Goa, India

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Tag: Best Food Blog

The Incredible Benefits of Garlic

Posted on by Aditi Malhotra

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Garlic is often seen as a delicious staple ingredient, something one has to have in their kitchen. But it’s also seen by many as dispensable. If you don’t happen to have any, or if you can’t be bothered to prepare it, then no big deal. But the addition of more garlic in your diet isn’t just good because of its exquisite and unique flavor; it’s also because garlic is incredibly good for your health. So here’s a productive rant about, well, garlic!

 It’s good for the heart

High blood pressure. Artery hardening. High cholesterol. Coronary heart disease. Blood coagulation. These are all things that are bad for your heart – and guess what food helps fight them all? You know it: garlic. Garlic has been shown in multiple studies to improve the health of your circulatory and respiratory system – you can check out the results of some of these studies at http://jn.nutrition.org/content/136/3/736S.full. However, as with any food that’s good for your heart, you’re also going to need to give it some help by getting regular sleep, exercise, and by drinking plenty of water. Sitting around and eating garlic won’t make up for a day spent doing no physical activity.

It’s good for the skin

Garlic is filled with antioxidants. These, of course, are essential for several elements of your health, and you can read more about them at https://www.verywell.com/benefits-of-antioxidants. But they’re especially useful when it comes to promoting skin health! Antioxidants are essential weapons in the battle against the bacteria that can cause skin blemishes. Another reason garlic is so good for the skin is because it has a lot of anti-inflammatory properties! Skin conditions that are affected by inflammation, including acne and psoriasis, can be soothed with the intake of garlic. In fact, many have reported positive effects when rubbing a slice of raw garlic directly onto problem areas…

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Proper preparation

Mincing is often seen to be the easiest way to get garlic into a meal because it softens the sharp flavor really will. But something you should consider that helps protect the good elements of garlic during cooking while giving you a nice chunk of the stuff is adding slices instead of mince. Get yourself a sharp knife – you can read more at http://www.cutitfine.com/utility-knife-reviews/ – and carefully cut some nice slices of garlic. Sauté it over a gentle heat for about thirty seconds before adding the other ingredients.

Going raw?

As with many foods that are often give ‘superfood’ status, many would argue that the best way to get all the benefits of garlic is to eat it raw. Thankfully, there are several ways to do this that don’t involve simply swallowing garlic straight-up, which can be overwhelming to say the least! Again, a really sharp knife will come in handy to get the garlic into more ‘user-friendly’ portions. Putting thin slices of garlic on buttered toast, putting it into guacamole or salsa, stirring it into a cooled pasta sauce, adding them to mashed potatoes… there’s no shortage of ways to introduce raw garlic into your diet without having to deal with the overpowering taste!

Cookout Tips to Impress Your Guests

Posted on by Aditi Malhotra

Image source

It’s summer, and for a lot of us, summer and barbeque cookouts go hand in hand. If you’re planning lots of outdoor dining experiences this season, why not aim to make your cookouts the best yet?

There are lots of simple cookout tips that can elevate your barbeque from ok to AH-MAZING and make the whole process of barbecuing even easier. If you use even just a few of them, you’ll soon get a reputation as the best barbeque in the neighborhood.

Put the Doritos to Good Use

There’s nothing worse than planning to cook burgers on the Barbie, only to find out that you’ve run out of kindling and you’re all going to go hungry after all. But, if you have some Doritos in the kitchen or any chips for that matter, you will be able to go ahead and flame-grill those burgers because, chips, and especially Doritos, make for excellent barbeque kindling, due to their dryness and their high-fat content.

Coat Your Hands

If you love making burgers, and you know that your homemade patties are the best, but you hate having bits of meat stuck to your hands, simply coat them with either a small amount of cold water, or even better a thin layer of vegetable oil, and you’ll bed able to make enough patties to feeds the whole neighbourhood before your hands become a sticky mess in need of a good wash.

Keep Your Meat Moist

If you want your guests to be amazed when they bite into you burgers because of your patties are so succulent and juicy that they basically melt in the mouth, then you really do need to work at keeping the meat moist. This isn’t always easy when you’re outdoors in the heat. Fortunately, the fix is a simple one – just mix a couple of tablespoons of mayo to each pound of ground meat you use will ensure a moist burger and enhance the flavor.

