Dubai delights

While browsing the souk at Medinat Jumeirah, I came across Vivel, a tiny gourmet boutique, selling the most beautiful arrangements of Turkish delight, stuffed dates, cookies and marzipan... Purchases are packed in luxurious boxes, and you can choose your ribbon(s).

Moongra

I saw this interesting-looking long and thin veggie, sold in neat bunches, at a vegetable vendor in Chandigarh, and bought some to try it out. Turned out this was moongra, or radish pods.

My mother-in-law cooked them like a normal indian-style vegetable, with some onions and turmeric and potatoes, and... I did not like them. Could not even finish a spoonful of them. However, it remains a fascinating little vegetable for me, and I surfed the net to find out more...

* Moongra is not such a well known vegetable and aloo moongra is not a common sabzi. Some call it singri while in English it is known as rat tailed radish. The taste of moongra is similar to radish (mooli). Moongra goes well with potatoes as they balance its sharp taste.

Courtesy www.fastindianrecipes.com

* They come in varying length - while the long ones have obviously been bred for easy handling. There are brown-to-black oval-spherical seeds borne in tapering bean-like seedpods called mogri seeds. You can eat radish pods raw or cooked. The raw flesh has a crisp texture and a pungent, peppery flavor, caused by glucosinolates. The seeds of radishes grow in pods, following flowering that happens when left to grow past their normal harvesting period. The seeds are edible, and are sometimes used as a crunchy, spicy addition to salads.

· The sharp flavours of radish pods make them a popular ingredient for different chutneys by pounding these with some green chillies, and mixing in salt and yoghurt.

· Radish pods are also great in salads and stir fries.

· You can cook radish pods with the everyday zeera (cumin) -hing-haldi-mirch tadka or may add potatoes to make aloo mongre ki subzi.

· The radish pods can also be added in kadhi or a typical mixed vegetable preparation.

· In Europe, the pods were often pickled and served with meat. The spicy seeds are sometimes served raw as an accompaniment to beer in Germany.

· Radish pods are rich in ascorbic acid, folic acid, and potassium. They are a good source of vitamin B6, riboflavin, magnesium, copper, and calcium.

· One cup of sliced red radish bulbs provides approximately 20 calories, largely from carbohydrates

· Radishes are suggested as an alternative treatment for a variety of ailments including whooping cough, cancer, coughs, gastric discomfort, liver problems, constipation, dyspepsia, gallbladder problems, arthritis, gallstones and intestinal disorders.

Courtesy www.tarladalal.com

* I found an amazing recipe for "Tingling Moongra" on mammameeyas.blogspot.com/2011/05/tingling-moongra.html - maybe THIS is how I should eat it next time!!!???

Something Round, Something Delicious

It's funny that my last post before my long blogging sabbatical, and my first post after my rebound, are both about Chandigarh... Well. I do eat there. A lot. And every time I come back, my clothes are a bit tighter. Even my post pregnancy jeans, which I wear from playschool to a night out with friends... Sigh... But that's another topic altogether.

This Diwali holiday in Chandigarh was all about... parathas. For breakfast, lunch and dinner. Plain, stuffed, in every possible delicious form... That's all the kids wanted for each of their meals, and that's all I wanted to indulge in. How could something so simple taste so heavenly warm, crumbly, soft and comforting??

First of all, the wheat flour (atta) which is not your ordinary packaged variety. My mother-in-law buys it freshly ground from the chakki (mill). And believe me, the difference is huge, to say the least. Absolutely nothing to do with the commercial variety I get at the local supermarket. Well, I had, for a second, nightmarish visions of what the chakki would be like - like, infested with mice for example... But I quickly dismissed all negative thoughts and... ate.

We had plain parathas, with a brush of butter.

We had spinach stuffed parathas (which reminded me of spinach bjorek, a Bulgarian layered pastry delicacy that my grandmother used to make).

We had paneer stuffed parathas - OH... MY... GOD... with tomato and onion salad and yogurt.

