Lulu Loves London

my bombay blog is now live!

2007-01-27T12:50:00.000Z

dear friends

just to let you know that my bombay blog is now live at:

lulu loves bombay

hope to see you there soon!

bye bye london, hello bombay!

2006-12-09T10:18:00.000Z

today is my last saturday in london. it all happened really fast. both h and i are relocating to bombay for our respective jobs. we're flying back next thursday. we're taking a few weeks off to settle down and then it's back to work in january.

i'm sad to leave london after just a year in this fantastic city but i'm really looking forward to going back home after six years in america and england. can't complain much though as we've really lived it up for four years in san francisco, a year and a half in new york and a year in london. our friends tease us that we are steadily making our way eastwards every few years! by that count, hong kong is probably next in our destiny :)

bombay has changed by leaps and bounds in the time that i've been away. the food scene is especially eclectic these days and i can't wait to discover bombay's food secrets and share them with you. bombay has a tough act to follow after san francisco, new york and london but at the rate it's changing i have no doubt that i'll love it even more than i always have.

i look forward to seeing you back in january at my new blog. no prizes for guessing the URL!!

spaghetti aglio e olio

2006-12-03T11:24:00.000Z

h loves his pasta as simple as can be. and the sure way to get him oohing and aahing about my cooking is to make his favourite kind of pasta - spaghetti lightly tossed in garlic, chili pepper flakes, fresh or dried herbs and olive oil.

i start by heating 3 or 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet. this is just about enough for 2 portions of cooked spaghetti. depending on how much pasta you plan to cook and how oily you like your pasta, you have to use your judgement on how much olive oil you'll need.

when the oil is nicely heated, i add 2 cloves of chopped garlic and let it sizzle before turning down the heat so that the garlic does not get burnt. i then add half a fistful of chilli pepper flakes (h likes his pasta really spicy!) and another half a fistful of dried italian herbs. you can also add fresh herbs like oregano and parsley, if on hand, but make sure you add it just after tossing the spaghetti and not at this stage. finally, i add sea salt and freshly ground pepper and allow the sauce to simmer on very low heat.

meanwhile, i start boiling a big pot of salted water, cook the spaghetti as desired and then drain. i usually save just a bit of water in case i messed up on the proportions of aglio e olio and the spagetthi ends up being a bit dry. add the cooked spaghetti to the sauce and toss well. you can add freshly grated parmesan if you like cheese with your pasta.

toasted baguette slices with a paprika garlic spread go really well with spaghetti aglio e olio.

thinly slice half a baguette. mix together garlic paste, paprika, salt and pepper. spread on the bread and toast lightly.

enjoy with a nice glass of red wine!

fajita burrito

2006-11-26T18:52:00.000Z

there's nothing quite like a quick and easy mexican meal to satisfy a weeknight carb craving.

slice a medium-sized onion into inch-long strips. do the same for a green pepper and a red pepper. put all the slice veggies into a bowl. add half a tablespoon of olive oil and mix well. use your hands to make sure the oil gets well rubbed on the veggies. heat a heavy bottomed saute pan or stove-top grill until very hot. add the veggies and wait until they are nicely browned. remove and keep aside.

in a separate sautee pan, add a small chopped onion and sautee in half a tablespoon of olive oil until translucent. add a crushed garlic clove and mix well for a minute. then add four medium tomatoes, chopped. allow to cook on medium heat for another 10 minutes or so. add a can of red kidney beans or black beans. then add a tablespoon of fajita spice mix, if on hand. otherwise, just add some cayenne and dried oregano to give a quasi mexican feel!

warm a tortilla. spread a big ladle of beans. top with sizzling onions and peppers. fold the tortilla burrito-style and dig in!

ratatouille

2006-11-18T11:34:00.000Z

i've been real lazy of late. i just haven't been in the mood to cook at all. and i've been watching way too much of b4u music channel.

but i got a burst of energy which i quickly channeled into making a big batch of ratatouille which lasted me all week long to eat with crepes, pasta and even as an acompaniment to toast.

here's georgeanne brennan's recipe (stolen from one of my earlier blog posts!) which you can adjust depending on the fresh herbs and vegetables you have on hand. i'm not a huge zucchini fan so i tend to use a lot more of the other vegetables like peppers, tomatoes and eggplant.

1/4 cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic
2 medium-sized yellow onions, chopped
2 medium-sized eggplants, unpeeled, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 medium-sized zucchini, cut into 1-inch cubes
3 large green, red, or yellow sweet peppers, seeded, deribbed, and cut into 1-inch squares
2 tablespoons minced fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
3 1/2 to 4 pounds ripe tomatoes (10 to 12 medium sized), peeled and chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup fresh basil

in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan or soup pot over medium heat, warm the olive oil. just as it begins to smoke, reduce the hear to medium-low and add the garlic and onions. saute until translucent, 3 to 4 minutes. add the eggplants, stir well, and saute, stirring and turning until well coated with oil and slightly softened, another 4 or 5 minutes.

add the thyme, bay leaf, tomatoes, salt, and black pepper. stir and turn another 2 or 3 minutes, then cover the pan and reduce the heat to low. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are soft and have blended together, about 40 minutes.

stir in the basil and remove from the heat. transfer to a serving dish and serve hot, at room temperature, or cold.

nobu london

2006-11-11T10:35:00.000Z

the observer calls nobu "the sexiest restaurant in the world" and vogue magazine considers it "the hippest restaurant chain". i love nobu because they serve lychee martinis to die for and the sushi is as fresh as it possibly can be.

h and i frequented nobu in new york. though it is incredibly hard to get reservations, we always lucked out on walk-in seating though we had to wait for over an hour sometimes. the main attraction was chef nobu matsuhisa's take on japanese cuisine. i was particularly thrilled with the choice i had as a vegetarain - from tender tofu simmered in various soy sauces to the most succulent kappa rolls.

nobu london, however, is all about the "scene". especially at the lounge baron the ground floor where all the action is at. the minimalist decor keeps the focus on the beautiful people and the absolutely delicious cocktails like the lychee martinis ensure that the buzz continues all night long. while nobu london is quite the magnet for a-list celebrity types, there is a healthy mix of young professionals as well. most people dress to kill at nobu but you won't feel left out in designer jeans and a smart shirt. just don't show up in sneakers. oh, and even though this is such an upscale restaurant, the ambience is not uptight at all and the service is very good. just be prepared to spend quite a bit. a dinner for two with drinks can easily set you back a hundred quid.

with the festive season just around the corner, gather a group of friends and head to nobu for a fun night out. for the more romantically inclined, nobu london is also the perfect spot to rekindle an old flame or flirt outrageously with a stranger across the bar!

cherry tomato and basil pasta salad

2006-11-04T11:40:00.000Z

the temperature has suddenly dipped in london and it's hovering in the single digits these days. i long for the sultr summer days, which just a few months ago seemed liked they were here to stay. instead of making hot soups and other comfort foods, i'm stubbornly resisting the notion that winter is upon us. at least for now.

as a symbol of my defiance, i made a cold pasta salad bursting with the summer flavours of tomato and basil. i had some left over paparadelle which i cooked in lots of salted water and allowed to cool for about ten minutes. then i added some chopped sweet cherry tomatoes to the pasta. this was followed by a couple of cloves of crushed garlic followed by handful of loosely torn basil leaves. finally, i drizzled some extra virgin olive oil and seasoned with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

as i bit into the summer freshness of my salad, i closed my eyes and dreamt about the beaches of sardinia, the weekend getaways to paris and barcelona, the long summer evenings spent at outdoor cafes in west london, the walks in kensington park at eight pm when it was still light, rollerblading in notting hill and everything else that made the summer of '06 so memorable and the winter feel terribly depressing now.

vanilla banana soy shake

2006-11-01T18:42:00.000Z

looking for a burst of energy? peel a ripe banana, cut into slices and drop into a wide glass tumbler. fill the glass with soy milk. then take a vanilla pod, split it lengthways with a sharp knife and scrape the seeds out and drop into the milk. whizz with a hand blender to the consistency you like. drink to you heart's content.

ps - i whizz for longer when using soy milk but like my shake thicker when i use skim

slow cooked scrambled eggs

2006-10-29T16:59:00.000Z

i find myself being much more inspired by food blogs than cookbooks these days. yesterday, i was catching up on my friend amy's blog and was quite taken up with her suggestion to take your own sweet time to make scrambled eggs. it was quite contrary to everything i've read about making scrambled eggs so i was intrigued and immediately wanted to give it a try.

i whisked four eggs in a bowl and added a tablespoon of skim milk. i also added a pinch of salt though amy's recipe does not call for it. i then melted a tablespoon of butter on a sautee pan on the lowest heat. after the butter had melted, i added the eggs and slowly stirred for about six to eight minutes when the eggs were cooked to a creamy perfection. amy says this should take ten minutes but my eggs were cooked in about six and i hung around a little longer just to make sure! it was so therapeutic to keep stirring the eggs and watch them being cooked slowly and surely. quite a change from the usual tension of making sure you remove the pan from the heat before the eggs are overcooked.

i then sliced a baguette and toasted with just a bit of extra virgin olive oil that my friend, joy, had brought back for me from a farm in croatia. then as a final touch, i used my garam masala mill to grind some aromatic spice over the creamy scarmbled eggs.

i recommend the slow cooked method to make scrambled eggs every time. thanks, amy!

sunday jazz brunch at chutney mary

2006-10-25T20:22:00.000+01:00

my friends and colleagues often ask me for indian restaurant recommendations in london. chutney mary in chelsea is always on top of my list. i've been there thrice now and each time has been more memorable than the previous one.

h and i treated my mother (who is visiting from bombay) to a jazz brunch at chutney mary on sunday. amma was totally awed by the ambience from the minute we stepped and were greeted by a very elegant and cheerful cane sofa with lots of silk cushions. it wasn't long till we were shown to our table in the conservatory downstairs but it was just enough time to admire the interiors and set high expectations of the meal to follow.

we opted for a simple three course lunch menu for just £20 each which i thought was such great value, especially for such a high end establishment.

aaloo tikki with sprouts and tamarind chutney was the starter:

this was followed by a hearty vegetarian platter consisting of paneer makhani, dal tadka, saag and baingan curry. this was accompanied by black dal, naan with raisins and almonds, cheese naan and steamed basmati rice:

for dessert, you had to choose between mango panacotta, mango sorbet and green apple sorbet:

we listened to live jazz all through lunch and watched the rain heavily pelting down on the glass windows of the conservatory. what a perfect (and dry) way to spend an otherwise cold, wet and grey london afternoon.

ps - i'm getting a bit depressed by the london weather. any suggestions for cheering up?

happy diwali!

2006-10-22T09:58:00.000+01:00

jalebis are by far my favourite indian sweet and i had a big ambition of making jalebis at home for diwali this year. however, because of a long and exhausting work week (including two days in paris), i just resorted to making the trip to southall in search of the famous jalebi junction shop that has been profiled in so many british magazines.

the best way to get to southall from central london is to take a train from paddington. in twenty minutes or less you are in southall which is india central. a gurudhwara (sikh temple) is the first building you see and then as you make your way down the main street to southall broadway, you are amazed by the sheer number of indian grocery stores, dvd shops, saree emporiums and restaurants. it's hard to escape the smell of curry all around. one in about every hundred people is white.

jalebi junction is located on southall broadway. fresh dough is piped into boiling oil and fried. the dough takes on the characteristic orange colour in the deep frying process and then is dunked into another container of sugar syrup. the jalebis are then cooled on a wire rack until they can be transferred to a brown paper bag and handed to you. it was very fascinating to watch jalebis being made and i had great expectations of how delicious they would be. alas, i was sorely disappointed.

the jalebis from jalebi junction were not the real mccoy. they were thick and overly syrupy and totally lacked the thin and crisp yet succulent taste that i have come to adore in the jalebis that you get at kailesh parbhat in bombay. oh well, that's my sad jalebi story from diwali this year.

wishing all of you a very happy diwali and prosperous new year - hope you celebrated with lots of mouth-watering sweets and loud firecrackers!

afternoon tea at the wolseley

2006-10-15T21:12:00.000+01:00

given the number of starbucks all over london, it's easy to forget the english tradition of afternoon tea which was created by anna, the seventh duchess of bedford, in the early 1800s. londonders were first introduced to tea back in the late sixteenth century when it was imported from china by the east india company. tea was consumed only be the elite until 1784 when heavy excise duties were removed by the government. today, a hot cup of tea is still a cure-all for many londoners. and afternoon tea served at the ritz, clardiges, fortnum & mason is a much sought after outing for londoner and tourists alike.

my mom is visiting and i was keen for her to experience a typical english afternoon tea at one of the above mentioned establishments. however, even though i tried to make a reservation two weeks ago, the ritz and claridges were booked till the end of the year! whatever. so i asked around at work for other recommendations and a colleague suggested the wolseley on piccadilly. luckily, i was able to book a table for sunday afternoon.

the wolseley is right next to the ritz on piccadilly and a few blocks from the flagship waterstone's. we arrived fifteen minutes early and were aksed to wait at the bar. h ordered a champagne (quelle horreur) but my mom and i were looking forward to the tea so we just nibbled on a what looked like muffins but turned out to be chocolate covered custard cakes. that nibble of sweetness put us in just the right mood for a cup of hot tea.

the main restaurant at the woseley is located in an impressive hall with high ceilings, thick columns, gigantic chandeliers and funky marble floors, all of which give the place another century look. the staff were super friendly and throughout the afternoon we must have been served by four or five different people, all intervening at just the right moment to ensure the tea pots were refilled with hot water, fresh scones were brought to the table or a fallen fork was replaced. it made you feel very well taken care of.

i ordered a full serving of afternoon tea - a big pot of earl grey, vegetarian sandwiches (cucumber and butter on white bread, cream cheese and tomato on sun-dried tomato whole wheat), an assortment of pastries (chocolate eclair, walnut cake, lemon cheesecake) and several scones. clotted cream and gooey strawberry jam on hot scones was what i enjoyed the most.

the only disappointment was the selection of teas. i didn't find a single unusual tea on the menu so had to stick to my regular favourite, earl grey. it was just the usual selection of jasmine, earl grey, green, lapsang souchong and a wolseley afternoon blend.

in summary, i'd say that experiencing afternoon tea at the wolseley is all right if you can't get into one of the popular places like the ritz or claridges that are supposed to treat this event much more ceremoniously.

tomato and basil soup

2006-10-14T11:16:00.000+01:00

heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large pan. add one medium onion finely chopped and cook on gentle heat for about five minutes, stirring frequently until soft but not brown. add about 2 pounds of chopped plum tomatoes which is roughly about 4 or 5 medium-sized ones. add a garlic clove chopped, 3 cups of stock (i use 3 cups of water plus a few tablespoons of marks & spencer vegetable stock), 1/2 cup of a dry white wine, salt and pepper to taste.

bring to boil and then lower the heat, half cover then pan and then let it simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes. take off the stove and use a food blender to blend it all together. at this point you can enjoy as is (which is the way i prefer it) or press through a sieve, add 1/2 cup of double cream and heat a little bit more till it is consistency you like. pour the soup into bowls and garnish with lots of freshly chopped basil.

if you want to give the soup a bit of a kick, add 1/4 teaspoon of red chilli flakes to the onions when they are sauteeing.

another version is to roast the tomatoes in the oven and add roasted tomatoes instead of raw plum tomatoes in the recipe above.

mirchi ka salan

2006-10-13T19:03:00.000+01:00

according to tarla dalal, the over 400-year old culinary history of hyderabad is unmatched by any other state in india. though i haven't been to hyderabad myself, its food evokes for me an old mughlai world of curries that took all day long to make, fragrant biryanis, lavish dinner feasts and lots of chillies in the food.

i first encountered mirchi ka salan at shalimar in san francisco and hence mistook the dish for a typical punjabi curry. when rumy pointed out in a previous post that mirchi ka salan was hyderabadi, i was curious and so looked in all my cookbooks and chanced upon what looked like an authentic recipe for this dish in tarla dalal's "swadisht subziah." if you have an hour or so to spare, this is a perfect curry to whip up on a cold and dreary london afternoon.

prep time: 20 mins
cooking time: 20 mins
serves: 6

2 cups long green chillies (bhavnagri chillies) or green peppers, cut into thick strips
1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
1/2 tsp mustard seeds (rai)
1/4 teaspoon fenugreek seeds (methi)
1/4 teaspoon nigella seeds (kalonji)
6 curry leaves
1/4 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
2 tbsps coriander-cumin powder (dhania-jeera)
2 tbsps chopped coriander
5 tablespoons oil
salt to taste

to be ground into a dry peanut-sesame powder
2 tbsps peanuts, roasted
2 tbsps sesame seeds (til), roasted
1 tbsp cumin seeds, roasted

to be ground into a paste
6 cloves garlic
1/2 cup onions, chopped
1 cup tomatoes, chopped
3 tbsps freshly grated coconut

1. wash and slit the green chillies. remove the seeds and fry in hot oil until they turn whitish in colour. remove and keep aside.
2. in the same oil, add the cumin seeds, mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, nigella seeds and curry leaves.
3. when the seeds crackle, add the paste and cook for 2 minutes. add the turmeric powder, coriander-cumin seed poweder, chilli powder and powdered peanut-sesame mixture. cook over a medium flame, sirring continously until the oil separates.
4. add 2 cups of water and tamarind pulp and bring it to a boil.
5. add the fried green chillies, coriander and salt and simmer until the gravy thickens.

i like my mirchi ka salan with naan and a few slices of raw onion.

dim sum in westbourne grove

2006-10-11T21:46:00.000+01:00

if you're looking for a stylish place to enjoy some tasty dim sum, head to ping pong in the trendy westbourne grove neighbourhood in west london. somepeople i know complain that ping pong is more style than substance but i don't really know the difference between very authentic dim sum and not-so-authentic ones so i'd take the ambience any day. at least i know what i'll be eating and i won't be the only non-chinese person around! by the way, the food is very good and it's great value for money.

