Reviewing Claypot

 

A new eating place in my neighbourhood is something that always excites me. In the last few months HRBR layout and the neighbouring places saw the arrival of 2 new kids on the block- Claypot and Osteria, While the former offers a fine Indian dining experience, Osteria is an Italian restaurant- first of its kind in my neighbourhood.

In no mood to handle the Saturday night Bangalore traffic we decided to chuck the plan of going to Tandoor on MG Road and decided to check out the new restaurant- Claypot. Though I am not officially a huge fan of Indian fare but of the late have been dying to have some really good Biryani. The restaurant was packed and we barely managed to get a place immediately. Though the decor pleased me with its simple and tastefully done interiors however it was hard to overlook the manager who looked as if he was just up from a deep slumber and definitely did not look happy being there. One other hand that kept putting me off at this restaurant was the loud-jarring pop music. I have my reservations against playing western pop music in an Indian restaurant and you can only imagine my irritation when it was annoyingly loud. Worst of it- my request to reduce the volume was brushed off and the diners continued to be tortured with it.

Doughnuts- Inspired from Ally’s Kitchen

After going through Ally’s blog, all I could think was about the yummy doughnuts she had posted. Today, the whole day I was just lusting about those yummy sugar dusted doughnuts so I could not wait to get back home and make some for myself. I have edited Ally’s recipe to suit my taste. Also, Reuben is also a big fan of doughnut, apparently his mom used to pack it off for him to take to the hostel and he used to ration his consumption so that the doughnuts could last him the whole semester !

Reuben is still at his office dinner and little does he knows that there is some lovely doughnuts waiting for him…..or should I put it as yummy doughnuts made by the lovely wife

My Legume Love Affair Event

This space is reserved for my official entry to “My Legume Affair Event” hosted by SRA of When my Soup Came Alive.

So keep looking out

Tomato-Poached Eggs

Back in those days when I was following the “South Beach Diet”, my breakfast options were very limited. Now what could a phoren bred mallu girl have for breakfast other than bread, puttu with pazham, idiyappam and the other carb bombs. My chance encounter with this Parsi Egg dish was a huge relief. Ever since- this dish has also found a significant place in our Sunday Brunches.

This dish is also my official entry to “Monthly Mingle Brunch Event“, hosted by Meeta of  What’s for Lunch Honey.

Reviewing Ally’s “What’s Cooking Today”

God only knows what a desperate & bored stay-at-mommy’s can do. However my dear friend and friendly neighbour- Ally decided to start a food blog. Her excuse for all this paraphilia was, “I am jobless”. People who have known me have often described me as mercilessly outspoken and hence critiquing is the last thing to do but I simply could not help writing a word or two about Ally’s food blog- What’s Cooking Today.

Should say that her blog is quite an impressive run- with some easy to cook and mouth-watering recipes. Ally is someone who knows the importance of easy and fast cooking especially when her 2 year old cute brat is running around the house, so trust me- if it is on her blog then it is easy-weezy and delicious. But I am only left longing for some more cute pictures on her blog which I know that she is pretty capable of. So hopefully my dear friend will take some glam pics of her dishes and tempt us all more

So please do check out her blog while I dash to the kitchen to try out her dunkin doughnut- yummy yummy (slurrp-slurrp)

Back After a Hiatus of 1 Long Year

Appearing and disappearing has been my thing since I started my blog. Most of 2009 has been a rough ride for me- most of the year I was pretty much uninspired to do anything but now my life has taken a complete new turn- I am currently pursuing my masters full-time in psychology so I am pretty much tied down with all the course work but cooking still inspires me- food is still the last thing I think about before going to bed and being a soul cook is my long term ambition

So friends, readers & countrymen- look out for my new recipes, restaurant reviews and other foodie talk.

In the meantime, do not be surprised if you are being re-directed to a new space ( I seriously need to re-vamp my blog- also am a little bored with the usual stuff- so any suggestions- WELCOME WELCOME)

 

Malabar Chicken Biryani

Chicken biryani was never my cup of tea- hours and efforts put in all turn futile. With my in-laws visiting us just for a day- i had to stack something in the fridge so that i didnt have to toil in the kitchen and can spend some quality time with them. Biryani was the best option but i was not really sure- how good i could make it- and did i ever mention that my mother-in-law has a doctorate in “Nutrition and Diet’s”-so all put together- i was really nervous about my menu for lunch- “The Ambitious Malabar Chicken Biryani”.

After going through the many recipes for the biryani i decided to conjure something where i could use my favourite kerala chicken masala and then mix with the rice and hence that would really leave very little room for me to mess up

It turned out very well. My father-in-law gave me 99 out of 100 and even better, my mother-in-law borrowed my recipe.

Kerala Chicken Stew/Kozhi Ishtoo

Ente swantham kerala chickenistoo !!

Easter celebrations at my parent’s house will be incomplete if there is no appams and chicken stew for breakfast ! My only motivation to sit through the early morning Easter Sunday mass is the thought of hot steaming appams and stew waiting for me back home. This Easter i missed my mom’s Easter breakfast (i so regret that)- thanks to being a busy working adult, i couldnt go to Kerala :(

This recipe is a recreation of my mom’s version of chicken ishtoo and this is also how one would make mutton stew except fot the extra time mutton needs to cook !

Butter Chicken/Murgh Makhani

Reuben, my husband, is a big fan of butter chicken but except for a very few versions he hated most of them- i am talking about the butter chicken masala you get at the restaurants. The last time we had some very good butter chicken was at his office party. I tried to keep the flavour in my mind so that i may adjust the recipe to his taste ! This recipe is partly adapted from Alfred’s Prasad’s Murg Makhani but i have made some changes here and there to adapt it to my husband’s taste. And may i add that- HE LOVED IT

Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips

I wonder why this is called a bread ??? Either ways i love it !! I got to stay in a very swanky hotel on a recent trip to Hyderabad. The breakfast was complimentary with the stay and banana bread was one of the dishes served for breakfast. And i was not even slightly embarrassed to pile my plate with banana bread a.k.a cake !!

I ransacked quite a lot of blogs and food site for the perfect recipe and “Evolving Taste” was my winner. As usual i have slighly ammended the recipe to suit my taste.