We had paneer and broccoli stuffed parathas with loads of butter - but hey, there WAS broccoli inside for a healthy touch, right??

My feeble attempts to recreate these parathas here have been a complete flop in terms of flavour. Luckilly, I can still fool the kids with the local variety and they still love it...

Other things that we indulged in in Chandigarh:

* Chinese takeout - chicken & lemongrass soup!

* Chicken biryani made by Babli Massi, Gurtaj's delightful aunt

* Chocolate slice from Nik Baker's (the local IN bakery) with loads of vanilla ice cream

* Mutton curry maison

* Fresh & tender lettuce leaves

* KFC takeout!!

Chandigarh means parties and food

My husband's parents stay in Chandigarh, a city in North India (capital of Punjab and Haryana), famous for being planned and designed by French architect Le Corbusier. It is a city of gentle living, with very few highrises, and mostly houses with beautiful gardens. Just a short drive away from the hills, it is also comparatively unpolluted. My in-laws are both originary from there, so the entire extended family lives close by. And each time we visit, it is hard to even take a breath between parties and dinners. The local food is rich and delicious, and saying "no" to it is simply not an option, hence, we spend half our time in a semi-comatose state of overeating.

It starts in the morning, with frothy cold coffee made the old way (the ice crushed by hand, and with full fat milk, of course) helping us brighten up from our slumber. My mother-in-law, Livleen, then tempts us with eggs sunny side up (served with her signature sauteed tomatoes, onions and mushrooms mix, which I sometimes eat separately on toast), porridge and loads of fruit. Everyone then sips hot tea and coffee (Nescafe is the best you can get here, but I would rather have that than live through the rest of the day without my caffeine kick).

Lunch parties in the garden are big with our family, with most of the food prepared at home (despite my father-in-law insisting that we order). And when my mom-in-law is in the kitchen, you better not cross her! Well, I would be way worst if I had to cook for 20 people! One of her signature dishes is a very simple bake that I LOVE! She mashes up some potatoes, and mixes them with parboiled spinach and grated cheese (optionally mushrooms), and hop, the dish goes in the oven, only to result into delicious comfort food! She also frequently makes a mutton curry with a simple tomato-based gravy, much lighter and less spicy than the commercial variety. I like the fact that you can taste the freshness and naturalness of the ingredients, and there are always leftovers for the dogs. Fish and chicken are also always on the menu; lentils and 2-3 more vegetarian dishes are a must. A very typical Punjabi concoction is paneer (or potato) and green peas curry.

I never eat this much tomato as when I am in Chandigarh. And the simplest way is the tastiest - big chunks of it tossed with red onions (which are very 'sweet' and mild in this part of India), olive oil, lemon and salt. Yum!!! And my other absolute favourite is kulcha - flat buns of bread with coriander kneaded into the dough. My mom-in-law heats them up on a tawa and serves them with a dash of butter. Sinful!!!

Gurtaj's aunt makes amazing chaats and last time we visited we relished her homemade dumplings in yoghurt, and paani puri (tamarind water and chopped up vegetables, stuffed in a crispy shell). She also surprised us with an amazing carrot halwa and prashad (a halwa made of sugar and wholewheat flour which is normally given at Sikh temples) which Gurtaj could simply die for! And don't even think of leaving a Punjabi table without having dessert! My father-in-law revels in kulfi (Indian ice cream) and barfi (another milk-based delicacy) and vanilla ice cream is always available in the freezer!

The whole ceremony is rounded off by drinking copious amounts of tea, often prepared with cardamom and ginger for an extra kick. Actually, in a Punjabi household, you can ask for tea at any time of the day.

BEST OF EATING OUT IN CHANDIGARH:

You can't beat Hot Millions for their kathi rolls (chicken or paneer kababs rolled in egg-coated flat bread), Indian-style pizzas and sizzlers, and of course their hot chocolate fudge sundae which makes my otherwise very unselfish mom into a predator protecting its pray.

