Saturday Challenge with Marathon Bloggers

Just for fun post.

A paragraph is given by participants of Marathon Bloggers  and here I am imagining the impossible, please bear with me cause I am in dreamy mood.... a fiction indeed...or pure imagination...

I ran. Fast. Out of breath. Lungs bursting. Legs hitting the earth. I thudded up the path, around the corner, right up the stairs and reached the door. I flung it open, rush to my room and grabbed the TV remote.

I was just in time for my favorite TV program ‘Junior Master Chef- Grand Finale’

The children were to make Indian Kababs and I was interested to see if they made it well.

Smart kids, just 10-yrs-olds, were making most difficult and exotic dishes so efficiently. But I was sure that Kababs would be difficult for them to make.

Why is Kababs so difficult to make? You may ask.

Well, making kababs is an art. The consistency has to be proper, masalas have to be just right and molding into a proper shape is an art, it depends on the dexterity of the finger. These kids have tiny palms, not enough space to roll the dough.

Their tiny hands minced the mixture of meat and soaked channa dhal in the food processor, added garam masalas, lime, salt and chilies, then started to roll the kababs in proper shape.

“Take enough quantity kid, you have taken too small a portion” said I, hoping they could hear me.

They took just a small handful and made into marble size balls.

“That’s not Kababs, silly” I screamed

The kids continued to shape into small marble size, unaware of my frustrations.

In a non-stick pan, they fried those tiny ten kababs, flattening it a bit with the ladle.

“Okay, since you have made such tiny blotches of meat, I wonder how you plan to plate it?” I grumbled

But kids are smart.

They arranged ten kababs in a fan shaped design, surrounded it with thinly sliced tomato alternating with onion rings and slit green chilies, they placed a small bowl containing green chutney at other end of the plate making a nice geometrical design.

Hmmns..I am impressed.

Though both the contestants had followed the same recipe, the winner would be the one who made the tastiest kababs.

I wished I were the judge.

Hospital Food Needs Improvement

Menu of the day: 4 bread slices, mixed vegetables, lentils, ridge gourd curry.

There are many food related programs on TV nowadays and of course we all love the reality food show called ‘MasterChef.’ of Australia and India. Maybe they could have one episode where the contestants are asked to cook nutritious food for hospitals.

We have many talented cooks in our country but still the food served in hospitals is not up to its mark. The vegetables look limp, the dhals un-appetizing and the rotis  dried and hard. They tell me that the hospital food has to be nutritious but shouldn’t it be tasty too? One glance at the food and my hunger disappears I would rather starve than eat such food which is cooked so carelessly. A good nutritious hospital food could have salad of boiled vegetables, cheese, curd, fresh juice, brown bread, etc.

I am not sure if any hospital employs chefs. There are dieticians who do their rounds asking patients for their feedback but I am not sure that any changes are made to improve the taste.

The hospital where I am spending few days does not allow home cooked food. My family sometimes smuggles home-cooked food for me. I eat that food like a thief, hiding the egg sandwich after every bite. But those are rare times, most of the time I just choke on tasteless food

Hospitals should have chefs who care about the patient’s needs. Fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables can be purchased directly from farmers. There should be more local, organic and sustainable food.

The patients in the hospital are in pain and grumpy, a tasty food would surely pep them up. Isn’t it?

Food trail in the narrow lanes of Bohri Mohallah

Every city has their own food specialty to show off, a signature dish that is a must-have-when-you-visit and one must know what to taste and where to find it. Therefore it is wise to follow the food trail with an expert who knows the local people and is able to tell some history behind the food.

I experienced one such food trail this week, my first ever of this kind.

Invitation to foodtrail was hard to resist, it promised and delivered:

Live demos of how tava fries are made come up next – bheja (brains), gurda (kidneys) – ideas on how to cook these at home. Then chicken rolls…Karachi not Kolkata style. And then ‘Burma’ roti. What we call Moghlai Paratha in Kolkata. Martabak in Singapore and Malaysia. From the kitchen we would move down to benches for a ‘sit down’ meal. Plates and pieces of bread will be shared…that’s what community eating is all about The vegetarian option here is fried potatoes… the tava is common though

We then head to the kebab corner and stand by the coals and photograph as our kebabs are barbequed. My favourite, and that of all the folks I connect with, is the khiri (udder) kebabs. We could also try some beef koftas. If you really must then you could ask me to order a fried chicken. Chances are those that love the khiri won’t ask for it. I think they serve some paneer tikkas too. 

Appetisers and anitpastis done we head for the mains. Baara Handis. Slow cooked meat. Cuts of beef and goat.  Alchemised here over a century of cooking perfection. Served with a mix of daal broths cooked over six hours in the simmering handis. Topped with ‘josh’ or the fat that the meat gave out when cooked. They plate it with nihari…the soft marrow…and bits of coriander to give the textural and visual contrast. Many of us feel that this is one of the best meat experiences that we have had in absolute terms with no qualifiers. For cutlery you get huge, freshly tandoored rotis, which once fed armies…today it feeds what Soumik call’ food commandos’. 

