Monsoon maaza @ Panchagani (Part 1)

Maharashtra is famous for its monsoon. Especially in Mumbai, the monsoon is the most awaited season. It is then that we see what BMC was up to for the whole of the last year. And it is then that we see what Mumbai-iets are made of. The colour, the fragrance and the spirit of Mumbai comes in all together in this season. After enjoying the monsoons in Mumbai, we planned to venture into the adjoining locales of the Western Ghats for a weekend break. For majority of Mumbai-ites, Lonavala & Khandala is synonymous with monsoon weekend getaway. However, we thought of venturing a little beyond into a small hamlet, nestled amidst five hills in the Sahyādri mountain ranges, called Panchgani. Krishna River flows through its valleys making the view completely breathtaking. It is not a surprise that the place has inspired Darsheel Safary (of “Tare Zameen Pe” fame) to paint his way out of dyslexia. And as for the topographical description, it is about a five hour drive away from the Mumbai city (approx. 280 kms).



HOTEL RAVINE

When you are staying in a hill station, you definitely have to stay in a place which overlooks the beautiful valley and the river. And thus we chose to stay in the three star, HOTEL RAVINE. The hotel stands near the scenic Sydney Point which gives a beautiful view of the valley. The rooms overlooking the valley have big French windows facing the valley. It has all the other amenities like a LCD TV, AC and a mini fridge (as it is a dry hotel, I recommend you to carry your own booze). But when you come to the food part, the hotel doesn’t provide many options. Your choice is limited in Chicken and paneer and that’s it. The restaurant or the confectionary doesn’t look very promising either. This hotel actually stands out only for its beautiful location and nothing else. I suggest that you should only be staying here while trying other options in the market for food.

MAPRO GARDENS

Panchgani is 18 kms from Mahabaleshwar. This place is famous for strawberries. If you visit the place in and around May, you may be able to pluck strawberries with your hand and eat them fresh out of the garden. But because we went in later, we could only try the preserved ones. You can easily get Mapro items in Mumbai but the fun of going to the factory outlet, would be missed. They have many range of products, be it strawberry iced tea, jam or jelly. I also found a bottle of blue Curacao which can churn out beautiful Blue lagoons (both virgin and not). Apart from buying off the shelf products, Mapro also has a great food stall and ice cream parlour. The one thing I truly loved here was the waffle cones. They were actually making fresh waffle cones, just like pancakes, only a crispier version of that. I m sure if you try those warm cones with fresh strawberries and a little ice cream, you will be transported to a mini food haven.

Though I personally didn’t try but the Mapro food counter is famous for its sandwiches and milk shakes. Whatever said and done, make sure of one thing that you do not forget to try their strawberry ice-cream. It is truly amazing!!!

The Biryani madness simplified...

The last day, we thought of trying on something we have never tried at home ever. Actually after eating it, I can safely say that we had never eaten it before as well (though here one must confess that I have never ever set my foot in Hyderabad before!!!). We tried to conjure up the right ‘Hyderabadi Katchi Mutton Biryani’ in our kitchen. For people who are not very sure of the difference between a katchi biryani and a pakki biryani, let me tell you that a pakki biryani is nothing but steaming already cooked mutton and rice together so that the flavour gets mixed up. On the other hand the katchi biryani is cooked with raw meat and half cooked rice. Needless to mention that yes the later tastes much better but is a little difficult and time taking. But what I need to mention is that the katchi variety is more refreshing and less fattening (not a single drop of ghee!!).

We referred to a site called vahrevah.com to get the recipe. It’s actually a total comedy show with an over animated chef (the recent Bingo guy) who actually cries saying that good food makes him cry (sheesh!!@#$!!). Despite the histrionics, the recipe mentioned and the tips provided in the video is worth watching. You can see the full video on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOvFCGjGp1A

But before you start making the great biryani, let me give you some tips. It is a good idea to actually marinate the meat overnight with a raw papaya or any other tenderiser you use. Before the final marination, try to take out the papaya so that you don’t compromise with the taste. Also add a bit of freshly ground ginger garlic paste in both the kinds of marination. It tastes better with it. When frying onions, don’t deep fry as shown in the video. Shallow fry it and add that oil in the mutton for marination.
Instead of maze (javitri) as the whole spice, I used cinnamon (dalchini). You may try it or use maze if you have. Last but not the least, if you don’t have good saffron, don’t use it. It is ridiculously expensive and the variety you get in normal kirana stores in Mumbai don’t add any flavour to it. Don’t worry about the colour of the biryani because it will take up the meat’s colour

So then, what are you waiting for? Once done, serve it with some chilled white wine and anar dana raita. Bon appétit!!

Restaurant Review- Fusion food China gate, Bandra, Mumbai

Recently on a Friday, my hubby and I decided to celebrate our coming weekend with élan. That’s how we chose to have dinner at a swanky restaurant in Bandra. We are Bengalis and have grown on fish. But the Bengalis prefer to double cook their fish. Though Bengali cuisine is all about fresh water fish (less smelly), yet we fry the fish first and then put it to simmer in mustard glazed curry (mostly, though we have plenty of other variations as well). But the thought of eating raw fish wrapped in a sea weed is not something many bongs can relish, let alone actually eating them. I thought even I belonged to that kind of genre, but for my ever experimentative husband, I did try and liked the sushi very much. We went to China gate in Bandra (opp. KFC).

This restaurant is a sea food buffet heaven. The decor is beautiful. It has a small inbuilt lake- imitation with fishes inside. Children truly loved to gaze around the pool to spot different varieties of fishes inside. The other thing I liked about this restaurant apart from food was that they provided bottled mineral water only. The food was divided in many categories. The spread started with a sushi bar, with veg on one side and non veg on two sides. I was very apprehensive to try them, especially after looking at their raw faces. One can actually see the red meat of the fish. At first I tried the veg sushi and upon insistence from my better half, took only one of the non veg. But lo and behold, it was superb, just the right softness and nothing seemed raw to me. The next time, I was braver in picking up each kind of fish sushi and try them. Trust me when I say, it was awesome. It was even better than steamed momos, which was my favourite south Asian food, till then.

The next counter had a variety of momos and dumplings, tempuras and other south Asian starters. The starters were so good that we straightaway graduated to desserts after that, completely ignoring the main course. The main course had a variety of (Indianised) Chinese food. And after the superb starters the Chinese fried rice was not that welcoming. But the dessert was again a great spread. There were mouthful bites of 6-7 different kinds of pastries, 2-3 differently flavoured cheese cakes, 4 kinds of cookies and cakes each. The spread is unlimited so you may fill in as many plates as you want.

The service and hospitality of the staff was very appreciable. They were courteous and served with a smile. The spread was replenished very efficiently. It was only the prawn tempuras which were evasive.

For people who would like to enjoy a drink with their sushi, there is a fully functional bar there which is not included in the buffet though. The rates are ok and not very expensive. Weekdays are cheaper than the weekend starting from Friday evening. The place is well maintained and the chefs seemed to be imported from Japan itself. All in all a total paisa vasool and should be tried once at least.

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.