MOU TAVERNA EVERY SATURDAY @Azure Taj Vivanta Yeswanthpuram Bengaluru

Azure by Taj Vivanta hosted us for their newly launched Mediterranean buffet MOU TAVERNA(A Family Feast). The Grand buffet every Saturday will feature a mix of mouth-watering delicacies from europe and middle east. Apart from a wonderful spread there is a range of products on display which is hand-picked and sold from gourmet cheese to carpets fresh organic veggies, and lot more.

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Anteroom

Large cocktail lounge allows for the perfect setting to enjoy one of the many cocktails from an extensive drinks menu, which have been created with the cultural richness of the Mediterranean in mind. 

Ambiance: Lounge which creates the ideal setting to unwind and socialize with friends. The Decor with different shades of blue and turquoise bright and centrally air conditioned space. 

Dinning Area

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Executive Chef Uddipan Chakravarthy

Gourmet Cheese and Veggies 

Soup and Bread Station

We started with few beers and enjoyed the clear vegetable soup and breads. What I would've loved is some butter served with hot breads. 

Dips and Pickles

The cold cuts, dips and appetizers is something that I indulged a lot and was left with no space for the mains. From the dips the hummus, babaganoush and roasted pumpkin dip was superb. From the salads I loved the turnip and feta salad, braised pear and goat cheese salad. My picks from appetizers were caprese with zaatar and crab roll fresh flavors and awesome taste.

Cold Cuts

Bite Size Appetizers 

Crab Rolls

Spiced Beet Roll

Cocktail Prawns

Exotic Pickled Fruit

Liver Pate on toast

Salads and Hummus

My Plate

Cheese Cigars and Falafel 

Crunchy Prawns

Pepperoni Pizza

Seekhs on Butter Naan

Grilled Chicken and Prawns in Harrisa Paste 

Creamy Chicken

Grilled Pork Sausages, Chicken and Lamb

Chicken Shawarma

The live counters is another feature on this buffet. We enjoyed watching chefs create grilled pizzas, chicken and seekhs...the aromas from the live counters was amazing. 

What I enjoyed from the live counters were prawn fitters, seekhs, shawarma, grilled pizza were too good totally appreciate the efforts of chefs. 

Buffet Table

Veg Delicacies 

Roasted Pepper Savory Muffins
Spiced Artichoke with Sun dried tomato Croquettes
Vegetable stuffed in spinach crepes
Mushroom risotto
Basbousa
Grilled vegetable briami
Avri meshwi

We tasted small portions from the mains the mushroom risotto was creamy perfectly done. Muffins and spinach crepes were innovative very good presentation...What I liked in the veg selection was the basbousa sweet and savory tasted really good with grilled chicken.

Non-Veg Delicacies 

Lamb Scallop-Pian

Char Grilled Chicken

Jambalaya

Tenderloin

Savory Chicken Muffin

Seared Himalayan Trout

Roasted Pork belly

The himalayan trout, jambalaya and chicken muffin was good. I would've liked few dishes like lamb and chicken to be bit spicy..Jambalaya was a let down dish it was dry and not moist..

My Plate

Dessert Table

Dessert Spread was amazing we loved the coffee mousse cake,  chocolate teapot, raspberry mousse and pannacotta. The word is “huge.” Come hungry, plan to share. Overall our experience was very good worth every penny for sure will recommend Azure for your next family dine out.

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www.vivantabytaj.com/yeshwantpur

Vivanta by Taj, 2275 Tumkur Road, 

Yeshwantpur, Bangalore

080 49652596

 

Keema Bharay Baingan (Eggplant Stuffed With Lamb Mince)

I wanted to prepare something new was experimenting on few dishes and finally some how combined keema and brinjal the curry was tasty we liked it with rumali roti. Next time I'm going to try the same recipe with chicken and also a coconut curry base.