The tandoori chicken here is simply divine, provided you get a good batch of it. There are many shops where you can order and wait in your car for your share to be finished in the clay oven. You will recognise them by the big queues outside. Two of them, Singh's Chicken and... Singh's Chicken, are right next to each other, and we really can't make out the difference. However, they both have their staunch regulars.

There's no better place for Indian sweets, with hundreds of shops offering eldless supplies of the boiled milk variety. My favourite is the coconut barfi.

Salak Bali

In Bali, my finger nails got all red because of constantly peeling and eating Salak, or 'snake fruit'. One look at it and you understand why it is called so - it is covered by a reddish-brown, scaly dry skin, like a round little reptile. It crackles when you peel it off and reveals three dryish, huge 'cloves' of fruit with an apple-like taste and crumbly, starchy consistency. Delicious and addictive!

A bit more on this fruit, courtesy Wikipedia:
Salak (Salacca zalacca) is a species of palm tree (family Arecaceae) native to Indonesia and Malaysia. The fruit grow in clusters at the base of the palm. They are about the size and shape of a ripe fig, with a distinct tip. The fruit can be peeled by pinching the tip which should cause the skin to slough off so it can be pulled away. Salak Bali is commonly sold all over the island of Bali, and is a popular fruit with both locals and tourists. It is also a favourite of the monkeys found in the famous "Monkey Forests", with the animals often stealing fruit from visitors, especially children whom they see as an easier target.

Malaysian breakfast

Recently on a Malaysia Air flight, I was offered Nasi Kandar, a traditional Malaysian breakfast. I jumped on the opportunity to try something new. It came hot, looking more like a lunch - rice, boiled egg, fish in masala, the whole thing sprinkled with peanuts and tiny dried fish flakes. It was absolutely delicious and comforting. Fish and rice in any case is one of my favourite combinations, and I relished it, with the added crunch of the fish flakes. The only thing was the lingering smell and taste of fish, something we Europeans are not used to early in the morning.
But it seems Malaysians don't kid around with their breakfast. It is a major meal of the day and not just a meagre snack gulped down on the way to office. Apart from Nasi Kandar, they also indulge in Nasi Dagang (glutinous rice cooked in coconut milk, served with fish curry, coconut sambal, and cucumber pickle), chicken and vegetable Congee (something like our oats, but made of rice), and Roti Telur (something like crepes).
I guess having a heavy breakfast is common in Asian, predominantly agrarian countries. In India too, a typical villager's breakfast would be Aloo Parathas (flat bread stuffed with potatoes), idli sambar (steamed rice cakes with thin curry), Sabudana Kichdi (sago pearls fried with spices and curry leaves)... Yummy! But then, these guys then go out and work hard in the fields, quickly burning all those extra calories! While we sit staring at computer screens all day long!!! Food for thought...

A moment of bliss...

Roadside fruit wholesale

While driving from Chandigarh to Manali last year, we could not help but stop at this roadside market for wholesale plums, pears and raw almonds (had never seen that before!). We grabbed a couple of boxes which we ate through our journey to Leh.

Tha Calcutta Series: How can a Chinese restaurant be called Waldorf?!

The Calcutta Series: Flurys

Sugar & spice and all things nice... Flurys (http://www.flurysindia.com/) was a fairy sugary doll land in the midst of chaotic Calcutta! I personally breathed a sigh of relief when we entered this legendary bakery cum cafe on Kolkata's Park Street, and felt like home amongst the almond slices, black forest pastries, chocolate chip cookies and smell of espresso.

"Founded in 1926 by Mr and Mrs J. Flury. The tearoom was known far and wide for its exotic cakes, creamy pastries, rich puddings and perhaps the best Swiss chocolates outside the European continent, and in no small measure to the relaxed and cheerful atmosphere that it provided." Just reading this on the website makes me want to take the flight right back to Kolkata and sit in one of these chairs with a copy of The Telegraph, sipping a cappucino and eating a vanilla slice! Soft and moist inside, with a crispy, perfectly glazed icing!

