Month: October 2012

Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Chili Maple Croutons

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Now don’t be babies and skip this post because it’s got ‘kaddu/ kumbalkayi’ as the star ingredient. I know I ran a mile when my mom made pumpkin playa when I was a kid. There was so much drama about not eating it, that my mom finally relented and stopped making it for many years. But I guess I was always a hypocrite when it came to pumpkins. There’s a special halwa (sweet) called ‘Kashi Halwa’, that’s made out of pumpkins for our wedding ceremonies. I used to wait patiently furiously tapping my banana leaf for the waiter to serve us the halwa. I would quickly devour it before he finished serving the rest of the table and act like he missed serving me. The look on the waiter’s face was priceless!  But topping that look was mine, when my mom finally told me that the halwa was made out of pumpkin! Evil evil woman! After that I had to make my peace with the pumpkin. (If only to avoid the dichotomy while eating the …

Raspberry Mascarpone Pie

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Raspberry Mascarpone Pie @ A Spoonful of Sugar, Indiranagar, Bangalore I drove furiously; a few motorists were roughly pushed to the pavement. Six kilometers was nothing to satisfy a craving. And this time it was bad. I couldn’t think straight, I needed the fix…now. I had the rest of them on speed dial, but this one was different. If I wanted it, I had to go there myself. The anticipation builds up as you come closer. Maybe that was part of their plan? Parallel parking was not my scene, but I did it anyway. I didn’t want the moment to be interrupted by the cops. I walked into the space. There were others like me, reverently consuming their poison. He looked at me from behind the counter. The clear glass displayed everything that I wanted and more. Which one would I choose today? Something dark and dangerous or something sweet and exotic? There was one in Red calling out to me. I looked with scare concealed desire. He smirked and handed it over to me. …

Mangrove – Restaurant.Cafe.Wine Tavern (Kalyan Nagar, Bangalore)

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I live at a point where going to Indiranagar or Koramangala or MG Road is the same distance. I know, lucky me! With so many food options scattered at my doorstep, I hardly travel beyond these areas for a quick bite. But after a point it becomes same old same old and this weekend we decided to travel to the beyond. Ok, that’s Kalyan Nagar near H.R.B.R. layout for you. We took the Bypanahalli route because the GPS on the co-resident’s phone said it was the shortest and fastest route, but we din’t know it would lead us to a defunct railway crossing! After a few more adventures, we reached Mangrove. It’s a new American cuisine restaurant that’s opened its doors, to entice the sudden population burst towards Manyata Tech Park and ORR. There is a big sign painted on the entrance wall so that you don’t miss the restaurant on the quite road. J We expected to find the restaurant under a Mango tree, but realized that the young couple who run the place …

Pasta with Roasted Vegetables

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Featured in Foodgawker.com on 16th Oct 2012 Featured in Tastespotting.com on 21st Oct 2012 No matter how good my refrigerator is, I can’t store things forever. Especially fruits and vegetables. I don’t have the luxury of taking a lovely evening stroll to source my produce everyday, like the friendly aunty who lives across the street from me. I go to a hypermarket close by and bundle everything I can into the car and lug it home once a week. I know the hypermarket claims the produce is super fresh and challenges anyone to claim otherwise. But everyone knows that even the supposedly ‘fresh’ produce in supermarkets is already stashed in cold storage for weeks to help transport it intact. Now is this a rant on the troubles of city living or the hypocrisy of large corporations? No. I just have a rule that once I buy something perishable from the market, I need to finish it within a week. In a perfect world, I would have planned the menu for the week in advance. I …

The Bork

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Bork @ Monkey Bar, Wood Street, Bangalore I walked in to a familiar setting. Friends, food and getting wasted on drinks in the afternoon. It was the same this time. Like a warm blanket, familiarity can be comforting. There was a blackboard menu. Some new items of interest had made their way up there. A Beef and Jalapeno Potsticker, even a Salmon Khan! Should I shake things up a bit? The guy in the red t-shirt said yes. But of course he would… he worked there. So I tried it. Nice, but it wasn’t my warm blanket. I stirred my Mandarin Caprioska and told him I was shaken. I need to settle into my grove again. I ordered the Bork.  The pork was double cooked till he turned black. From that point on, he was called Bork. I gently removed the spring onion frills that he had chosen to be dressed with. Sesame seeds stuck to him like thick friends. No matter, the more the merrier. I cut into the Bork, gently lifted a piece into …

Hot Chocolate Con Churros

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From a quaint little cafe in Barric Gotic, Barcelona I had walked a good three hours taking in the sights and sounds (crazy tourists!) of this old-new city in summer. I was looking for something to drink, preferably cold. A nice little dessert would also be great, while my brain indulged in some people watching. I finally found the ideal spot – a small cafe, tucked away but still on the main street. Wooden floors, deep red couches and a bottle green ceiling. Unfortunately they only served Hot Chocolate at 4 pm. I couldn’t walk away now, so I ordered a bottle of cold water and asked him to get me a mug. He placed the cold water in front of me and ambled away. There was no sign of him for a good third of an hour. No matter, I had people to analyse. He finally returned with a steaming cup of hot chocolate. Thick, gooey and almost the consistency of melted chocolate. Was this for real? And then he placed freshly made Churros sprinkled with sugar. Quaint little cafe’s can …

Chinese Food Festival at Feast, Sheraton Bangalore

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Monday was an eventful day. I finally drove all the way to the other side of town to experience authentic Chinese delicacies. Now this would have never been done, if not for a blogger friend of mine who invited me to come along with him to Sheraton. He was invited as part of the Chef’s table and I was going to be his happy sidekick. Feast, which is the all-day dining restaurant at the Sheraton Hotel, Bangalore was playing host to visiting Chinese Master Chef Thi Gang. Chef Thi Gang is from their award winning restaurant Li Bai at the Sheraton Saigon, Vietnam and was here to showcase the rich and diverse culinary heritage of China. Like India, China is vast country with unique regional cuisines and showcasing all of it can be a gargantuan task. So the Chef had handpicked some interesting dishes to help us savour a taste of China, if you will. The chef is a tiny man with a big smile and speaks very little English but his mastery was evident …

Hassleback Potatoes with Garlic and Sour Cream

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Featured in Tastespotting.com on 12th Oct 2012 I’ll admit the only reason I made this is because it looks so cool. Like an armadillo or a fat fan or an accordion. A restaurant in Stockholm invented these and hence they took on the moniker of the restaurant. (The restaurant was called Hasslebacken!). I like fancy looking food, but I don’t really have the patience to make it look fancy. That’s why I’m always envious of pastry chefs. How many hours of practice and restraint does rolling out a perfect sugared rose take?! When you look at a hassleback potato you’re thinking it involves a fair bit of work. Well, it involves some work, but nothing more than slicing and stuffing. On a day when the whole of Bangalore was cooped indoors because of the bandh – I figured I might as well give it a go. The final product is a potato that is crisp on the outside and soft in the middle. Almost like soft crisps. (Oxymoron, I know!). Also since it’s mostly served …