A Lot Can Happen Over a Cup Of Coffee at ‘The Square’.

The invite at ‘The Square’ was to explore the world of ‘Single Origin’ coffees with Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal and Rhicha Sinha for an interesting session of historical journey of coffee in India. Naturally I was curious, because last year, during my visit to Canary Island, I had done the study of the coffee culture in Spain and I wanted to know how it differed from India.

‘The Square’ Café Coffee Day specializes in single origin coffee

Single Origin Coffee, as explained by Rhicha Sinha, is the one that is specific to one particular origin. It could be entire geographical region, a small village or even one particular hill. What makes it so special is that aroma and the taste of the beans differ depending on the specific mix of tangible and intangibles characteristics of that particular area in such a way that it is impossible to replicate anywhere else in the world.

The four different beans that were displayed at the cooking station in jute bags had very strong and sweet aroma. But the actual taste of the coffee was from freshly roasted, ground coffee that was in the plunger. Rhicha Sinha, who is the senior manager and beverage consultant at Coffee Day, explained that the right method to brew the coffee was with hot mineral water. She spoke about how much research they had done to distinguishing the taste of different beans and the number of coffee cups she consumes per day..

The session started with brief talk by Rushina who expressed her love for coffee and her involvement with the company since last two years. Rushina, being a foodie, has great ideas for matching food with beverages.

“We all know that food and wine can be incorporated and there are lots of other food and beverage match that people have tried to do- sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t work- for eg whisky and food, I think whisky should be had on its own. What is interesting is that we can also match the coffee with food. With coffee it actually works. You can drink coffee to wash down a snack, it can be spicy n cheesy, it could be sweet and nutty, you can pair it and it compliments with the food and it’s worth exploring. The idea is to taste them and take them where you will, with your personal coffee experience and your personal coffee story.” She said.

Rhicha on the other hand took us through the journey of coffee by making us experience the different brewed coffee and their accompaniment with the snack. The journey started with ‘Ethopian Sidamo’ the birthplace of coffee, which is harvested by hand to deliver a bean of exceptional quality and this was served with delicious tacos. This was followed with coffee of Indian origin, Mysore Nuggets extra bold, Indian Kathlekhan superior and Rajgiri pearl with accompaniments such as nutty pastry, pizza and cookie.

“It involves many years of blending and brewing. In fact, the launch of The Square is the revolution since five years and it was very apt for us to have café that serves single origin coffee and we truly believe that single origin coffee is not just about selling a cup of coffee to our guest but also creating awareness about what these special coffee are.” Says Rhicha

Rushina used coffee in cooking of BBQ sauce (she did live demo at the end of the session) and it tasted delicious. One of these days I plan to make this sauce.

Signature Recipe specially created by Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal for CCDSquareUP

Katlekhan Barbecue Sauce.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp oil                                        1 ¾ Onions        chopped           

6Garlic cloves chopped                 4tbsp green chilies      

½ cup brown sugar                       2tbsp chili powder

2tbsp fresh coriander leaves                  1tsp cumin ground

200gms tomatoes, chopped          100gms tomato puree

1 stock cube                                  1cup strong Katlekhan coffee freshly brewed

Method

·     

Heat oil in heavy, large saucepan over medium-high heat

·      Add onions, garlic and chili and sauté until onions are tender, about 7minutes

·      Add brown sugar, chili powder, honey, coriander and cumin, stir until sugar dissolves

·      Stir in tomatoes with puree, crumbled stock cube and coffee, bring to boil

·      Reduce heat and simmer uncovered until sauce thickens slightly and is reduced.

·      Stir often while on the heat for about 35minutes

·      Check seasoning and add salt or pepper as needed.

I found Katlekahn Coffee candied nut mix (made by Rushina) in the foodie bag that I brought back home, and I couldn’t stop eating.

It was a fun afternoon meeting with other food bloggers and other persons from social print media. There were many ideas exchanged and the conversation was mainly around ‘food’ I think I had too many cups of coffee during the session, and then a feast over coffee infused candied nut mix, which kept me high for a long time and kept me awake much longer than my normal sleeping hours.

Now you can watch our great experience filmed on U-tube.....

                 

‘A Pinch Of This, A Handful of That’ by Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal

Rushina, being a food blogger, she takes you through her passion of cooking with variety of anecdotes about the people closer to her. It is interesting to read about her first attempt of making tea with the help of her mother, about the charm of her Moti Mummy, who pickled tomatoes and lemon when they were bountiful in season, you understand her sense of culinary adventures that she inherited from her Nani who inspired her to recognize the ingredients by its taste.

Every section begins with an emotive story as you walk with her into her kitchen, meet different people in her life and read about her food adventures.

Every recipe gives a brief description about the dish, followed by step-by-step-easy-to-follow method of preparation.

On page 112, she writes:

“Kheema Pasta was a wicked combination of pasta and dense, grainy spicy kheema that was an occasional feature of the Friday ‘Conte food night’ at Maya. And this kheema pasta- the unholy result of spaghetti bolognaise corrupted with spices and silky Bombinos’ macaroni (not healthy durum wheat pasta touted as proper these days, but the maida version that reduces us to a stodgy mess if overcooked)- is the reason why the finest spaghetti bolognaise pales in comparison for me even today”

The book is the mixture of international and national dishes, there are Mexican, Chinese, Italian, Vietnamese recipes and then, there are traditional Indian recipes learnt in informal set up with house members and close friends

The ‘Index of Recipes’ is bit tricky to follow initially if you are searching for a particular recipe, and one needs to go through line-by-line to see the list, however, there is a surprise element when you suddenly stumble about a recipe that you would like to try on. 

Rushina has her own style of animated writing that actually transports you into her kitchen, you can feel her presence as you follow her method of cooking while churning out your favorite dish..

The book did inspire me to cook and here is my ‘Kheema Pasta’ lifted from the page 112 of this book. 

The recipe of Kheema Pasta appears in Rushina’s book at page 112

Time 1hour/ Serves 6-8

Ingredients

1/2cup ghee

2-3 cloves

1’ cinnamon stick

5-6 whole black peppercorn

2 green chilies, chopped

500 gams onions, finely chopped

1kg mutton minced

1tsp ginger-garlic paste

1/2tsp red chili powder

1/2tsp turmeric powder

1tsp garam masala powder

500gms tomatoes, finely chopped

salt to taste

500gms Pasta

Garnish

1cup coriander leaves

Method

Put the ghee in a large heavy-bottomed pan on medium heat. When hot, add the whole spices, green chilies and onions. Stir fry till the onions have lost all their moisture and are well-browned.

Add the mince and stir to break up the lumps as it cooks

Add garlic-ginger paste and stir-fry till it has released its juices. Keep cooking till dried out. At this point, your mince will be crumbly and well on its way to browning.

Mix in the spice powder, reduce the heat and stir-fry till fragrant.

Add tomatoes, mix well and cook, stirring occasionally, till the tomatoes disappear and the ghee rises to the surface.

Add salt to taste. Your kheema should be slightly saltier than you would like because the pasta will come in.

Add the previously cooked pasta and mix well. (This is where a big pan comes in handy because things begin to fall out otherwise)

Cover and cook for few minutes, open and a fragrant cloud of steam, laden with aromas will rise up-awesome!

Wash the coriander leaves thoroughly in several changes of water. Drain well and chop fine.

Spoon the pasta in a serving dish, top with the coriander leaves and serve. You can serve it with bread and a salad on the side, but I never bother, because nobody touches anything else once the pasta is served.

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