74 - 76, westbourne grove
london w2 5sh
0871 0757898

bombay biryani

2006-10-07T10:32:00.000+01:00

i love making biryani. by the time i've chopped all the vegetables (a great de-stresser), assembled the ingredients (love taking out my special stash of saffron strands that amy brought me from barcelona) and start the first step of frying the onions in ghee (when a fragrant aroma starts to fill up my house), i realise why i love cooking so much.

there are some dishes that i make only when i'm entertaining and biryani is one of them. it just makes the experienc of cooking biryani that much more special. i've tried so many different recipes over the years and have finally created this one with different ideas from many including a fantastic one for a vegetarian hyderabadi biryani that i found online. believe it or not, my recipe is adapted it from the back of the shan food'sbombay biryani spice mix packet. it's the most delicious spice mix available in the market.

3 cups basmati rice, washed and soaked for 30 minutes
4 medium onions, thinly sliced
4 medium tomatoes, chopped
3 peppers (red, green, yellow), cut into strips
2 fat carrots, cut into discs
3 medium potatoes, peeled and halfed
2 tbps chopped ginger
1/2 tbsp garlic paste
1 1/2 cups plain yogurt
1/2 cup ghee or vegetable oil
one packet shan bombay biryani mix
pinch of saffron stands
1/4 cup milk, warm
2 tbsp of finely chopped mint
2 tbsp of finely chopped coriander
handful of raisins, fried in ghee

1. fry the onions in hot ghee (or oil) until golden. add the peppers and fry for another 5 minutes or so. then add tomatoes and fry until the oil separates.

2. add potatoes, carrots, garlic, ginger, 1 cup of yogurt and shan bombay biryani mix. fry for 15 minutes. add about a cup of water and cook on low heat until the potatoes and carrots are tender. then increase the heat and stir fry until the oil separates from the gravy.

3. in 12 glasses of hot water, add 3 tbsps of salt and the soaked rice. boil until the rice is more than half cooked. remove from heat and thoroughly drain the water.

4. soak the saffron strands in 1/4 cup of warm milk. then add this to the remaining 1/2 cup yogurt. add mint and coriander. keep aside.

5. now spread the cooked vegetables over the rice in a few layers. make sure you spread some of the yogurt mint and coriander paste over the rice in each layer. this adds a wonderful frgrance of herbs to the biryani. top with the fried raisins. cover the pot and cook on low heat until the rice is fully cooked and tender. mix before serving.

this recipe will serve over 10 people. you can cut everything by half if you are cooking for fewer than five people.

biryani goes well with raita. my favourite combo is duke's lemonade and biryani.

lulu's mixed salad

2006-10-04T21:19:00.000+01:00

mix together a big bunch of salad greens, julienned betroot, a sliced apple, a handful of salted almonds and lots of raisins. the point is not to be precise but to just use your imagination freely to create your own signature salad. this combo works for me. for the dressing, i like to squeeze a lemon all over the salad. then i add some high quality extra virgin olive oil. and finally, some sea salt and freshly cracked pepper.

fried egg and pesto

2006-10-01T20:10:00.000+01:00

here's a super simple brunch idea. fry an egg in one tsp of olive oil. serve it on toast with homemade pesto that has been generously spread all over. garnish with freshly cracked pepper. healthy and so yummy.

khaman dhokla

2006-10-01T09:41:00.000+01:00

khaman dhokla is a savoury snack from the state of gujarat in india which is famous for its wholesome vegetarian thalis. though it is consumed as a snack in india, you can actually make a meal out of it as it is very filling.

i was craving spicy indian food after ten days in italy. but i didn't want to upset my stomach by shocking it with something too heavy so i chose to make khaman dhokla which is a steamed savoury cake. the dhokla itself is wonderfully light with just a hint of spiciness. mustard seeds tempered in oil are poured over the dhokla and then fresh coriander and coconut are added as the topping. you can vary your spice intake depending on how spicy you make the accompanying chutney. i found a terrific tarla dalal recipe for mint and coriander chutney which has just the perfect balance of sweet, salt and spice.

for the dhokla
1 cup (160 gm) bengal gram (chana dal), soaked overnight
4 green chillies
1 inch piece of ginger
3 tbsp vegetable oil
salt to taste
1/4 tsp asafoetida (hing)
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

for the tempering
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
3-4 dry red chillies, whole
10 curry leaves

for the topping
handful of chopped coriander
handful of chopped coconut

for the chutney
2 cups chopped mint leaves
1 cup chopped coriander
1 large onion, sliced
juice of 1 to 2 lemons
1 tbsp sugar
4 to 6 green chillies
salt to taste

grind the green chillies and ginger to a smooth paste. keep aside. grind the bengal gram coarsely; whisk to incorporate air in it. keep aside to ferment in a warm place for at least 10 hours or till tiny bubbles appear. add the oil, asafoetida, bicarbonate of soda, and green chilli-ginger paste to the bengal gram paste. add a little water and whisk the mixture thoroughly once again.

grease a flat stainless steel plate or a baking dish (2 inches deep). spread the mixture to a thickness of one inch. steam till it is done. to check if the dish is ready, pierce with a fork. if the fork comes out clean, then the dhokla is ready. allow to cool and then cut into squares or diamonds.

for the tempring, heat the oil in a pan; add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, and dry red chillies. when they start crackling, add the curry leaves and pour over the dhokla. garnish with chopped coriander and coconut.

for the chutney, combine all the ingredients and grind to a smooth paste in a blender using very little water.

recipe sources: vijaylakshmi baig's "gujarati kitchen" and tarla dalal's "chaat"

frijoles borrachos

2006-09-30T10:23:00.000+01:00

if you're looking to make something spicy using pinto beans, here's a southwestern recipe for frijoles borrachos that will so hit the spot. it's so simple but you have to wait for half an hour or a little longer to get the flavours to simmer together. the beer and the cilantro and the jalapenos and the tomatoes are such a great combination. i had only one can of pinto beans in my pantry so i mixed it with another can of canneloni beans and it was just as yummy.

the drunken beans are a delicious accompaniment to baked rice with cheese and green chiles. i love brown rice and adore this recipe which uses ricotta, cheddar, lots of cilantro and jalapenos. just be careful not to bake too long as brown rice doesn't taste too good when it gets too brittle.

charred tomato table salsa

2006-09-27T21:36:00.000+01:00

our good friends d and r came over for sunday lunch last weekend. i was tempted to make crepes but given that they weren't going to land up till around 1pm, i decided that something spicier would hit the spot. d lived in san francisco for years before moving to london. somehow i had a feeling that he might be missing mexican/southwestern food. so i whipped up some homemade roasted tomato salsa, a wild mushroom fritata, drunken beans and a brown rice casserole.

salsa is so simple to make yet most restaurants get it oh so wrong and the store bought varities just don't cut it. he's a great recipe from "salsa" by reed heron that will ensure that you never have to enjoy anything but the real thing.

2 large tomatoes pan roasted until blistered, black, and soft
3 jalapeno chiles charred until blistered and black
1 small white onion thickly sliced and pan-roasted until dark brown and soft
2 cloves garlic pan-roasted until brown and soft, then peeled
1/4 teaspoon dried mexican oregano toasted
1/4 teaspoon cumin seed toasted and then ground
1/2 cup water
salt to taste

chop together with a knfe or food processor tomatoes, chiles with seeds, onion, and garlic until you have a coarsely textured salsa. add oregano and cumin, thin with the water, and salt to taste. makes about 2 1/2 cups.

enjoy with lots of tortilla chips or with a variety of grilled foods.

ps - it's really difficult to get jalapenos at your average grocery store in london so i just used thai green chillies and they worked just as well and perhaps even gave the salsa a bit more bite!

rome diary: gelato

2006-09-24T21:30:00.000+01:00

after three days in the amalfi coast, we drove to rome after a brief stop in pompeii. we spent the night in rome with some friends who live in the city. i was a bit maxed out on taking photos of my every meal but i did pull out my camera on one instance just so i had a picture for what i already knew would be my final post on italy.

no italian holiday diary is complete without mention of the ubiquitous gelateria or ice cream shop. i'm sure that those of you who have been to italy have vivid memories of the best gelato in the world. no matter how hard you try, it's really hard to resist the temptation.

gelato is made from milk, sugar and one other key ingredient whether it is fruit, chocolate or nut. sorbetto is the non-diary healthier version but just as delicious. my favourites were hazelnut ice cream and lemon sorbet.

i hope you have enjoyed my italian diaries in the past several weeks. back to cooking and eating in london now.

napoli diary: pasta pasta!

2006-09-24T13:26:00.000+01:00

i visited a food shop (near the famous galleria umberto) in napoli that made me realise just how many types of pasta are available in italy. i had learnt about a few new ones in sardinia but still i can only reel off about fifteen from the top of my head while there are many many more waiting to be discovered. how many types of pasta can you name?

here's my list:

spaghetti
ravioli
macaroni
linguine
fettucine
papparadelle
canneloni
lasagne
penne
rigatoni
fussilli
tagliatelle
farfalle
gnocchi
orzo
tortellini
scialitelli
curligione (sardinia)
malloredus (sardinia)

my favourite is papparadelle. what's yours?

napoli diary: pizza napoletana

2006-09-23T19:24:00.000+01:00

you haven't tasted authentic pizza unless you've had pizza made the way neapolitans do. lucky new yorkers can satisfy their cravings at una pizza napoletana in the east village, but the rest of us have to go all the way to napoli to find out what the fuss is all about. napoli is where pizza originated. the word pizza is the neapolitan slang pronounciation for "pita".

pizza margherita is my absolute favourite but i had consumed so much mozzarella by the time we reach naples that the simpler and cheeseless pizza marinara was what i chose for lunch at briandi restaurant in naples where pizza originated...well, actually, pizza probably dates back to the days of pompeii and briandi can harldy claim to have invented pizza but the restaurant does deserve some credit as it has been around for more than a hundred years and has been showing what the real thing is all about to generations of non-italians.

i'll admit that the restaurant was a bit of a tourist trap but the pizza was delicious nonetheless. how can you beat an individually made thin-crust pizza pie baked in a woodfired oven and topped with a simple tomato sauce made from san maranzano tomatoes and sprinkled with fresh basil, dried oregano, a garlic glove, salt and pepper?!

amalfi coast diary: marecoccola resort

2006-09-23T10:10:00.000+01:00

if you're planning a holiday in the amalfi coast, the sorrento peninsula is a good base from which to explore the campania region of italy. napoli is an hour's drive, mount vesuvius and pompeii are about half an hour and positano and the rest of the costa amalfitana are about twenty minutes away. additionally, you have easy access to the wonderful islands of ischia and capri from sorrento.

mareccola resort would be my recommendation. it's like staying at the farmhouse of a close family friend who happens to have a sprawling estate on the top of the sorrento peninsula with unbelievable vistas of the amalfi coast. this is where you want to come to escape the urban grind and be closer to nature and all the bounties she has to offer. everything cooked at the restaurant is only from produce grown on the farm. even wine is produced here.

the resort organises hiking trips and boat trips. if you're feeling up to some activity but don't want to leave the premises, there's a gorgoeus pool where you can catch-up on exercise before you consumer more calories at the sumptious dinner spread.

you can rent an entire cottage to yourself or just get a bedroom with a terrace. just picture yourself sipping hot coffee early in the morning watching the sun rise as the day comes alive or sharing a glass of champage with a loved one watching the sun set and the gorgeous colours of the sky and the sea making you oblivous to everything else in the world.

amalfi coast diary: positano

2006-09-22T20:12:00.000+01:00

after a simple breakfast of tea and pan con chocolate at our agriturismo hotel in the sorrento peninsula, we headed off to positano (about half an hour away by car) to take a hydrofoil or ferry to the island of capri. until this holiday, this typical photo of positano was my image of the amalfi coast. it was about four years ago when i saw a documentary on kqed in san francisco which talked about the natural beauty of the amalfi coast. ever since i've been dying to visit this part of the world.

as we neared positano, we realised that this town was quite unlike the other towns we'd visited in the amalfi coast. perched all along a hill, houses are at all all levels from the top - which is where you enter the town - to the beach at the bottom. you can either park somewhere near the top and take any of the stairs down about a kilometre. or you can drive all the way down but parking is not guaranteed. we chose to walk down and enjoy the view while making our way to the beach.

we reached the beach after twenty minutes of downhill walking, passing through hotels and private residences perched at different levels. the beach was really hopping. a fancy stereo system was belting out hit numbers. the sunbeds were packed with tanners eager to get a deep bronze in a day's work. we sipped tea and cafe on the patio while we enquired about boats to capri. but while we waited, the beach looked so welcoming and the lunch to be had after a swim so delicious that we couldn't help stripping to our bathing suits and settling down on adjoining sunbeds. so much for our plans to head to capri!

we spent a lot of time lazing on our sunbeds and enjoying the fantastic ambience, swimming a few times in the freeezing cold water and getting massages from a chinese woman. but as you can probably guess, lunch and dinner were the highlights of the day.

i had a well made mojito and grilled mozzarella on lemon leaves. i've taken a big liking to grilled cheeses and particularly enjoyed this dish which was lightly dressed with the juice of an amalfi lemon and some amazing extra virgin olive oil. the lemon leaves tasted yummy as well.

dinner was at a charming restaurant on top of the hill. they had tables set outside on the pavement from where you had a stunning view of sparkling positano at night. i tried a fresh pasta called scialitelle alla puttanesca. it's a thicker type of spaghetti which goes really well with a chunky sauce like the puttanesca.

dessert was absolutely subliminal - tiramisu con limon. i'm not a big tiramisu fan but it sounded too good to pass on mainly because of the husky voice of our waiter. the tiramisu was perfectly moist, perfectly sweet, perfectly creamy and perfectly lemony. a perfect ending to a perfect positano day.

amalfi coast diary: salerno and ravello

2006-09-17T10:53:00.000+01:00

the amalfi coast was everything and more i imagined it would be - high cliffs overlooking a never-ending ocean, quaint fishing villages perched on top of the steep cliffs, panoramic views from every turn in the road, lush greenery, lemon trees everywhere and simple italian food to die for.

after sailing all night from olbia, our ship docked at salerno port half an hour earlier than expected at about 9:30 in the morning. we looked for a taxi to take us to hertz car rental in the center of town but were told that the only way to get a taxi was to book in advance. mon dieu, we were going to be stranded in the very unglamourous port of salerno - so close, yet so far away from where we wanted to be!

luckily, the guard at the gates of the port - whose main job was to permit access to the big, commercial trucks carrying loads of food for export - took pity on us obviously clueless foreigners. he gave me a number to call for a taxi. i dialled the number on my cellphone and immediately gave it back to him since i wasn't in a mood to use even some basic italian. believe it or not - within ten minutes a taxi showed up and we were on our way to salerno centro via a boulevard along a sea front that was paved with palm trees. thank god for the goodness of human nature.

we had heard that the amalfi coast was packed with tourists but driving through salerno didn't feel touristy at all. the locals were going about their day to day lives - buying vegetables from street vendors, sipping dopios at cafes, ziping around in vespas and taking life as leisurely as you can imagine. what's so enchanting aboout these small towns in italy is the absolute delicious pace at which italians live their lives. no honking, no screeching, no aggression. even the polive give you a broad smile when you are going down a one-way, the wrong way!

after picking up our car at hertz, we left salerno and followed the coastal road called costa amalfitana. breathtaking views were to be taken in every second of the way. our first stop was the rustic town of ravello, famous for attracting many writers and poets including d.h.lawrence who is supposed to have written most of lady chatterly's love in ravello.

this perfect italian gem of a town is endlessly charming. situated right on the top of the cliffs, we had to drive uphill for about 5 km from sea level to get to ravello. no matter where in town you go, yet another dramatic view of the amalfi coast is yours to enjoy. you don't even have to think too carefully about which restaurant or cafe to select because they all offer spectacular views of the ocean, english style gardens, or vineyards being cultivated on the cliffs.

we had read a lot about villa cimbrone so made our way to the hotel and adjoining gardens as soon we had parked as close as we could to the centre of town from which point onwards there is pedestrian access only. it was five euros each to enter the garden even though we planned to lunch at the lovely, luxurious and supremely elegant restaurant at villa cimbrone which has a very inviting swimming pool.

at ravello, i had one of the most memorable lunches of my life. the food was quite delicious, the white wine was produced from grapes growing in the garden itself but the ambience was the show stopper, being absolutely to die for as you will see for yourself from the photo below. i don't think it gets any better than this, anywhere in the world. time literaaly stopped still for me and i wondered in the awe at the visuak feast i was being treated to. i've been so spoilt by the fantastic views that you get in the amalfi coast that the phrase "sea view" is really going to take on a new meaning for the bar has been set very high now!

after lunch we had a lesiurely stroll around the gardens and ended up at a belvedere studded with marble busts from where you could see the hills on one side and the amalfi coast spread out below. i wanted to spend all afternoon in ravello but we were getting quite tired so decided to drive straight to the sorrento peninsula where we were staying at an agriturismo farm.

goodbye sardinia, hello amalfi coast!

