Thursday, November 9, 2017

Chaats Series: Palak Chaat Recipe (Spinach Fritters)

Palak chaat is a popular starter served across buffet restaurants. I come across this starter almost every other day. Since I found spinach fresh and very tender in my local market I planned to prepare this recipe for my blog.


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Ingredients:
2 Bunches Spinach
1 Cup Maida (All Purpose Flour)
1/2 Cup Corn Flour
1 Medium Onion
1 Medium Tomato
1/4 Cup Sev (om podi)
1/2 Cup Whipped Yogurt
Tamarind Chutney
Red Chilly Chutney
1 Whole Pomegranate Seeds
2 Tbsp Chaat Masala
1 Tbsp Paprika
Salt as per taste
Oil for frying.



Prep Up:
Always prep ahead of time to prepare chaats some products can be stored upto weeks like tamarind chutney and red chilly chutney. Prepare both the chutneys and reserve. Please click here to follow red chilly chutney recipe and click here to follow tamarind chutney recipe.

If you are lucky to find spinach cleaned and washed in the super market use it if not separate only the leaves from the stem and wash thrice pat dry and reserve.

Peel, wash and chop the onion and tomato as fine as possible and reserve. 

Whip the yogurt till smooth consistency reserve.


Method:
In a mixing bowl combine maida, corn flour and salt mix well add little water at a time whisk and prepare a batter.

Heat oil in a wok on low to medium flame allow to reach smoking temperature.

Pat dry the spinach leaves well before dipping in batter. Dip the spinach leaves one at a time in the batter and gently drop in hot oil and fry for a minute on each side.

Once the outer cover or the coating turns crisp drain excess oil and reserve on a paper towel.


Assemble just before serving: In a serving platter place one layer of spinach leaves top it with the whipped yogurt.

Sprinkle salt, followed by tamarind chutney and chilly chutney. Top with onion, tomato and sev, sprinkle chaat masala and paprika serve right away...Enjoy 😊

Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Culinary Adventure @Signature Club and Resort, Devanahalli-Bengaluru


Hi Friends, My post Diwali short and sweet getaway was truly a rejuvenating experience. I was invited by the Brigade Group at their newest Signature club resort for a short stay. On the day of arrival we had a cake mixing and ginger bread house making to mark the start of Christmas celebrations. I have also posted detail vlogs on my Youtube Channel. 

Signature Club Resort is located at Devanahalli which is surrounded by historical monuments and sights. A must visit from the resort is nandi hills, local vineyards, Devanahalli fort, Bhoga Nandishwara temple and Lepakshi please pre-plan as per travel schedule. Signature club resort is a perfect getaway for people who dont want to venture far from the city yet can enjoy and complete vacation.



About: Signature Club Resort, a new addition to the Brigade hospitality. Set within Brigade Orchards, a 130 acre smart township in Devanahalli; Signature Club Resort offers 45 exquisite spell binding Executive and Suite rooms to meet the needs of varied segments of travellers. 

The resort is a heavenly escape from the hustle and bustle of the city offering its customers a “Green Carpet Experience”. This pristine environment is maintained because of the resort’s commitment to conserve and sustain the environment through many eco-friendly practices like rain water harvesting, solar powered lights, smart waste disposal and fresh plantations. The Signature Club Resort is also a boon to air travellers as it is located just 15 minutes away from BIAL.


Tour Around the Property and Upcoming projects are featured on my Youtube English Channel.

Aesthetics of Signature ClubResort:
The uniqueness of Signature Club Resort’s design was an attempt to replicate the traditional Mangalorean house. The lobby opens up to a beautiful two tier veranda which resembles tree branches crafted in metal and mangalorean tiles. 

The Veranda opens to a beautiful alfresco area on both sides and an ancient well which was a part of every household in ancient India. The restaurants are strategically located with beautiful settings and green views of the Orchards.

Signature Club Resort satisfies the urge of sport fanatics with two badminton courts, lawn tennis court, billiards and pool tables, a Squash court and a six lane swimming pool. 

The Club Resort provides solutions for health conscious travellers with its ultra-modern gymnasium which is equipped with almost all the latest fitness equipment and also throws a lavish space for aerobics too.
My Room Tour


My room at the signature club resort came with a comfy queen size bed, Wifi, essential toiletries, beverage counter, 120 channels cable network, iron box with table, hair dryer, safe, air conditioner and 24/7 solar hot water.

