Sunday, November 3, 2019

The Sri Lankan Cuisine at #WildAsparagusTable – Episode Four




The romance with #WildAsparagusTable continues




Sometimes I feel I am sailing in a cruise called #WildAsparagusTable, stopping at one city to try the cuisine of that place. Our captains, our guides…Ananya Banerjee and Saloni Malkani…steer the ship towards one destination every month, and we learn not just about food, but culture, dress style and sometimes pick up few language skills too. We have covered France, Mexico, Germany and this month it was SriLanka.

We are inspired and encouraged to swim into unknown waters, experimenting cuisines that we have never tried before. One month we spent sailing through net, googling-reading different food blogs, admiring food pictures, watching videos and hoping that we are able to match the ethnic taste of the natives.

During this month I learnt that #SriLankancuisine is the mixture of many cuisines (Indian, Indonesian, Singaporean, Asian) with different curries, flatbreads, rice. The ingredients popularly used are coconut (in different forms) tamarind, curry leaves, caramelised onions, chilies and spices.

What I didn’t know was that it has such a big variety of curries and desserts….my foodie friends surprised me when I finally saw the menu. Yes it’s a potluck. Each member prepares one speciality of the place, it may be tried and tasted, or just an experiment with new ingredients to explore new cuisine.

Eyes opened wide when the menu is made



And the eyes opened wider when The food is cooked…..we stand drooling, wondering what to start with, how much to eat. Everybody takes great effort to make a dish, so it will not be fair if we are too full to skip any dish. The trick is to skip dinner and breakfast and concentrate on only one lunch, savour each dish slowly, enjoy the fragrance, the textures, and the flavours of each dish.Take your own sweet time….



Our hostess, Rummy (Inderpreet Nagpal) had taken utmost care in setting the long dinning table with beautiful serving dishes and cutlery, a big spread of jasmine flowers surrounded the rows of burning lamps, Great selection of books lined neatly over the shelf, drinks were served from revolving turn table at the bar and the centre table  in the living room displayed assortments of Vegetarian thali, Non-vegetarian thali and great variety of desserts. The beauty was that every dish was cooked with love and interest and every dish tasted awesome.




To add to the zest of the feast, some were dressed in typical Sinhalese sarees. Common ice-breaker was “So, what did you cook?” Discussion was mainly around, (what else?) Food and recipes….

Throughout the afternoon there was uproar of happy laughter, as different jokes did their rounds in-between mouthful of tasty bites.



Ananya cooked the traditional dish Lamparis.

The Lamprais, an influence of the Dutch Burgher community. It's rice that's been cooked in meat stock, stuffed with curry, meatballs and brinjal. This is wrapped in a banana leaf packet that's then steamed.”-She said. It was  Delicious!






During my research, I discovered that Wambatu mojo is the favourite dish prepared in every Sri Lankan home. It’s a kind of Brinjal pickle, it had interesting recipes and I decided to experiment on this dish




It was a simple recipe.

1. Half kg of brinjals are cut into thick strip, salt and turmeric is added to it and is kept for some time and then deep fried in small batches till dark brown.

2. Half kg of shallots, slit and deep fried

3. 100gms of green chillies, slit and deep fried.

4. 50gms curry leaves washed and deep fried

5. Pound together into a smooth paste
1tbsp mustard seeds
4 cloves of garlic
1inch ginger
1tbsp sugar
1tsp red chilli powder
salt to taste

6. Add vinegar
combine and it should be sweet sour and hot.

7. Mix in with deep fried brinjals, shallots, green chillies and curry leaves.

8. Keep it for few hours to mature.




Enjoyed meeting all the home chefs and came home with the tastiest SriLankan pickle made specially for all by our most gracious hostess. 







Thank you so much!!






A special thank you to our afternoon refreshment courtesy 



Tuesday, October 1, 2019

The German Cuisine On #WildAsparagusTable- Version Three


What do Germans eat? 

That was the first question that popped on my mind when this month theme #GermanPotluck was announced. I have never been to Germany and from the little that I knew I thought that the German eat only breads, cakes, sausages, potatoes and drink lots of beer.. But over the month of discussions with my foodie friends, foodbloggers and homechefs- and some virtual research on the net, I began to understand that the Germans appreciate food that is healthy, well prepared and served with care. Its cuisine is influenced by its neighboring cities like France and Italy and it is a culinary delight waiting to be explored.



