should cook off.

You're done! If you have a good home made pesto you can serve the chicken with a dollop of pesto. I had as my side wild mushroom ravioli tossed in home made pesto.

Fatty Crab and China Town 2nd visit - Day 3 NYC

2009-12-13T00:21:00.000-05:00

Fatty crab is over rated. Food was decent but not worth the cost - I'd rather go to a restaurant in China Town. I left very full but not overly satisfied.
The coconut water they served was canned - very disappointing especially for a chef driven fresh food restaurant! The waitress tells us that we can order appetizers and food all togehter and the chef can deliver it in any order they wish - per their thought of what goes well together. To me this says they are taking the easy way out.
We ordered the Short Ribs Rendang and Malay Fish Fry. The Maly fish fry extremely tasty - very little fish, The dish was small strips of fried fish over a curried rice (very flavourful spicy curry). Below is a pic of half eaten Maly fish fry. The Short Rib Rendang was a huge dish (should be for $25) but was off - it was very sweet instead of a spicy rendang I have had in the past so it threw me off and disappointed me. The pile of meat on top of rice with toasted coconut is the picture of the short ribs rendang.

We walked around Chinatown after this and I got hungry - it was 10:00pm and we headed into 'Singapore Cafe' after Singapore cafe. After Singapore Cafe we walked past a chinese bakery and I decided to pickup some rost pork buns and chicken curry puff for next day's breakfast - if you've not had a chicken curry puff , give it a try it's heaven in a littly pastry :)

At Singapore Cafe I had the standard Roti Canai and Avani had Mee something (noodles with shrimp and other stuff _) very tasty - all for under $10!!

China Town Day 2 NYC

2009-12-13T00:09:00.000-05:00

On Thanks Giving day we went to eat supper in Chinatown.
We had couple of places in mind but started discovering that some places were closed. My selection was a Sichauan XO restaurant that turned out to be closed so we headed to Avani's pick from ChowHound called Shanghai Bakery - turned out to be a small vietnamese sandwich stand at the back of a jewelry store! But my god the sandwich was amongst the best i've had - sweet, sour, hot, spicy - a pure party in the mouth!! I'll definitely go here again and again if I could. GO HERE.

After this we decided to go to a dumpling shop from Avani's chow hound pick but it was closed :( so we looked on our list and a restaurant called 'New Green Bo' was close by - it's a pick by Guy Feiri from the Food Network. Dumplings great, but don't make our mistake of ordering chicken corn soup - it was good but a waste of appetite. We got two orders of different dumplings and salivated over the dishes we saw others ordering. Would I go to New Green Bo again? Probably not - it was good but not great. I'd give other restaurants a try before going back here.

After New Green Bo we simply walked around China Town - picked up some souvenier shot glasses and then headed back to the hotel .

Walking around China Town is an adventure you see all kinds of produce and people. You see fresh veges, fish, meat in varieties rarely seen anywhere else. For example in one place we saw them selling Alligator feet! What I wonder is what happened to the rest of the Alligator? does it taste like chicken?

NY Trip Post Day 3

2009-12-12T23:57:00.000-05:00

Day 3 the 27th of Nov (Friday) consisted of heading out the Chelsea market in the hopes of seeing the studios of Food Network. The Chelsea market is an architectural gem - he building is interesting on the outside and very neat on the inside. At the Market we grabbed some lobster bisque at an amazing fish market - have never seen such variety of fish! Below is a pic of some lobster claws.... After the fish place we visited an Italian store with crazy varieties of cheese and cured meats! We got two types of cheese to eat and bring back. The one things we didn't get to do was go see the Food Network - turns out you have to go online and put your name in for a show ticket lottery, no ticket no see studio :(.

After the Chelsea market we decided to hit the museums - the Natural history Museum and the Museum of Art - we wanted to see the MOMA but it was sheer madness at the MOMA we looked in and seeing the crowds decided we'd leave it for another trip. The Natural history museum was an accidental visit the A,C,E subway drops you off at the Natural History museum from where you take a bus through Cental park to get to the Museum of art. since we were there and you guessed it the tickets were covered by the NYCity Pass we decided why not - lets go see it. Well worth the trip specially for kids.

