mint - Travels for Taste

Uni brings Nikkei Cuisine to Victoria

July 20, 2014 by manjirichitnis 11 Comments

The largest Japanese settlement outside of Japan is in Peru and the unique fusion cuisine that is Japanese Peruvian is called Nikkei.Fiona invited me to accompany this time to discover Nikkei , she is an award-winning freelance writer and marketing consultant who currently writes about travel and London lifestyle for a number of publications and runs her own London lifestyle blog called London Unattached.

So it was a bright summer Monday afternoon that I trooped in Uni (the Japanese word for the sea urchin, a Japanese delicacy) restaurant and sushi bar designed by Andrew Martin, in Belgravia minutes away from the travel hub that is Victoria station.

I was shown to a cosy table downstairs.

For starters I got some steamed edamame with a spicy chilli and garlic sauce (£4.50) and some refreshing green tea served in a typical cast iron heavy pot which I would love to have as part of my growing food prop collection which now occupies every corner or of our tiny rental flat much to the chagrin of my hubby – I guess the last straw was trying to pass off a very heavy cast iron pot as a ‘place to keep his usb drives and wire hehehee

I had happily managed to forget my phone at home and therefore Fiona tried in vain to inform me of her delayed train. Blissfully unaware of this I sipped my tea and munched my edamame all the time trying to ignore some stuffy banker type folks on the table next to me talking shop – how boring…

So when Fiona arrived she managed to move us to a bigger table away from the ‘big boy talk’ as she aptly called it and onto a table where I could dump my bags and lay my camera lens and other paraphernalia – I do not travel light …

To make life easier we chose to have bento boxes for our mains and mine came with the udon noodle and fish cake soup while Fiona had a light Miso soup. I was feeling ravenous by the time the soup arrived and devoured it in a flash! (£24.5 per bento box – comes with soups, salad, sushi, & maki, main dish, side, rice and dessert)

Nabe Udon – Noodle and Fishcake Soup with Prawn Tempura.

Beautifully light Miso Soup

My Bento box had Kaiso Wakame – seaweed salad ,prawn and carrot tempura, main of duck tataki – seared duck breast finely sliced and dressed with mirin and soy, fried rice and sashimi selection. The duck tataki was deliciously morish, I also loved the seaweed salad and the sticky fried rice with the sashimi was very filling.

Fionas bento box came with steamed rice and anticucho sauce black cod and was very appetising , to read in her own words read her review of our lunch at Uni here.

We washed down our Bento lunch boxes with some chilled sake.

The very polite manager came and urged us to experiment with some of the Nikkei range from the menu and we were served two stunning dishes.

Tiraditos of Yellowtail with kizami wasabi,Yuzu and fresh mint presented in a creative and stunning display, it was delightfully fresh, sharp in taste with a delicate balance of colour and flavour. (£15.5)

Wildly beautiful looking salmon tartare tacos with cucumber,tomato,masago and creamy miso were crunchy and melt in your mouth creamy all at one once exploding with a light flavour in every bite – delicious! (£6)

Stuffed to the gills now I had to walk around click a few pictures and allow for some space to be created in my tummy to fit in some dessert 😉

To my amusement the very attentive young lady on the staff showed us how the colourful lamp shade were made from bottle of campari that could be detached and well glugged , given it was a hot summer afternoon I think it was a great idea that Fiona ordered us some Pisco Sour shots instead ;).Never having tasted these before I downed them in one go much to my own peril, the sake already in my system the shot gave me quite the buzz!

Thankfully my cooling Matcha Gelato worked wonders and cooled me down several degrees -phew!

Fiona managed to stay light with desserts too with a selection of fresh fruit.

The creation of former Nobu chef Rolando Ongcoy, the menu at UNI offers a good selection of grilled meats ,fish, sushi,sashimi, selection of tempura and maki. The Peruvian influence is prevalent throughout UNI’s menu, ceviche and tiraditos peruano included.

The bar area upstairs also has plenty of seating on high stools and around the bar, perfect for knocking down Peruvian fav’s like the pisco sours or coconut-based Chilli Mojito.

Victoria being a very office space kind of area is lucky to have Uni in its midst now, with bite sized healthier meal options ,seven- dish bento boxes for short lunch hours are on offer at a price of course. So the big banker boys and girls can have their financial pow-wow meets in the fancy cubicles or basement vaults if you please which can seat about 10 – 12 people, and if the huge ice buckets with bottles of chilled Moet and the power talk we overheard from the table next to us are anything to go by then Uni is already a haunt for these suited and well heeled office folks!