Cake Mixing and Ginger Bread House Making Vlog




Dinner Buffet

Buffet Spread: Tomato shorba, Chicken Shorba, Murgh kali Mirchi, Hyderabadi chicken curry, Mutton Chops, Sesame Fried Vegetables, Palak paneer, Bhindi do pyaza, Jeera Rice, papad, crispy vegetables, rasam, curd rice and roti as per order. Desserts were fruit custard and gulab jamun, icecream as per choice. Decent buffet spread kids were also served noodles and roti rolls as per order.

Breakfast Buffet

Breakfast Buffet Spread: Beverage as per choice (watermelon, lime juice, coffee, tea, chocolate milk), cornflakes, croissants , muffins, vanilla cakes, bread toast and omelette as per order, boiled eggs, popcorn chicken, baked beans, blue berry pancakes, oats, grilled tomatoes, herb potatoes, alfredo macaroni, rawa idly, rice idly, dosas as per order, vadas, cabbage chutney, coconut chutney, sambar, mint paratha, aloo paratha, uthappam, pongal and upma. Hearty sunday breakfast the entire buffet was packed.


Room Service

Room Service: I ordered golden fried prawns, Hyderabadi mutton biryani, tawa fish fry and coke. Everything was good my order was in time.


About Restaurant and Café:
Tamarind –The all day dining, 64 seated global-cuisine restaurant offers a unique culinary experience with Indian and Continental dishes from across the globe well-crafted dishes for your palette. Signature Club Resort also serves sumptuous buffets on weekends to attract transit customers and weekend traveller.

Courtyard Café – This alfresco style café offers short eats, snacks, desserts and refreshing hot and cold beverages throughout the day for leisure and business travelers. Courtyard café sets the ideal ambience – a constructive day to ponder and brainstorm or a lazy evening to simply sit back and relax.

Pavilion Bar – A world class lounge bar offers an international selection of liquors, liqueurs and mocktails in a classy ambience. The patio – an open air section of the bar bringsone right under the stars and is a perfect place for a romantic date with the beloved.

Random Clicks


Banquet Events
Planning a team retreat, international conference or board meeting? The facilities at Signature Club Resort transform employee into teams over retreats and off-sites. With an array of banquet facilities it can cater up to 2000 guests and are committed to becoming the best venue for events in the city. 

With an in house event management team, the guests can rest assured their needs are taken care through impeccable service and attention to detail.

Jasmine – A multi- purpose activity hall that can accommodate 30 guests at a time and is fully equipped with modern audio and video facilities to make meetings hassle free. 

Silver Oak – A smart Banquet hall with fine décor to suit all occasions & gatherings, and can accommodate 250 guests and hold big meetings and in-door events.

Silver Oaks Lawns – A plush landscape of 3500 sq.ftthat provides world class banqueting experience in a surreal surrounding. Custom made buffets and banquets set-ups can be designed and catered with cuisines from all over the world. The Silver Oak lawns can hold a floating crowd of 1000 guests.

Overall it was truly a awesome getaway not to far from the city totally recommend signature club resort. There is a lot of activities for young and old amidst sprawling nature. 

Sunday, November 5, 2017

Cafe Coffee Day Inspired - Tropical Iceberg Coffee Recipe

I'm recreating and updating few blogs from the past. Tropical iceberg coffee is a popular and most viewed blog post from 2011. Here is my Old Post Link. For this recipe I'm using Filta Fresh Coffee from Cafe Coffee Day.
Filta Fresh Coffee comes in individually vacuum sealed packet. The coffee is potent with 90% coffee and 10% Chicory. Easy to follow instructions just takes 3 steps to prepare filter coffee. I came across this filta fresh coffee at The Serai resorts chikamagaluru. 
Filta Coffee sachets are priced at 20/- per pack and for a entire box is 137/- on Amazon. This sachets are very handy when travelling and makes are great gift for people who travel a lot.


Method to prepare the filta fresh coffee: Bring a cup of water to boil and reserve. Open the filta sachet and place the coffee in a cup there is a holder which can fit to the lip of a cup. 

Moisten the coffee with hot water allow to brew for 20 seconds. Pour the hot water after 20 seconds allow the coffee to brew. Once the coffee has brewed I liked to place the filter in the brew for another minute to extract a stronger blend.
In this recipe you will notice I am combining all ingredients and freezing to form crystals then blending to form a rich drink. Normally at a cafe they add ice cubes to create a thick drink by the time we finish the drink it tends to water-down a lot and loose flavor and taste. Following my method you will have a rich drink till the end and it will not turn watery. 
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Ingredients:
1 1/2 Cups Filta Fresh Coffee or Follow my Filter Coffee Recipe Link 
500 ML Milk + 2 Cups Milk
4 Tbsp Chocolate Syrup
3 Scoops Vanilla Icecream
2 Tbsp Sugar
2 Tbsp Coco Powder
Whipped Cream from a can or use whipping cream powder and pipe it on the coffee as a garnish...
Method:
We normally boil the milk allow it to cool and then place it in fridge and use as required. Since Bangalore has a tropical climate the weather changes from cold to rainy and sunny the milk we buy tends to split and this is the only way to store it.