The planetirium at the natural history museum i sawesome looking - looks like a spaceship. After the natural history we headed over to the Art museum to see Monet's, Manet's, Van Gogh's, Rembrants, lots of royal palace rooms, greek and roman sculptures and amongst the best Armour and weapons collections!

You get really hungry when wandering the vast art museum. By 1:30pm my stomach was gnawing my insides so we decided to eat at the Museum cafe - they have restaurants and cafe's. Paid $10 for a sandwich! It was a good sandwich but holy expensive!.

After the museum we headed to central park to see the city from inside the park. It's a beautiful site and the park is gigantic!

After the park it was off to eat at 'Fatty Crab' - this deserves a whole new post. After 'Fatty Crab' we got hungry and headed back to China town :)

NY Trip Post Day 2

2009-12-12T23:30:00.001-05:00

Ow our feet hurt from all day walking the previous day. Thursday the 26th was Thanksgiving day and a day to go see the Macy's Parade. We were told the previous night by the concierge that we should be up by 6:00am and be at 57th street by 7:00 to get a good position from where to see the parade. Offcourse we didn't get up till 7:30 and we headed out by 8:15 to see the parade.
We took the subway to 57th street (A, C, E) and got off and followed the crowds - well we should have gotten there earlier as we could hear the parade but there was no chance of seeing anything other than the balloons floating through the sky.

After some finagling we got through a bit of the crowd past the police car and about 6-7 rows from the street at this point we hung around say 5-6 balloons and decided this was not a great time - also before this horde of people headed out we wanted to get places. We saw the sky clearing and headed for the Empire State building. Again woohoo - there was absolutely no line at the Empire state everyone was at the parade and the sky wans't completely clear there was 5-6 miles visibility - not great but good enough.

One picture is that of the Chrysler building and another of downtown Manhattan. We also looked down on the parade from the Empire State building with our zoom lens.

After roaming around the observation deck it was 10:00am and we had a boat to catch at Pier 83. The weather was clearing and there was a 3hr boat tour around Manhattan by Circle Line Tours. The cruise was leaving at 12:30. We left Empire State and decided we would walk - hmm wrong decision many streets were closed off and we kept walking and got really really hungry. We now were stuck at Times Square and time was running out it was 11:40. We got into a restaurant and said lets atleast feed outselves - I don't recall the name - it was a store downstairs along with a counter serving sandwiches - the biggest chicken parmagiana sandwich I've ever had (we split it) and by the time we left the restaurant 12:05 the parade was over and we could cross the street - at this point we ran to pier 83.

Circle line cruise was worth it - again as it was paid for due to NYCity Pass. Circle line takes you close to the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, and all around the island. the southern part is interesting the north part - no so much. Was surprised to see all the trees and the low level of development in the northern part of Manhattan. Also you get a mini history lesson on various parts of the island. While the 3 hr tour is slightly too long (as I said the Northern part gets boring) - the 2 hr 1/2 island tour might be the perfect length.

After a few hrs of crusising and getting cold we got back and since we were in midtown we decided to go see the Rockefeller center - offcourse we wanted to go see 'Top Of the Rock' - since our NYCity pass gave us free admission. Top of the Rock is the observation deck on top of the Rockefeller center. The views from here are much better than the Empire state - why? cause you see the lit up empire state!