If you’re cooking your meat medium rare and you want it to be perfectly pink in the middle, you could also add an ice chip in butter to the center of the burger, and that will stop it from getting too hot.

Two Temperatures

One of the best tips I was ever given was to heat the barbeque to two different temperatures, one at each side you can do this by only heating up half of the grill. That way, you can move cooked foods to the cool side to finish off without the risk of them burning.

Make Use of Muffin Trays

Barbeques are nothing without condiments, but what do you do when you don’t have enough condiment dishes to meet your needs? Do you just serve your ketchup and mustards in the bottle? No, you don’t. You serve them up in muffin trays, that’s what you do!

Use two Skewers

Image source(www.personalcreations.com)

If you’re cooking kebabs (and if you aren’t, why not?) Instead of attaching your meats, seafoods and vegetables onto one kebab skewer, use two instead. It stops individual chunks from moving around and getting burnt or unevenly cooked as a result. Just remember to soak your skewers before use if they’re wooden, to avoid setting your lovely food on fire.

Flavor Your Meat with Wood

No, I’m not telling you to add wood chips to your ground beef! But, using wood will add bags of flavor to your burgers and make them stand out from the competition. What you need to do is use planks of wood on the grill instead of metal. They will keep the food safely away from the flames and add a woody, smoky flavor to the food. Different woods have different flavors, so you might want to experiment a bit before you throw a cookout for the whole block, but most people find cherry wood to be very pleasant. If you’re interested, you can buy wooden planks for barbecuing at http://www.outdoorgourmet.com/plank-grilling-cooking/wholesale-grilling-planks.These planks are reusable, so they’ll help you to perfectly flavor your barbeque food for the whole summer and perhaps for many summers beyond

Season with a Salt Block

I’m going to say three words that will change your life – well the barbecuing aspect of it anyway – forever: Himalayan salt block. If you don’t know what Himalayan salt is it’s that pink salt that you often see in whole food stores. Bought in a block, it is hands down one of the best things to cook barbeque food over. Skip, the usual seasoning and just lay your meat down on a salt block over an outdoor stove (gas or electric) and you will be rewarded with the tenders, juiciest most flavorful meat you’ve ever eaten in your life guaranteed.

Lots of Lemons

If you’re having a barbeque, then you most certainly should not forget to pick up some fresh starts at www.Citarella.com/shop/lobsters-shrimp, and when you have that wonderfully fresh seafood delivered to your door, you simply must cook it over lemons. Just slice up a few of the citrus fruits and put them on top of your fish, lobster and shrimps it cooks for an end product that manages to be sweet, smoky and slightly sour all at once. Your guests will be shunning the burgers for the shrimp if you do.

Alternatively, you can make a simple marinade by combining olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic and marinating your seafood in that for a few minutes before cooking.

Spray Some Apple Juice

Apple juice isn’t just for drinking. In fact, it is perfect for barbecuing. If you spray your grill with apple juice every so often, and you do the same to your meat too, it will be browner, more tender and all round more appetizing. It sounds a bit odd, but trust me it works really well.

Brick Your Chick

We all love to eat chicken especially when it has been chargrilled to perfection, but actually cooking chicken on the barbeque can be quite difficult because of its irregular shape. Chicken is rarely the same uniform thickness, and this means that when one part is cooked, the rest might not be or it could be. A very simple hack to solve this problem involves nothing more than a brick and a sheet of aluminum foil. Wrap the brick in foil and use it to press down the chicken until it is one completely even. Then, leave the brick on top of the chicken as you cook it. The meat will be more crispy and tender than any of yore previous efforts.

Make Pizza

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Most people don’t expect to be served up freshly cooked pizza at the cookout. Sure, they might expect to see some pre-cut slices of cold pizza, but fresh, molten hot pizza – that’s something you don’t often see at a barbeque. So, why not exceed your guests’ expectations by serving them up a freshly grilled pizza? It’s really easy to do. Just check out http://ourbestbites.com/2009/06/tutorial-bbq-grilled-pizza/ for instructions. You can thank me for the tip later!

Make Veggie Parcels

Of course, not all of your guests are going to be meat eaters, and even if they are, it’s always good to serve up some veggies to healthy things up a bit, but what to cook? Vegetable parcels, that’s what. They’re so easy that they’ll take up very little of your time and because they’re cooked in foil, there’s no risk of them being contaminated by meat and fish juices.