Website: Uni
Opening Times: is open for lunch and dinner, Monday to Saturday inclusive

*With thanks to Uni for the invitation. No monetary compensation was offered for a positive review . All opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

Greek Easter Feast with Tonia Buxton and Total Greek Yoghurt

May 1, 2014 by manjirichitnis 10 Comments

One of the things I enjoy most about being a food and travel writer is that I am able to experience various traditions from various cultures. Also, I think it is a privilege and also an incredible opportunity to to celebrate various festivals from across the world. As an added benefit I have had the good fortune of meeting the wonderful people on my journey into exploring various beautiful cuisines and destinations.

I have cooked alongside some very talented trained Michelin-starred Chefs, home cooks, and cookbook authors too.

I am so glad that I had a chance to cook with someone as passionate as Tonia Buxton who taught us how to make a 3-course Greek feast and took us through a journey of how Easter is celebrated back in Greece, relating in a very animated manner the rituals, prayer, and festivity surrounding the occasion. Total Yogurt the makers of the deliciously thick and creamy yogurt put together this cooking fest at a Cookery School called La Cucina Caldesi located in the heart of Central London.

Tonia Buxton a Greek Cypriot is the Total Greek Yogurt Brand Ambassador and a presenter of the award-winning T.V series on Discovery Channel called ‘My Greek Kitchen’ and has also authored a book titled ‘Tonia’s Greek Kitchen’. Soon to star in a new T.V series called ‘Pauls Family Feast’ a TV show by well, Paul Hollywood 🙂

After a quick ice breaker session, we got into groups and started preparing the main dish of the meal – Greek Lamb Pattie Tray Bake. I love cooking lamb and am delighted with the similarities in Greek and Indian cuisines. We too love our spices and cumin does add a very deep flavour to lamb. If I was to make it at home though I would tweak it and amp up the spices especially the cumin and just because I love heat crushed or paper-thin slices of green chillies with seeds ummm!

Here is the recipe:

Greek Lamb Pattie Tray Bake

Serves: 4

Ingredients

100g TOTAL Greek Yoghurt
100g fresh wholemeal breadcrumbs
400g lamb mince
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp ground cumin
4 red onions (2 finely chopped, 2 cut into wedges)
Large handful mint, chopped
4 waxy new potatoes, i.e. the Charlottes cut into wedges
4 courgettes, halved & quartered lengthways
250g pack juicy cherry tomatoes on the vine
2 unwaxed lemons cut into 6 wedges each
4 tbsp olive oil
100g feta cheese, crumbled

Method

Heat the oven to 200°C / 180°C Fan / Gas Mark 6.
Put the breadcrumbs, the lamb mince, egg, plenty of seasoning, and cumin in a bowl.
Add the chopped onion and sprinkle in half the chopped mint. Give everything a good mix and shape into 8 patties.
Lightly oil a large, shallow roasting tray and add the patties.
Place the onion wedges on the tray around the lamb patties with the potatoes, courgettes, and tomatoes. Drizzle with olive oil and season. Bake for around 40 minutes, turning & basting everything once halfway until the lamb is cooked through and the vegetables are tender. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the feta and remaining mint. (We used up most of the mint and our minty lamb patties were very juicy and yum)
Serve with a large dollop of Total Greek yoghurt and tahini sauce.

While our lamb patties were cooking we played a fun Greek easter egg game with eggs painted a cheerful bright red. We had to go about smashing our egg onto everyone else and in the end, I was up against Tonia- of course, she won! Years of experience laster she has mastered the technique 🙂

We then made a Greek dessert called Anarocrema using Anari Cheese, which I flavoured with orange blossom extract, fresh fruits, and generous bits of freshly made filo pastry crispy bits. This creamy dessert is made using goats cheese and marries well with fruits, pistachios, almonds, and honey too is very filling and moreish dessert.

While our desserts were sent for chilling we got cracking on with the starter a light and superbly flavoured starter – Greek Sea Bream fillets with olives, capers, lemon, and yoghurt Tahini Sauce.

Thanks to @satureyes for the brilliant photos.