FYI: a lot of people go to Top of the Rock to see sunrise and sunset - you can buy a dual ticket. We thought we would use City Pass twice but never made it at dawn. You can spend quite a bit of time up on top as there's an enclosed area and open area. There's also a cool room where you can move around and the room responds by doing different lights... After an hr on top we headed back down to grab some food - we were too tired and hungry to venture anyplace and do research so we grabbed some food in the mall below Rockfeller center and ate by the ice rink. Yes the famous ice rink by which the christmas tree is lit up ... it was a great site - sooo many movies have that particular scene. We visited the NBC store and found out that you can tour the studios - we decided we'd do this another day - it had been a long day and we were hungry again - where does one eat outside on Thanksgiving day and on Christmas day??? At a Chinese restaurant offcourse and where do you go for a Chinese restaurant in NYC? CHINA TOWN! This deserves its whole independent post. We visited China town twice day 2 and day 3. FYi: things in China Town close early on Thanksgiving day they start to close around 7:30pm.

Mario Batali Otto Enoteca

2009-12-12T22:52:00.000-05:00

We went on the first night in NYC to Otto Enoteca - a casual dining joint by Mario Batali. An easy walk from the Subway station - we'd used the A,C, E line and gotten out in miserable weather. We used the handy Google Directions to guide us and ended up walking in a circle to get to the Restaurant. This is a busy place that is buzzing with energy. Lots of people, rucus atmosphere and looks like a good time. We get seated at a table which is in a row of tables - two seaters that are right next to each other.
At this point the waiter brings us what he says are breadsticks -they are in a package (like store bought) upon opening the package (which is an italian brand) theres two thin (straw thin ness) sticks that are crispy.. hmmm I am thinking this isn't a great start. Then I look a the menu - there's three pages of wines and 1 page of food.
The food is divided up into Appetizers which are further divided into several sections some being salads, meats (cured meats), and some small plates. The entrees are divided into pastas and pizza. Otto Menu is quite interesting and words fool you into thinking these are simple plates - don't be fooled.
We ordered the appetizer of 'Shrimp, Ceci, Chilis'. I thought this is kind of odd - but the dish was faboulous - extremely tasty. The shrimp were perfectly cooked - we found out they were poached with ginger. A very simple but extremely flavourful dish consisting of ginger and chili flavours with offcourse fresh olive oil. We'll definitely have to try this at home.

For the Entrees we ordered Spaghetti Alla Carbonara and Pizza Romana. All dishes were flavourful. The Spaghetti was strongly flavoured with Pancetta and the Pizza Romana was a pizza with a putenesca flavour. This way we got two classic italian flavours in pizza and pasta. Both dishes hit the spot and I was willing to come to this place again the next night.

After having such an amazing appetizer and entrees I had to go for a desert and the menu again didn't disappoint. The desert was pricier when compared to the entree but heck how many times are we going to be in NYC on my birthday? For desert we had the Olive oil gelato with Lemon sorbetto, Lemon curd and Candied anise. It also had an almond flavoured wafer, a sprinkling of pomegranate seeds and tangerines - Good lord this was an amzaing party in the mouth. The olive oil gelato was creamy and smooth and the lemon curd and lemon sorbetto were a perfect pairing to cut through the sweet creamy texture of the gelato - this made the gelato great till the last spoonful and didn't overpower you with the creamy sweetness.

Two thumbs up for Otto Enoteca! A definite must go in NYC - value for money and AMAZZING FOOD.

NY Trip Post Day 1

2009-12-11T21:59:00.001-05:00

This Thanksgiving weekend (2009) we visited NYCity. We stayed at the Mellenium Hilton in downtown. We booked on hotwire for a dirt cheap rate (well under $100/night).
Review of the Mellenium Hilton: Room was awesome, the view was overlooking the the unfortunate 9/11 WTC pit. The furniture, bathroom, TV all great! Location - walking distance from multiple subway lines we could get on the A,C,E lines or the 2,3 lines so getting to Midtown and the Museum district was a breeze!