To create delicious veggie parcels, just chop up and combine mushrooms, peppers, zucchini, corn on the cob, garlic, and sweet potato. Suasion with herbs and salt and toss on the barbeque for between five and ten minutes.

Serve Up Smoked Salt

While you’re grilling up burgers, fish kebabs and sausages on the barbeque, why not use that time to create your own smoked salt too? It tastes amazing, and you can use it to add that smoky barbequed flavor to dishes that have never been anywhere near the grill. All you have to do is light the grill, fill a pan with your favorite salt, and any other herbs you fancy and place the pan directly on the grill. It’s a good idea to use a nice smoky wood like cherry or apple to give the salt the most flavor, but you can use anything you like to get the desired flavor and ensure that you always have a smoky condiment on hand when you have a hankering for barbeque and no time to grill.

Soak Don’t Scrub

The worst thing about hosting a cookout is the clean up that comes afterwards. Luckily, I have the answer to that problem – don’t do it. If you use paper plates and disposable cups, knives, and forks, and you soak your grill in a solution of ammonia once it’s cooled, you’ll hardly have to clean anything up at all, and you can well and truly enjoy your summer evenings!

Are you a grilling or queen? What are your top tips for hosting the best cookout and producing the best barbeque food in the the neighborhood?

 

This TREND is here to stay..!!

Posted on by Aditi Malhotra

Trend is the newest entrant at the recently reopened and established Ansal Plaza and this TREND is here to stay for sure. Brought to us by Gundeep Anand, Jaideep Anand, Himanshu and Vidit Gupta who also have brought alive brands like Tamasha and Cafe Dalal Street earlier, this one adds another feather to their cap.

Designed in a chic and classy way, it has a rustic yet modern appeal to it. Its a perfect example of cross bid between fine dining and casual dining. The cuisine is Modern Indian and focuses on the authenticity of flavours inspite of being modern. As discussed with Chef Jiten Shah, the aim of the restaurant is to provide unique foodie experience to their customers but at the same time, they don’t want to create confusions with fusions.

And now after having the food at Trend, I can vouch for it. They truly are serving different food, which you won’t find elsewhere and yet the flavours aren’t overplayed.

Now coming to what I tried and recommend, to begin with we ordered Mutton Vada Pao, Mozzarella Bread Pakoda, 3 Cheese Soufflé in Potato Cup, Chutney Chicken Seekh and Rechad Masala Rawas from the Small Plate Menu and believe you me, each and every item was delicious to the core.

The Mutton Vada Pao, was definitely one of the best I have ever eaten. The mutton inside the pao was done perfectly, it was a minced meat cutlet which was fried and yet it tasted very different, the pao was extremely soft, and for me each bite into it was a  heavenly delight.

The Mozzarella Bread Pakoda, was an amazing modern take on the traditional bread pakoda. It was stuffed with potatoes and had an amazing cheesy filling which made it taste so different and yet appealing to the taste buds. Its a great dish for vegetarians but even the non-vegetarians cannot ignore its goodness.

3 Cheese Soufflé in Potato Cup is an amazing dish and paradise for cheese lovers, just dig into the creamy cheese and balance its taste with roasted potatoes. Blissful.

Rechad Masala Rawas,  crispy fried fish fingers, with the fish marinated in the hot recheado masala, which is a goan special masala. The fish was perfectly done and I loved the presentation too. The Chutney Chicken Seekh also was very different from the regular seekh, it was made of thick mince and the flavours of the chutney really stood out well.

Next we tried Chicken Tikka Trilogy, which comprised of Mustard Based Chicken Tikka, Regular Chicken Tikka and Chicken Malai Tikka, and each one of the varieties of tikka tasted awesome. Though I am not at all fond of mustard flavour, but this mustard tikka was outstanding, the flavour was surely there but wasn’t overpowering at all.

Roti, Chatni, Achar is another very unique dish, which serves an assortment of 3 different types of rotis and an array of chutneys and achars, a great idea indeed. I ordered for the non-veg version which had pre-baked khasta naan, missi roti, masala bread along with chettinad mutton pickle, fig chutney, kingfish pickle, mint chutney and onions. It was an amazing tray of various flavours. I loved the fig chutney the most. This surely is a must try dish.