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Ingredients:

For meat stuffing

300 Grams Eggplant/Brinjal

250 Grams Lamb Mince or Chicken Mince

3 to 4 Chilies 

1 Tsp Chilly powder, 1/4 Tsp Turmeric powder, 1/4 Tsp Coriander powder, 1 Tsp Desiccated Coconut, 1/4 Tsp Black Pepper corns, 1 Tsp Garam Masala

1/2 Onion roughly chopped

2 Sprigs Mint and Coriander Leaves

For Curry

1 Onion Paste

1 Tomato Pureed 

1 Tbsp Ginger and Garlic Paste

1 Tbsp Chilly Powder, 1/4 Tsp Turmeric powder, 1 Tsp Coriander powder, 1 Tbsp Garam Masala

Oil and ghee as required

Salt as per taste

Lime juice mint and coriander leaves for garnish.

Method:

• If you get a fine mince then avoid this step. Add meat to a mixerjar grind to create a fine mince reserve in a mixing bowl.
• In the same mixer jar add the spices, coriander, mint, chilies, ginger and garlic grind to form a paste add the paste to the mince mix well and allow to marinate for 15 minutes.
• Clean the brinjal scrape the thrones from steam cut the steam half way cut the brinjal into segments once the brinjal is chopped add to water this will avoid discoloration.
• Once the mince has marinated for half hour add salt and mix since there is onion in the mince it may tend to release a lot of moisture and will be tough for us to fill the keema inside the brinjal.

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• Stuff the mince inside the brinjal.
• Add 2 Tsp oil in a wok place it on medium flame. Gently place the stuffed brinjal to the wok cover and cook for 10 minutes on low flame do not add water to the vegetable the mince has enough moisture it will cook the brinjal.
• After 10 minutes gently turn the brinjal and cook it till well done. Remove from flame.
• Place another wok on medium flame add 2 tbsp oil or ghee once the wok is hot add the onion paste and ginger and garlic paste fry till raw flavor has gone and the onion should turn light pink in color.
• Add tomato and dry spices fry a bit add water and salt stir and cover cook the gravy till oil separates.
• Once the oil separated add the brinjal gently spoon the gravy on the brinjal cover and cook the brinjal for a minute garnish with lime juice, mint and coriander serve hot...Enjoy...:)

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Rumali/Roomali Roti Recipe

This is a three ingredient recipe very simple to prepare. Down side to this recipe is we cannot use wheat flour. The dough cannot be stored in fridge. The roti cannot be prepared ahead of time stored or reheated. You may ask why? The texture of this roti will not be the same if pre prepared and stored the roti will not be edible since this is a thin roti it will get chewy.

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 Ingredients:

2 Cups Maida(All purpose flour)

1 1/2 Cups Warm Milk

1 Tsp Salt

2 Tbsp Oil

Method:

• Sift the maida thrice this step is a must.
• In a mixing bowl add the maida and salt mix well.
• Add warm milk to form a chapathi dough consistency once the dough has formed add oil.
• Knead the dough for 15 minutes until the dough is soft.
• Cover and allow the dough to rest for half n hour on the kitchen counter. 

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• After 1/2 hour take a golf size dough ball dust in extra flour and roll it out into thin roti.
• Make sure to roll the roti as thin as possible.
• Heat a skillet/tawa on medium flame transfer the rolled roti and fry on both sides for just under a minute since the roti is thin it will cook fast.
• Once tiny bubbles and brown spots appear the roti is done remove from flame and serve hot...Enjoy with korma or seekhs...:)

Some of our favorite curry to be served with roomali roti..

Chicken Green Curry

Green Gram Dhal Curry

Ridge Gourd Milky Curry

Mutton Chops Masala

Military Chicken Curry

Sheekh Kababs

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Vegetable Keema Curry

Meatball Curry

Handi Seekh Kabab Curry

Please do not copy any pics or content without written permission from me..vidyascooking@gmail.com thank you so much for visiting my blog.