First Day:
We flew into LaGuardia airport and took the M60 over to Manhattan. We got off at Columbia University and took the subway down to the Hilton. Dropped off the bags and headed out on the town - First stop was midtown Planet Hollywood in Times Square to pickup the NYC Pass. A 3 day pass that lets you into all the attractions without having to wait in ticket lines! Given the discount that was offered the pass was well worth it. One catch about the pass - their advertising states that you can go to an attraction multiple times - you can't - the folks at the attractions told us no sir can't do.
After a jaunt in Times Square we headed for lunch to Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill. On our Vegas trip we'd loved Mesa Grill and were craving to go back. Unfortunately NY didn't live upto Vegas Mesa Grill. Why? Well the service was sloppy, seating was very cramped and it didn't have a price fixe menu. The atmosphere of the restaurant and the service didn't seem worth the price. I'll post Mesa Grill food selections and pics in a later post.
After Mesa Grill we headed over to the Empire State Building and stopped at The Sex Museum on the way. The Sex Museum is a total ripoff. Since it was covered in the NY City pass we decided why not.
Since it was still Cloudy and raining we headed to the 'SkyRide' show at the Empire State Building (I won't say again but all attractions, museum's ;boat rides were all covered by City pass). The SkyRide show - not really worth the money. We got our tickets for the Empire State Observation deck but didn't go up due to the bad weather. But the great thing was due to the bad weather there was absolutely no line for the tickets. So we got the tickets and then would get to skip the ticket line the next day!
After the Skyride we wandered around 5th Ave towards Central Park - while walking to Central Park we stopped off and checked out the Apple Store and FAO Schwartz. Both are worth a visit.

After our feet started complaining that they didn't want to walk anymore we decided to go grab some more food and headed for Mario Batali's Otto Enoteca. This was one of the food highlights of the trip! Simply Awesome - price, service, food - all were great I'll post a separate entry with pics. After Otto we roamed around Greenwich village and then called it a night - boy were our feet sore!

Red Lotus (Chapel Hill) continues to amaze

2009-11-20T20:33:00.000-05:00

Went to Red Lotus today and ordered off the 2nd secret Chinese Menu - had fish in hot sauce or (N8) - my god it was great.. was enough food for 4 people see the pic and at $18 it's a steal.
Fish fillet floating in a red chilli sauce - the spice mix was onions, bayleaves, fennel, chillis,...layer of potato noodles, holy yummy.

Recipes by Chef Larry Tollen

2009-11-15T22:49:00.002-05:00

Couple of Recipes that Larry sent to us - have not tried these but am posting them here as an archive. Can't wait to try these - hopefully in the next week :)

GRILLED HALIBUT w/PINEAPPLE & ROASTED RED PEPPER SALSA

Serves 4

4 -(4-5oz) Halibut Fillets skinned, boned and patted dry.
1TBL – Chinese style Chili & Garlic Paste
2TBL – Canola or Safflower Oil
1tsp Toasted Sesame Oil
1tsp – Rice Wine Vinegar
1/2tsp Sea Salt
1TBL finely minced fresh Cilantro

Mix all together well. Place in a non-reactive baking dish. Dip Halibut on both sides and leave in marinade for 15-60 minutes before grilling.
While fish is marinating is a good time to mix Salsa together, though Salsa may be made up to 2 days in advance and refrigerated.
Pineapple & Roasted Red Pepper Salsa:
1 –20oz can DOLE Pineapple Chunks in natural juice. Drain chunks in colander for a few minutes before coarsely chopping. Don’t over chop; leave larger pieces. Save pineapple juice for other use if desired.
1 –Large Roasted Red Pepper. To roast pepper: Place pepper on either a very hot grill or directly on top of a gas stove top burner set to high. Carefully char pepper, until 90% or better is completely blackened. This is a relatively short process, if you start with a hot enough fire. I like using tongs to rotate the pepper carefully. Once blackened, remove pepper from fire and under gently running cool water wipe away blackened skin by hand. Pat dry with paper towels cut in half, removing seeds and core. Rough chop and add to bowl. Note, a little blackened skin remaining on the pepper is fine, it adds taste. Don’t make yourself crazy, this is meant to be a fast and easy dish.
2 TBL –Brown sugar.
¼ tsp -Hot Red Pepper Flakes
1tsp -Sea Salt
1tsp – Toasted Sesame Oil
1TBL –Fresh Lime Juice
1/4C Fresh chopped Cilantro
2-3 Scallions, cleaned, and sliced thinly.
Toss all together gently in a non-reactive bowl. Taste to see if more salt is desired. Cover and let sit refrigerated until ready to use.
On a very hot preheated grill, place Halibut fillets. Fish should be 4-5 inches from fire/coals. Cook 2 minutes, and with large spatula, lift fish, turn 90 degrees, and place same side down. (Note: this will give you a nice grill marks). Cook another 3 minutes. Flip fish over and cook 3-5 minutes longer. Fish should just be opaque in center.
To Serve: Place fillet on plate hot from grill, spoon a couple of generous Tablespoons of salsa on top leaving half of the fish showing, Garnish with Cilantro sprig. Accompany with a nice rice pilaf (see suggestion below) and fresh steamed vegetables.