It was a very well organised event and I got an opportunity to meet so many more bloggers.Cooking up in a team with Fiona (London Unattached) and Heidi was good fun and it great to be working with familiar faces. Many thanks to @TotalGreek yogurt for the lovely event & @ToniaBuxton for her lively, warm, and friendly way of conducting the cookery workshop and sharing so many beautiful experiences.

I hope all of you had a brilliant Easter Weekend and are looking forward to another long weekend coming up!

Disclaimer: With many thanks to Total Uk and Tonia Buxton.I was not required to write a positive review and was not compensated monetarily for this post. Like all my previous posts about events and reviews, ALL opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

Tawa Chicken Frankie Roll

February 28, 2014 by manjirichitnis 20 Comments

Frankie – Popular Indian street food

Tawa Frankie Roll – How I decided to re-create this popular Indian street food at home. In 2014, global flavour leader McCormick, the parent company of leading herbs and spices brand Schwartz, is celebrating its 125th anniversary. The yearlong celebration kicks off with the launch of the 125th Anniversary Edition of the Flavour Forecast (a new, annual prediction of what ‘flavours’ will be most popular in the cooking world) and the Flavour of Together programme, with the goal of connecting people around the world as they share 1.25 million stories about the special role food and flavour plays in our lives through.

To inspire people to share their flavour stories and tell the blogger community about Flavour Forecast, McCormick challenged me and a few other bloggers to come up with a new recipe that is based on the Flavour Forecast trends :

1. Chillies Obsession: Food lovers everywhere are seeking out their next big chilli thrill.

2. Modern Masala: Indian food is finally having its moment, breaking free of its traditional confines with modern interpretations.

3. Clever Compact Cooking: Proving that big flavours can come from small spaces, cooks in urban kitchens are making the most of what’s available.

4. Mexican World Tour: Mexican flavours are making their way around the globe, with people everywhere discovering new aspects of this bright, casual cuisine.

5. Charmed by Brazil: The world’s attraction to Brazilian cuisine is heating up, thanks to its seductive mix of global and native influences.

I decide to take up Modern Masala as a flavour trend. Coming from India, using a complex mix of spices as part of our daily diet has always been a part of my life. The beautiful large open fruit n vegetable markets even in major cities are a visual treat and there is a lot of passion involved in say getting the right type of chilli powder. So I think my recipe is an amalgamation of these two big flavour trends together – Chillies Obsession and Modern Masala and of course because I manage all my culinary experiments in my tiny urban kitchen which is the size of a postage stamp I am sure my recipe also covers the theme Clever Compact Cooking!

My most vivid memory of spices being sold loose is of this huge wholesale and retail market in an area called Parel, Mumbai in India. There are many tiny shops and vendors which hand carts with huge piles of spices, bright red chillies in jute sacks, and mini yellow mountains of turmeric and ever imaginable spice being sold in the open. Of course, with our modern industries being so well developed we always used masalas out of a packet but the sheer variety available locally in any small town in India is mind-boggling.

Pune, India – spice market

In London, whenever I trudge to my local Indian shop and purchase Indian spices, I secretly wish that I could get an unlimited supply of aai’s homemade masalas. Her garam masala and red chilli powder where she carefully selects 2 types of chillies with varying degrees of heat and roasts them in a kadhai after they have been dried in the blistering hot afternoon sun! Then she takes it to a local mill where it is ground and packed into a large ceramic jar and then stored at home.

I have made a simplified version of Tibbs Frankie using boneless mutton and a variety of Schwartz spices which were sent to me. You could safely say that this fella ”Frankie” is a distant cousin of the Fajita and the Kathi Roll.

How this Frankie came into being is also a very interesting story which I shall share in a few lines here. These lines are from the Tibbs Frankie website

”The year 1967 Mr. Amarjit Tibb on returning back from England had a stopover in Beirut. During his brief stop there he stumbled upon a very ingenious Lebanese preparation, which was a pita bread wrap, with a variety of stuffing’s, this fascinated him. Upon his return the idea still lingered on and he kept innovating it to suit the Indian palate, after a year of research along with his wife they hit upon the perfect concoction. This Indianised wrap was soon tried among friends and family and after testing brilliantly it hit the markets. That was a new era to the term fast food in Mumbai, it caught on like fire in the Jungle, people accepted it and kept asking for more.Now came the problem of naming the product, again a number of brainstorming became the order of the day till a unanimous decision on the name was taken i.e. Frankie”