Sumptuous Sizzlers @CAFE MANGII

I was one among the lucky few invited to taste truly sumptuous sizzlers at the annual sizzler festival hosted by cafe mangii located at orion mall yeshwanthpuram, Bengaluru. Cafe mangii has always impressed me with thin crust pizzas, fresh salads, mocktails, cocktails and pastas.

Myself and my blogger world friend shiju headed there for lunch. Choice of nine delicious sizzlers featuring an imaginative range of  food full of fresh, bold flavours”. A fusion explosion on a sizzler... which I would love to taste again.

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Menu is not so fussy its very simple with a good selection of seafood, poultry and veggie sizzlers few drink suggestion and desserts...reasonable pricing, portion size can be shared by two.Grilled Cottage Cheese and Pepper Steak; Potato, Corn & Jalapeno Steak in Basil Pesto sauce and Crispy polenta with Ratatouille. Rusty chicken, Chicken sausages in barbeque sauce; Charcoal grilled New Zealand lamb chops; Harissa-marinated Rawas steak; Prawn skewers with sambal oelek and Grilled Norwegian Salmon with orange beurre blanc sizzling brownie with ice cream! The sizzler festival ends September 30th.

Strawberry Guava Cooler 

Menu

Pepper Paneer Steaks

Once seated we replenished our souls with a few coolers the strawberry guava cooler was tangy and sweet totally satisfied with my drink. After a glance at the menu how can we skip a Typical Indian classic paneer or also know as cottage cheese sizzler the cheese steaks were coated with spicy masala grilled and served on a hot sizzler with herbed barley and butter tossed veggies topped with  creamy spicy tobasco sauce. 

I loved what ever was placed on my plate this sizzler was brilliant.  Next sizzler we tasted was the prawn skewers with fettuccine pasta and veggies...the combination again was superb never tasted pasta on a sizzler before with prawns and veggies this was something very new to me. Prawns cooked to perfection crunchy buttery veggies and the pasta was tossed with simple herbs chilly flakes and butter.

Prawn Skewers with Oelek

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Coke

Charcoal Grilled New Zealand Lamb chops

After two wonderful sizzlers we still had space for more...lot of jokes and conversation...time just flew by. I had to taste the lamb and chicken sausage sizzlers. I was bit skeptical to taste medium rare cooked meat, how ever my choice will always be well done meat cooked till fork tender..The lamb had good flavors would've loved crunchy or mashed potatoes instead of pasta it was a good sizzler specially recommend this for meat lovers.

Grilled Chicken sausages in a spicy, tangy and sweet bbq sauce was good again would've loved the pasta instead of risotto. Over all we liked what ever was served the produce was fresh good choice of herbs presentation was awesome.

Chicken Sausages In Caramelized Onion BBQ Sauce

I need not describe more about the brownie sizzler my click speaks it all...we simply enjoyed the smoky chocolate...spongy and gooey cake with icecream..

Sizzling Brownie

What do I recommend?
Do try the prawn skewers with oelek and the charcoal grilled lamb dont miss the sizzling brownie. we can get to choose pasta, veggies, barley and risotto. There is no tension of choosing the sauce and sides like other places..pretty decent portions.

Parking available, cards accepted
 

Street Food Series #1: Chef Preparing Romali Roti @Frazer town Bengaluru

Chicken and Prawn Poppers Recipe

Chicken and prawn poppers was an experimental recipe which somehow surprisingly turned out yummy. I would call this dish a mix between chicken popcorn and nuggets. 

people always keep writing to me and keep asking me if they do not have soya sauce, lime juice or chilly sauce what can be replaced. I cannot replace the ingredient but we can surely try and incorporate new ingredient if it turns out good then its our sheer luck.

Few ingredients that you may not have in hand and want to replace that ingredient would be lime juice...instead of lime I always use vinegar or yogurt you can also add fish sauce or soya sauce. If you dont have soya leave it out. chilly sauce always enhances the taste of such dishes do reduce the chilly and add chilly sauce if you like the taste.