2006-09-17T10:17:00.000+01:00

after five wonderful days in sardinia, we set sail on a diamaio line
ship from olbia to salerno. it was an overnight journey which took twelve hours but was quite a novel experience as neither h nor i had ever traveled by ship. we were the only foreigners on board and nobody spoke english so we had to get by on our minimal italian.

as our ship set sail for mainland italy, we spent all evening on the ship deck waving goodbye to sardinia where we had created such wonderful memories. i saw one of the most spectacular sunsets in my life while we pulled away from sardinia - what a fitting goodbye to a spectacular holiday in sardinia.

sardinia diary: a few favourite foods

2006-09-16T19:24:00.000+01:00

i must have eaten mozzarella almost every day while traveling in sardinia. it's just too delicious here and such a unbeatable combination when paired with fresh tomatoes and basil. and drizzled with olive oil, sea salt and pepper.

i also enjoyed many fine plates of assorted grilled vegetables including eggplant, zucchini, peppers and even chicory. it is really easy to be vegetarian in sardinia.

sardinia diary: acqua at porto cervo marina

2006-09-16T10:20:00.000+01:00

if you find yourself in porto cervo, you must dine at acqua bar ristorante, by far the most stylish place in town. be sure to get a table outside on the gorgeous terrace which offers splendid views of the porto cervo marina.

every minute detail of the experience is well designed at acqua. the all white decor gives the place a very dream-like feel and the comfortable sofas on the terrace allow you to sink in and escape to your own world. i was most impressed with the white menu cards with pressed flowers on handmade paper.

the food was absolutely fantastic. i had a simple spaghetti with tomato, rocket and white truffle oil but it was so divine. must have been the combo of fresh pasta and the best quality truffle oil. i remember smelling my food so many times and delighting in the aromas before actually digging in.

dessert was also as memorable - perhaps the sweetest dish i've ever had. chocolate cake with white chocolate sauce and chocolate discs sprinkled with powdered sugar. how decadent. but, hey, we were in porto cervo!

sardinia diary: porto cervo and porto rotondo

2006-09-14T20:49:00.000+01:00

the shopping at porto cervo is very chi chi. all the high-end fashion houses are located in a rustic village-like shopping complex at the centre of town which also has direct access to the marina. there are lots of fancy restaurants which serve up great food with even greater views.

porto rotondo - about twenty minutes away - is the less pretentious neighbouring town but also as picturesque and romantic.

both porto rotondo and porto cervo are great for eating and shopping but the best beaches are actually tucked away in different corners all along the coast. spaggia liscia ruja is one of the most popular beaches in the area.

sardinia diary: the costa smerlada

2006-09-14T20:11:00.000+01:00

the costa smeralda is the jewel in sardinia's crown. here you will experience some of the most stunning views in the world and feel wonderfully high on life and love.

olbia is the closest airport to costa smeralda. since we were further south in tortoli, we drove via olbia to reach the many towns along this famed coast. the drive from tortoli to olbia took us about two hours. there's an initial stretch of about thirty minutes that takes you through forests and mountains but then you get to the highway and zip along for the rest of the journey. after passing olbia, it's very easy to follow the "costa smeralda" signs to porto rondo and porto cervo, which are the two most popular destinations in the region. the italians think that this is the most beautiful part of the mediterranean but i reckon that the french will fiercely defend the beauty of la corse (corsica) which is just an hour from the costa smeralda.

given the glorious word of mouth that this place has, i was expecting a landscape spectacularly different from the south east cost of sardinia, bluer and more crystal clear waters, and the sandiest beaches ever. but i have to admit that, at first, i was not particularly enamored. the road does not hug the coast as it does in the south. the water is no bluer. the roads are a lot more crowded. and there are yachts every where - an uncommon sight in the southern sardinia. but once it all comes together though, the beauty of costa smerlada starts to grow on you and you start to understand what the fuss was all about.

it came together for me at porto cervo when sipping champagne and looking at an exquisitely framed seascape from the gigantic square windows of the restaurant at our hotel luci di la muntagne. the rugged cliff, the natural inlet, the lovely yachts, the marina at dusk - it was all dizzily mesmerising.

sardinia diary: restaurants in tortoli

2006-09-10T21:28:00.000+01:00

tortoli is the perfect base from which to explore pretty much all of sardinia as it is approximately two to three hours by car from cagliari airport in the south east, olbia in the north east and alghero in the north west. it has easy access by boat to some of the most exclusive and secluded beaches in sardinia and it is just a two hour drive to the breathtaking costa smeralda.

we went to tortoli to spend a few days with our friend rutton, whose summer house is very close to the beach towards one end of town. even though torotoli was very busy given it was the last big weekend in august, it didn't feel touristy or overcrowded at all, especially where we were staying. actually it felt quite authentic sardinian though i'm sure there are more remote towns, especially in the mountains that are even more rustic. rutton took us to many restaurants during the few days we spent there but there are two that stand out:

ristorante pizzeria da lucitta
this is rutton's local pizzeria. simple sardinian food to die for. i tasted a type of sardinian pasta called culingione. it's kind of like ravioli but a bit plumpier and is filled with a mixture of potato, ricotta, pecorino, olive oil and garlic (and sometimes even spinach, i think ). it's really hearty and yummy, especially with just a bit of freshly prepared pasata and some basil.

i also shared a pizza porcini with the boys. i absolutely loved the thin crust and also liberally sprinkled peperonicino on the mushrooms to kick it up a notch.

agriturismo ogliastra
agriturismo or farm holidays are increasing in popularity all over italy. i guess many of us want to get closer to nature and also eat seasonal and regional food when on holiday. though we didn't stay at this farm which is about 15 minutes from tortoli, we went there for dinner one night.

it's a pre-set menu and you just show up and enjoy the ambience while food and wine is continually brought to the table. we were the only non-italians at farm but we befriended a charming young couple from northern italy who we ended up chatting with all evening in a hilarious combo of english, french, spanish and a smattering of italian.

the main attraction for h and rutton was the roast pig which had been roasting all day in an outdoor oven. for me, the mozzarella was the show stopper. it was so fresh, it couldn't have been made any earlier than that morning from milk just milked from a buffalo that is rasied on the farm. i also ate fried eggplant, moist pane carasau, ravioli and plenty of fresh fruit. we drunk lots of crema di limone (limonecello with milk) at the end of the meal which was pure manna. i was obviously so happy that i even forgot to take a photo of the this divine drink!

sardinia diary: pane carasau

2006-09-10T11:57:00.000+01:00

though sardinia is officially a part of italy, it's almost a separate country with its own language, traditions and food. i guess you can say that about the other regions of italy as well except for the language part. one of the foods that i enjoyed very much in sardinia was pane carasau, a very thin crisp bread which tastes more like a cracker than bread.

the first thing that i looked forward to in restaurants was the bread basket which always had lots of pane carasau. sometimes it is roasted till it becomes almost terracotta-like in complexion. it can be eaten on its own or drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper.

it's yummy as a base for grilled cheeses and also is a good accompaniment to grilled vegetables. the sardinians use it in very innovative ways including as a plate which, of course, you eat at the end of the meal!

sardinia diary: drive from cagliari to tortoli

2006-09-09T13:29:00.000+01:00

i was so enamored by chia beach in the south west of cagliari that the breathtaking beauty of the south east coast caught me completely unawares. from the minute you leave cagliari, after whizzing past quartu sant elena, you begin a panoramic drive that hugs the coast all the way to villasmius, about 40 km away.

the road runs really close to the water and as you drive along you're completely swept away by the purity of the sea and the sky. i saw some truly splendid sights, especially when you are looking down from the top of cliffs to natural inlets below. it was like driving along highway 1 in california with the caribbean sea alongside. h and i played a game of thinking of every colour we could use to describe the sea!

on the way to tortoli there were many roadside fruit and vegetable vendors who stock the freshest and best looking peppers, eggplants, grapes, necatrines, peaches and lots of other produce. we stopped at one of the more colourful stalls to buy some fruit for the journey. i thought i had bought a lot and was worried how much i had spent but 3 bananas, 2 necatarines, 2 peaches, 8 plums and a big bunch of grapes came to just four euros.

once you leave the coast and stick to the highway (s125), the scenery is not terribly interesting until you enter ogliastra when you start seeing vineyards and the landscape turns lush and verdant again as you get close to tortoli, also known as arbatax. we were driving to tortoli to spend a few days with our friend rutton who has a lovely place close to the beach.

la bitta hotel is the best place in town to unwind with a vermentino (white wine from sardinia) while you watch the sun set in the distance. after a few glasses of wine, the ocean beckoned. rutton and i braved the initial chill of getting into the water and then had a lovely swim under the stars. rutton had an extra pair of snorkeling gear which made swimming in the ocean quite enjoyable. i'd never swum in the sea in the early evening and so thoroughly enjoyed the new experience.

sardinia diary: dinner on a boat in cagliari

2006-09-09T13:17:00.000+01:00

if you ever find yourself in cagliari, you must seek out this ristorante and bar in the marina area which is so unpretentious that it does not even have a name. but the food is absoultely delicious and the setting is rather unusual - the restaurant is literally inside a boat! the owner, a tubby sardinian, was quite a character.

we had a fabulous dinner buffet for €25 each. there were plenty of antipasti to choose from, a primo of pasta and then lots of seafood for the main course. i wasn't particularly hungry so i had a simple meal of grilled peppers marinated in olive oil, spaghetti con pomodoro sprinkled with oregano and a few slices of juicy watermelon.

sardinia diary: cagliari and chia

2006-09-07T20:22:00.000+01:00

if you want to experience a little bit of the famed mediterranean lifestyle, come to sardinia. here you'll understand the true meaning of a panoramic view, a clear blue sky, a langurous walk on the beach and a sumptous dinner spread of assorted antipasti, freshly made pastas, grilled vegetable platters, freshly picked fruits and intensely flavourful gelatos. you can eat rather well and feel like you've spent all day doing nothing remarkable but you've never felt so at peace with yourself and completely relaxed.

we took an easyjet flight on saturday afternoon from london luton to cagliari, the region's capital, which is located at the south east tip of the island. the plane was packed with british holidaymakers with only a few sardinians coming home fron london- perhaps for the bank holiday weekend. luckily for us, the holidaymakers seem to have disappeared to the big luxury resorts along the southern coast as they are nowhere to be found in either cagliari or quartu sant elena, a suburb of cagliari where we are staying for the night.

we woke up bright and early on sunday morning with an ambitious mission to run to the beach, about a few kilometres from the hotel. after a breakfast of coco pops and some toast, however, we were only up for a brisk walk with a final 200m sprint when we saw the boardwalk approaching. spiaggio del poetto (poetto beach) is where the cagliari locals hang out to deepen their tans. it is a very clean beach that stretches for five kilometres. the water was surprisngly much colder than i has expected it to be for the southern mediterranean. it would take all my willpower to get wet but once in, it wouldn't be that bad, i hope. the water is just unbelievably gorgeous. shades of deep blue, aquamarine, sapphire and emerald. there are lots of broken shells on the beach and even as you tread in a bit. you have to be a bit careful to not get cut.

we drove into cagliari for lunch. being a sunday in august, almost every cafe was closed but we found a charming restaurant near the centre of town called antico cafe where we had our first sardinian meal. oh, it was so simple and yet, so divine.

extra virgin olive oil is produced in sardinia and even your average brand here is of very high quality. fresh bread dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar could be a meal in itself!

i ordered a starter of fresh mozzarella and tomatoes. the mozzarella is made from buffalo's milk and is also a specialty of the region. it was so delicious, especially when loaded up on thickly cut tomatoes and garnished with big basil leaves.

for my main course, i ordered ravioli filled with ricotta and dressed lightly with a pea and mint sauce made with olive oil. i so loved the melt-in-your-mouth sensation of the ravioli.

dessert was lemon sorbet. need i say any more?!

after lunch, we longed for a nap on the beach so got in the car and drove off towards the south western coast. poetta is your best bet for sun and sand close to cagliari, but if you're willing to rent a car and drive further, a real secluded inlet beach is to be discovered about 60 km south west of the cagliari, near a town called chia. the public access beach at chia is wonderfully quiet and very picturesque.

there's a small shack on the beach that sells snacks and drinks to keep you hydrated and nourished as you soak up the sun all afternoon. it can get really windy on the beach and you need to be prepared to have sand creep into all the crevices in your body. my scalp was a real sand magnet and i had to shampoo really well when i got back to the hotel at night.

if you get bored of too much water and sun, you can drive another 30 km away from the coast, past a town called teulada to grotte is zuddas. here you can take a tour of caves where stalagmites and stalactites have been forming for over eight hundred million years!!! you feel really small and insignificant compared to the history of sardinia.

back from my italian adventure

2006-09-07T08:00:00.000+01:00

just a quick post to say that i'm back from an amazing ten days in italy. i had a wonderful time discovering one of the most beautiful countries in the world. and as you'll soon discover, i'll be running out of superlatives when describing the natural beauty or the food. i'm looking forward to sharing my italian diary with you. stay tuned.

off to sardinia and the amalfi coast

2006-08-24T21:29:00.000+01:00

you can't imagine how excited i am. ten days of gorgeous sunshine, powder perfect beaches, crystal clear waters and a taste of the deliciously slow-paced mediterranean lifestyle awaits. i can't stop thinking of lying on deserted sardinian beaches and experiencing time standing still.

h and i are flying into cagliari (pronounced calyari) on saturday afternoon from london luton and will spend a few days exploring this regional capital as well as some smaller towns along the costa del sud in sardinia. then we drive up a few hours north east to the town of tortoli to stay with my high school friend, rutton, who has a beautiful villa that is just a stone's throw from the ocean. we'll hang out with rutton for a few days - swimming in the warm waters, hiking in the region's only national park and cooking simple italian meals with fresh produce bought from the local market. and, of course, drinking lots of wine and enjoying the companionship of a close friend. we also plan to drive further north to the sought-after part of the island, costa smerlada, which is supposed to have the most stunning beaches in all of the mediterranean.

we then plan to hop over by ferry to the south west of italy to explore the amalfi coast which looks unbelievably spectacular in all the photos i've seen thus far. also, many of jamie oliver's recipes from "jamie's italy" are inspired from the amalfi region so you know just how much i'm looking forward to the food here which sounds like it is just to die for. i can already imagine a future blog post on the luscious lemons that grow in this region.