In a mixing bowl combine the filta coffee, coco-powder, vanilla icecream and 3 tbsp of chocolate syrup whisk well. combine milk (room temp milk or cold milk) slowly whisk cover and place in freezer for 6 to 8 hours this we need the mixture to form crystals.

Once the mixture forms ice crystals add 4 scoops of coffee mixture to a mixer-jar along with 1/2 cup milk, 2 tbsp sugar blend well to form a smoothie.
Decorate a tall tumbler with chocolate syrup pour the prepared smoothie to the tumbler top with whipping cream and garnish with chocolate syrup serve right away...Enjoy 😊
 Please do not use photos for commercial use without permission from me. 

Thursday, November 2, 2017

Band Baaja Barbeque @Barbeque Nation Outlets From 26th Oct to 12th Nov


Indian weddings are never complete without a plethora of food to cater young and old. How lucky am I to get invited for a taste testing  at BARBEQUE NATION ‘BAND BAJA BARBEQUE’. 

‘Band Baja Barbeque’ - a wedding themed food festival from October 26th – November 12th enjoy the thrills and celebrations of the wedding season at all 9 Barbeque Nation outlets in Bangalore. The décor, menu and activities will offer guests a feel of the wedding season.

MENU Vegetarians can begin with Pardesi Piya Ke Paneer Wale Tikke– chunksof paneer marinated in spices and grilled to perfection. Indulge in Taka Tak Mushroomi Mausi– succulent mushrooms stuffed with garlic and chilies’ to give a twist on the usual. 

Non-vegetarians can dig into Nawabi Jija Ke Ghost Seekh–minced lamb moulded into skewers and cooked to delight the mughali food craving. Seafood lovers can enjoy scrumptious Amritsari Fufa Ji Ki Machliyan – fish marinated to create a unique flavor experience.


From Live Counters- choose interesting dishes like Banarasi Dewar Ji ke Manpasand Aaloo– a rich preparation made with whole and ground spices, tomatoes, cashews and fresh cream, Tawa Non Veg- roasted meat pieces cooked in spicy, Khala Ki Lajawabi Bhindi -a spicy deep fried ladies finger recipe prepared with chick pea flour and other Indian spices,diners can pick from interesting desserts like Moong Daal Halwa and Malai Sandwich...

My Experience at Kalyan-nagar  BBQ Nation Outlet...
We Started with a strong and cold beer

Followed by spicy fish, prawns, chicken skewers on the table...

Up next were palate cleansers mixed tropical fruit skewers which can also be matched with grilled meats...
Round 2 meat skewers...
Pick and choose unlimited meat skewers as per your taste...From the skewers my favourite was chicken and prawns...

Condiment to match skewers: Chilly sauce, garlic sauce and mango chilly sauce...

Chilly Vinegar to brush on grilled meats 
Mint Chutney for Kebabs 
Crispy corn 
Mutton Seekh Kabab
Dahi Vada
Channa Chop and Chole Chop

Grill vegetables and Pani Poori Live Counter
Pita Bread
Bhuna Chicken 
Murgh Shikampuri Kabab
My picks from the live counter was Shikampuri Kabab and bhuna chicken...

Buffet Spread
Pickles and Salad Counter

Nonveg Buffet Consisted of: Chicken Shorba(soup), Chilly chicken, Chicken Dum Biryani, Dhaba Gosht, Masaledaar Macchi, and Murgh Makhani
Vegetarian Buffet Consisted of : Vegetarian Manchurian, Noodles, Dhal tadka and rice, mixed vegetable curry, crispy corn, Dum aloo, muttar paneer, Vegetable Dum Biryani... 
Naans, curd rice, papads and chutney were additional served as per preference...

Fruit and Dessert Counter: Kala Jamun, Hot Jalebi, Double ka Meetha, besan Ladoo and Fruits.

What did I eat from the spread??
From the starters I enjoyed the seekh, chicken tikka, Cajun potatoes, prawns and fish tikka...


