Dumplings

Anita shrimp curry

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Coconut soda

 

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