My foodie friends are also very adventurous. They were willing to research the food culture and try out new dishes.The dishes that were prepared were outstanding and such large variety food is difficult to find even in an authentic German restaurant.

Don’t believe me???

This was the variety of dishes prepared at our #WildAsperagusTable that was held at #Gymkhana91 last Saturday lunch.



Name:Shital Kakad
Insta: ShitalKakad
Dish: KartoffelWaffleln, German Potato Waffles (Eggfree)

Name:Aruna Shetty
Insta:@kitchenshetty
Dish: German Sourdough bread

Name: Mahrukh Noshir Mogrelia
Dish: Sauerbraten (Mutton Roast)

Name: Pratiba
Dish: Cheese platter




Name:Salloni Malkani
Insta:@Sallonim2
Dish: Baked cauliflower


Name: Anjali Bhargava
Insta:Anjbhargava
Dish: Paprika sahane Hähnchen ( Paprika Cream Chicken )

Name: Renuka Nadkarni
Insta: just.a.pinchofsalt
Dish: Kartoffelsalat / German potato salad

 Name: Moumita
Insta: moumita0904
Dish: Pan fried sweet potato with eggs & chicken sausage)                          




Name: Aarthi Basrur
Insta: aarthi.b.gastronomic_flight
Dish: Krautwickel / Kohlrouladen (German Cabbage Roll) veg

Name: Binal Valand
Insta: binal_valand
Dish: käse spätzle (contains egg)

Name: Indrani Sen
Insta:indraniwillteach
Dish: schupfnudel (potato gnocchi) maultaschen(flour dumplings stuffed with minced lamp and spinach)

Name: Shilpa Seth Bhambri
Insta:@shilpasethbhambri
Dishes: Gurkensalat - German Cucumber Salad and
Herrencreme-Sweetened mousse



Name:  Ananya Banerjee
Insta: chefananyabanerjee
Dishes: Konigsberger Klopse(German Meatballs) and Butterkuchen


Name: Bimba Nayak
Insta:@BimbaNayak
Dish: German Cookies

Name: Shivani Vakil Savant
Insta: @TheOddHourKitchen
Dish: Marmorkuchen (marble cake)

Name:Ketaki Likhite
Insta: @whiskandvanilla
Dish: Apple Cake (versunkener apfelkuchen)





Name:Manisha Talim
Insta: @sugarsnapmumbai
Dish: Linsen Eintopf ...German Lentil Soup with Chicken Broth and Pork Sausages


The first word I learnt was Eintoph (meat and vegetable stew). Dr Manisha Talim takes me down to ‘The forgotten Nazi history of ‘One pot meal where “Cooking in ‘one pot’ (ein Topf) was supposed to symbolize the Nazi creation of ‘one people’ (ein Volk), the crafting of a delicious casserole by combining diverse ingredients analogous to the uniting of the various native German peoples into a single and self-sustaining whole.” 



I was confused for days debating on what should I learn first?...The pronunciation (the long and difficult words) or the recipes.


And then I stumbled upon #GermanPizza called #flammkeuchen pronounced as flam.cook..in or flame bread. This has the thin crispy crust with cheese as base (unlike tomato salsa that is used in Italian pizza). I used unsalted crackers (instead of pizza base) and coated with the mixture of hung curd and cream cheese . For topping i used caramalized onion (goodness...it took so much time to cook the onions to perfection..had added salt and vinegar too ro give a bit of flavor) added grilled  vegetarian meat and covered with grated gruyere cheese.. baked it for 10 minutes.



Although I reached the venue an hour later.(crazy traffic light and insensitive traffic policeman ).but the pizza remained fresh and was enjoyed even though it was cold.

Our thirst quencher: #BluePine Artesian Water had sent bottles of their alkaline water. Love their glass bottles.
We had several pints of Fuller's London Pride, #londonspride an original ale , smooth , rich and wonderfully balanced. I didn’t have any at the venue but took a bottle of beer for my nephew to taste.



“London Pride is an interesting beer. It has a nice blend of a little bitter yet light and smooth. So its extremely well balanced almost like it was crafted carefully to tickle your flavor like a wine yet the large gulps quite enjoyable.” Says my nephew Rajeev, whom I ask the feedback for tasting this beer.