Mutton Gilawat Croquette was the another dish we ordered, and for me this was the most average , may be because my expectations by now were sky high. It wasn’t bad at all, but personally speaking I did not like much as I found it a little dry for my liking.

For the mains we settle for Dal Makhani served with Chur Chur Naan, Mysore Mutton Thali, Quail Dum Korma and Corn Fed Char Siu Chicken. The Dal and Naan were a perfect combination, with right taste and textures. A typical udupi masala roast mutton served with malabari parantha is a delectable dish and surely a must try. The Quail Dum Korma, needs a special mention as this is one dish you shouldn’t miss at all. Very rich and authentic flavours and soft and tender meat of a quail, what more can one ask for. Siu chicken is perfect to satiate your Asian hunger, its a char chicken glazed with celery root sauce with some sautéed greens and mushrooms and makes for an exciting dish.

Don’t forget to indulge in the desserts, you will love them. I strongly recommend Shahi Tukda and Holy Coconut. Both of them were simply amazing and I won’t spoil the surprises by spilling more details. You really have to try them.

As the place still awaits its liquor licence, make most of the amazing mocktails and drinks available. I recommend Indore Lassi, Tiramisu and Eden Iced Tea. They all were remarkable, but the best was the Indore Lassi, perfectly balanced taste, neither two sweet, and nor too thick, its was yummy and must be tried.

A special mention for the hospitality of the place, from Chef Jiten himself to the entire staff, everyone was extremely friendly and warm. The service was upto the mark and like I said the taste of food and presentation is of superlative quality. You should definitely pay a visit soon.

Trend Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

5 Iconic Whisky Cocktails

Posted on by Aditi Malhotra

While some whisky lovers will tell you that it is a drink that has been designed to be enjoyed on its own, there is no doubt that it makes some pretty fine cocktails as well. So, here we will have a quick look through some of the finest ones that you can enjoy. The beauty is that a lot of these are very simple to make as well, so if you are not an experienced mixologist, you are in luck!

Photo Credit

A lot of whisky cocktails involve a simple syrup. Essentially all you need to do is put equal parts water and white sugar over a medium-heat saucepan, remove it from the heat when the sugar has dissolved and allow it to cool. Which whisky you use depends on your taste, so you may be a Jim Beam fan or you could take a look at a kikori whisky review for something different. So, let’s move onto those cocktails.

The Manhattan

Probably the most iconic of them all, Manhattans have been enjoyed for years by many iconic people and characters. The classic way to serve it is to strain it into a cocktail glass with a Maraschino cherry. Your other ingredients are vermouth, bitters, the simple syrup we talked about earlier and lemon peel.

Old Fashioned

 

Photo Credit

There is something especially great about going up to a bar and ordering an Old Fashioned and it is a cocktail that even many whisky purists enjoy from time to time. It is traditionally served in a short tumbler glass. You will need bitters again as well as the simple syrup, but you will also serve it with ice cubes and some orange peel to garnish. Squeeze the peel to release the oil to drop into the drink.

Hot Toddy

Though it may not be the right time of year right now to be enjoying one of these, there is nothing like a Hot Toddy during the cold winter months. Originally it was a drink that was designed to cure a whole range of illnesses, though it is not medically prescribed today! As well as your whisky of choice, you will need honey, cloves, nutmeg and lemon to garnish. Place the ingredients in a mug and pour in some hot water while stirring everything together.

Whisky Sour

The one thing that puts people off this particular cocktail is the frothy raw egg white, so you need to make sure you find the freshest eggs before serving up this particular cocktail. You will need lemon juice and your trusty simple syrup as well as your whisky and egg white. Shake everything vigorously before serving and serve in a glass of your choice.

John Collins

Though this is only a subtle variation on the Whisky Sour, the club soda that you add to the previous ingredients already listed above give it a different sort of edge. If you aren’t sure which one you prefer, it is worth giving both a go side by side!

Hotness at Hotmess..!!