This explosion of flavours in a handy easy to eat roll which was given a modern food truck makeover is a gastronomic delight and is available in a large variety of stuffings both veg and non-veg.I have rather fond memories of my college days and spending my pocket money which was always in short supply on these spicy, tasty rolls with a bunch of friends giggling away and then gathering any loose change we had left amongst us to buy a bottle or two of some fizzy cola to quench our thirst. Alert : have been suddenly been hit by a huge wave of nostalgia 🙂

I have created what is my version of a tawa chicken roll (tawa meaning pan in Hindi), the original Tibbs frankie filling is a tangy spicy taste which they attribute to a secret ”Frankie Masala” – humm , well I think I got pretty close 😉 – evil laugh follows 🙂 You can go crazy and creative with the fillings and use this recipe idea to use up meat from your sunday roast, try various different veg and non veg patties with meat and masalas rolled into boiled potato casing and shallow fried. Great way to use a lot of colorful veggies and create a stir fry filling too – the possibilities are endless.

Tawa Chicken Frankie Roll

Tawa Frankie Roll

Manjiri Chitnis

Popular Indian street food, this was created in Mumbai and is a deliciously paratha stuffed with a variety of fillings and green chutney

5 from 7 votes

Print Recipe

Prep Time 5 mins

Cook Time 20 mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Fusion Indian

Servings 2 People

Equipment

Tawa – Flat frying pan
Saptula

Ingredients

Tawa Chicken Filling

50 Grams Chicken breast
1 pinch Asafoetida
2 tsp Garam Masala
Onion salt as per taste
1/2 tsp Garlic Minced
2 tsp Coriander Powder
1 tsp Cumin Powder
Red Chilli powder as per taste
1/2 thum-sized Fresh Ginger fresh peeled
2 medium Red onions finely chopped
1 tsp Turmeric
2 lage Jjuicy tomatoes chopped very fine
1 large Green chilli split lengthwise
1 Red pepper slit lengthwise
3 tbsp Cooking oil

Mint and Coriander Chutney

1 large bunch Fresh Coriander
1 small bunch Fresh Mint leaves
2 Green chillies
1/2 Lime – freshly squeezed
Salt to taste

For the Frankie filling

1 large Red onion chopped lengthwise

For the Paratha coating

2 small Eggs
Salt for seasoning

Instructions

To make the Chicken Filling

Heat a saucepan on medium heat and add the oil
Once the oil is hot, add the asafoetida
Then add split green chilli and crushed fresh ginger
Saute' and add the garlic granules
Saute' and add the garlic granules, when the garlic begins to give out a strong fried aroma its time to add the finely chopped red onion
Cook the onion till it reduces and turns a delicious brown, then add the coriander and cumin powder and garam masala and mix well
Then add the finely chopped tomato and add very little water and cook for 1 -2 minutes without lid
Stir frequently, so as to ensure the mixture does not stick to the saucepan
Now the spices have been thoroughly cooked along with the onion and tomato to make a thick gravy
Cut the chicken breasts and red peppers into lenghthwise strip and add to the gravy
Add onion salt to the mixture, red chilli powder and turmeric
Cover and cook until done

To make the Mint and Coriander Chutney

Wash the coriander and mint leaves, blend to a smoothpaste with a green chilli
To reduce the heat use 1 chilli de-seeded.Add the salt and lime juice and sblend once again
A smooth thick green paste is the consistency we are after – add some water to adjust the consistency
This chutney stores for upto 10 days in the freezer in a clean ,air tight jar – rarely lasts that much in my house though -I love making Bombay sandwich for dinner with this delightful chutney

To make the coating for the Paratha

Crack the eggs in a bowl and beat with a fork, add salt to taste
Using a plastic brush spread on the surface of a frozen ready to eat paratha
Place the eggy side down on a hot pan coated with some cooking oil
Ready to eat frozen parathas are readily available in most supermarkets and Indian grocery stores

How to put the Frankie Roll together

Once the paratha coated with egg has been cooked on both sides, slather it with the mint and coriander chutney and add some red onion chopped lengthwise
Add a generous helping of the chicken filling , roll and wrap one end with some kitchen foil or baking paper. Enjoy hot
Dip into the chutney or tomato ketchup as you munch along

Keyword Frankie

Tawa Chicken Frankie Roll

After I received the samples and wrote up my flavour story, my left hand was operated on (unexpected rescheduling) – a minor but rather errrmmm painful surgery and I walk around most of the time with a sling (promptly remove it as soon as OH leaves home for work hehe) So I had a bit of a panic attack about getting this post up on time,I know I missed the deadline by a few days 🙁

But am really grateful to the kind folks up at McCormick for bearing with me. Also I would like to thank OH for patiently chopping and cutting all the fresh ingredients for me and helping me to click these lovely photographs – what would I do without you? Sighh…

The company has pledged to donate $1 to United Way Worldwide and it’s UK partner Focus on Food, for every story shared on the Schwartz website, Facebook page or other social channels.