From the mains: Noodles, chicken soup, crispy corn, chilly chicken, chicken biryani, and dhaba gosht with butter naan from desserts i chose jalebi, kala jamun, kulfi and double ka meetha...


Butter naan
Mango Kulfi
Jalebi
Kala Jamun and Double ka mettha

This is my first time visiting a marriage themed food festival very innovative and creative food festival. The restaurant was packed for the festival everyone were celebrating anniversary, birthdays and so on...the atmosphere was very lively. 

Team of chefs have curated wonderful dishes  everything tasted good from skewers to kababs, live counter grilled veggies to chaats and not to forget the mains like chicken biryani and meat curries with butter naans it was truly a feast. 

Service was good, quality of food was good  overall wonderful experience one of a kind marriage themed food festival in Bangalore. My three picks from the entire menu would be the shikampuri kabab, biryani and jalebi. 

Band Baja Barbeque is worth a visit friends...
DATE October 26th – November 12th
TIME Lunch and Dinner Hours

VENUE In Barbeque Nation’s 9 outlets in Bangalore (Indiranagar, JP Nagar, Lido Mall, Kormangala, Kalyan Nagar, Marathahalli, Rajajinagar, Electronic City and Whitefield).



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ABOUT BARBEQUE NATION
Barbeque Nation is a pioneer in India to promote ‘DIY’ (do-it-yourself) cuisine with a concept of live on-the-table grill in India and is the largest casual dining brand in the country. The restaurant offers a pre-fixed menu with a fixed price. The menu is drawn from Mediterranean, American, Oriental, Asian and Indian subcontinent. With more than 86 outlets across the nation, it offers a happy blend of various cuisines in both vegetarian and non-vegetarian choices.

Cost Average meal for two: Rs. 1600

Contact Number 080  6060 0000/01


Street Food Series: Chilli Parotta Recipe


Chilly Parotta is classic street food snack or a tiffin item from tamilnadu. I got to taste this dish for the first time at saravana bhavan located at hosur many years ago and since then I'm a huge fan of that saravana bhavan in hosur. 

I highly recommend this saravana bhavan location. Its has become a tradition for me to order a portion of chilly parotta for myself along with coffee here. There is no chance to miss this dish when at chennai its listed at all restaurants and many street vendors prepare this as per order with or with out chicken.

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Ingredients:
3 Parottas
2 Tomatoes
1 Medium Size Onion
1 Medium Size Capsicum
5 Green Chillies
2 Dried Red Chillies
1/2 Tbsp Chilly Powder
1/2 Tbsp Kitchen King Masala
1/2 Tsp Coriander Powder
1/2 Tbsp Ginger and Garlic Paste
4 Pods Garlic
1/2 Inch Ginger
3 Sprigs Curry Leaves
Oil for frying 
Salt as per taste...
I've used store bought parotta for this recipe. It is very easy to prepare this parotta at home and store in bulk till use I normally stock it in a zip pack in the freezer and heat it in a microwave till use. Recipe Link: Basic Parotta Recipe
In basic of Indian cooking series, I have featured my moms recipe for ginger and garlic paste we always have a small box of ginger and garlic paste to use for many recipes and this recipe is an excellent addition...ready to use must have ingredient in the fridge. Recipe Link: Basics-of-indian-cooking-series (Ginger and Garlic Paste)

Method:

Prep Up:
Add the tomato to a mixer jar grind to form a smooth paste.
Wash, peel and finely chop onion, garlic and ginger.
Slit the green chillies.
Chop Capsicum into small pieces.
Using scissors or pizza cutter chop the parottas into bite size cubes.
Heat oil for frying in a wok.


Lets assemble:
When heating oil for frying always place on very low flame and allow to reach temperature for frying any dish.

Gently drop a small portion of the chopped parottas in oil and fry on low to medium flame. Keep tossing the parottas pieces and fry for a minute on each side if the oil temp drops place on medium flame and fry till light brown.

Once the parottas turn light golden in color drain from excess oil and reserve in a plate lined with tissue paper. Allow the excess oil to drain.Fry the entire batch of parottas in the same way fry in small batches.

Use the same wok to prepare the chilly masala. I used only 2 tbsp of the fried oil and started to add all the ingredients. Add the onion, chillies, curry leaves, capsicum, chopped ginger and garlic along with ginger and garlic paste fry all the ingredients till the onion turns transparent.

Once the onion turns transparent add the chilly powder, coriander powder, garam masala and tomato paste fry till oil separates. Add salt as per taste and the fried parottas mix well. Garnish with loads of coriander, finely chopped onion or spring onion and lime juice...Enjoy😊