and finally, we'll be driving to rome to spend the last few days. we got an unbelievably cheap ticket back to london from rome for only £20 a person! we're hoping to spend some time with our friends hrijoy and chiara who live in rome and know the city really well.

i'm ditching my laptop and blackberry so i can be incommunicado for a while. but i'm taking a brand-new, leather-bound journal and my digital camera and hope to spend lots of time writing and reflecting on my short italian adventure.

ciao until september 6th when you can expect the first post of my sardinia and amalfi coast diaries.

yellow squash kootu/curry

2006-08-23T23:11:00.000+01:00

i made ratatouille last weekend and didn't end up using all the squash i had bought at the market. so i browsed through my favourite food blogs to find a suitable recipe. priya's post on yellow squash kootu curry caught my fancy so i gave it a try last night.

it's a very simple recipe but the chana daal takes a while to cook in the pressure cooker and you need a hand blender to whiz up the cooked dal. also, the squash can end up being a bit bitter so cook well till it gets soft and a bit mushy.

the coconut, cumin and green chillie paste is what gives the dish its distinctive flavour so don't skimp on the freshness of the ingredients, especially the coconut. my favourite part of making this dish was grinding the coconut paste - i just love the fresh and spicy aromas that fill the kitchen.

enjoy the kootu with rice or chapatis.

wine and cheese bar in clerkenwell

2006-08-20T09:22:00.000+01:00

vivat bacchus is my favourite after-work hangout. it is a short walk from farrindgon, chancery lane or blackfriars tube stations. the restaurant is spread out over two floors. with three temperature-controlled wine cellars and a cheese room, an evening at vivat bacchus is always memorable. i usually come away learning about a fabulous new wine or cheese. how exciting is it to have over 6000 bottles of wine and 100 cheeses to choose from!

vivat bacchus has a diverse deli menu. some of the selections i like are the grilled seasoned vegetables with salsa verde and the paparadelle pasta with gorgonzola, peas, pine nuts and rocket. but what i usually get is their fabulous cheese board. you go to the cheese room (which is usually freezing cold!) and personally pick out the five to six cheeses that you'd like to have after an extensive dialogue with the cheese boy. i find the cheese boys very knowledgeable and they really help you create a balanced cheese board with soft/hard, mild/stinky, french/non-french cheeses. then you go back to your table and within five minutes you are served a gorgeously laid out cheese board with your chosen cheeses, crackers, grapes and lots of fresh bread. of course, by this point, you are already full thanks to the cheese boy's generosity in the cheese room while sampling to your heart's desire.

i went to vivat bacchus on friday night and discovered three new cheeses which i absolutely loved - reblochon, chablis and tomme brulee.

reblochon
a very very soft cow's milk cheese with a washed rind. i love the creamy paste (although it has quite a pungent aroma which you have to get used to) and how easily you can slather it on crackers. i love the freshness and the smoothness of reblochon. read about the interesting origin of the cheese by clicking the link above.

chablis
another pungent, creamy and almost liquid cheese from france that i fell in love with. it's made from cow's milk and has a soft rind that is washed in chablis wine giving the cheese a delicate, slightly fruity note. i haven't been able to find much information on this cheese except that it's closest relative is epoisse.

tomme brulee
this cheese comes from the basque region of france and what makes this semi-hard cheese distinctive is the burnt rind (think creme brulee). it paired really well with the other two gooey cheeses.

courgette, potato and mint frittata

2006-08-19T17:48:00.000+01:00

i bought the recent issue of bbc's goodfood magazine after ages. i was flipping through the magazine on my way home on the tube. an usual fritta recipe intrigued me and i wanted to try it immediately. i didn't believe that mint and potato and zucchini (or courgette as they are called here) would make a good combination. i stopped off at m&s food on high street ken and picked up the veggies and some fresh eggs so i could make the frittata for dinner.

2 medium potatoes
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium courgette, sliced
4 eggs
handful mint leaces, roughly chopped
110g/4 oz cheddar

1. boil the potatoes for 6 mins or until just cooked, then drain and set aside. heat the oil in a large, deep, ovenproof frying pan and fry the courgettes for 4-5 min until golden. tip in the potatoes and fry for 1 min with the courgettes.

2. in a bowl, beat together the eggs and mint, then season. pour into the frying pan and stir briefly. cook for 5 mins over low heat. crumble over the cheese and finish under a hot grill for 5 mins, until the eggs are just set and the cheese is browned. cut into wedges and serve.

i was amazed at how perfectly the recipe worked. i loved the freshness of the mint, the crispiness of the zuchinnis and the softness of the potatoes. perfect for a simple dinner or brunch with other goodies.

maya's egg curry

2006-08-17T21:27:00.000+01:00

when i moved into an apartment during my senior year of college at davidson, i was nervous because i had a kitchen and that meant i had to learn to cook. my apartment mates, who were turkish, french and american, were expecting me to cook these delcious indian curries. luckily, my dear cousin sister, maya, gifted me a "kitchen notes" notebook just in time for the start of senior year. she had already filled in about tens recipes for various indian dishes. i bumbled my way through cooking during my entire senior year and impressed no one with my culinary skills, but today, maya's present is one of my kitchen treasures and i do much more justice to her lovely recipes painstakingly written in her very friendly and huggable handwriting.

here's an easy recipe from maya for a spicy eggy curry - it was the first recipe that she wrote for me in her book and is the one i return to over and over again when i want a quick but hearty meal.

serves 4
quick, easy & tasty

since you like eggs, let's start with this.

ingredients
4 eggs
1/2 tsp oil
1/2 - 1 tsp jeera
2-3 tbsp broken up cashew
1 large onion (minced)
1/2" ginger
1 green chilli chopped
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 tsp turmeric
1 tomato chopped
1/2 cup yogurt
coriander leaves for garnish

how to
hard boil eggs (8-12 mins); shell; cut into half. heat oil in pan, add cumin. when it starts to pop, add cashew and fry till golden. then add onion, ginger, chillies and coriander poweder, turmeric and fry till the onions are brown. then add tomato, yogurt and salt to taste and cook covered till the masala is like a paste and the tomatoes are fully cooked. if it is too thick add some water. put the egg-halves in and cook covered for a few minutes. then serve with coriander garnish.

eat with tasty tortillas and enjoy!

p.s. if you don't have cashews, use almonds or any other kind of nuts.

tiranga rice for indian independence day

2006-08-12T19:34:00.000+01:00

the very talented food blogger, indira, is hosting an indian independence day food parade on her blog which is called mahanandi. indira invited fellow indian food bloggers to write about a traditional meal from their home state and submit it in time for her food parade on august 15th, the day india achieved independence from britain in 1947.

choosing my home state was a bit hard for me as i have fond attachments to three states that i know quite well. i was born in tamil nadu but lived mostly in karnataka and maharashtra when i was in india. can't really say where i feel most at home. when it comes to food, i'm much more interested in learning about a very wide range of regional and national cuisines and don't really have an in-depth knowledge of the traditions of any one type of cuisine.

my entry for this food blog event is a pan-indian recipe inspired by the tri-coloured indian flag and is dedicated to my mother as she found it and slightly adapted it from a tarla dalal cookbook. it's a spinach, peas and carrot rice which is then baked to create a golden cheese crust that smells heavenly, tastes delicious and works really well with the rice.

here's the recipe from which you can accordingly adjust proportions based on how many people you are cooking for. this time, i just used one cup of uncooked rice and adjusted all other ingredients based on my best judgement.

serves: 8

for the rice layer: 1 1/2 cups uncooked rice, 1/2 tsp shah-jira (cumin), 2 tbsp ghee, salt to taste

for the greens layer: 3 cups chopped spinach, 1 cup boiled green peas, 3 chopped green chillies, 1 chopped onion, 1 tbsp ghee, salt to taste.

for the carrot layer: 2 teacups grated carrot, 1/2 teaspoon shah-jira, 1/2 teaspoon curry powder, salt to taste

for baking: 3 tablespoon grated cheese (cheddar works well)

cook the rice. each grain of the cooked rice should be separate. heat the ghee and fry the shah-jira for a few minutes. add the cooked rice and salt and mix well.

cook the spinach with 1 tablespoon of water. when cooked, drain the spinanch. heat the ghee in a vessel and fry the onion for a little time. add the spinanch, green peas, chillies, salt and mix well.

for the carrot layer 1, heat the ghee in a vessel and fry the shah-jira. add the greated carrot and 2 tbsps of water. add the curry powder and salt and mix well. cover and cook for a few minutes.

grease a baking dish and spread half the cooked rice. Next spread the spinanch mixture, cover with the remaining rice and finally with the carrot layer. Sprinkle the cheese on top. (you might notice that i flipped the layers around. had to do that because i didn't get my carrot proportion right and ended up with too little so i layered it first.)

bake in a hot oven for 10 or 15 minutes. serve hot as such or after inverting on a tray.

my mom created this recipe for a dinner party a long time ago. and i have been making this dish ever since i started cooking. funnily, my mum is not into cooking at all. she just has a great talent for identifying good recipes and then instructing our cook on how to adapt them. in fact, she quite dislikes going into the kitchen and has always discouraged me from doing so. she's quite amused that i've taken to food and cooking in such a big way and spend so much time on it. she's much busier dedicating her life and soul to a bigger cause, one that she galvanised more than ten years ago.

barcelona diary: some favourite memories

2006-08-12T11:07:00.000+01:00

barcelona diary: la boqueria (food market)

2006-08-12T10:51:00.000+01:00

barcelona diary: origen 99.9%

2006-08-10T20:13:00.000+01:00

i never imagined that la cocina catalana would have such delicious vegetarian fare. grilled vegetables, stuffed vegetables, breads, wild greens salads, garlicky cheese spreads and lots of creamy, indulgent desserts. it's simple meditarranean fare cooked with super fresh ingredients and without much fuss.

my friend amy recommended a local meal in barcelona at origen 99.9% which has three locations in the city. we ate a sumptous lunch at the el born restaurant, near the museu picasso. we really wanted to check out the museum but didn't have patience to wait for over 2 hours in the queue to just get in. so we headed straight to origen.

origen 99.9% reminded me a bit of le pain quotidien in manhattan because of the rustic wooden tables and the food treasures for sale. but it's a lot smaller, cosier and somewhat less commericial.

tostada de tupi con higos is cheese and fig confite. tupi is a cheese that comes from the pyrenees and it is mixed with figs cooked in marmalade style to create this delicious, creamy, sweet and salty spread. i love how i got a clove of garlic which i rubbed on the tostada before spreading tupi con higos.

ensalada de hojas silvestres (wild leaves salad in a honey mustard vinaigrette. wild leaves from the pyrennes include chicory, watercress, lamb's lettuce, dandelion and purslane)

berejnena rellena (stuffed brinjals with cooked onions, tomato, milk and flour lightly dressed with a basil olive oil sauce)

and finally, dessert - crema catalana (a crème brûlée-style custard with cinnamon - totally yum yum, especially with a glass of muscat)

barcelona diary: rocket salad on brie toast

2006-08-09T20:58:00.000+01:00

i have stolen a recipe idea from moo vida restaurant at the muy chic hotel omm in barcelona.

load up on several thin slices of brie on flat bread - use white or wheat bread, whatever your prefer. you can even stick in the toaster oven for about five minutes at around 300 degrees F till the cheese starts to get gooey.

meanwhile, toss together rocket (arugula) with a dressing of champagne vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, sea salt and pepper.

once the toast is out of the toaster oven, let cool for a few minutes. add a handful of rocket salad. top with slivered apples, bits of walnuts and halves of green grapes. ready to be gobbled along with a glass of chilled cava.

barcelona diary: golfo de bizkaia

2006-08-07T22:19:00.000+01:00

i had so many recommendations for different bars and restaurants in barcelona and i tried many of them but the one i loved the most was one that we found completely by accident. it's a small pintxos (basque for tapas) bar located in the heart of el born in la ribera district of barcelona.

being champagne lovers, we had gone in search of el xampanyet based on brett's blog post but sadly they were closed. i think the owners had pushed off for their summer holiday to some secluded island off the coast of italy or greece and i imagine they were sprawled out on the beach enjoying their peace and quiet while more and more foreigners thronged the barcelonian bars at the height of the tourist season. (note to self: august is a bad time to visit the big cities in europe).

golfo de bizkaia is just down the road from el xampanyet, is wonderfully unpretentious and serves the most delicious tapas from basque country. you take a seat at the bar (if you can find one) and grab whichever tostada looks irrestible from the dozens of plates in front of you. every few minutes, a waitress walks around and waves another tempting plate of pintxos just from the kitchen. a melting brie tostada topped with black olive tapenade caught my fancy while h enjoyed a wide variety of salami, eel and other tostadas that i couldn't even begin to name.

i was attracted to the table on the right hand side of golfo de bizkaia where a plate of fresh green chillies caught my attention. i asked the waiter for some and he started piling on loads (like twenty to thirty!) on an empty plate. i protested wondering how on earth i was going to bear the heat of so many chillies but he insisted that i had to get a full plate or none at all so i watched in dismay. the waiter ordered me to go back to my bar stool and wait patiently.

a few minutes later, he brought out a plate of grilled green chillies dressed with sea salt. what an idiot i was - i should have known earlier. the green peppers were none other than my favourite pimientos de padron! i can't even begin to describe how delicious they were when the pimientos were fresh off the grill. we consumed the entire plate in no time at all and washed it all down with lots of delicious cava. i can still experience the sensation of biting into a spicy pod and chasing down the heat with chilled bubbly. oh what a feeling!

my barcelona diaries

2006-08-07T21:13:00.000+01:00

i just got back late last night from a fabulous weekend in barcelona. armed with a stylecity guide and recommendations from friends and other food blogs, i sought out some of the coolest, hippest and most stylish experiences that this wonderfully creative city has to offer. barcelona is just bursting with energy, vibrancy and a zest for life that is so intoxicating. inspiration is to be found everywhere - from the sidewalk of a mundane avenue in the eixample to the trendiest boutique hotels in el raval. what's most addictive about the city is its quintessentially mediterranean pace of life and obsession with food and wine. i'd move there in a heartbeat!

paris diary: haagen dazs on champs-elysées

2006-08-07T21:03:00.000+01:00

i know this sounds terribly clichéd but you must indulge at haagen daz on the champs-elysées when in paris. yes, it is touristy. yes, it's crowded. yes, it's expensive. but it is so worth it. it's just one of those experiences that you don't think twice about because all that chocolate and all that sugar and all that full fat milk and all that cream is oh so good and you feel terribly chic despite the expanding waistline that awaits.

paris diary: restaurant georges

2006-08-05T09:28:00.000+01:00

i went to paris on thursday for a day meeting but ending up staying the night. we went to dinner with our clients at restaurant georges located on the top floor of the centre georges pompidou which is the controversial modern art museum that you either instantly love or hate. the museum was recently in the news for upsetting a few LA-based artists because two paintings accidentally fell off the walls. what an embarrassment!

if you're looking for just one restaurant recommendation in paris then this is it. i say it more from the point of view of sheer ambience rather than the food - which is very good, by the way.

as you ride the elevator up to the sixth floor, you increasingly getting a more panoramic view of the city and the excitement slowly builds up. once on the top, the sheer expanse of paris all around is simply breathtaking. once on the sixth floor, you pass an outdoor terrace where you can chill with a few glasses of champagne before heading to the action indoors.

the dining room is massive. the industrial style with very high ceilings, exposed pipes and minimalist design overall is perfect as the focus is really on the views of paris. you can see the eiffel tower shimmering in the distance for ten minutes every hour on the hour at night. the lights in the restaurant are dimmed as it gets darker inside creating a very magical atmosphere with underlit tables et al. i specially loved the all white tables and the special touch of a single two foot high rose in a slim glass vase on every table. the waitresses are also dressed minimally and if you're into eye candy, you'll probably love it here.

the menu is continental with an asian flair. the asian threw me off a bit - not sure where that came from - but when i read that restaurant georges is the sister establishment to hakkasan in london, it made sense. i was pleased to have lots of vegetarian options including a california roll (sushi) that was fresh and delicious and penne with a rich tomato sauce. sorry about not taking pictures as i was at a business meeting!

what amazed me most was how buzzing the place was even at 1 am in the morning. restaurant georges seems to attract mostly thirty olds, young enough to want a very hip and trendy scene but just old enough to pay for it!