VEGETABEL RICE PILAF

Serves 4

In a small pot heat till simmering
1C – Water mixed with
3/4C – Chicken Stock

Place 1C -Mahatma Jasmine Rice in 1Cup water. Let sit till stock above is simmering. Drain rice and add to Stock. Simmer 15 minutes covered and then add the following:

1 Scallion. Cleaned and finely sliced.
½ Carrot, peeled, and minced very fine.
½ Stalk Celery, cleaned and minced very fine
Sauté all in 6” non-stick pan, over high heat in 1tsp Toasted Sesame Oil. Cook 60 seconds, shaking regularly, add 1tsp Sea Salt to vegetable mix before adding to rice.

Once vegetables are added to rice, cover and simmer 10 minutes longer. Turn off heat and let rice sit for 20 minutes or more before serving. Gently reheat of necessary.

Cashew Nut Brittle with Bacon

2009-11-15T22:47:00.000-05:00

How can you go wrong with nuts and bacon! Yummy.
First course served to us by Larry at his house for supper.

Recipe provided by Chef Larry Tollen:

CASHEW & BACON BRITTLE
2/3 cup raw cashews (about 4 ounces)
8 ounces bacon
2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

INSTRUCTIONS

Heat the oven to 400°F and arrange a rack in the middle. While the oven is heating, place cashews on a baking sheet and toast in the oven, stirring occasionally, until deep brown, about 12 to 15 minutes. Cool slightly on a cutting board, then coarsely chop; set aside.
When the oven is ready, place bacon on a baking sheet and roast until deep brown and well done, about 15 minutes. Remove to a paper-towel-lined plate to cool; reserve 1 tablespoon of the rendered bacon fat. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, coat the paper with a thin layer of the reserved fat, and place the baking sheet on a cooling rack. Crumble bacon into bite-sized pieces; set aside.
Combine sugar and water in a medium saucepan over high heat and stir until sugar has dissolved, about 3 minutes. Cook, swirling the pan occasionally (do not stir), until mixture is deep amber and registers 350°F on a candy thermometer, about 10 to 15 minutes. Immediately remove the pan from heat.
Carefully add cashews, bacon, and salt to the caramel and stir to combine. Immediately pour mixture onto the center of the prepared baking sheet. Let sit at room temperature until hardened, about 20 minutes. Let cool completely, then break into shards.

Two beet soup

2009-11-15T22:40:00.000-05:00

AKA Psychedelic Soup served by Larry as Course 3.
Recipe provided by Chef Larry:

Golden Beet with Melted Fennel
1 Bulb Fennel w/ Stems
2TBL Canola or other light vegetable oil
1Bunch Gold (yellow) beets (approximately 1 lb)
Sea Salt
3 Cups chicken stock or water if preferred.
Clean Fennel, remove core, slice as thin as possible the entire bulb and about 6” worth of the stems.
Clean and peel beets, cut into roughly ½ - ¾” cubes.
Heat oil in bottom of small pot over medium low heat, add fennel and cook 12-15 minutes stirring occasionally until fennel is very wilted (melted) about 10 minutes in add ½ tsp sea salt which will help the wilting process.
When well wilted, add cut beats and chicken stock or water to barely cover. Cover with a lid; reduce heat to low and cook covered for 50-60 minutes until beets are fork tender. Cool for 15 minutes and then place ½ mix in blender and blend until very smooth. Then do remaining half. Run pureed beets through a very fine sieve. Taste and add sea salt and/or finely ground white pepper to taste. Serve either hot or cold and can be refrigerated easily for 3-4 days.
Red Beet soup with Leeks and Apple
1 cup thinly sliced Leek (white part only)
1 large sweet apple (I like Gala or Honeycrisp, but any really good sweet apple will do) 2 TBL Balsamic Vinegar
2TBL Canola or other light vegetable oil
1 bunch Red Beets (approximately 1Lb)
3 Cups Water
Sea Salt

Add oil to small pot, add sliced leeks and cook for 6-8 minutes over medium low heat until well wilted. While cooking, peel and cut apple into approximate ¾” cubes and add to pot with leeks. Add ½ tsp sea salt and Balsamic Vinegar. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes. Clean and peel beets, cut into roughly ½ - ¾” cubes add to mix, add water. Cover with a lid; reduce heat to low and cook covered for 50-60 minutes until beets are fork tender. Cool for 15 minutes and then place ½ mix in blender and blend until very smooth. Then do remaining half. Run pureed beets through a very fine sieve. Taste and add sea salt and/or finely ground black pepper to taste. Serve either hot or cold and can be refrigerated easily for 3-4 days.
Sixties Psychedelic Soup
Place one ladle of each of the two soups into a shallow bowl, Swirl gently together. Tune in, turn on, drop out and enjoy.

Singapore Chili Crab

2009-11-15T22:36:00.000-05:00

Course 4 at Larry's place: We made this as one of the courses in a meal we enjoyed at Larry's place:
Recipe taken from:
http://almostbourdain.blogspot.com/2009/05/singapore-chilli-crab-prawn.html

Use: spooned into a small dosa - our version of masala dosa (instead of the potato sabji we went with chili crab). We topped this with sea-weed salad from Kanki and a slice of avocado.

Modifications: I added oyster sauce, rice wine vinegar and some sambal to the sauce mix. Left out the sugar, the prawns and substituted the prawns with crab. Oh and in the rush of eating the dish I forgot to add the egg.

Review: Ok, but a bit too sweet - didn't have the depth I'd have liked. This can be attibuted to the lack of real spices and instead the use of Maggi sauce and ketchup. Need to find a recipe that uses real spices.
Instead of using a whole crab we made the sauce and mixed into it lump crab meat.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb jumbo lump crab meat
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp chopped ginger
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 chilli, seed removed and finely chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten - I forgot to add the egg..
4 tbsp Tomato sauce (I use Heinz Tomato Ketcup)
2 tbsp Maggi Sweet Chilli Sauce
Juice of 1/2 lime
1/2 cup water
1 tsp cornflour
teasp sambal
teasp rice wine vinegar
tbsp oyster sauce
2 red dried chillies
Method:

Mix tomato sauce, sweet chili sauce, water, lime juice and corn flour, oyster sauce, rice wine vinegar, sambal in a bowl
Add 1 tbsp oil in a wok or pan, fry garlic, ginger, chilli and onion until fragrant
Add the sauce mixture and bring it to a boil.
Quickly stir in lightly beaten egg and continue stirring until egg is well mixed and cooked, about 1 minute.
Add lump crab meat

Congrats on a newly minted MBA

2009-11-15T22:09:00.000-05:00

Went to a friends place to celebrate his recent Duke MBA graduation - a great achievement given that he stays in Cleveland. Doing an executive level day job that involves travel and doing a weekend MBA at Duke must have been quite a challenge - cheers to him on his success.

Being Bengali's the celebration involved a cornocopuia of Bengali veg and non-veg food. There was shrimp, goat, chicken, vege's... mmm all really yummy!

This is just some of the things I could hold on my plate - all really really yummy curries! Am a new fan of Bengali food.