London Pride is known for its balance of malt and hops, giving rise to a well-rounded flavour. Crystal malts combine with spring-harvested Pale Ale varieties Concerto and Propino, to give Pride its inimitable depth and balance.

A big thanks to Saloni Sameer Malkani and Ananya Banerjee  for creating such a plaform of #WildAsperagusTable where we get an opportunity to explore the cuisine and culture from different parts of the world without a travel ticket or Visa and still learn to understand the different ways of cooking the same common ingredients in diverse ways.



You can read the French Chapter of #WildAsperagusTable HERE


Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Chai Shai Aur Batein –Super Food- Rajgira


Now I have never known Rajgira nor knew Rajgira flour is known as Amarnath atta. So when Shital Kakad announced Ragjira as the superfood for this month’s potluck at Chai Shai aur Batain, I quickly clicked GoogleMaster to learn something more about this...

Amaranth or rajgira means “immortal” or “everlasting” in Greek because it contains more than three times the average amount of calcium and is also high in iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and it is the only grain which contains Vitamin C. Rajgira also has far more lysine, an essential amino acid, which the body does not manufacture, compared to other grains. Lysine is needed to metabolise fatty acids, absorb calcium, and is essential for strong, thick hair.


But what to make when I do not know how it will behave? And what to make?

Rabia Patel, my friend,  made my task easier by asking me to make a #sindhicuisine Daal Pakwaan that she loves to eat.

Baas..that made things easier..kyun ki now I was set to make just pakwaan of Rajgira.

Doing research with family and friends also helped. Consulting with them, I learnt how it can be used...
"for making puris..add mashed potatoes” said one friend. 
You could add rava flour to make it crispy” said another..

That gave me idea that it might be tricky to roll out puris, finally I decided on adding maida on instruction of my cousin sister.

 Lets experiment” said my cousin who had come to spend some time with me. She made a dough taking equal proportions of maida and Rajgira atta..added 1tsp cumin seeds and salt. We added ghee to make a smooth dough. First two puris were soft and thick..whereas pakwaan are normally thin and crispy..and therefore, we rolled out thinner circles making dents with the fork

Voila!! We had crispy puris....



They were dark brown..but quite tasty.

Everybody raves about dhal pakwaan, but a novice will wonder what is so great about it? Its just chana dhal and crispsy puris...But the actual taste, my friend,  is in the accompaniments..it is best enjoyed with mint chutney and onions soaked in tamarind sauce..that is the taste that you enjoy..sweet, spicy and sour dhal with crispy puris...

So, this was my contribution for the potluck this week with #homechefs at '#ChaiShaiaurBataain hosted by Shital Kakad at her beautiful cook studio 'ShitalFoodCottage



Sharing the recipe toh banta hai...here is how I make it

For Puris
Mix 1cup Rajgira Flour and 1 cup maida
Add half tsp salt
Add half tsp cumin seeds
Mix and make stiff dough add just half cup water
Roll out thin circular shapes
Prick it with fork or knife
Deep fry till crisp


For dhal
Soak 2cups channa dhal for 2 hours
In a pressure cooker, stir fry 1 tsp cumin seeds in 1tbsp of ghee
Add 1 pinch of hing
Add the soaked dhal
Add salt and 1tsp of turmeric powder
Add 1 cup of water and pressure cook with 2 whistles.
Garnish with red chilie powder, cumin powder, pomegranate powder and chopped coriander leaves.

For mint chutney
Mix a small bunch of corainder leaves and mint leaves
Add one small onion, few cloves of garlic, 5 or 6 green chilies, salt to taste
Grind to a smooth paste
Add 1tbsp of lime juice

For tamarind sauce
Soak tamarind for an hour, squeeze out the pulp.
Add finely chopped onions
Add salt, sugar, cumin powder

For serving
Top the dhal with onions in tamarind sauce, mint chutney and enjoy with crispy Rajgira puris.




The brownie point was the live demonstration by chef of Punjab Grill Official @amiteshvirdi who shared his nuggets of knowledge with us.He has good knowledge of cooking and is also obsessed with every ingredient that he uses, His live demo on sweet potato and bitter gourd was truly loved by all



The potluck event at ShitalFoodCottage was a success because everybody's dish was commendable, You can find their recipes at Shital kakad s blog



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