place georges pompidou
19, rue beaubourg
75004 paris
33 (1) 44 78 47 99

bangladeshi masoor dal

2006-08-02T21:04:00.000+01:00

i received a lovely gift last year from john, one of my colleagues in the new york office of my company. when he found out that i was passionate about cooking, he took the trouble to get me an autographed copy of madhur jaffrey's from curries to kebabs. it turned out that john's fiancee's parents were neighbours of the jaffreys and so he was able to give me this special gift.

i tried my first recipe from this book over the weekend and was very pleased with how well my dal turned out. it was simple and wholesome yet had a very distinctive flavour. madhur jaffrey explains in the book that most lentils are boiled in the same way all over the world and it's the seasoning that makes the difference. this bangladeshi version of masoor dal is cooked with a final tarka of panchphoran which is a spice mixture containing equal portions of whole cumin, fennel, mustard, fenugreek and nigella seeds.

serves 4

1 cup red lentil
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 medium onion, sliced into very fine half-rings
1 to 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons corn oil
1 to 2 dried whole hot red chillies (i used 4!)
1 teaspoon panchphoran

put the lentils, turmeric, and half the sliced onion in a lidded pan with 4 cups of water and bring to a boil. do not let the pot boil over. skim off the scum that rises to the surface with a slotted spoon. partially cover with the lid, reduce the heat to low, and cook for 40 to 50 minutes, or until tender. add the salt and mash the dal and onion well with a potato masher.

in a small pan, heat the oil until very hot. put in the chillies. as soon as they darken, put in the panchphoran. stir once and put in the remaining onion. stir and fry until the onion turns reddish-brown. pour the oil and seasonings into the pan of lentils. cover the pan quickly to trap the aromas.

enjoy this tasty masoor dal with homemade chapatis, bhindi masala and a few slivers or raw onion.

spring onion and cherry tomato omelette

2006-07-31T21:52:00.000+01:00

i woke up on sunday morning craving something spicy and garlicky. maybe it was because it felt a bit crisper than it has felt in weeks. it was so nice to wake up to some chill in the morning after weeks of sweltering heat.

i was browsing through my favourite cookbooks for some breakfast ideas. i really wanted to make buttermilk pancakes but i didn't have buttermilk in my fridge so had to pass on that. i found a very simple recipe for spring onion and tomato omelette in jamie's dinners that sounded like it was going to hit the spot. and i couldn't believe that i actually had some salad onions (a decent substitute for spring onions in a pinch) and cherry tomatoes (substitute for big ripe tomatoes) on hand which the naked chef's recipe called for. such alignment of the stars can only be a sign of a fabulous treat ahead!

slice the spring onions diagonally. slice the cherry tomatoes in halves. heat an omelette pan on medium heat. add a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil. add the spring onions and cherry tomatoes and cook for about three to five minutes.

beat two eggs with a fork until the yolks and whites have just mixed. add a finely chopped red chilli, some sea salt and pepper.

fold the eggs into the pan. use a fork to shake up the eggs and make sure that they are cooked to your liking. pull off the heat in less than a minute.

i ate the omelette with toasted garlic baguette slices. i just loved the fiery taste of the spring onions and red chillis in the omelette. and the cherry tomatoes set off that heat perfectly with their delicate sweetness.

wash down with freshly squeezed orange juice or homemade lemonade.

beurre de cajou

2006-07-30T10:10:00.000+01:00

as i write this post, i'm reminded of a quote from salvador dalí that i read about yesterday afternoon while exploring the dalí universe at the county hall gallery. it's something along the lines of judging a creative based on how much they inspire others rather than how much they are inspired themselves.

in the food blogging world, one of the many blogs that i get very inspired by is clotilde's chocolate and zucchini. this inspirational french food blogger constantly shares interesting and unusual food ideas that you just don't find in cookbooks or cooking magazines.

clotilde's recent post on beurre de cajou or cashew butter was so compelling that i rushed to my pantry to see if i had any cashew nuts or peanuts on stock because i wanted to make this butter immediately. i did have about a cup of unsalted cashews so i immediately roasted them for about five minutes at 400 degrees F in my toaster oven. i waited for the roasted nuts to cool for about ten minutes and then i put them in my food processor and started grinding.

the process of the nuts turning into butter is wonderfully magical. they first disintegrate into fine cashew dust and then slowly, as you keep grinding, the fine dust starts releasing the oil and all the powder starts sticking together to form a buttery texture. i suppose you can keep grinding till the butter is as smooth as you like but i quite like it a bit chunky so i stopped after a few minutes of the butter forming.

you can spread the cashew butter on your morning toast or use as a filling in a dessert crepe. it also makes a great spread on sliced apples. i'm going to try making peanut butter soon. i just can't imagine ever wanting to buy the commercial variety ever again!

steamed wontons

2006-07-29T10:03:00.000+01:00

wonton in chinese refers to irregularly shaped pasta that has some kind of finely minced vegetable or meat filling and is then deep-fried or steamed. other names include dumplings, potstickers and gyoza.

wontons are super easy to make and very fun to eat. i love the melting in the mouth sensation of just made steamed wontons. here's the recipe i use from asha khatau's vegetarian chinese cook book.

16 wonton wrappers
10 cups water
1/4 cup finely chopped beans
1/4 cup finely chopped spring onions
1/4 cup finely chopped spring carrots
1/4 cup finely chopped spring cabbage
1/4 tsp each crushed ginger and garlic
1/2 tsp each sugar and pepper
1 tsp soy suace
3 tbsp oil
salt to taste
a pinch of MSG (i don't use)

in a frying pan, heat 1 tbsp oil on a high flame. add all the vegetables, ginger, garlic and MSG. fry for 1 minute. add sugar, salt, pepper and soy sauce. take it off the stove. allow to cool.

place a single wonton wrapper on cutting board, put 1 tbsp filling on it and gather the edges together in the desired shape. seal it with a mixture of corn flour and water. wontons can be folded in various shapes like nurse's cap, moneybag, envelope etc.

i find moneybag the easiest. dip your fingers in water and rub along all four edges of the wonton skin after you have placed the filling in the centre. then just bring all edges to the centre and press together.

while you are folding the wontons, set water to boil. you can steam your wontons by either using a bamboo steamer or dropping in boiling water directly.

if you use a bamboo steamer, place the steamer in a big wok that has boiling water. make sure that the steamer does not touch the water - use a stand. place the wonton in the steamer, cover and allow to cook for 15 to 20 minutes.

i found that dropping the wontons in boiling water and allowing them to cook for about 10 to 15 minutes is a more reliable method to get the job done.

to make fried wontons, dry the folded wontons for 10-15 minutes and deep-fry them in oil. serve with sweet and sour sauce or chilli sauce.

loon fung chinese supermarket

2006-07-24T22:36:00.000+01:00

i made a trip to chinatown yesterday. h suddenly had a craving for chinese food and had visions of steamed wontons, spicy eggplant and sauteed bok choy in garlic sauce. i went to waitrose on high street kensington to buy all the ingredients but was utterly disappointed by the lack of specialty chinese items. i couldn't even find chinese eggplant or chilli garlic sauce leave alone wonton wrappers. agh! how i missed my kalustyans and whole foods in new york.

i had to find an authentic chinese grocery store. all i knew about chinatown in london was that it was somewhere near soho. i did a few searches in google and discovered a grocery store not far from leicester square tube in central london. i took the circle line from high street kensington and changed to the piccadilly line at gloucester road, my old tube stop. once i got out at leicester square, i was in the heart chintown within minutes.

i went in search of loon fung supermarket on gerrard street. it was really easy to find. i was reminded of india bazaar in the bay area. these guys stocked everything you need for cooking chinese food - from fresh vegetables, fruits and meats to spices and oils, utensils and dinnerware to frozen meals. it was mostly chinese people shopping. you could tell that the few non-chinese in the store were hard core cooks or total novices like me who had to ask where each and every item i was looking for was located in the store.

i bought the things i needed for the dinner i planned to make as well as random stuff that caught my fancy including peanut oil, canned litchis, wonton wrappers and bok choi. however, my two important purchases were a wok and a bamboo steamer. i've been wanting to buy a wok for a while now having been dissatisfied with using a big sautee pan for stir frying but had just been pure lazy in actually making the purchase. loon fung stocked woks in a variety of sizes and i couldn't resist a 13 inch one which looked perfect for anything chinese i wished to make. i also remembered watching a uktv food show in which they showed a bamboo steamer so i decided to pick that up as well.

stay tuned for some chinese recipes coming up next at lulu loves london!

bombay pav bhaji

2006-07-22T17:37:00.000+01:00

"pav" is bread and "bhaji" is mashed vegetables. put the two together with butter and lots of spices and what you get is one of bombay's best known fast foods. sarkar's and sukh sagar are two popular places in the city for buttery, garlicy, spicy pav bhaji which is lip smackingly delicious. imli in london does a pretty decent version.

to make at home in a pinch i've found a tarla dalal recipe from her chaat cookbook that hits the spot every time. a few key ingredients are butter (do no substitute with oil!), kashmiri red chillies and everest brand pav bhaji masala. i'm not very particular on the bread to accompany the bhaji - i use whatever is available freshly baked in the store whether it is a sourdough submarine or a hamburger bun.

prep time: 15 min
cooking time: 20 min
serves: 4

for the pav
8 pieces of bread
4 tablesppons butter
1 teaspoon pav bhaji masala (optional)

for the bhaji
1 1/2 cups potatoes, boiled and mashed
1 cup cauliflower, finely chopped
1/2 cup green peas
1/2 cup carrots, chopped
1 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup capsicum, finely chopped
2 1/2 cups tomoatoes, chopped
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
1 1/2 tablesopons pav bhaji masala
1/2 teaspoon black salt
4 tablespoons butter
salt to taste

to be ground into a chilli-garlic paste
3 to 4 kashmiri chillies, soaked in warm water
4 to 6 cloves garlic

for serving
1 large onion
4 lemon wedges
1 tablespoon chopped coriander

1. boil the cauliflower, peas and carrots till they are soft. drain out the excess water.
2. heat the butter in a large pan, add the onion and capsicum and saute for 2 minutes. then, add the prepared chilli-garlic paste and saute till the onion softens.
3. add the tomatoes and simmer till the oil separates.
4. add the turmeric powder, chilli powder, pav bahji masala, black salt and salt and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.
5. add the boiled vegetables and potatoes and mash thoroughly using a potato masher, adding 1/2 cup of water if required
6. slice each bread into 2 horizontally. apply a little butter to each side and sprinkle with a little pav bhaji masala, if required.
7. heat a large tava and cook the pav on both sides till the pieces are lightly browned.
8. serve the hot bhaji on 4 individual plates and top with the onion and coriander.
9. serve with the hot pav and lemon wedges.

james street for outdoor dining

2006-07-21T14:42:00.000+01:00

i love london in the summer. it doesn't get dark till around 10 pm at night and the air is just ripe with fun and frolic. it's so hard to go home and read a book or cook dinner when you can sit outdoors at a lovely cafe, sip sangria and watch fashionable people sashay along all evening long.

one of my favourite casual hangouts is james street in west london which is a two minute walk from bond street tube and about ten minutes from marylebone high street. the street is densely packed with a wide variety of cafes and restaurants all the way from wigmore street to oxford street.

if you're in a mood for some mint tea and an apple hookah, swing by ayoush. cafe creperie is awesome for an afternoon pick-me-up like nutella crepe. and la tasca is the perfect choice for tapas with your close friends. all the restaurants have outdoor seating though it may be hard to get a table later in the evening. in case you can't find a restaurant you like, you can always pop into selfridges close by.

polli (jaggery pancake)

2006-07-20T21:00:00.000+01:00

at my cousin's wedding in bangalore, i rediscovered the delectable taste of polli, a traditional south indian pancake with a jaggery and coconut filling. best enjoyed when slightly warm and with dollops of ghee, i absolutely love the combination of saltiness and sweetness that you get in every bite.

i haven't yet tried to make this at home, but here's a recipe from chandra padmanabhan's dakshin that i will use when i do feel like giving it a shot.

prep time: 20 minutes
cooking time: 2 hours
makes: 20-25

2 1/4 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
3/4 cup sesame oil
water as required
a few plantain or banana leaves or oiled polythene sheets

for the filling:
1 1/2 cups chana dal, picked over and rinsed
1/2 cup toor dal, picked over and rinsed
8 cups water
1 coconut, grated
1 1/2 kg jaggery, powdered
4-6 whole cardamoms, powdered

wash the chana dal and toor dal well. drain and place dals in a heavy saucepan. cover with 8 cups water and bring to the boil. when boiling, cover pan with a lid, leaving slightly ajar. lower heat, and simmer the dal gently for 1 1/2 hours. stir several times during the last 30 minutes of cooking. set aside dal without draining.

in a heavy saucepan, dry-roast the grated coconut for 2-3 minutes. add the powdered jaggery and simmer on a low heat until the jaggery completely melts.

add the cooked dals and continue to simmer until the mixture blends and thickens. set aside to cool. place the cooled filling in an electric blender or food processor. add the powdered cardamom. blend ingredients into a fine paste.

sift the flour, salt and ground turmeric into a large mixing bowl. make a well in the centre and add 1/4 cup sesame oil and sufficient water to make a kneadable dough (it should resemble a chapati or unleavened bread dough). knead slightly and form into a ball. pour the remaining sesame oil over thr dough. set aside for 20 minutes, then mix.

brush the plantain or banana leaves with sesame oil. take a small ball of dough and place it on an oiled leaf. flatten the dough with your hand, until it resembels a chapati. take a small lump of the filling and place it in the centre of the flattened dough. fold the dough over the filling. once again, flatten the pancake with your hand.

heat a tawa or griddle. add very little sesame oil and cook both sides until done, as you would an ordinary pancake.

serve warm with ghee!

bangalore diary: bangalore club

2006-07-19T22:00:00.000+01:00

the bangalore club is one of the oldest clubs in india. it was started by the british over a hundred years ago along the lines of the old english country clubs. it was originally meant for the exclusive use of those serving the british army but is now mostly a civilian club. sir winston churchill was a member of the club as was the maharaja of mysore who was the first indian to be granted membership.

i had sunday brunch at the club last weekend after ages. when i was growing up in bangalore, i spent almost every sunday at the bangalore club for more than ten years. my mom was a fabulous badminton player and my father a fabulous tennis player so they spent every sunday playing their respective games all morning long. this was then followed by a typical bangalore club brunch - a never ending flow of draught beer, roasted penauts with raw onions and chillies, paneer tikkas and lots of other salty and fried snacks!

this was always topped up with a special treat to my favourite ice cream - kwality's chocobar. plain vanilla ice cream coated with chocolate. simply delicious.

it was so fun to relive a little bit of my childhood last weekend. though bangalore has changed drastically (population, pollution, traffic etc), the club itself has retained its quintessential colonial charm. the old trees, the lush lawns, the century old buildings and the archaic club rules are a nice antidote to the increasingly urbanised city that is hurtling at break neck speed. when i am at the bangalore club, i feel like time has been suspended and i'm in a universe of its very own. quite a lovely feeling.

bombay diary: kebab korner and dome bar

2006-07-10T12:58:00.000+01:00

the intercontinental hotel on marine drive in bombay has a lovely restaurant called kebab korner that serves delicious punjbai/north west frontier cuisine in a stylish ambience. i enjoyed a sumptous dinner there with my family on saturday night and was truly impressed with the quality of food and the highest level of service.

we ordered three starters which were outstanding - grilled paneer, pudina tikkas and corn kebabs. they were served with white (yougurt and spices) and green (mint, coriander and spices) chutneys. main course was baingan bartha and dum aloo with kulchas.

earlier in the evening, we had a few cocktails at the dome bar at the top of the intercontinental. the all white and linen decor gives the place a very dreamy feel. add to that the lovely breeze from the arabian sea, the massive windows and stunning night views of the glittering queen's necklace to get a winning formula. adjacent to the bar is a 20 yard swimming pool on the terrace as well. it reminded me somewhat of the very hip ganzervoot hotel in the meat packing district of manhattan.

in all honesty, the cocktails were a bit disappointing. my dad and i ordered margaritas and mojitos and neither was really upto standard. but given how much i love the ambience and would love to come back, i'll probably just stick to wine or beer next time.

amaya, knightsbridge

2006-07-05T20:44:00.001+01:00

amaya is a very upsacle contemporary indian restaurant in knightsbridge. it is most well known for its tapas style small plates of vegetables and meats. they do a very good paneer which literally melts in your mouth and is delicately flavoured. the mushroom kabab is also delicious and completely vegetarian.