Posted on by Aditi Malhotra

So when a person like me visits Hotmess in CP, its called Hotness in Hotmess 😉

I happened to indulge in a nice lunch with some foodie friends recently and quite liked the place. It has a lounge type ambience, cool and comfortable and just apt for spending some cosy time with friends or family. The food and drinks served also good and here are my recommendations

  1. Chicken Steam Momos- really nice and juicy ones. I quite liked them.
  2. Foreign Cheese Pizza and Italian Cheese Pizza- nicely done, thin crust pizzas, perfectly spiced, and the toppings too were good. I enjoyed the chicken one a lot.
  3. Middle East Bites- a platter that comprises of falafel, hummus, lebneh, fattoush, pita and mukhalal was totally worth indulging in.
  4. Rogani Seekh Kebab- tender and juicy mutton seekh kebabs, topped with a cheesy sauce, they were delectable.
  5. Mexican Jalapeno Pop- a must try dish, very cheesy and tasty, these will be loved by everyone.
  6. Dahi Kebab Drumsticks- dahi filing like  bread rolls is how I can define these nice and delicious dahi kebabs. Vegetarians can definitely enjoy this.
  7. Cheesy Macaroni Veg Pasta- a typical mac and cheese, this was nice, but could have been spiced a little more, as I personally found it too bland for my liking.
  8. Dal Makhani and Butter Naan- good old favourite, as I was already too full with the starters, I just gobbled a couple of bites from this, but can say that the dal tasted perfect.
  9. Puppy Grilled Chicken- this was a very nicely done chicken. The flavours were perfect and must try this one.
  10. Double Dense Chocolate – its a perfect dessert for chocolate lovers. A dense and moist chocolaty cake served with vanilla ice cream.

The drinks too were good and they have good options in both mocktails and cocktails. Try the LIT Khamba, Whisky Sour, Watermelon Mojito, Summer Directions and Rang De Basanti.

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Overall it was good fun indulging in food and drinks at Hotmess, and you must give it a try.

HotMess Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Goa Comes to Delhi with Lady Baga!

Posted on by Aditi Malhotra

Even after visiting so many top class restaurants in Delhi NCR, I rarely come across places that are too perfect. Lady Baga was one such perfect experience for sure, rare but true. The ambience, the food, drinks, hospitality, everything was great. The vibrancy hits on you right from the entrance and the vibes are just too great. They have given it a rustic Goan shack feel and it yet has a classy appeal. The 270 degree projection, with beach scenes playing on the screen, and the seating with benches that even has sand underneath gives a beachy feeling, the other side has comfortable couches and on the second level, they have even recreated Goan lounge type seating. The Goan lounge seating is perfect to spend some long hours relaxing and enjoying good meal and drinks with friends.

Now coming to food, I am just naming the dishes I had because to explain each of them I will fall short of words. All I can say is that each and everything was simply great. Not even a single dish was one bit less than the other. Fish Recheado Masala, a typical Goan masala, prepared with red chillies, and other spices along with 2 main ingredients, coconut vinegar and coconut fenni, without these 2, the recheado masala won’t taste as it should. The fish was delicious to the core.

And whats a Goan food without the very famous Chicken Cafreal, a traditional Goan dish prepared with green masala made with green chillies and coriander. This too was amazing, and it tasted as good as it does in Goa.

Try the Light My Fire Masala Chicken and it will truly light your taste buds. Also go for the Platter De Friar, which includes some gherkin and jalepeno chips, piri piri paneer, recheado stuffed mushrooms( they are to die for), and potato wedges. This one is a must have for vegetarians, though being a non vegetarian, I thoroughly enjoyed relishing it.

For the mains we settled for Old Fashioned Fish N Chips, Chicken Lickin and Lamb Kheema and I can say that try any of these and you will love it. Each of the dishes was so so scrumptiously delicious.

Drinks at this place are a highlight, again ask the beverage manager for their specials, or tell them your choice and they create it. I personally recommend Fisherman’s Tonic and Baga Bong for alcoholics and Maiden’s Prayer and Gauva Marry for non-alcoholics. Finish your session with Have A Cigar, shot and you will go gaga over Lady Baga, trust me. A coffee based shot, on the lines on Baileys, but they have made their own liquor and its totally worth indulging in.

Reserve the best for last definitely applies to the desserts at Lady Baga, I tried 4 of them and they were of superlative quality. I haven’t eaten better desserts than this place in a long long time. Blindly order any and you cannot have enough of them.