To my biggest astonishment, my mom ordered a rum ball (in Bulgaria, she never let me eat this delicacy as she suspected bakeries use leftover pastries to make these) and it was absolutely delicious with a Flurry Viennese Coffee. Gurtaj ordered a chocolate pastry. And Mini struggled with an ice cream soda determined to set free from its tall glass.

Other yummy things spotted: meringues with cream, rich puddings, apple strudel, fudge...

Heavenly sugar rush!

The Calcutta Series: Nizam's

They say you can't go to Calcutta and not eat a kathi roll (barbecued chicken wrapped in a flat Indian bread coated with egg and spices) at Nizam's. They also say the roll was invented when an enterprising local realised that English people did not want to grease their fingers while eating kababs, so he started selling them inside a bread roll. Thus started this great institution of the city. I am guilty of loving non-vegetarian food, so I could not wait to taste the delicacy I had heard so much about! In Bombay, so many times we would go out for a kathi roll and Gurtaj would say: "Hmmm, you can't compare this to Nizam's." So off we were on a Sunday afternoon, starved in advance and determined to enjoy the national dish of Calcutta to the fullest!

First disappointment: Nizam's has become a "fancy" restaurant (in the garish sort of way) with plastic tables and chairs, and a doorman, believe it or not! Thankfully, we didn't have to actually sit down in this place which looked more drab than my office canteen. Nizam's had a small take away window on the side for hardcore focussed eaters. While ordering, I could peek right into the kitchen, and I could see the small tandoori ovens where skewers were sizzling. It looked positively delicious and I could not wait to sink my teeth in one of those! India oblige, we went to wait in the car while our order was getting ready, and two hot parcels were soon delivered to us. We decided to drive to the river bank and have our rolls in looking down at the water.

Second disappointment: My roll was absolutely stuffed with onions and green chillies. So I fist had to struggle to get them all out. But even then the onion smell and taste were to overwhelming for the poor kababs to stand their ground. The bread was so oily that the initial purpose of the kathi roll - not ditrying your hands - was completely missed. I felt sick immediately after eating the roll and had to ingest many mints to tone down the onion aftertaste. Yuck! While I was happy I ticked this off my list, I can safely say that a kathi roll in Mumbai is far better...

The Calcutta series: New Market

That's what I thought: Calcutta = Bengoli cuisine = palate in heaven. But what was my disappointment when I was told (several times - yes, I triple checked) that I can taste the quintessential Bengoli cuisine, the delectable fish and vegetable curries I have read so much about, only at someone's house. And that no restaurant on this Earth can do justice to this rare kind of cooking. So I had to content myself, again, with just thinking about it, and browsing the market looking at ingredients. While even that didn't really live up to my expectations, I still made some interesting discoveries:

1) These guys obviously love their meat! Most roadside stalls I saw were selling a mince preparation with a lot of onion, combined with fluffy, freshly fried bread rolls and thick, juicy parathas. As much as my tastebuds were begging for a try, I could not bring myself to stop at one of these not too hygienically looking spots and ordering a plate. So I contented myself to watch and take snaps of the preparations, and of the plates of fresh chillies and onion neatly cut up and ready to be tossed into the mix.

2) We also saw a very strange snack of halved hard boiled eggs filled with a funny mixture of the yolk and mince, I think.

3) As my brother-in-law Raj and I walked into the market, we came directly through the poultry, meat and fish section. It didn't start that bad - we first walked through what I decided to name Bird Flu Lane - full of caged chickens, enough to feed a small country. We then decided to brave the meat market, but barely a couple of steps on the slimy stones, I was ready to run away from the sights and smells I would rather not describe here. Just as I was turning around to walk out, with my peripheral vision I spotted someone coming directly in my way with something on their shoulder, and I quickly wiggled away, barely escaping what turned to be a HUGE pig carcasse this guy was carrying into the market. I have never sworn so loudly, and got quite a few surprised glances. Truly traumatic...

4) Walking around the provision stores, I realsed that Bombay's Crawford Market is light years ahead of this place. None of the exotic imported ingredients and goodies were present here. Just the basics.