i've been to amaya twice and thoroughly enjoyed the food and atmosphere both times. but i was really annoyed the last time i went there because i was ticked off by the waiter for taking pictures of the food. i've eaten in so many restaurants in so many countries but never once have i been forbidden from taking photos. what is up with that?!!

one reviewer on "london-eating" talked about how paranoid amaya was in disclosing descriptions of the food they served. they do not provide an online menu, fax you one or even read out the menu on the phone! i'm not really sure what all the secrecy is about.

i'd much rather spend my time and money at chutney mary or veeraswamy.

ps - i guess i should be thankful that they did not confiscate my camera!

chunky vegetable paella

2006-07-03T20:57:00.000+01:00

i stole an amazing cookbook called "the ultimate vegetarian cookbook" by roz deny from arvi, my cousin, almost six years ago. i had just moved to the bay area from bombay and was newly married. never having cooked in my life, i was looking to all sources of inspiration to get going. during my first week in california, arvi had invited me over to his stylish pad in santa clara and had cooked me a lovely south indian dinner of rasam, rice, potato curry and curd rice.

i was very impressed that this cousin brother of mine (who as a kid i had considered to be the ultimate source of authority on everything in life) actually knew how to cook. inspired i was but i was not impressed that he rarely ventured beyond the south indian food that we grew up on. so i stole this big and colourful recipe book that adorned his bookshelf. it had over 200 mouthwatering recipes shown step-by-step in 800 photographs. it didn't seem like he used it or had any plans to in the near future so i didn't feel guilty at all though i probably should have since it was the only source of recipes he had other than nirmala periamma's handwritten recipes for all his childhood favourites.

i've learnt many an interestng recipe from this cookbook but my all time favourite is the chunky vegetable paella. it turns out so very delicious every time that i don't dare deviate from the recipe which is quite unusual for me as i hate to follow the exact letter of the law.

h and i used to host an annual tapas party at our place in redwood city and the paella was always the main dish to accompany all the other finger foods like patata bravas, tapenades, warmed olives, roasted sweet peppers and more. and of course, the sangria was always freely flowing..

here's the paella recipe which calls for a nice pinch of saffron strands...

serves 6
good pinch saffron stands
1 eggplant, cut in thick chunks
salt
6 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, sliced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 yellow pepper, sliced
1 red pepper, sliced
2 tsp paprika
1 1/4 cups Arborio rice
2 1/2 cups veg stock
1 pound fresh tomatoes, skinned and chopped
ground black pepper
4 oz sliced mushrooms
4 oz cute green beans
1 x 15 oz can chick peas

1. steep the saffron in 3 tbsp hot water. sprinkle the eggplant with salt, leave to drain in a colander for 30 minutes, then rinse and dry.

2. in a large paella or frying pan, heat the oil and fry the onion, garlic, peppers and eggplant for about 5 minutes, stirring ocassionally. sprinkle in the paprika and stir again.

3. mix the rice, then pour in the stock, tomatoes, saffron and seasoning. bring to boil then simmer for 15 minutes, uncovered, shaking the pan frequently and stirring occasionally.

4. stir in the mushrooms, green beans and chick peas (with the liquor). continue cooking for a further 10 minutes, then serve hot from the pan.

if you're looking for a crowd pleaser at a dinner party, look no further than the chunky vegetable paella.

ps - arvi is getting married in bangalore next week. i will be on holiday from friday onwards and will be in bombay and then bangalore. i'll definitely take lots of pictures of all the wedding food but not sure how often i'll be able to blog given all my other duties at the family wedding!

a gift of saffron

2006-07-02T18:30:00.000+01:00

my friend and fellow food blogger amy gifted me a precious box of the best saffron in the world which she had brought to london from her recent trip to barcelona. the place where she bought the saffron is a century old food shop called e&a gispert which i'm told is a must see for any foodie visiting this spanish city that i'm just do dying to go to. between the architecture, the food and the thriving shopping, barcelona sounds like a very exciting city to check out. and amy think i would like it more than any other european city and that i must go there as soon as possible!

amy asked me what i would use the saffron in. she uses it for risottos and fish dishes. i tend to use saffron in paella, shrikhand (an indian yogurt dessert laced with saffron), badam kheer and hyderabadi vegetable biryani to name a few.

i'd love to hear what your favourite uses of saffron are. do tell as i have the best quality saffron at my disposal and am looking for new recipe ideas.

chocolate foundue fountain

2006-07-01T20:19:00.000+01:00

i loved good chocolate. especially when it is flowing without any end in sight. there's nothing better than dipping a succulent strawberry or a crisp biscotti in melted chocolate. one big trend in london these days that i hadn't seen in america is the chocolate fondue fountain. it's a nifty little contraption and it's popping up everywhere these days. i was at a wedding a month ago at which the only dessert was a massive chocolate fountain surrounded by fresh fruit pieces. and the other day we had tea time at our company hosted by the finance department (!) and we were very imprerssed with their creativity - they had set-up a chocolate fountain with strawberries, cherries, pineapple chunks, banana slices, marshmallows and mini doughnuts. we were given wooden skewers with which to dip the fruits in the chocolate. it was super fun to stand around dipping into the fountain and having chocolate dripping everywhere.

you may want to consider the chocolate fondue fountain if you're looking for a show-stopper at your next big event!

cooking holidays

2006-07-01T09:39:00.000+01:00

i found out about on the menu at taste of london a few weekends back. i was aware of cooking schools but the concept of cooking on holiday was quite new to me. it sounds super fun and adventurous. flipping through the gorgeous brochure, i was immediately excited just thinking about learning from the locals in exotic destinations like marrakech in morocco, san miguel de allende in mexico, hoi an in vietnam, arezzo in tuscany and goa in india to name just a few. on the menu's ethos is to deliver "undaunting and hands on cooking" in lovely locations. the emphasis is on having fun. it's about shopping at local markets and cooking with fresh produce. about meeting new friends with the same passion for cooking and travel. and about soaking up a new culture through the lens of is cuisine. personally, i can't think of a more fun holiday!

i'm planning to take a cooking holiday to marrakech for four days in august. i would take the longer full week holiday to morroco that is also offered but work is unfortunately relentless and i won't be able to get away for that long on top of all the other little trips (croatia, amalfi coast) that i'd love to sneak in this year as well. we'll be staying at an exqusite small hotel located within the walls of the old medina in marrakech close to the bustling jemma el fna. cooking lessons are in the kasbah in the gardens by the pool. our teacher will be a traditional cook who is supposed to have hands of gold. she'll be sharing some secrets of moroccan cooking from how to make a flawless briouate dough to cooking the perfect couscous that defies gravity. we'll be cooking with fresh vegetables from the hotel's kitchen garden and eating under the olive and fig trees. there'll also be plenty of time to go shopping in town or laze in the hotel's sumptous hammam.

here's what's included in the four day weekend:
- 3 night luxury accomodation with breakfast daily
- 2 cooking lessons with a traditional moroccan cook
- lunch of what you've created after each session
- an escorted trip to the souk
- arrival and departure airport transfers

what your significant other can do if not taking the lessons with you:
- shop at the fascinating soukd for tagines, spices, carpets, cermacs and jewellry
- visit the museum of moroccan art
- spend a day trekking in the atlas foothills
- have massages and mud baths or just soak up the incredible atmosphere

can't wait to experience this holiday!

basil haloumi and roasted vegetable skewers

2006-06-25T17:19:00.000+01:00

this month's issue of delicious magazine has the best summer recipes. i am a huge basil fan so this veggie skewer recipe that called for a basil marinated got me really excited. problem was that i didn't have any wooden skewers and my nearest waitrose had sold out. so i ended up pulling out my fondue set and using those metallic skewers instead - not an ideal solution but a somewhat workable one. if you end up using metal skewers, take care that your fingers don't get burnt when you take the skewers off the grill pan. of course, if your'e planning to use a real grill then you better find those wooden skewers before you try this recipe.

ingredients:
50g basil
8 tbsp olive oil
250g haloumi, drained and cubed
1 large red pepper, deseeded and roughly cubed (i used cherry tomatos instead)
6 mushrooms, halved
1 courgette (zucchini), roughly cubed

preheat grill pan. soak 8 wooden skewers in water for at least 30 minutes. or skip this step if you're also using your fondue skewers :)

put the basil, oil and seasoning in a small food processor. put 2 tablespoons of the mixture into a large bowl. save the rest to toss through a pasta salad.

thread the haloumi and vegetables alternately on the skewers. cook on the grill pan for about 10 minutes, turning halfway, until the vegetables are just tender.

h really loved this dish. he said that he loved the chargrilled, pesto-flavoured vegetables that were succulent and absolutely delicious.

delicious food magazine

2006-06-25T11:11:00.000+01:00

i picked up a free copy of a food magazine called delicious at the taste of london event which i attended last week. when it comes to food magazines in the uk, i'm only familiar with bbc's good food magazine which i find very informative and comprehensive. i was quite delighted to discover another publication in the uk catering to my insatiable appetite for anything and everything food related!

delicious is very inspiring and visually stunning. it has bright colours, gorgeours full-bleed food photography, lots of ideas and loads of recipes from uk's top chefs including jamie oliver, nigella lawson and rick stein.

they have an amazing offer now to tempt you to subscribe - sign-up and you'll receive 3 issues for £3 plus you'll get a stylish, compact british hotel and restaurant guide by les routiers. don't know about you but i certainly fell for it!

taste of london 2006 in regent's park

2006-06-24T15:47:00.000+01:00

my dear friend amy was in town last week and london's greatest food show happened to be on at regent's park! given how obsessed amy and i are about food, taste of london was the perfect way to spend an afternoon together enjoying food, wine and some absolutely splendid english weather.

taste of london is an annual food event sponsored by british airways. it attracts the city's most high-profile michelin-starred chefs and an amazing variety of food and wine exhibitors from around the world. this year there were over 40 restaurants that had booths at which you could sample three of their signature dishes. what a great way to sample the best of london! my favourite restaurants like fifteen, roka, cocoon and the cinnamon club were there and i discovered some new ones that i'm now dying to try like imli (indian), nahm (thai) and fino (spanish). the sheer diversity of cuisines reminded me of just how wonderfully eclectic london is and how much i'm in love with this city, especially the food scene!

amy and i had a blast discovering new foods, collecting all the zillion souvenirs that were being given away and generally indulging in one of our favourite passions in life.

we dragged our spouses from one booth to the other, not wanting to miss a single square meter of the floor plan or any of the refreshing cockatils on offer :)

the highlight was seeing gordon ramsay in person. we were hoping to catch his live cooking demonstration but the time we made our way to his booth, we had missed his show and a long queue of autugraph-hopeful fands had already formed. we stood on a chair not far from his table and managed to get a few close-ups of him but nothing much more exciting than that. i haven't yet seen his f-word show on bbc 4 which is airing this season and is extremely popular.

stay tuned for more highlights from taste of london 2006!

competition: prize for the winner

2006-06-22T22:42:00.000+01:00

a HUGE thank you to all of you who participated in my mint, mint, mint competition! it was thoroughly exciting to review the entries over the past few days. i was fascinated by the sheer variety of ideas from pudina chawal to watermelon, feta and mint salad.

congratulations to trupti for the winning suggestion of mint syrup. it got me thinking about mojitos, mint sorbet, mint lemonade, mint ice tea, sparkling mint water to name just a few. trupti's idea really stood out not only because it called for using a lot of the mint i have on hand but also because it ignited my own creativity of everything i could do with the ingredient.

as promised, i will be mailing trupti a fun cookbook. i've picked gordon ramsay's sunday lunch. gordon is britain's top chef and this book is full of fabulous ideas for sunday lunches with family and friends. here's a picture i took of gordon ramsay at the taste of london food show that i will be blogging about next:

thanks, trupti! please send your mailing address to lools@hotmail.com and i'll send across your prize. i'm keeping my fingers crossed that you don't live in england and that you're not already a die-hard ramsay fan!

trupti's recipe for mint syrup:

ingredients
8 c Mint leaves, fresh; chopped
2 1/2 c -Boiling water
8 c Sugar
3 c -Water
green food colouring
3 tb Mint essential oil
-or mint extract

instructions

1. place chopped mint leaves in a crock or deep bowl; add boiling water. place a flat dish over the leaves and weight it down. allow to stand overnight. bring sugar and 3 cups water to a boil and cook 10 to 15 minutes. meanwhile, squeeze the juice from the mint leaves; add mint juice to the syrup, bring to a boil, cook 5 minutes and remove from heat. discard leaves. add green food color to make the syrup a bright green. add the mint oil and stir. pour into sterile bottles. refrigerate. syrup is ready to use.

2. dilute with cold water or sparkling water.

thanks again everyone for participating. hope you enjoyed the competition as much as i did!

competition: mint, mint, mint!

2006-06-18T09:15:00.000+01:00

inspired by all the weekend herb bloggers, i bought myself a mint plant a few months ago. and now it's grown so well and is giving me so much but i haven't plucked a single leaf as yet!

please help me use up some of my mint soon. i'm calling for all your suggestions for what i should make with the mint i have on hand.

i'll be giving away a fun cookbook to the winning entry. i will pick the most interesting recipe that uses more than a few mint leaves.

deadline for entries: wednesday, june 21

can't wait to see your ideas!

tarte aux légumes rôtis

2006-06-17T13:59:00.000+01:00

check-out cafe rouge if you're looking for a nice french cafe to hang out at when it's gorgeous outside they are located all over the united kingdom and are known for good quality and value for money french food.

i had a very rough week at work so decided to laze around this morning. i usually wake up early on the weekends and get cracking on all the chores that i neglected during the week but i just didn't feel like this morning. the sun was shining brighter than i have ever seen it shine in london. the weather looked splendid and very inviting. it was the absolutely perfect day for a leisurely lunch at a nice outdoors cafe. cafe rouge immediately popped into my mind as i see it on my way to holmes place, the gym where i work-out.

the cafe rouge in kensington is located right off kensington church street in lancer square. there's plenty of indoor and outdoor seating so no need to wait in a long line to sit outside. the service is very friendly and the menu has lots to choose from hors d'oeuvres, sandwiches, tartes, salads, hot plates (coq au vin etc!), cheese plates and desserts.

i ordered a tarte aux légumes rôtis. it was a puff pastry tart with caramelised onions, gruyere cheese and roasted vegetables (peppers, mushrooms, zucchini, cheery tomatoes) served on a bed of greens. i loved the gruyere and mushroom combo on the puff pastry and would have been very happy even without the other vegetables. a very easy recipe to make at home if you have puff pastry on hand.

cafe rouge
2 lancer square
kensington church st
w8 4eh

bombay diary: masala cheese omelette

2006-06-10T08:52:00.000+01:00

believe it or not, i made yet another trip to bombay last week for a two day offsite with my client. we stayed at the lovely the resort at marve beach, about an hour north west of the international airport.

i did not get any time to enjoy the facilities at the resort (especially the authentic keralan ayurvedic spa!) but i did relish the hearty buffet breakfast that i had on both days. breakfast is usually my favourite meal at these big resorts. i just love the massive spread of sweet and savory foods - the cereals and muesli, wide variety of fruit, different breads and jams, pancakes, waffles, idli, dosa, vada - just about anything you can want for breakfast and it's served!

my favourite part of the buffet breakfast at the resort at marve beach was the eggs-on-demand chef who made an absolutely wicked masala omelette with lots of cheese for me. he took two eggs and beat them up lightly. he then added a handful of finely chopped onion, tomatoes, capsicum, coriander, green chillies as well as salt and freshly ground pepper. he then poured this mixture on a sautee pan which had a teaspoon of oil and had been heated for a few minutes.

after a few minutes when the omelette was beginning to cook, he added the cheese. when the cheese started to melt, the omelette was expertly folder over on a hot plate. i chomped down the omelette with lots of tabasco.

ottolenghi

2006-05-31T22:36:00.000+01:00

ottolenghi is a simply delightful food and pastry shop located just around the corner from our home in kensington. i'm not sure if they are french or italian or british but i'd guess italian perhaps from the name. ottolenghi's philosophy is one of hand crafting all their food from raw, natural ingredients without the use of additives or preservatives.

on my way to the gym every other day and usually on weekends, i am very tempted by the meringues, clafoutis, puddings, cakes and tarts that adorn the shop window. it's a real effort on my part to not give in to the incredible temptation. i feel like i vicariously gain all the calories just from the eye candy pleasure!

it was only last weekend that i discovered the savory side of ottolenghi - you walk inside the store and they have a wonderful array of freshly made foods on display like a buffet. you choose a small or large box and then can hand pick your take-away meal from a variety of dishes from couscous salads and crunchy organic roast root vegetables to ricotta ans spinach stuffed portobello mushrooms. they even have a nice selection of soups and sandwiches.

