Celebrating Year of Monkey @SHAO - Hotel Park Plaza, Marathahalli, Bangalore

Celebrations kick-started at Bengaluru to mark the Year of the Monkey. SHAO- Oriental fine dining located at the 1st floor of Park Plaza Hotel, hosted me for Chinese New Year 2016.

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Ambiance: The essence of Chinese culture extends to the ambiance of this restaurant which has an eclectic mix of traditional designs and stylish artifacts, highlighted with modern contemporary decor. The feel of grandeur along with the live kitchen. The Live kitchen showcasing guests the action and culinary skills of chefs at work 

The Food: Cuisines from across Asia are celebrated at this elegant and sophisticated restaurant. The menu gathers dishes from as far afield as Thailand, Japan, and China.

Shao is famous for dimsums and steam cooked buns served in traditional bamboo steamers. Variety of noodles and a selection of meats and fish prepared in the Szechuan,Cantonese and Hunan style of cooking. Vegetarians can feast on soup, stir fry veggies, spring rolls and more...

Chef Narender Singh

Food and Celebrations – they go together, don’t they? Here is  What Chef Narender and Team have created on Chinese New Year!

Noodles: Long noodles to symbolize long life. Gorge on Soba (buckwheat) noodles,rice flat noodles, glass noodles and many others at Shao.

Chinese tea: The Chinese New Year is a time to offer tea with well wishes and an opportunity to make deeper connections. Sip a cup of Taiwanese High Mountain Oolong or Long Jing Green between courses or all through your meal at Shao

Dumplings: Dumplings are a sign of the family unit and of perfection.Chicken: Chicken is served because it is figured that any family, no matter how humble their circumstances, can afford a chicken for Chinese New Year.

Fish: Is usually eaten or merely displayed on the eve of Chinese New Year. The pronunciation of fish makes it a homophone for "surpluses". A special fish will be prepared and served to the head of the family. 

The head of the family portions the

fish for everyone at the table symbolizing the beginning of the meal. However, be careful to leave some of it behind as a sign of surplus for the whole year!

Mandarin oranges: Mandarin oranges are the most popular and most abundant fruit during Chinese New Year and are a homophone of "luck" or "fortune". 

These adorn the center of every table at Shao through the Chinese New Year celebrations. celebrate tradition and culture and get a small glimpse of the Chinese way of life.

Raspberry Mint Cooler

Crispy Apple in Sweet Chilly Sauce

 Prawn Crackers

Gyoza and Dragon Chicken with pepper sauce

Lung Fung Soup: prepared in chicken broth with black mushrooms, veggies, prawns and chicken...

Mantou Steam Cooked Buns

Whole Fried Fish with fresh vegetables and schezwan sauce.

Roasted Lamb slices with bokchoy

Pan Fried Long Noodles

Ka Saun Tofu

Jasmine Rice

Stir Fried Soba Noodles

Vegetable Stir Fry 

Hunan Style Sliced Chicken with assorted peppers

Shredded Shitake with Asparagus

Jasmine Tea

Crispy  Fresh Fruit Rolls with Icecream

 

Kane (Lady Fish Fry) Recipe

Kane/Lady fish fry is something new that I tasted at mangalore. This recipe is prepared two ways with a spicy wet masala paste on top or the crispy version which is an excellent starter. 

To achieve the taste and texture its all in the masala. Freshly ground spicy bafat masala is smeared over the fish and is cooked with in few hours of marination its simply superb...:)

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Ingredients:

500 Grams Kane (Lady Fish)

1/2 Cup Rice Flour 

3 Tbsp Fish Fry or Kabab masala

2 Tbsp Egg White

1 Cup Semolina

1 Pinch Asafoetida Powder

1 Tbsp Chilly Powder

 Salt as per taste

Oil for frying

Bafat Masala Recipe Please Click Here.

Method:

I get my fish cleaned and ready to go from the fish stall itself. once I get it home I need to wash it thoroughly and drain the excess water using a colander and start preparing.

Once the fish is clean add the bafat masala, fish fry masala, salt and egg white smear the masala over the fish and allow to marinate for 1/2 hour before use.

Place a pan with oil on medium heat.

In a large plate add the semolina, rice flour, chilly powder and 1 tsp salt mix well and reserve.

Take the fish one by one and roll in semolina.

Drop the fish in hot oil and start shallow frying until both sides turn crispy and the fish is cooked. please cook the fish on low to medium flame it would take 10 minutes to fry each batch.

Once the fish turns crispy and looks cooked drain the excess oil and place on a tissue or kitchen towel serve hot with lemon wedges and toasted curry leaves and chilly flakes...Enjoy...:)

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BAFAT MASALA PASTE RECIPE

The multipurpose Mangalorean bafat masala is either a dry powder or paste version, This masala can be used for fish or chicken fry. If my mood permits I use it to grill veggies the spice blend is awesome has the right amount of heat and flavors. The paste version can be preserved in a airtight container refrigerated up-to 2 weeks. 

We can also prepare a dry roast version do not add tamarind or vinegar for dry masala we need to add those just before marinating meats or veggies...If you dry roast all the spices and grind to powder format store in airtight container and refrigerate stays fresh till 4 weeks. 

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Ingredients:

10 Dried Kashmiri Chilies

15 Dried Guntur or Cherry Chilies (Spicy)

2 Whole Garlic bulbs peeled 

2 Tbsp Peppercorns 

1 Tbsp Fenugreek (Methi)

1 Tbsp Mustard

1 Tbsp Cumin

2 Tbsp Chilly Powder

1 Tbsp Turmeric Powder

Lime Size Tamarind or 4 Tbsp Vinegar/lime-juice

1 Tbsp Salt

Method:

Pre-Preparations for this recipe is important we need to soak the dried red chilies in warm water for 1 hour so that they grind to form a smooth paste.