5) I came across a sign board that set my imagination racing – Fresh Aligarh Butter. It sounded utterly butterly delicious, and my mind started churning out images of endless grazing fields with happy cows, village maidens milking them in buckets and the milk looking superbly frothy. I looked up 'Aligarh' in Wikipedia. It turned out it is a small city in Uttar Pradesh, famous for its Muslim University, and where the main industries are flour milling, the processing of raw cotton, and the manufacture of butter and glass

6) Surprisingly, I still had appetite after what I had seen, so Raj and I walked into a small restaurant filled with a jovial crowd. Too chicken to order fish, we asked for noodles (could we be more boring??) and chilly chicken. It was not a gourmet experience, but at least it stopped my stomach from grumbling, and gave me the opportunity to spy on our neighbour's plates. People had ordered all sorts of different things - fish curry with rice, soups, even sandwiches. But what really amazed me was a strange sort of preparation everyone was eating as a side dish - in a soup plate, they were served a completely spice-devoid, bland, boiled vegetables (potatoes and carrots) and chicken legs, with a bit of soup. It was looking delicious in a cold European evening kind of way, making it seem completely out of place here! Some people ordered seconds of it, and then topped it with the main Indian dish... Mystery!

7) We found Gurtaj's old favourite bakery - Nahoum - from where his mom used to buy sponge cake. Amazinfly well organized, it had a huge variety of dry cakes, birthday cakes (so laden with artificial colour, that they reminded me of the brightly coloured posonous animals I have seen on Animal Planet - the more colourful, the more poisonous). I loved the old-fashioned scales and cash machine!

8) But here's the most amusing thing - while walking through, we saw a tea man serving the tiniest tea cups I have ever seen - literally two sips inside. A shop keeper ordered it and I went to ask him how much it costs - one rupee per cup! He very proudly and ceremoniously posed for me with his tea, and insisted on seeing the photograph. On not liking it, he requested for a second shot. And was finally satisfied!

The French connection & yummy bites of Mauritius

For those of you who don't know me, in one of my "past lives" I stayed in Paris for almost seven years. This time went fast, and I have to think a bit before bringing back any clear memories. But I still have dreams of getting off the airplane at Charles De Gaulle airport and crying rivers of tears of happiness for being back.

I am not a great fan of French cuisine per say, but what I loved unconditionally were the little things: the cheese, goat being my favourite; fresh creamy butter; a hot crusty baguette, so fluffy you could fold it to put it in your shopping bag; the amazing variety of fruit yoghurt; the wine; crepes; endives; strawberries and plump tomatoes; cold cuts... What a gourmet experience it was just going to the Sunday market, stocking up on these simple things, and then having a full lunch with them. Just some baguette with cheese, salad and wine could send me to heaven! That's what I miss most in Bombay.

Lately, two instances have sent me on short trips to this lost heaven:

1) There is a chain of grocery stores in the city called Nature's Basket. Which has recently been converted into a more upmarket (frightfully expensive) shopping destination. Two weeks ago, I walked into the one at World Trade Centre, and almost cried these same rivers of happy tears (I wonder what the store attendants would have thought!). As I slowly started browsing the stalls and refrigerators, I was discovering one treasure after another: Soignon goat cheese; Elle & Vire butter and yoghurt; liquid cream; compote of apples and pears; endives (!!!); strawberries; French wines; Haagen Das ice cream... Let's not discuss the bill...

2) I went to Mauritius for a week for the opening of a new Club Med resort (La Plantation d'Albion). And there, once again I was in French heaven! The daily breakfast/lunch/dinner buffets were the size of Bulgaria, and contained generous offerings of village breads (pain de campagne); chocolate and raisin rolls; many kinds of cheese; fruit yoghurts; Perrier water (I even had my favourite Perimenthe - Perrier with mint syrup); salads of endives and fish; iles flottantes (a dessert where the egg white beaten to a firm white ball is floating in an egg yolk cream) and all imaginable tarts. OH... MY... GOD!