Starters.....

Life in a big city is very simple... work days, weekends and daaru.. be it the sophisticated sparkling white wine or the very collegian old monk with coke, preferences may be a lot but need, boils down to one.. To be high and merry!!!

But no one is exactly a devdas or a solitary reaper that they will drink without enjoying it.. Come on its time to live the present and future with friends and lovers.. So what do we do?? Friday night, office over, good poison handy, someone by your arms and a kitchen to rummage through. Drinking without snacks is a crime. And thou shalt never commit that!!

So I am gonna dedicate this article to all those who want to learn how easy it is to be NOT a criminal. Order for your favourite flavour of chips and whip up a yummy and healthy hung curd dip to start with. How??? Pretty simple! Get that tub of yoghurt out and put it in a clean kitchen towel. Let it hang on your sink by what time; chop some olives, capsicum and carrots. Make really tiny pieces. Now whisk the hung curd in a bowl and add sugar and rock salt in it. Whisk it well to mix in all the soluble particles. Now add the tiny veggies and for that really cool tinge, add a hint of the solution in which the olives were kept. Season it with pepper and oregano, based on your taste buds. And viola!! 7 minutes flat and a gourmet hung curd dip ready. So why wait; quickly gulp down your first peg... Cheers!!!

Now for the second peg of the night, you can’t possibly be eating the same thing. A little alcohol in your system will guide you to your fridge and search for another delectable snacks. And as usual, i have a solution. Order for the new ‘hippo’ chips. Try their capsicum flavour.. now rummage thru your fridge and take out yesterday’s sabji. Anything without bitter gourd and eggplants is welcome. Now put it in a slotted bowl and wash away all masalas. Now chop one small onion and in a little oil fry it till light brown. In goes the sabji and mash everything well with your ladle. Now season it with your favourite spices, salt and pepper. Once its dry and looks a delicious mash, take it off the heat and spoon a little on the chips.. Enjoy your bruschettas made in seconds..

And now for the third peg.. Screw it!! At this point even frozen bread is an awesome snack!!!

Smart cooking for hostesses on a run...

In the yesteryears, parties were organised very meticulously, religiously and lovingly. To host a party meant a lot of research, sometimes involving the guests and sometimes involving the food. Everything was made to the perfection, even if it meant labouring over it for a week. But in the present scene, out of the three attributes, it’s only the last one which, till date holds the forte. Today parties are planned in a matter of minutes. And if you have the question ‘how’ on your mind, then please read on...

In big cities, even a fulltime home maker requires a cook. And by that logic, it’s a necessity for a working couple. And so the mighty ‘bai’, who cleaned houses with a little flair for cooking got a completely new and upgraded job to her. Seldom do we question their culinary skills and whatever good or bad they make, we eat. It’s the ‘sasta tikaoo’ way to survive in this city. But if your friends are coming over for a drink and dinner, she will be the last person to help you.

It had happened to me quite a lot. Getting out of the office and suddenly a friend who is visiting the town, says he is coming over to say hi. A common friend too wants to spend some time with him, which means you have a cocktail & dinner to arrange for four. Here is what I do in this situation and you can do the same to get a lovely spread organised in minutes.

For snacks to be served with cocktails, get a lot of Monaco biscuits and salami. And don’t forget to get some namkeen or simple potato chips as well. Once u have all this in place, start cooking and trust me when I say, it’s just going to take half an hour. Put some curd in a clean cloth and hang it on your basin. Take out the salami and microwave it for a min on medium heat. Now cut some chesses cubes and put them on a tooth pick with an olive in the middle. Salami-olives-cheese sticks are a great snack to offer with drinks. Serve it in any innovative way as u want.
Now take the dahi out of the cloth after 15 mins. Chop some olives and capsicum if u have. Put some sugar, salt and pepper. For a creamy texture add a little bit of cheese spread and the solution in which olives are preserved. And a great hung curd dip is made to be had with any kind of chips or namkeen like soya sticks, banana sticks, etc. And before your guest arrives, make canapés out of Monaco biscuits. Put some mayo and a cheese cube on it and season some with tomato sauce and some with mustard sauce. With this your snacks part is completely taken care of.

And as for a quick dinner, ask your cook to make a lot of rice and green chutney. Put everything in it like coriander, mint, ginger, garlic, a small onion and half a tomato, some peanuts, green chillies and coconut if you have. Grind it to a nice paste. In a pressure cooker, boil chicken with ginger garlic and salt and pepper and let it get almost cooked. Now in a kadai add some oil and sprinkle in some cumin seeds and black pepper. Once it stops crackling put the chutney in. Let it simmer for a while before u add in the chicken. If you don’t mind some extra calories then, shallow fry the chicken pieces before adding it into the sauce. Once the chutney has seeped into the chicken, add some fresh cream onto it. Sprinkle some garam masala on top and let it simmer for a while before removing from heat. Serve portions of rice with the chicken in green sauce on top of it and see your guests exclaiming in awe at your culinary skills.

And as for the desert, ask yr cook to chop in some fruits, whatever so, apart from bananas that you can lay your hands on. Now put them all in a big serving bowl. Take out some vanilla ice-cream and let it melt a little. Now with a fork mix in the lumps and make a smooth paste. Now mix it in with the fruits. Decorate it with dry fruits and let your guests lick it away to glory.

So there you go.. a party prepared in minutes. None of these recipes r gonna take more than 15 mins to make and all of them are finger licking good. Enjoy and let me know how it went!!!

Stepping into the revered world of food...

Food, air & water- 3 things vital for existence of Homo sapiens. Without getting into the debate as to who the creator was, let me start off to tell you a story. A story of how food became such a darling while the other two were reduced to be omnipresent step daughters.
Some billions of centuries ago, there were 2 people, Adam the ‘Man’ and Eve the ‘Woman’. The God (Supposedly the creator you see...) agreed to let them use everything whatever he created but for one small thing, an apple orchard (ding-dong, you don’t have to be a genius to know where the story is leading). The rest of the story is history. Eve wanted the forbidden fruit and she had it but couldn’t live happily ever after.
Now you see, the point of the story is that anything that is forbidden (without reasons of course!!! I don’t blame eve at all) is always sweeter. And once when you have already been punished (so called!!#@!! I am glad that I can bear and nurture life) then why don’t we use it to the max. I guess all generations of Eves thereafter took upon this thought and came out with some amazing stuff like apple pies, apple plum cakes and our very own desi apple kheer.
From there on, there was no turning back. In came the trend to mix various ingredients of food in various quantities and conjure up a beautifully made dish.
And this is an earnest effort from my side to pay a very deserving tribute to all those eves who have given us such amazing recipes over the generations, to cherish. I start this blog by inviting foodies from all over the world to come together and share their experiences, recipes and reviews of any damn thing which is even remotely concerned with FOOD.