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Ingredients:

200 Grms Prawns

100 Grams Chicken Breast or mince

1 Medium Onion 

3 to 4 Green Chilies

Fist Full Coriander leaves

1 Sprig Curry Leaf

1 Tbsp Ginger and Garlic paste

1/2 Tbsp Garam Masala

1/4 Tsp Turmeric Powder

1/4 Tsp Soya

1/4 Tsp Lime Juice

1 Egg 

1/2 Cup Maida(all purpose flour)

1 Cup Bread Crumbs

Salt as per taste

Oil for frying..

Prep Up:

1. Shell and devein the prawns wash drain and reserve.
2. Chop the chicken into chunks wash drain and reserve.
3. Peel the onion wash onion and chop reserve.

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Method:

• In a mixer jar add the prawns pulse twice and reserve in a mixing bowl.
• Add the chicken to the same grinder pulse twice and grind on one speed and add to the prawns.
• In the same grinder jar add onion, coriander, curry leaves, and chilies add splash of water and grind till smooth paste transfer to the chicken and prawn mixture.
• Add ginger and garlic paste, garam masala, soyasauce, lime juice, turmeric and salt to the prawns and chicken mix well cover allow to marinate in the refrigerator for half an hour.
• Spread maida in a plate take small portion of the prawn and chicken mixture and drop in the flour coat well shake of extra flour.
• Spread bread crumbs in a plate. Whisk and reserve the egg. heat oil in a wok on low flame.
• Dip the chicken and prawn poppers in egg and roll it in bread crumbs shake out excess crumbs reserve.
• Once the oil is hot drop the poppers gently one by one in hot oil fry till light golden brown in color on slow flame drain excess oil and place on tissue paper serve hot with lime wedges enjoy...:)

Please do not copy any content with out written permission from me contact me vidyascooking@gmail.com. 

Thank you so much for visiting my blog do try the recipes and post your comments.

Chicken Sliders Recipe (Mini Chicken Burgers)

Chicken Sliders are my favorite can be prepared with less oil, no butter or cheese a tasty yet healthy snack. The chicken patty can be prepared ahead of time after cooking the patty it can be frozen reheated and used when ever your on the go.

I also used a healthy diabetic bun for this recipe these buns are prepared with methi (Fenugreek leaves) and its in bite size portions. If you cannot find methi buns you can use a regular burger bun. regular bread can also be used cut bread slices using cookie cutter toast and then prepare sliders.

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Ingredients to Prepare Sliders:

Methi Buns or Dinner rolls

250 Gram Chicken Breasts

1 Tbsp Ginger and Garlic Paste

1 Medium Onion

1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce 

1 Beaten EGG

250 Grams Bread Crumbs

1 1/2 Tbsp Chilly Powder

Salt as per taste

Oil as required

To prepare ColeSlaw:

Thinly Sliced Cabbage 1 Cup

Thinly Sliced Carrots 1 Cup

1/2 Cup Hung Yogurt 

Salt as per taste

Coriander and mint optional

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 Method:

• Peel and chop onion. wash the chicken and chop into chunks.
• Add the onion and chicken into a mixer jar grind to form a smooth mince do not add water while grinding pulse twice then run the mixer for 1/2 minute on one speed the mince will be done.
• Transfer the mince to a mixing bowl add ginger and garlic paste, chilly powder and worcestershire sauce mix well add salt as per taste mix thoroughly allow the mince to marinate for 1/2hr.

• Using a cutlet mould I took portions of the marinated mince and created uniform patty.
• Dipped in beaten egg then rolled the patty in bread crumbs.
• Heat a pan on low flame add 1 tsp oil gently place the patty allow to fry for 5 minutes on each side flip and fry the patty till cooked and crisp.
• Reserve the patty on a paper towel till the slaw is prepared.
• Since the hung yogurt is chilled i do not prefer to refrigerate the veggies. add the veggies to a mixing bowl with the yogurt and salt mix well and its good to go.
• Place the patty in the bun and top with slaw serve hot with baked potato wedges and enjoy...:)

For pics and content contact me vidyascooking@gmail.com please do not copy without my permission. Thank you so much for visiting my blog do give this recipe a try and post your comments.