To cool down we head for ice creams. Ice creams that are made in the manner it has been for 120 years. A formula which ensures that the cream is omnipresent in this ice cream at least unlike the modern pretenders. If you are a health nut, and if fruits are your thing, then you will be happy to find that not a single bite is not packed with fresh fruits here.

Kalyan Kamarkar has started a food trail and he hopes to do many more, exploring different zones of Mumbai.

His maiden food trail was started through the narrow lanes of Bohri Mohallah and I was only too happy to join his group of eleven persons. He walked so comfortably down the street, as if it were his second home, knowing exactly what to eat and which stall specialized in what kind of food. Over three hours, we walked on cobbled streets, chatting with the owner, stopping at some places for cooking demonstration, and tasting street food at every station, not realizing that we were eating beyond our capacity, so much so that it left us with very little space to squeeze in the last dish of the day…..a delicious ice-cream.

Kababs on fire

the kiri kababs just melted in the mouth, gone in flash

sweet rice

channa wallah made non-veg chana chaat, mixing chana with potatoes, liver, kidney, tamarind and dry masala, a dish to die for if u are hard core non-vegetarian.

The naan cooking in the clay oven (Tandoor), The best way retain its freshness is to fold it twice, this was so crispy that when dung in the gravy, it just melts in the mouth.

Farshan

 Feroz-Farshan guy educated us on the interesting things that he sells in his store. Whoever heard about a biryani without rice? well, he makes Biryani from patra.

Patra bhajiya, I bought some home

so this is the Patrani Biryani

Shabbir chacha who graciously let folks taste all his achars dropping spoonful of achar on our palm. 

chicken rolls fried on Tava

Tava Kidney

Tasted yum with bread

This bakery had egg coated toasts

The food price in this street is low but the taste is very exceptional

The chef coats the skewer with kababs

The kabad roasted on an open flame

Fresh garlic, that I brought it home, stir fried with chillies, added salt and lime and the family enjoyed it.

Mutton biryani, its grain separated, full of flavor of mixed spices and meat and with less oil 

Liver masala

Meat is doused in a mix of daal harisas, which were bubbling for more than 6 hours. He plated with sensuous marrow and meat and served it with the fresh roti taken out from tandoor, folded twice to maintain its crispness.

Chacha says he is the last of his clan who will do this food business like this, the younger generation will not continue, since they are educated and have different goals in life.

Finally at ice-cream hub where we went behind the shop to get little gyan on ice-cream making and then had a lovely chat with other companions over the cups of different flavors of natural ice-creams while Kalyan updated us on all the info behind the walks. It was nice meeting all the interesting people and specially kainaz (Kalyan's spouse) who made sure that everybody was comfortable and was having a good time.

The Shahi Spicy Dip

I cannot remember eating dip during my growing up years. There were chutneys and pickles but never dip. 

The closest thing that resembled dip was Raita that mom made regularly. Sometimes she added roasted brinjals, and sometimes boiled Spinach, other times it was cucumber and sometimes fried bhoondi. Mom was very creative and she would experiment with different combinations on food and try to change my ‘dislike’ of some vegetables into ‘likes’ by inventing new dishes.

For example, I did not like Kadhu and its whole seeded family, and mom knew it, so she would hide (that’s what she believed that she could make me eat the vegetables that I disliked if they were disguised) Kadhu with lots of Chana dhal or mix it with other vegetables and make kofta. Many times, she would ask me after I have eaten her disguised meals if I knew there was Kadhu in it. Ah well….

But coming back to dips, I was first introduced to dip during my trip to Spain, where I was invited for a ladies party. The dip was served with neatly sliced carrots, cucumber and radish, cut in long strips. The flavor of sour and spicy dip with fresh vegetables did the trick and I soon became interested in learning more about these dips.

On Googling and on visiting various blogs, I realized that dip is just the chutney with hung curd. 

Haha… 

So actually it is curd with water squeezed out and ground with different ingredients, mom would love this…..wish she were alive…

Anyways, I have inherited few of Mom’s traits and creativity is one of them.

So here is my creation of this Shahi spicy dip that I made during this Diwali festival and distributed to my friends and cousins who don’t appreciate sweets.

 Shahi Spicy Dip

Ingredients

200grams curds

6pcs of almonds

6pcs of pistachio

6pcs of walnuts

12pods of garlic

6greenchilies

6red chilies

50grms basil leaves

1tbsp of grated cheese

1tsp 5spice powder

1tsp lime juice

4tbsp olive oil

1tbsp sesame oil

Method

Step 1

Tie the curd in a cloth and hang it for an hour till all the water drains off

Step2

 In a mixie grind the dry fruits and keep it aside

Step3

 Grind together garlic, chilies, basil leaves

Step4

 Add the hung curd, cheese and ground dry fruits

Step5

 Add a teaspoon of 5spice powder

Step 6

Add salt and lime juice

Step7

 Add sesame seeds oil and olive oil

Step8

 Before serving, mix it well, transfer in a serving bowl, add 1tbsp of olive oil and serve with corn chips.