Bebinca, Sticky Fingers, Brownie and French Banana, I tried all of these and trust me I am still drooling over the thought of having them again. All of them were too good and but the French Banana deserves a special mention, I haven’t eaten anything like this before and kudos to the chef for creating this magical dish. Must try. French toast, caramel, banana, chocolate-peanut butter mousse, vanilla ice cream, what more can you ask for in a dessert.

I am totally bowled over by this place and once again cheers to AD Singh for always coming up with the best possible restaurants in the country. Way to go!
Lady Baga Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

The Bandstand Experience!

Posted on by Aditi Malhotra

Located in the Aurobindo Complex, Hauzkhas, this place has by far one of the best terraces that I know of. Once you climb up, trust me you don’t want to leave. The view is just awesome and even when its hot out there, they have amazing mist fans, that make you feel as if you sitting in a hill station.

Coming to food, they offer European and Continental food with main focus on finger food and smaller plates and burgers, pizzas, hotdogs make for the mains.

We started by ordering Thai Style Chicken Wings, Spicy Kafir Lime Fried Chicken and Sichuan Style Gyoza Dumplings. The wings were nice and juicy and I really liked them. The Kafir Lime Chicken was overpowered with the kafir lime flavour and spices, and hence I did not like it much. The dumplings were good, but I wish the filling was spiced a little better.

Followed this was the Chicken Caesar Salad and Roasted Beetroot, Pumpkin, Rocket Leaves & Feta Salad and both the salads were awesome, especially the Beetroot salad, absolutely refreshing and flavoursome.

Next we settled for the Mezze Platter, both veg and non-veg and both were delicious. BBQ Ribs and Sichuan Pepper Pork Bao with Green Apples, these both were the winner dishes. You really can’t miss them. The Ribs were so delicious and juicy and so was the bao. The green apple added a different layer of flavouring to the juicy pork, which was a nice change.

We tried a half and half pizza with Double Pepperoni and Bolognese Smoked Cheese and also the BBQ Chicken Pizza. The pizzas were superb. Thin crust, crispy and the toppings were great. I loved all three flavours and its hard to choose which was the best, but if I have to be partial even by 1 percent, it would be the BBQ chicken pizza. BBQ Chicken, Caramelised Onions and Blue Cheese, made for a deadly combo.

For burgers, we tried the Pulled Tandoori Chicken and Bacon Burger & the Pulled Pork Khao Suey Burger. I was personally a bit disappointed with the tandoori chicken burger, as it did not meet my expectations. Can’t say that it was bad, but somehow it did not gel well with my taste buds. The pork burger was definitely a good one. Even the vegetarians have the Beetroot burger to look upto, my friends said it was awesome.

 

For drinks I tried the Spicy Mango, followed by a Water Melon Mojito and both were really good. For desserts we tried the Poached Pear and Apples with Rum Soaked Sultanas, Raspberry Puree and Ice Cream and also the Bandstand Chocolate Brownie Sundae. Both the desserts were nice but could have been a little better. The Poached Pear dessert was definitely more innovative and tasty than the brownie sundae. The brownie sundae wasn’t bad at all, but it was just a regular dish.

This place surely calls for a visit if you haven’t been already, and a visit again, if you have been there before. I thoroughly enjoyed my time here and especially the ambience was so good at the terrace that I wanna go again soon. Bandstand also keeps bringing great artists from time to time, so if you love music, this is the place for you.

Bandstand Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Father’s Day Cook Off by FoodManiacs and Ikreate in Association with Crowne Plaza, Gurgaon

Posted on by Aditi Malhotra

Two passionate foodies and marketing experts came together to make this Father’s Day a memorable one by organising a live cook off in association with Crowne Plaza, Gurgaon. I joined hands with Foodmaniacs, founded by Vickrham, who is a well known face in the food marketing & PR industry and a renowned blogger, to create a beautiful event dedicated to Fathers. We thought of giving a tribute to fathers and dedicating a dish to them by participating in a live cook off. We together conceptualised the event and invited participants through a small contest on Facebook. To grace the occasion and make it a healthy competition, we invited Master Chef Season 5 Star Siddharth Talwar, who along with Executive Chef Nilesh Dey of Crowne Plaza, made for the judges panel.