The New Menu on Air Asia

After watching The Taj Sats Mega Kitchen on National Geography, little did I know that I will be invited for an exclusive food tasting session by Air Asia. We tasted a total of 19 meals, The meals were thoughtfully put-together the varieties included breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks

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On Air Asia flight travelers have many options to choose from Indian to Italian the meal is portioned in a tiffin(bento) box like container which is filled with carbs, proteins, and vitamins.

The meal is precooked packaged and frozen at the Tajsats Kitchen the frozen meal is then thawed and heads to board the flight. On the deck they use a heavy duty microwave to reheat and serve the meal.

Watch this video on Taj Sats Kitchen its a wonderful documentary for food lovers...

I travel constantly with another airline the breakfast served to me is always processed meats not so filling and I never get eggs for breakfast. As a traveler carbs and protein is important as we tend to walk a lot the airlines play a safe game and don't serve eggs as the egg tends to get rubbery upon reheating. I was totally surprised when Air Asia has egg frittata on the menu it was so tasty the sun dried onion in pulao was also a new addition never seen this before.

I'm totally looking forward to taste a few dishes again on my next flight. The menu also consists a good selection for vegetarians. I will recommend you to take the next flight with Air Asia if the food is good then the travel is awesome. Very neatly packaged, meal planning is awesome, the flavors and taste simply superb never expected flight meals to taste so good. For all the efforts they put to create every meal totally worth every penny the pricing for every meal is too good.

MASALA FRITTATA with CHICKEN and LEEK CROQUETTE, HERB POTATO WEDGES 

AJWAIN POORI, ALOO METHI TAMATARI and VEG CUTLET

SOUTH INDIAN DELIGHT - MYSORE DOSA,MINI KAJIVARAM IDLIES,ANDHRA UPMA

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JRD MENU GRILLED BASAwith PARSLEY LEMON BUTTER MASHED POTATO SAUTEED GREENS

JRD MENU Conchiglie (pasta) in CREAMY PESTO SAUCE WITH VEG

MUSTARD and HERB CHICKEN THIGH WITH PEPPER SAUCE and SAUTEED VEG ZUCHINI and BELL PEPPERS

What is JRD Menu?

The Dishes marked as JRD is very special to the airlines. These dishes were liked and were served to JRD Tata he truly enjoyed the flavors and taste its simple yet very tasty.

CHICKEN IN THAI GREEN CURRY AND STEAMED RICE

VEGETABLES IN RED THAI CURRY

ALOO GOBI KI TEHARI with MIRCH KA SALAN

PANEER LABABDAR, JEERA PULAO WITH DAL 

MURG TIKKA KALIMIRCH, SUN DRIED ONION PULAO WITH DAL 

MYSORE CHICKEN CURRY, LEMON RICE, KEERAI KOOTTU

NON-VEG PIE – SMOKED CHICKEN AND MUSHROOM PIE

VEG-PIE - MIXED EXOTIC VEGETABLE PIE

CHICKEN HAM AND MEXICAN COLESLAW SANDWICH WITH MARBLE BREAD

ROASTED VEGGIES SANDWICH WITH CHEESE AND MINT MAYONNAISE IN MASALA BREAD 

NIZAMI CHICKEN WRAP

PANEER TIKKA and SHEEK KEBAB WRAP

What were my favorites from the spread?

I loved the egg frittata, nizami chicken wraps, herb chicken, basa fish and pesto pasta totally yummy and very filling.

 A glimpse  of the spread 

Smiles Captured at Taj Sats +AirAsia
Visit Air Asia for more info http://www.airasia.com/in/en/home.page