what with the sun shining for more than a few hours on sunday, h and i decided to inaugurate our terrace with an ottolenghi lunch. i brought home cauliflower, celeriac and parmesan soup along with a few cold salads and organic potato and apple gratin with gruyere and thyme. we enjoyed our lovely lunch on the terrace and just as we were packing up, the sun disappeared withing seconds and it started to rain heavily. within twenty minutes, the sun was peeping through the clouds again and it was bright and sunny. london - the weather is really weird. no wonder the english are so obsessed!

ps - ottolenghi has eat-in facilities at their notting hill and islington locations.

dinner at fifteen

2006-05-29T20:04:00.000+01:00

you all know how much i love jamie oliver, the original naked chef. you may even recall my giddy delight at meeting him personally (see picture above!) at the book signing of jamie's dinners in manhattan or my gushing praise for fifteen the first time i dined there when i was visiting london last november.

well i just had yet another wonderfully indulgent jamie oliver experience and i can't sing enough praises of jamie and his different ventures. h surprised me by securing reservations to dinner at fifteen at short notice. he even got us a table downstairs in the restaurant so i could try the vegetarian tasting menu. the only booking available this bank holiday weekend was sunday at 6:30 pm so he took what was available. we starved all day in anticipation of the big meal. we arrived a little ahead of the time despite london underground delays.

a jamie-oliver-look-and-sound-alike greeted us and asked us to wait at the bar till our table was ready. we sipped champagne while we waited on the ground floor where the trattoria is located. this is the floor that serves rustic italian food but there are very few tables and they are very hard to secure.

we watched a chef prepare a lovely platter of anti pasti - the cheeses, the cured meats and the grilled vegetables looked very tempting indeed. within five minutes we were shown to our table downstairs. we were seated in between a middle aged british couple on my left and an elderly american couple on my right. they had already started chatting with eachother at the bar upstairs and since we were seated between them, we happily joined the conversation as well. the american gentleman was also in finance so he and h chatted away on all wall street stuff.

to get started, i was served a spoon of marinated betroot with herby mascarpone and another spoon of ribbon zucchini with vegetable crudo. the zucchini spoonful was especially zesty as it was dressed in a lemony peppery dressing.

my second course was fifteen's fantastic salad of beautiful buffalo mozzarella, green figs, funky leaves, toasted whole almonds and eight year aged balsamic. i love fresh mozzarella cheese and this was the best of the best.

third course was cappellacci. this is a type of pasta stuffed with stinging nettle, baked ricotta and lemon zest in a butter broth. i had never tasted nettle and found it to be a bit bitter but nice and crunchy.

fourth course was arancini di roso - that's saffron and horse mushroom rice balls stuffed with mozzarella and finished with pea shoots and a tomato and basil sauce. it was a welcome change from the usual risotto i normally order at italian restaurants.

i could hardly eat by the time we got to the cheese course for which we were served a gentle british cheese called dorstone - it's a fresh, sweet, gentle cheese with ash rind and is served with organic medjool dates and fresh chutney.

and finally, dessert. we had amadei chocolate tart with new season strawberries and vanilla ice cream. the dark chocolate was simple heavenly.

the american couple left before we did so we said goodbyes and wished them a wonderful week in london. they had just arrived from america that morning so were understandably jet lagged. we asked for the bill a few minutes after they had left while we continued to chat with the british couple exchanging central london restaurant recommendations.

our bill showed £0.00. at first i thought it was a big mistake. the waitress had a weird smile on her face and we couldn't figure out what was going on. the british couple also got a bill which said £0.00. we were all in total shock. after a minute of allowing us to be in shock, the waitress understatedly informed us at the american gentleman who had just left the restaurant had settled the tab for all three tables. i gasped. we debated endlessly on why why why but then slowly his sheer generoisty and kindness of spirit began to seep in. wow. thank you. thank you. thank you. we don't know what we did to deserve this amazing treat other than be interesting conversationalists throughout the evening.

i remembered when i woke up this morning that h had scribbled the address of my blog and given it to the american gentleman who had been very amused that i was taking pictures of the food and not of anyone else. h then explained to him that i had a blog and asked him to check it out.

so, mr.john lewis, if you still have the scrap of paper and found my blog and are reading this post, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your unbelievable generosity. last night was definitely an unforgettable evening for us all. it's definitely a story that i'm going to be telling many times over in my lifetime!

ps - my only disappointment last night was jamie wasn't at the restaurant. i learnt from one of the waitresses that he had just celebrated his birthday on saturday and that he was spending the weekend with jools and the girls. good for him!

bombay diary: soam for lovely gujarati food

2006-05-28T01:37:00.000+01:00

soam is a fairly new pure vegetarian, family-friendly restaurant in bombay located opposite babulnath temple near chowpatty beach. it specialises in the cuisine of gujarat and offers a clean and modern indian ambience. the menu changes every month so there are always new things to look forward to every time you go. my father has been raving about soam so i was keen to check it out when i was in bombay last weekend.

we went to soam for lunch on a sunday. it was only around noon when we got there but the place was buzzing already and many families were patiently waiting to be seated. luckily for us, my mother has called ahead to book a table. we ordered lassis to cool off from the scorching heat outside while we browsed through the menu wondering what to order.

the farsan plate looked most appetising as a starter. farsan means savory snack in gujrati and usually refers to anything salty, fried and crunchy. that encompasses everything from chivda to khandvi. i think that all farsan is made from chickpea flour and it's pretty amazing how many different creations are possible starting with this basic ingredient. we were treated to kachoris and dhoklas along with spicy coriander chutney. the kachoris were filled with a yummy peas filling. the dhoklas were cone-shaped and came wrapped in a dry leaf.

my main dish was a mango curry with rotis which was surprisingly delicious given the combination of sweet and sour flavours. i was stuffed on the farsan so could not eat much of my main dish. i must go back to soam to taste all the other delicacies of gujarati cuisine.

punjabi thali

2006-05-27T18:45:00.000+01:00

i cooked last night after almost two weeks. though i was dead tired at the end of yet another exhausting week at work, the only thing that perked me up was the idea of whipping up a full course meal. so we skipped going to the gym (bad call), cancelled our plans to see da vinci code and ended up staying indoors in the anticipation of a nice home cooked dinner.

h doesn't usually request that i cook indian food so i jumped on the opportunity when he said he was in the mood for baingan bartha and mirchi ka salan. don't know how these randomly popped into his head but it certainly made it easier for me to decide the menu. i quickly scanned my cookbooks and noted the ingredients, did a quick trip to waitrose to buy what was needed and then got started.

i made baingan bartha first because i just i love the aroma of baingan (eggplant) roasting on the gas flame. i then made masoor dal with spinach. and the last dish i prepared was mirchi ka salan from red peppers as green ones were not available last night at waitrose. i served each of in a katori on a big thali along with yogurt and onions. i used ready-made parathas as i was running out of energy after an hour and a half in the kitchen.

overall, i have to admit that it was a bit over the top. each dish turned out rather well but they are individually so rich that we were unbelievably stuffed at the end of the meal. i don't think i can manage to eat more than one punjabi dish at a time. no more punjabi thalis for me!

bombay diary: energee

2006-05-23T23:45:00.000+01:00

there are a few things that i just have to do every time i'm in bombay no matter how short my visit. eating pani puri at kailesh parbhat and drinking energee from an aarey milk booth are my top two.

energee is my all time favourite beverage but sadly it is available only in bombay. actually that probably makes it extra special as it is something i really look forward to when i visit. energee is produced by the maharasthra state diary products company that sells its milk and milk products under the brand aarey.it is only available at aarey milk booths scattered all over the city.

i was first introduced to this flavoured milk when my parents moved to bombay in 1987. we used to live in a building called hill park in malabar hill and there used to be an aarey milk booth not far from our building. the first flavour i tried was pineapple and i loved it instantly. the cold, sweet milk was such a great way to beat the summer heat of bombay. the chilled drink cools you instantly and the sweetness perks you up from the lethargy that can set in when it is so hot. i had a lot of difficulty getting used to the heat in bombay after a decade in bangalore which in those days used to be known as the air-conditioned city of india. energee quickly became an addiction for me and i found it hard to stop after just one bottle of milk though i always regretted buying the second one when i was half way through it and found myself about to burst at the seams!

when i was in bombay last week, i had elaichi flavoured energee. it tasted just as refreshing as always and i found a new appreciation for the original glass bottle that the milk comes in. enegree is such a part of the fabric of bombay and i'm happy to see the brand retain its simplicity and authenticity without the over-the-top commercialisation that one sees with carbonated beverages like coke and pepsi. despite the lack of advertising, aarey milk booths seem to be thriving all over the city. three cheers to that!

dinner at the quilon

2006-05-14T21:03:00.000+01:00

we find ourselves eating out at many more indian restaurants in london than we did in either san francisco or new york. so far we haven't been disappointed. in fact, every restaurant that we have tried thus far has something unique that will make us want to go back for another experience. chutney mary on king's road in fulham has a terrific sunday brunch menu. amaya in knightsbridge has a youthful, trendy vibe and i adore their grilled dishes. cinnamon club in westminister is great for a candlelight dinner. and masala zone has delicious desi street foods.

last night we ate a very memorable meal at the quilon in the crowne plaza london st.james near buckingham palace. the hotel is owned by the taj group and hence the ambience, food and service are all of a very high standard. the restaurant's signature drink is the spicy tomato rasam served in a white wine glass.

h's uncle who was staying at the hotel treated us to a special dinner prepared by head chef sridhar just for us. sridhar is one of the top chefs from india who is best known for having conceptualised and run the karavali restaurant. he has been at the head of the quilon since 1999 and has really carved out a name for himself in the london scene making quilon one of the most consistently top-rated restaurants in the city.

the quilon specialises in south indian coastal cuisine. think aviyal, appam, malabar curry, lobster, prawn, lots of black pepper. the food is a combination of traditional dishes and nouveau fare inspired from the ingredients and spices found in what is probably the most exotic part of india.

sridhar started us off with a vegetarian plate with the spice level increasing leftwards. between sips of sancerre to make sure the spice didn't get to me too much, i made my way slowly from left to right relishing the char-grilled asparagus with crushed pepper and garlic butter sauce, the banana flower vada with ginger thokku and cauliflower chilli fry. the flavours of each item on the starter plate were unique and really delightful to the senses. i really enjoyed the crushed pepper and garlic butter sauce which i think would be good on may grilled veggies.

having stuffed myself on the starters, i didn't have much room for the main course so i ended up just having a few bites of each of the dishes presented - crispy okra (thinly sliced, batter fried and tossed in onion, tomato and crushed pepper), baby aubergine masala, cabbage poriyal and aviyal - along with half of a malabar paratha and half of an appam.

dessert was a bowl of freshly cubed alphonso mangoes and rasamalai :)

i highly recommend the quilon if you are looking for some change from the regular north indian fare at most indian restaurants.

portobello mushroom-blue cheese burgers

2006-05-13T17:24:00.000+01:00

i used religiously watch watch food tv almost every day when i lived in america for over 5 years. one of the first recipes that i was tempted to try after watching it being made on tv was emeril's potobello mushroom blue-cheese burgers with lemon aioli and bitter greens. i must have made this burger over fifteen times by now and i am amazed at just how much it gets appreciated by h and friends alike every time. if you're looking to impress, give these burgers a try. they are absolutely delicious. the tenderness and juiciness of the grilled portobello which has been marinated in balsamic vinegar, rosemary, garlic and olive oil is to die for. i would suggest a glass of chilled rose champagne as the ideal pairing for this burger.

here's the link to emeril's recipe for portobello mushroom-blue cheese burgers from food tv's website.

bean poriyal

2006-05-13T09:32:00.000+01:00

poriyal is a tamilian word for dry curry. these vegetable based dishes have no sauce and are the perfect accompaniment to spicy foods like rasam and sambhar. some of the vegetables used to make poriyal are cabbage, yam, beans, potatoes, eggplant and plantain stem. from the cookbook dakshin (by chandra padmanabhan), i learn that poriyals can be steamed, boiled lightly in their natural juices or stir-fried over low heat. this is very healthy way to ensure that the freshness and wholesome goodness of the vegetables are retained.

my favourite is bean poriyal with freshly made rotis, a light daal and lots of raw onion. to make bean poriyal, you need about 500 g (a pound) of fresh green beans finely chooped, grated coconut (it's ok to use frozen though obviously fresher the better!), a teaspoon of mustard seeds, a teaspoon of urud dal, a teaspoon of chana dal, a few red chillies, a pinch of asafoetida and a handful of curry leaves or chopped coriander.

temper all the ingredients (except the beans and the grated coconut) in a few tablespoons of oil. when the mustard begins to crackle, add the beans. season with salt and then add a few tablespoons of water. cover and cook the beans till they are tender. right before you are ready to serve, add the grated coconut (and coriander in case you didn't use curry leaves in the tempering), mixing thoroughly before serving.

spanish omelette

2006-05-07T21:56:00.000+01:00

it was nice to be in london all weekend long for a change. the city has really come alive in the past week ever since the weather got a whole lot warmer. sidewalk cafes are doing brisk business, the crowds at pubs are overlflowing to the streets and the city's parks are full of londoners and tourists making the most of the sunshine. we even recorded 25 degrees centigrade last thursday. it looked like summer was going to be here sooner than expected and i was as happy as can be but it rained yesterday evening and the temperature has dipped again to normal spring time levels. we'll have to wait for another month or so for that lovely heat!

i wanted to spend most of saturday walking outdoors so i ate a big brekfast to load up on lots of energy to get through the day without stopping for lunch. i made spanish omelette using free range eggs bought from tesco.

i finely chopped a big potato, a medium onion, a medium yellow pepper and a small clove of garlic. i also sliced a few tomatoes.

on medium heat, i sauteed the potatoes in two tablespooons of extra virgin olive oil for about ten minutes. i added a few teaspoons of cayenne pepper to spice it up a bit. just as the potatoes were turning brown, i added the chopped onions and peppers and cooked for another ten minutes. right at the end, i added the chopped garlic and waited for a minute before taking the vegetable mixture off the heat. in a separate pan on high heat, i added a tablespoon of olive oil and cooked the tomatoes for about three minutes, until just soft.

i then mixed 6 eggs (using only 3 eggs if you're making just one omelette) with a dessert spoon of water and added a fistful of finely grated cheddar cheese. i seasoned the eggs with sea salt and freshly ground pepper before making the omelettes.

i then returned the non-stick pan to a medium heat and added half the egg mixture. i then spooned in half the vegetables and half of the cooked tomatoes. after three minutes, when the eggs were cooked to my liking, i folded over on a plate and quickly chomped down my spanish omelette with a few slices of toast and lots of orange juice.

paris diary: photo montage

2006-05-03T21:23:00.000+01:00

i'd love to share more stories about paris but i'm getting tired of narrating something i experienced over a month ago now so i'm going to end my paris diary with a bunch of my favourite photos from my trip. enjoy!

au revoir paris!

paris diary: place de la madeleine

2006-05-02T21:38:00.000+01:00

i found it incredibly hard to decide which food shops to visit when i was paris for three days last month. i had a long list of recommendations from the trendy pierre hermé patisserie to the much loved androuët fromagerie. the problem was that these shops are scattered all over the city and it takes quite a while to go from one end of the town to the other even by the venerable metro. if only someone had told me about place de la madeleine, i'd gone straight there and worried a lot less about not getting the most out of a gourmet lover's paris.

around place de la madeline you can find more gourmet food stores than anywhere else in paris.

fauchon and hediard are probably the two of the most famous gourmet food stores. hediard was as fascinating as fauchon though i resisted the urge to buy from there having spent a bomb already on my chocolate spree earlier in the afternoon.

there's also a chocolatier at place de la madeleine called foucher that has a spectacular array of the most divine chocolate goodies.

and finally, slightly off place de la madeleine on rue bonaparte, i also visited a tea room called ladurée which has the most delicious macaroons and meringues.

ladurée's newest brand just opened at harrod's london. got to head over to knightsbridge for tea soon!

sindhi koki

2006-05-01T19:23:00.000+01:00

it's been over a month since i last cooked in london. right before i left on my travels, i made sindhi koki one night, totally out of the blue. i was rummaging through my fridge and pantry when i realised that i hadn't been to waitrose or the indian grocery store in ages. no pasta. no rice. no maggi noodles. not even any frozen left overs. the only thing i seemed to have in abundance was pickles. all kinds of them. mango chunda, mango chilli, vadu manga, manga thokku, green chilli, andhra onion, to name just a few. all thanks to my dad who can't send me enough of pickles through h who is in bombay every other week on work!