In a mixer-jar add both the chilies along with tamarind blend well.

Add all the whole and powdered spices along with garlic pods grind to form a smooth paste we can add a splash of water if needed.

Mix 1 tbsp powdered salt in the masala place in a airtight container refrigerated till use.

CULINARY ADVENTURE WITH CHEF JOLLY #NH48 PART 3 MANGALORE

Our journey continues from sakleshpur to mangalore. The drive from sakleshpur was amazing. The sharp curvy roads led us to untouched wilderness we passed through many plantations, woodlands, picturesque views, and the foggy climate added to the charm...Uff the mystical charm that fog creates...

The Mangalore Express Highway is truly amazing we reached mangalore (lalbagh) around 2 pm. All of us were super hungry and the weather surprisingly was bit humid than expected. Mangalore truly has wonderful structures first colonial style building that I noticed was the MCC (Mangalore City Cooperation) the government building looks classy and stylish here.

We wanted to finish lunch first before heading to udupi. Chef Jolly and team led us to a restaurant called foodlands located at lalbagh road mangalore it is said to be one of the best shetty restaurants in that area. Once all of us settled down a bit at foodlands we got to meet the owner Ashish Shetty.

Foodland whips up some amazing dishes,  I've not tasted fish so fresh and tasty before they serve  generous portions. The kori roti (Free range chicken curry served with a crispy rice bread) was super tasty and I felt it was an authentic recipe and was right...When I told Ashish the kori roti was superb he gently nods his head with a smile and says its my grandma's recipe. 

What we tasted at foodlands...

Spicy Buttermilk (Lassi)

Crispy Fried Kane

Pomfret Pulimunchi

Koli Gassi and Fish Gassi (Anchovies) With Rice

Chicken Sukka

Kori Roti

Kane Pulimunchi

Chicken Pulimunchi

 After a terrific meal we boarded back in the car and headed towards Udupi...Thank you so much for reading part-3 of culinary adventure with chef jolly...In part 4 I will showcase a Udupi Brahmin family and an adventures meal.

CULINARY ADVENTURE WITH CHEF JOLLY #NH48 PART- 2 SAKLESHPUR

The Drive from Hassan to Sakleshpur was around 45 minutes. Saleshpur nestled in the foothills of western ghats seems to be a retreat. Surrounded by captivating mountains and greenery the calm and peaceful environment is a haven for campers. Sakleshpur is know for pepper, coffee, kallu (slowcooked beans) and roti.

We stopped by surabhi hotel to savor some akki/rice roti and coffee. Chef jolly and team wanted to see the entire process how these fluffy rotis are made. 

The restaurant owners were bit reluctant to allow us in the kitchen once they got to know chef jolly they were more then happy to accommodate all of us in a tiny kitchen located at the basement.

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These rice rotis are made from IR8 rice. Cream of rice is cooked and salt is added once cool to the touch.They knead the rice to form a dough and this process needs lot of practice and patience. 

The dough ball is pressed in a roti press and then cooked on stove the roti puffs like a pillow and here in bangalore we call it ubbu roti. 

Please click here for akki roti recipe and also watch the video Like +Comment+Subscribe to me on Youtube..

After a wonderful master class on ubbu roti...All of us had wonderful creamy coffee totally satisfied we started our journey and headed towards mangalore.

Thank you so much for reading Part- 2 of Culinary Adventure. I will take you across mangalore and udupi in the upcoming posts. 

CULINARY ADVENTURE WITH CHEF JOLLY #NH48 PART 1 HASSAN

Chef Surjan Singh Jolly Director F&B- JW Marriott and Judge at Master Chef India plans a road trip (Culinary adventure) all of a sudden nothing planned...do you want to join us asked my friend blogger? I thought this was a prank and...very casually said yeahright! let me know whenever this trip is and will join you. 

Until...

I got a call the day before leaving Bangalore from his PR and The Chef Himself invited me to join them on this totally unexpected trip. My heart was pounding hard...emotions uncontrollable never ever traveled with a bunch of strangers before and specially a celebrity I was star struck for sure...:P 

Once confirmed...How could I sleep the entire night...At 2 am brushed and bathed...dressed quickly and it was 3 am my blogger friend came over to pick me...I rushed down the stairs like a rocket and jumped in his car we left.

At JW Marriott we met the chef in person...He looked charming and dashing as always. We grabbed quick bites and a coffee without wasting any more time all of us boarded the car for an unforgettable trip of a life time #NH48.

At the Break of dawn we reached Hassan. Hassan seemed to be relaxed no traffic around the residential area was quite. We came across a road vendor selling spicy hot masala dosas and tea. The timing was perfect we had to stop over for breakfast and enjoyed the best street food had to offer us...

Fiery Hot Masala Dosa on my plate...

Please click here for dosa batter recipe.

Please click here for masala dosa recipe. Do watch Like + Comment and subscribe to me on Youtube

Man selling fresh chickpeas...its a snack and vegetable when its tender...

A cosy countryside house.

Chef and his team found a man selling tender cucumbers on the Highway...they were so fascinated...

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After a wonderful breakfast and a quick look around the country side. We boarded the car and were in search of more food specifically a local delicacy called akki roti. 

Our car drove back on the highway...we landed in sakleshpura...Thank you so much for reading part 1.

 Do follow me on my journey to sakleshpura and mangalore...:)