Disclaimer: Schwartz Samples and voucher for ingredients purchase sent by McCormick I was not required to write a positive review and was not compensated monetarily for this post. As always, all opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

Review – Gaylords, London (Permanently Closed)

February 17, 2014 by manjirichitnis 22 Comments

Last Wednesday I was invited by Zomato, London to join a bunch of other food blogger who are also on the board of Zomato reviewers to Gaylords in Central London. Going by the weather that day I was not very sure I would reach my destination without being blown away first. At times like this, I have a decided advantage over my featherweight foodie friends, after all, it would a rather strong gust of wind to blow me off my feet 😉

Luckily I made it to the venue alive and without getting drenched! A warm greeting later – from the ever so thoughtful staff at Gaylord’s who continued to really pamper us all through the evening – it was time for some welcome drink – a fizzy pink- Passion Bellini and an optional Virgin Tamarind Mohito for those abstaining from alcohol.

For starters we were served – Tandoori Tiger Prawns – succulent and smoked on the tandoor very juicy, Lamb Shammi kebabs – minced lamb patties with a minty yogurt dip -lipsmackin delicious,Murg Malai Tikka – Tandoor roasted mild chicken tikkas – honestly not my fav but heck nothing to complain about either , Amritsari Macchi – very delicious tilapia fillets fried in a gram flour batter seasoned with paprika and carom seeds – one word EXCELLENT!,Tandoori paneer tikka- huge chunks of cottage cheese – chargrilled with onions and peppers in a saffron flavoured marinade,Murg Gilafi Sheekh- minced chicken,smoked ,topped with bell peppers & chargrilled on skewers – all these served with 3 different types of Indian Bread – plain naan, garlic naan and mini onion kulcha.

1-Zomato Bloggers Meet - 12th Feb'14 Wed at Gaylords1

To my absolute delight we were then served some very authentic in taste Indian street food snacks in a posh and innovative way.

These pani puri or gol gappa shots were utterly glorious and made me wish I was standing outside Elco at Bandra in Mumbai eating their ice cold pani puri .If you ever visit Mumbai then this is the place to go to for the BEST pani puri in town!I loved how they were served in these shot glasses.Boiled chick peas and tiny cubes of boiled potato are stuffed into the tiny puffed savoury puri and a sweet date and jaggery thick sauce is poured into it followed up with a green liquid which is a coriander ,mint and spice mix chutney and this has to be gobbled in one go ! They explode in your mouth enveloping your senses with an unforgettable sensation of taste,spices and aroma leaving your taste buds playing the guessing game.Sigh…double sigh…

Next up – Bhel – or puffed rice spiced with chaat masala,chopped red onion tomato and a sprinkling of yellow sev or fried gram flour savoury and topped off with tamarind chutney and a green mint coriander chutney – bursting with flavour these were !Aloo Papri Chaat – spicy bite sized boiled potatoes in spices mixed with sev and served on a crunchy flat puri base.

1-Zomato Bloggers Meet - 12th Feb'14 Wed at Gaylords2

5 main courses with 5 accompaniments were to follow – by this point I was not very sure I would make it past the front door after this meal. But lucky for us the glasses magically seemed to top up each time and the conversation ,easy banter and laughter flowed almost as smoothly as the wine – leaving no room to ponder over such minor ,seemingly frivolous details or worry about the last tube back home – perfect.