Celebrating Mumbai Food Bloggers' Day

So now it’s official. November 6^th is declared as ‘Mumbai Food Blogger Day’. I am not sure what we will do on this day next year, or the year there after, but this year is celebrated by getting together at Khana Khazana studio to share the food knowledge with Sanjeev Kapoor at his Dhalia Estate at Versova.

Most of the Mumbai food blogger I know are through social media, and I do meet them regularly online, sharing thoughts and ideas, but meeting personally is a different experience. There is so much excitement and happiness around, each one is anxious to share their food experience. Some of them are great cooks, some good food-photographers, some good food critics and some just enjoy eating food. Just listening to their conversation, reveals  new strands of knowledge I often pick up to taste. This was a special meet, during this meet, all eyes are focused on Sanjeev, because we were to learn from experienced chef who has come a long way.

While sipping coffee, I look around the FoodFoodStudio that has interesting stuff. My thoughts begin to run. Maybe, I need this pasta machine, maybe, I too could set my kitchen shelf like this, I don’t like this color of the wall, brick ethnic look is not my taste, I would do this arrangement differently, various such thoughts float into visual arena of my mind while I survey each section.

The cooking station is all set with the ingredients that are required during the cooking session. There are serving plates and great variety of glasses of different shapes and sizes. Two bloggers volunteer to cook Rissotto and other two bloggers volunteer to cook stuffed Gahlawat kababs. All the ingredients are there, neatly placed in small bowl, the resulting dish would depend upon the creativity used by each blogger.

“Cooking is all about having fun with ingredients, one must just know the science of cooking” says Sanjeev Kapoor and thus begins the long chat by Sanjeev K, while the food bloggers are busy creating a dish.

It is an informative discussion.

 Did you know that salt, not the sugar, is the real cause of diabetes? I didn’t know. We can take care of our diet if we know the ingredients and their context during cooking. We normally associate ingredients with the dish, for example, we associate saffron with sweet dish, bay leaves with Biryani, It is important to know each ingredient by itself, remember its’ basic taste, and know its reaction during cooking. Except for salt, sugar, water and chilies (which has to be just right) all other ingredients can manipulated. Experimenting with ingredients brings in new taste.  If the dish goes wrong, don’t admit it, present as a new dish. Smart cooking is not about cooking complicated dishes, but it is about cooking with the first instinct that comes with the visual taste and doing the unexpected. It is easy to blend into the crowd, but to stand out, one has to do unexpected. You may be average cook but the most important part of your cooking is your presentation of the finished dish.

The kitchen begin to come alive with aroma distracting me from this conversation, and I look behind to see Harsha tossing the mushrooms in a pan. The Rissotto is served in the dish and she tosses the mushrooms on the rice and garnishes it with herbs.

Gahlawat kababs are ready too. They are stuffed with dry fruits. The green chutney looks yum!

But wait…..its time for presentation and surprises.

Sanjeev K walks behind the cooking station and bring out puffed puris. I watch in wonder, while he stuffs the puris with Risotto and places it on the top of tiny glass filled with tomato and mint soup (cooked earlier). How do you eat that? Simple.  a bite into the puri and a sip of tomato soup.

Innovative creation!

Next he prepares the buttermilk, adds mint and squeezes lime. Hmmn,! an experiment perhaps? He pours again into tiny glasses and covers it with the puri stuffed with Gahlawat kabab. This is new for me. Reluctantly, I stretch my hand to try the buttermilk mixed with squeezed lime.

It tastes good.

I am surprised.

The mood is set. I am now interested in what next he has up his sleeve?

He melts the chocolates in micro-oven, beats it and mixes it with cream. In another bowl, he mashes the motichoor laddoos, and mixes with the chocolate cream mixture. The mixture acquires a different texture of glossy brown pearls. In goes this mixture into another puri to be placed on another tiny glass containing the milkshake made from chocolates, coffee, milk and Vanilla ice-cream.

Stomach begins to growl.

Feasting the eyes is not enough, taste I must. Actually I am hungry. I take small bite and wait till the photo session ends.

image by: Sanjeev Kapoor

It is time to splurge on feast. The table is dressed with Thali Peeth with Kharda (chutney), American corn sevpuri, Tikka pita paneer, Tikka pita Chicken as starters. For Mains its Khullad Briyani (vegetarian and non-vegetarian) Mirchi ka sallan, Lulla Mussa Dhal with brown rice and for dessert there is Jamun Bappa Doi and Motichoor Golgappa expresso.

Goodbyes are made with impressive take-away gift that includes on ornamental diya, a jar of Pineapple and Raisin chutney and a personalized Rissotto recipe written in gold on a velvet frame.

A gentle note to PR if they reading this: 

Food bloggers are the group of people who have passion for food and writing, They love to write about food and share their experiences. They are NOT freeloader who are looking for free meals or for food discounts to promote your brand. Please do not appraoch them with a nice juicy carrot, asking them to review, invite them if you must, but only if you appreciate their love for food and understand their passion for writing.