 

Total of 8 contestants participated in the live cook off. A market place with choicest of ingredients was created for people to select from as they had to cook on spot using those available ingredients only. Some strict rules were laid by Chef Nilesh and Chef Siddharth, primary one being controlled use of ingredients and no wastage. The cook off was judged on criterions of presentation, wastage, cleanliness of workstations and of course taste and innovation of the dish.

Participants were given a time span of 1 hour in which 10 minutes were to explore the market place and pick up the ingredients. Rest of the time was to be used for preparation, cooking and presentation. Individual workstations equipped with induction stoves, essential utensils, chopping boards etc were provided to all participants. There were also arrangements for using the oven, grills and high flame stoves. I have to say that the arrangements by Crowne Plaza were impeccable. Each and everything was taken care of, from hygiene station offering aprons, chef caps, to gloves and the fully functional workstations, all was done with extreme professionalism.

A wonderful contest too place between the participants, where in every one crafted beautiful dishes, made not just with ingredients but lots of love, dedicating the dishes to their fathers. It was a tough time for judges to figure out which was the best dish, because trust me I am not boasting, but each and every dish was truly remarkable. The presentation, the taste, and the overall selection of dishes prepared by participants was done with such expertise that it seemed as if a mini- master chef episode is in progress. After a lot of tussle, judges finally decided to give way not one but two prizes as choosing one did not seem justified. Even those who did not win, were still winners as the gap was just about1-2 marks here and there.

Sandeep Batra, who cooked GolMirch Chicken and Rita Arora, who prepared a lovely Chicken Roulade were declared as top winners, but like I said, others too were winners in their own regards. We got to taste some lovely and unique dishes like South Indian Style Pasta, Laal Maas, Fried Fish with Coconut Sauce, Tamatar Jeera Chicken, Chicken Koftas and some Juicy Chicken Legs.

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We also got to try and taste amazing Grilled Chicken Sandwiches prepared by two lovely kids Myeshha, Vickrham’s daughter and Armaan, my son, who dedicated these dishes to their respective fathers, oops sorry, in Armaan’s case he dedicated it to me only as I am a single parent 🙂

The winner announcement was then followed by a high tea session, where in we got to interact with participants, try their delectable dishes, and also indulge in some lip smacking snacks served by Crowne Plaza. The winners carried beautiful hampers back home and the bloggers were given a lovely cake by the hotel. Even the children were given special packs of chocolates as a wonderful gesture by the hotel.

 

Overall it turned out to be a great event, much greater than my expectations and through my post I would like to thank first and foremost my partner in crime Vickrham for his support and belief. Crowne Plaza for believing in our concept and becoming our hospitality partners, all the participants, without whom this won’t have been possible, bloggers and media for making the buzz about the event, keep doing it guys, thanks to you all, and last but not the least, the PR team of Crowne Plaza, Chef Nilesh Dey and Master Chef Siddharth Talwar for being part of our event. Also a big thank you to all the fathers of the world, for just being what they are, and of course my father too! Look forward to many more events together.

 

 

Secrets in the Spice Mix- Book Launch by Pankaj Bhadouria at Piali, CP

Posted on by Aditi Malhotra

Pankaj Bhadouria, has been a household name ever since she won the title of first Master Chef India, and there has been no looking back for her. Her constant growth in terms of her cooking skills and her overall persona has been an inspiration to many women who used to think that cooking is only a duty and not a passion that can turn your life around. But Pankaj has proved her mettle over and over again, and more recently by launching her 5th book, she not only proves her capabilities as a chef but also tries touching a million chords by giving her readers exactly what they need.

Food is synonymous to breath for her and spices are the essence of it. Her journey of teaching kids in a classroom to teaching young chefs and cooks the art of making food is one of its kind. Right after winning the competition she has come to the world imparting her culinary skills to the world through the form of shows or books.

The right blend of spices is crucial to Indian cooking and it’s the combination of different spices that make some dishes so hard to resist. India’s First MasterChef Pankaj Bhadouria has identified around 50 such spice mixes with a tantalizing recipe following each spice mix which can be made at home. With 4 books to be acclaimed for, Pankaj’s 5th book, The Secrets in the Spice Mix, helps you make these wonderful spices at the comfort of your home and infuse some authentic flavours to your everyday cooking.

Chosen Piali, The Curry Bistro, as the venue for launch of her book, Panjak went on to conduct a live cooking session as well.