Main Course favourites for me were the creamy coconut flavoured Prawn Curry which I polished off my plate with some Zaafraan Basmati – fluffy long grain basmati rice with saffron and the Chana Peshawari – chick peas cooked in their secret spice mix eaten with a steaming hot bhatura which a massive puri puffed and let me warn you has to be handled with care as it is very very hot. Now all I need to do is figure out a way to get the Gaylords chef to let me in on this secret spice mix – which I am quite sure they will never let go of , and why not , after hasn’t Coca Cola for years led us to believe that their secret ingredient is the one that has generations hooked onto their cola?Sadly, even so Coca Cola is no comparison for this Chana dish – honestly!But guarding the secret spice mix with their lives folks is serious business – after all heads have rolled and hands of artisans chopped off in medieval times to guard secrets of cuisine and architectural wonders alike! ( In her delightful and brilliant book ”Shark’s fin and Sichuan Pepper” author Fuchsia Dunlop has described how many generations of chefs took brilliant recipes to their grave for various reasons and am sure everyone has heard the myth about one of the 7 wonders of the world – the magnificent and many splendored Taj Mahal in Agra , India – that Emperor Shah Jahan got the hands of his sculptors and architect cut off after they built the Taj Mahal which was dedicated to Mumtaz Mahal – wife of Shah Jahan. It is said he did this so that they would never again be able to build anything quite as splendid as the Taj Mahal!)

The mains also included Butter Chicken – an indulgent and creamy sauce with Tandoori Chicken strips- ummm,Lamb Chops Anardana or Chargrilled Lamp chops in a ginger infused spicy mix with pomegranate seeds,Lamb Rogan Ghosh – tender lamb cubes cooked in a fiery garlic ,tomato and onion masala and of course Palak Paneer – a spinach and cottage cheese combo that would get even Popeye’s nod of approval! All this accompanied by Dal Bukhara – a traditional lentil dish from the northern most state in India – Kashmir served with an assortment of Indian breads puffy and hot off the charcoal oven – mind blowing – advance warning – best eaten by rolling up your sleeves and breaking large chunks of the naan with your hands scooping a shameless quantity of dal from your plate and shovelling into your mouth as if no one is watching – believe NO one is – when surrounded by food so good , what else can one focus on I ask ?!An innocent looking raita or yogurt flavoured with cooling cucumber and pomegranate helps do the balancing act of heat,spice and grease.

1-Zomato Bloggers Meet - 12th Feb'14 Wed at Gaylords3

Now I was supremely satiated and stuffed to the point I could explode but no self respecting foodie can resist a good gulab jamun and if that is flambeed with spiced dark rum , even the best defences shall crumble !To wash away any signs of guilt or gluttony we were served by this charming gentleman a 5 grape south african Red – a fine smooth wine ,delicious and fabulously lush – evidence of a good red I was informed is in the residue left behind in the wine glass – humm I learn new things every day 🙂

Zomato Bloggers Meet - 12th Feb'14 Wed at Gaylords4

This beautiful cocktail is called Saffrontini – a signature mix of saffron gin,cointreau,lime cordial and tonic.

As if this indulgence was not enough we were served with Malai Kulfi – an sweet frozen dessert that cements the most difficult deal and makes the grumpiest of humans grin – smothered in pistachios and cardamom it is definitely what can be described as an Indian Ice cream!

It was great to meet some familiar faces @Le__binh and @LeyLaLaa , infact I had a blast of an evening chatting up a wonderful bunch of Londoners. Loved meeting new faces – @AnomalousLondon ,@wildscribe ,@inher30s ,@LadylovesCake ,@sshaikh

Now that I think about it , @Gaylord_London was packed to the gills with hungry guests and the same team that fussed over our table, ensured our wine glasses never ran dry and explained how their chefs had expertly combined the various complex and glorious Indian spices and used them to create the spectacular special menu for the evening, the other guests seemed equally pampered, happy and errr happily tipsy to say the least! How do you do it folks ?! Keep it up! I think this is great ”Hospitality AND Food Karma” and this is very important to me when I dine out – and I suspect is the case with any discerning diner, foodie or not ! Especially since am so far away from Indian and given my regular cravings for authentic tasting Indian cuisine I am always on the hunt for the next best Indian dining experience. I would hate to have that spoilt by a grumpy staff, high handed attitude, over priced sub-standard food, or a menu which is considered fusion food but is basically authentic Indian food murdered by some nutjob who thinks they have created a masterpiece – beware of such places I’d say! All I ask for is a fabulous service and one great course after another dished out in perfect rhythm and harmony – just splendid food with a smile really.

Lucky for me Gaylords is short journey from home – Lajawab !

Zomato London and Gaylords – you spoilt us – royally! Many thanks to both parties and Of Course I would rather shamelessly like to admit that am very eagerly looking forward to more foodie meets, great food and good company! Cheers!