the pickles were so tempting that i searched desperately for parathas in my freezer but with no luck. that's when i decided to make parathas myself. i had loads of chappati atta and a little bit of coriander lying around from some rasam i had made a few days back. i used them both in this recipe (from tarla dalal's subziyah cookbook) for double parathas also called sindhi koki:

4 cups wheat flour
2 medium-sized onions, finely chopped
6 green chillies, finely chopped
2 tbsps coriander leaves, finely chopped
2 tbsps ghee to be added to the flour
sufficient water to make the dough
salt to taste

add the finely chopped onions, green chillies and coriander leaves to the flour. knead a slightly stiff dough with ghee and salt. make equal portions. roll out each portion like a thick round chappati. i like to add a little bit of yogurt at this stage to make my parathas really soft. with a knife, make a design of diagonal lines criss-crossing each other from one end of the chappati to the other. this is to ensure that the koki gets cooked well. rub the tava with a touch of ghee and cook the koki on a low flame, (adding ghee when turning from one side to the other) till golden.

paris diary: fauchon

2006-05-01T18:30:00.000+01:00

fauchon is a super upscale food store located at place de la madeleine in paris. it is such a popular attraction that it often gets mentioned in the same breath as architectural marvels such as the eiffel tower, arc de triomphe, notre dame, hotel de ville and the obelisk of luxor to name a few! a few people mentioned that it has become too touristy and that i should avoid it at all costs but i ignored their advice and having experienced this 117 year old food store firsthand, i have to say that a pligrimage to fauchon is an absolute must, especially for those of us new to the food scene in paris.

the signature bright pink colour of fauchon is well integrated in the design of the store which is divided into several sections stocking everything a foodie would want from the finest pastries and chocolates to teas and coffees, from preserves and spices to cheeses and spreads.

i spent a lot of time just soaking in the atmosphere of the store and taking a good look at the thousands of fine products that fauchon stocks. i wanted a little bit of everything - it was just so hard to prioritise what to buy and take back to london given we had only brought carry-on luggage.

the chocolates and other sweets were by far the most tempting. i decided to buy nothing but chocolate to take home to london. i bought many flavours of jujups (fruit puree covered in sugar) simply because they tasted like heaven. i also bought a few bars of chocolate - chocolat noir aux ecorces d'oranges confites (dark chocolate with candied orange peel) and chocolat aut lait au cafe d'amerique latine (milk chocolate with latin american coffee). i also got a big cube of coffee beans covered in dark chocolate as well as ginger sticks covered in dark chocolate.

after tasting so much chocolate, i needed something salty. so we headed upstairs to brasserie fauchon for lunch.

i eat the most divine vegetable club sandwich ever. the bread was toasted just right, the vegetables grilled to perfection, the greens dressed to seduce. the sundried tomato and the yogurt dill sauce added the top notes to this fabulous dish.

dessert was raspberry sorbet and earl grey tea. the tea was served with a few chocolate covered ginger sticks that quickly become terribly addictive. to say that the raspberry sorbet was the best i've ever had would be an understatement. i simply have no words to describe the pure goodness of the fruit. the french really do get food like no other country in the world.

as you can see from this overly glowing praise of fauchon, i was quite smitten. do check it out if you find yourself in paris. it's worth every extra euro you spend just because it's fauchon.

ps - just found that manhattan has a fauchon. too bad that i didn't know about it when i lived in new york!

paris diary: 404, un restaurant maghrébin

2006-04-30T19:51:00.000+01:00

when you're planning your next trip to paris, you must check out the marais neighbourhood which has the highest concentration of the best restaurants in paris. i learnt about all the fabulous places in the marais thanks to my sister-in-law, maithili, who spent a year in paris. she recommended a north african place called 404 for my birthday dinner.

tucked away towards the end of rue de gravilliers, 404 is a tiny little restaurant with oodles of maghrebin charm. the dark wood, the dim lights and the low tables all add to the overall exotica. i definitely felt transported away from paris to the heart of morocco for a few hours.

the food was excellent and tasted quite homemade actually. for our main course, h and i shared a seven vegetable stew which came with lots of couscous and spicy harissa. 404 also serves various grilled meats and their brunch menu is supposed to a big crowd puller.

dessert was a plate of pastries like the ones you get at la bague de kenza that i blogged about yesterday.

our only regret was that they didn't serve hookahs!

paris diary: la bague de kenza

2006-04-29T11:14:00.000+01:00

i'm so behind on blogging that you're going to get a mishmosh of my various trips in the past month. i still have so many stories to share about paris and the cotswolds.

one of the food shops that i was dying to check out in paris is this trendy algerian bakery called bague de kenza which got written up in the new york times a few months back. we were at a hotel in the bastille so la bague de kenza was just a twenty five minute walk northwards near metro saint maur.

la bague de kenza is truly a visual delight. the beautiful arrangement of the vast array of sweets tempts you so much that it is hard to walk out of there with less than a few types of pastries. most of the, are made from semolina flour, butter sugar and various fillings like pistachio, almonds, dates, rosewater, to name a few. they also make marzipan which are exquisitely decoarted. they all looked delicious to me so i asked for a selection of their favourites and happily enjoyed them all. while i enjoyed the sweet hit for the first few bites, i did find the pastries too sweet for my taste. but those who love the sweetest of indian sweets might want to give algerian pastries a try!

they also have a savory section that has yummy puff pastries with different fillings. i tried a mixed vegetable stuffed one which melted in my mouth. these guys really know how to make the lightest and most delicious puff pastry.

do check out la bague de kenza if you find yourself in paris. they are located at 106, rue saint-maur, paris, 75011.

bombay diary: pani puri

2006-04-28T22:23:00.000+01:00

you've probably noticed that i haven't been blogging much lately. also, i haven't actually been in london much in the months of march and april. the travel has been pretty crazy. i'm usually good about blogging when i'm on the road but work has taken a precedence like never before and something's gotta give, no?

i was in bombay all of last week on work. but i did get to spend sunday at home with my parents and that was a real treat. gulabi bhai (gb), our long time cook, went all out to feed me my favourite foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner. she even made a special effort to make pani puri at home. she knew fully well that it was the one food i craved the most in bombay but that i wouldn't eat it at my favourite kailesh parbhat since i was on a business trip and not willing to take any risk of getting sick before a big presentation.

i love gb's pani puri. she doesn't make the puris herself but the fillings and chutneys she prepares for stuffing in the puris are quite unusual and they add up to a yummy treat. i load up on boiled sprouted mung, boiled potatoes, spicy coriander chutney, tangy tamarind chutney and even onions (!) in every little puri before dunking it in the pani that is usually ice cold and full of fragrant and spicy flavours. while the homemade stuff is never quite the same as the one you eat off the road, the sheer satisfaction of juiciness and crunchiness that you get from pani puri is unlike anything else.

england diary: tea time and croquet

2006-04-17T18:39:00.000+01:00

if you decide to visit the cotswolds, you must try the plough which is a cosy country inn located in clanfield, oxfordshire. you'll be housed in a gorgeous 16th century elizabethan manor and be treated to the most indulgent service by the staff, many of whom are young students from new zealand saving a few bucks before going off travelling again.

after tea and ginger biscuits, we tried croquet. though i've heard of this game, i didn't really know how it worked. now i do and it aint holding my interest. in fact, i think it's rather silly.

after hitting the ball with my mallet through the arched gates in the grass for about 2 minutes, i was thoroughly bored. at least golf has the thrill of driving the ball a few hundred yards. and then there's the beauty of the scenic course one chooses to play. i just don't get the attraction of croquet!

trust the english to create a sport out of this with strict rules and all!

engalnd diary: hot cross buns

2006-04-17T08:40:00.000+01:00

happy easter! hot cross buns are a good friday tradition in england. the buns are sweet and spicy and have a cross on top which is cut into the bun itself and sometimes filled with icing. the buns were eaten throughout the year in the olden days until the 16th century when elizabeth 1 is supposed to have banned the buns being eaten on any day other than easter - remember that she was trying to get rid of catholicism in favour of church of england.

this was my first time eating hot cross buns and i loved it. i added lots of butter as well to really bring out the spicy flavours and it was great biting into the raisins. i'm going to serve it at tea time now onwards!

england diary: full english breakfast (v)

2006-04-16T21:19:00.000+01:00

i spent the past weekend in the cotswolds visiting the quaintest and most charming english villages including cranfield, thame, stokenchurch and stratford-upon-avon in the counties of oxfordshire and warwckshire. this part of england is unbelievably gorgeous. fields of green with sheep grazing stretch on for miles on end. picture book like cottages made from limestone are characteristic here. and it's really easy to strike up conversation with the english villagers who are eager to give you tips of places to see and things to do in the neighbouring villages.

one of the best parts about holidaying in the english countryside is breakfast. we took our time to enjoy a full english breakfast every morning which included fried eggs, baked beans, grilled tomatos, sauteed mushrooms and bacon or sausage if you eat meat. though the meal is quite greasy and full of carbs and fat, you've got to do like the englishmen do when in the country. after indulging in full english breakfasts for several days, it's going to be very hard to go back to cereal and cold milk!

paris diary: camembert

2006-04-14T07:21:00.000+01:00

i love camembert cheese. though it is now widely made all over the world, the original camembert comes from pays d'auge in normandy where it is handmade from raw cow's milk. the cheese is soft and creamy with a herby aroma and a distinctive tangy taste.

i went to cafe trocadero in paris where i ordered a plate of camembert and a half bottle of champagne. we got a nice chunk of cheese and a basket of freshly baked baguette. i've usually only had cheese platter so it was nice to focus on just one cheese and truly savour the aromas and flavours. now i feel confident enough to identify camembert in a blind taste test!

paris diary: crêpe au chocolat

2006-04-11T23:18:00.000+01:00

h had to spend all friday afternoon at his firm's paris office so i had the afternoon to myself. i decided to go to the pigalle/montmartre area. it's a tourist trap but i wanted to experience what it would be like to go back to the spots that i frequented as a student in paris. besides, i was dying to indulge in a crêpe au chocolat and sip hot tea while soaking up the artisty vibe that this neighbourhood exudes.

i like crêpe suzette and crêpe au chocolat the best of all even though most of the good cafes in paris offer a wide variety of savoury and sweet crêpes. after dinner i prefer crêpe suzette which is usually soaking in brandy and grand marnier. i just love the candied orange or lemon rind that comes as garnishing. but in the afternoons, i really love digging into the nutella in my crêpe au chocolat which had just the right touch of sweetness and the right amount of chocolate.

the neighbourhood was as interesting and colourful as i remembered it. although there were more foreigners than french people, it was still great to be in the place that once attracted the greatest literary geniuses of the century like sarte and de beauvoir. i soaked up the atmosphere and started dreaming of books i wanted to write and paintings i wanted to create ...

paris diary: place de la bastille

2006-04-11T00:04:00.000+01:00

we stayed in a basic, comfortable hotel in the heart of place de la bastille, one of the most happening parts of paris. it's kinda like the lower east side in manhattan, shoreditch in london, the mission in san francisco. it's where the youth of the city stay up till the wee hours of the morning hanging out at cafes till 1 am and then hitting the clubs until the sun rises. it's where you can feel the raw energy and pulse of the city. it's where the streets may not be spick and span but there's never a dull moment. while we didn't exactly keep up with the frenetic pace of the neighbourhood, we did enjoy the vibe of the area including hanging out at the typically french cafes where you sit at a table on the curbside, put on your shades, get lots of sun and spend all day sipping coffee and people watching.

i had a spendid salad at falstaff cafe, one of the better known cafes in place de la bastille. falstaff is popular for its wide selection of beers on tap. somehow, i did'n't feel like beer since i wanted to save the calories for all the cheese and chocolat. i opted for a simple salad instead.

the simple salad turned out to be quite a filling meal - now i understand how some french women can survive on salads alone and maintain tgheir svelte figures! my salad had quite an unusual combination of ingredients - lettuce, avocado, corn, carrots, blanched green beans, tomato and ranch dressing. i thoroughly enjoyed the texture of the different ingredients and how they combined together to create quite a hearty meal for lunch.

paris diary: un petit quiz

2006-04-09T23:58:00.000+01:00

i just got back from three wonderful days in paris. it's got to be the greatest city on earth for food lovers. from an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetable shops to boulangeries, pattisseries, chocolatiers and fromageries on every corner, the sheer variety and richness of food that the parisiens have access to on a DAILY basis is to die for! for three full days in paris, we did little else other than eat and food shop all weekend long. luckily it was my birthday and h had no option but to indulge my every desire :)

before i blog all about paris, un petit quiz for you. the photo above was taken on the champs elysees. i was first totally captivated by the photo and then totally surprised. can anyone guess who it is? i might even have un petit cadeau for the first correct answer!

france diary: the countryside

2006-04-06T22:38:00.000+01:00

i'm leaving for paris tomorrow morning by eurostar. i'll be blogging about my magnificent finds in the most vibrant and romantic city in the world. get ready for lots of paris talk!

here are a few parting shorts of the french countryside, a few hours north east of nantes:

france diary: cheese course and dessert

2006-04-05T22:38:00.000+01:00

my favourite part of a french meal is the cheese course and then dessert. france is probably the greatest cheese producer in the world and i've heard that there is at least one french cheese for every day of the year. i sampled many different cheeses this weekend as cheese was served at breakfast, lunch and dinner. though i love cheese, my knowledge is quite limited. i just bought a guide to cheese which i hope will help me make informed choices this coming weekend in paris. once i am equipped with much more info, i'll blog more about the different french cheeses.

the french are also very much into their desserts. but what i find very extraordinary is that the desserts themselves are not overly sweet (think gulab jamun or pecan pie!) but give you immense satisfaction of sweetness. it must be the freshness of the ingredients and the french expertise when it comes to pastry. i enjoyed the most delicious apple pie and strawberries with crème chantilly (whipped cream flavoured with brandy).

france diary: ratatouille

2006-04-04T20:36:00.000+01:00

french restaurants are not at all known for their vegetarian fare. i had a really tough time when i lived in france and i usually avoid going to french restaurants because they don't bother to create anything beyond the oh-so-boring plat végétal. it was only when my friend radhika who lives in san francisco, presented me a delightful cookbook called "the vegetarian table, france" by georgeanne brennan that i was introduced to the wonderful world of vegetarian french cuisine.

i love a summer vegetable stew recipe called ratatouille which comes from the south of france. it can be served on its own (either hot or cold depending on the season and whether as a first course or main) or used as a topping for crepes or canneloni. when i have a lot of leftovers, i'll mix it up with some cooked penne and parmesan.

we cooked a big batch of ratatouille this weekend from zucchini, peppers, eggplant, tomatoes and basil picked from the vegetable garden of our host's home. i was dying to visit a farmer's market in the nearby village but i ended up sleeping late on saturday morning (we didn't arrive till 2 am the previous night thanks to our delayed BA flight from gatwick to nantes) so missed the golden opportunity.

here's georgeanne brennan's recipe which you can adjust depending on the fresh herbs and vegetables you have on hand. i'm not a huge zucchini fan so i tend to use a lot more of the other vegetables like peppers, tomatoes and eggplant.

1/4 cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic
2 medium-sized yellow onions, chopped
2 medium-sized eggplants, unpeeled, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 medium-sized zucchini, cut into 1-inch cubes
3 large green, red, or yellow sweet peppers, seeded, deribbed, and cut into 1-inch squares
2 tablespoons minced fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
3 1/2 to 4 pounds ripe tomatoes (10 to 12 medium sized), peeled and chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup fresh basil

in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan or soup pot over medium heat, warm the olive oil. just as it begins to smoke, reduce the hear to medium-low and add the garlic and onions. saute until translucent, 3 to 4 minutes. add the eggplants, stir well, and saute, stirring and turning until well coated with oil and slightly softened, another 4 or 5 minutes.

add the thyme, bay leaf, tomatoes, salt, and black pepper. stir and turn another 2 or 3 minutes, then cover the pan and reduce the heat to low. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are soft and have blended together, about 40 minutes.

stir in the basil and remove from the heat. transfer to a serving dish and serve hot, at room temperature, or cold.

ps - remember that the ratatouille will be only as tasty as the fresh vegetables so don't skimp on the quality of the produce you use!