Piali’s menu is one of its kind and what makes it different is the class of curry and the spices that go into making them what they are! One such dish on the menu is the Thai Curry. Pankaj not only shared her secret spices and signed the books for her followers but also demonstrated the cooking of the Thai curry live for the present audience.

“I am really excited to be launching my secrets at Piali and the following live cooking session. I am happy to be able to share them with my audiences and where better than a place which savors the spices the most!” said an eager Pankaj.

Upon being asked what her favourite cuisine and dish was, she said it without any apprehensions that her favourite cuisine for sure is Indian, and she loves home cooked Khichdi, for the simplicity of the dish. Here is a glimpse of the event coverage right from the Piali’s Facebook Page.

She is such a down to earth person, that meeting her overtime, leaves me inspired totally. She fills me with so much of gratitude and warmth. I wish Pankaj all the success for her book, and stay tuned, will be sharing the book review and a recipe from it soon as I am currently reading my personally signed copy of the book, and in my kitchen trying the recipes.

 

 

Mango Mania at Imperfecto

Mango Mania at Imperfecto

Posted on by Aditi Malhotra

Come summers, and almost every restaurant comes up with special menus, and we surely need them, because we need a reason to celebrate summers, and what better than food. When talking of food and summers, its difficult to ignore mangoes, and keeping this combination in mind, Imperfecto came up with an AAM Menu.

 

To try this menu, I went to the Sector 38 Noida outlet, and first things first, you cannot ignore the ambience of this place. Right from the moment you step into the restaurant, the spaciousness, the decor, everything takes on you. Explore the place which is spread across almost three floors, as the terrace itself as two levels, and what a terrace, words cannot justify the beauty of this place, you really have to visit and see for yourself. Lush greenery, amazing artistic pieces, comfortable seating and a great view, it has all.

Now coming to the food, the mango menu, had a great mix of salads, appetisers and main course dishes along with specially curated cocktails and mocktails.

To beging with the 3 course meal, we first tried the salads,  Alphonso Mango Salad and Street Cart Mango Salad. The alphonso mango salad as the name suggests was prepared using alphonso mangoes and was on a sweeter side because of the obvious reasons, but was very refreshing. It had some apples too. Having alphonso mangoes is always a treat and I really enjoyed this creation. The Street Cart Salad, on the other hand was sweet and sour, striking a balance between flavours especially with the presence of capsicum slices in the salad the taste was well balanced. I enjoyed both the salads to fullest.

 

I enjoyed these salads with a glass of Mangoberry, which was an amazing mocktail made with fresh mango pulp, mint and a hint of lime.

 

Coming to the appetisers, its really difficult to say which one was the best, as each one of them was amazing and trust me I mean it.

Mango Chicken Tikka was simply delicious, chicken tikka grilled to perfection with a nice tangy mango sauce, an unusual combination but amazing tastes. Both the tandoori flavour of chicken tikka and sweetish tanginess of mango complimented each other.

 

Grilled Chicken with Mint Sauce was one of the best dishes I have eaten in recent times, such tender and juicy chicken chunks with dollops of mango sauce and green chutney, it was more than delicious. The sweetness of mango sauce, the spiciness of green chutney and the juices of grilled chicken, overall made it melt in a mouth experience.

 

Stuffed Chicken with Mango was another flavoursome dish and I really liked it. For vegetarians, there was Stuffed Cottage Cheese with Mango and Grilled Paneer with Mango Chutney, I tried a bit of both of these dishes, and they were amazing.

 

 

For the mains, we had Malaysian Style Mango Chicken Noodles and they were amazing. Though the mangoes were really sweet in themselves, but the overall spices balanced the taste well, and not even a single dish looked or tasted a forceful fit of mangoes.

Then we also had the Chicken Mango Rice, Yan Chow Style, which again tasted really good, and I again have to say that the mango wasn’t a force fit, the dishes, the spices, and presence of mango really complimented each other and that was the best part. Even the vegetarian varieties, were great to taste

 

I wish they had included some desserts to this AAM Menu, but sadly there weren’t any. Nevertheless, this mango menu trial should definitely be on your list and its available all across the Imperfecto outlets. So hurry up, offers valid till mangoes last!

Imperfecto Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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