Healthy Baked White Fish with a mint and spice dressing

January 13, 2014 by manjirichitnis 26 Comments

Ladies this one is to be bookmarked and is perfect for any day when you want to treat your taste buds and yet not load on the calories.

Serves:2 Prep Time:5 Minutes Marination time :20 minutes In the Oven: 15 – 20 Minutes

Ingredients:

Fry Lite or olive oil 4 tsp
2 thick white fish fillets – I use Haddock
2 tbsp mint and coriander dressing
2 heaped tbsp ginger garlic paste
2 tsp red chilli powder
2 tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste
2 tsp coriander powder
2 tsp cumin powder
Handful of finely chopped spring onion
Handful of chives finely chopped
Freshly cracked black pepper to garnish
sea salt for garnish
1/2 lemon juice for garnish

Method:

Wash the fillets and place on a large dish to apply the marinade.
Sprinkle the red chilli powder, turmeric,coriander,cumin,salt and along with the ginger garlic paste and mint and coriander dressing mix well and totally coat the fish.
Marinate the fish for 20 minutes to allow the flavours to seep in and develop.
In a baking tray use just 4 sprays of fry lite and spread evenly across the tray, add the chopped spring onion and sprinkle with sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper.
Place the marinated fish on this and sprinkle the finely chopped chives on the top.

Pre heat the oven to 200°C and bake for 15- 20 minutes.
Garnish with a generous squeeze of lemon juice.
Serve with a side of salad leaves and cherry tomatoes and a soft crusty baguette.

I know the photographs here look terrible but honestly by the time I got the fish ready on Sunday it was almost 3pm, had a lazy start to the day and by then the light was gone so even after cleaning up the image it is quite sorry looking and is no way doing justice to this awesome dish! I do hope that I can get better pictures next time!

I do hope you enjoy this recipe and share your thoughts if you make it! Cheers!

Just in the nick of time, I have entered this original recipe creation in the #Cookingwithherbs challenge by Karen Burns-Booth on her blog Lavender and Lovage. The theme for January 2014 is citrusy and herbs, this fish definitely has it all and a citrusy bang! I wonder why I haven’t entered this challenge in the past, most of the dishes use so many herbs especially lime, oh well, here’s to a fresh start!

Kairee Panhe/ Raw Mango Summer Cooler/Aaam Ka Panna

April 29, 2013 by manjirichitnis 5 Comments

It’s almost 40 degrees Celsius in the afternoon in Pune nowadays, summer is at it’s peak, one needs to keep the mind and the body in sync and cool, at times like this a chilled summer drink and that too one made from raw mangoes is a treat, more so if it’s made by my old mother who is recovering from knee replacement surgery and is walking around using a walking stick. She is just waiting to get back on her feet and go into the kitchen and cook up stuff but under strict orders from her doc can only do so about once in 2 days.

Growing in Mumbai , summer holidays were great fun with my cousins around, mum always made loads of this concentrate from raw mangoes and it was such a treat to come home all sweaty and panting and drink tall glasses of this tangy cooler doused with ice cubes of various animal shapes 😉 aaahhh summer holidays!

You will need :

4 raw mangoes
sugar as per the quantity of pulp generated
Green Cardamon /elaichi powder
Freshly ground black pepper powder
Aniseed / Vilayati Saunf
Chilled water
Strainer

I picked these raw mangoes from my granny’s garden , they look stunning don’t they ?

These need to be pressure cooked ,give them 2 whistles, drain the water and allow to cool.

Once these are boiled and have cooled down , peel the mangoes and collect all the lovely green pulp in a vessel, sugar proportion to be added is 3 times the quantity of the pulp , so if the pulp of these 4 mangoes was to fit into a small bowl of about 200gms capacity sugar would be 600 gms. Stir in the sugar into the pulp and keep stirring until it is completely dissolved , add a large spoon of elaichi powder,some freshly ground black pepper,some aniseed ground – green Cardamom powder and give this mix a stir in the mixer for just about a minute .Store in a glass jar in the fridge. Do not freeze.Remember never to add salt to this mixture , only while preparing the drink from the concentrate add salt in the glass, salt will turn this concentrate into a dark green colour and cause a bout of food poisoning !

While preparing the cooler , add 2 spoons of the raw mango concentrate and add a pinch of salt to this, top up with cold water and strain after mixing to remove any strands from the pulp, add ice cubes,dress it up with a spring of mint if you will and drink up home made goodness!aaahh ! Summer !