Breakfast Recipe - Baked Eggs

Weekends are so good; you don’t have to wake up early, get ready in a hurry to go somewhere. The best part is that you don’t have to cook two meals in the morning, a good brunch makes up for two. At least in my case it does. I usually cook one heavy meal on weekend mornings or noons. Usually I prefer eggs cause they fill you up for a good part of the day. Today, instead of going the regular bhurji or omlette way I tried these easy baked eggs. It’s basically breakfast in a bowl and very easy to make.

How to make a perfect Sabudana Khichdi

Sabudana khichdi (or tehri as we call it in Lucknow) is easily a unanimously favourite dish during fasts. Sabudana is not a grain or pulse and is full of carbohydrates which fills you up really fast. Top it with dahi and it makes for a complete meal. I still remember, when my mother used to fast she’d cook sbudana khichdi for all of us; even if we weren’t fasting. I always loved the way she made it, slightly sticky and spicy. When I came to Bombay I ate the less spicier version with curry leaves. I didn’t like it initially but then developed a taste for it. This khichdi becamr my go-to Sunday meal while I was living alone. Eventually I learnt the process of how to make the non-sticky khichdi. Here’s my mom’s recipe. Take note of the first two steps, they are the most important ones.

Tandoori Khumb (Mushroom)

Last weekend I received a bag of ingredients from Nature’s Basket. It had a pack of crunchy lettuce, fat asparagus spears, bright red vine tomatoes and two plump portobello mushrooms. Now, that last ingredient confuses me. I get a bit confused around mushrooms. What to do with these buggers? Add them to salad, make stir fry or a burger; is that all? This time I wanted to try something new. So I racked my brain, looked on the net and zeroed in on Tandoori mushrooms or khumb. It’s a pretty simple recipe and doesn’t need a lot of preparation.

How not to write about food 101

"The gorgeous *** breast looked like ***gasm on a ***. The sight of it was enough to tantalize my ***. The first *** was an explosion of *** in my mouth."

Now read it again...

"The gorgeous chicken breast looked like foodgasm on a plate. The sight of it was enough to tantalize my tastebuds. The first bite was an explosion of flavours in my mouth."

What? of course I was talking about food you sick mind! Do you think there are other kind of breasts that can look gorgeous? Huh?

With so much food porn, foodgasm and voluptuous prawns around it's hard to maintain an asexual relationship with food. But can we not save these adjectives for our husbands, wives, girlfriends, boyfriends, partners etc. and enjoy a platonic relation with our meals?

This post is not about how to write about food. A lot of food writers know much more about it than I do. This post is to tell the food writers and bloggers how to not write about food. It’s pretty simple, if your writing makes the dish sound unappetizing you are doing it wrong. Your words should give a clear picture of what’s on your plate and not what’s in the hidden folder of your hard drive. Of-course, unless you aspire to be the next E.L. James. In that case you are doing the right thing.

#ExperienceTaj - Golden Dragon

Disclaimer - This is not a review of Golden Dragon. When you visit a 110-year-old hotel's 40-year-old restaurant. it's not just food that you eat; there are stories, memories and anecdotes that create an experience worth remembering.

Last week I was invited for lunch at Golden Dragon, The Taj Mahal Palace's Chinese restaurant. The idea was to introduce food bloggers/writers to restaurant's dining experience with a menu including signature dishes and regular favourites. A small group of three food writers; Romi Purkayastha of Follow The Eaten Path, Roxanne Bamboat of The Tiny Taster and me joined by Nikhila Palat - Taj Mahal Palace's Public Relation Manager and Parveen Chander - the Deputy General Manager at The Taj Mahal Palace, was hosted at this 40-year-old restaurant. 

Opened in 1973, Golden Dragon was the first restaurant to bring authentic Chinese cuisine to Mumbai. At the time when Chinese food meant Indo-Chinese or Kolkata-Chinese for us, Golden Dragon introduced Mumbaikars to Szechuan and Cantonese cuisines. A fleet of five chefs was flown in from China to get the right cooking techniques and authentic flavours. They carried their own pots and ladles and no one except those five chefs was allowed to touch them, until an Indian chef convinced them that he was worthy of cooking their food.

With stories like these, our meal started with a cup of traditional Chinese tea which was served from a pot with an unusually long spout. This peculiar pot was used to serve tea in the times of war. It allowed the server to pour tea from a distance stopping him from overhearing the private (read top-secret) conversation. Tea was followed by a dimsum platter which had a mix of signature as well as new dishes. I loved the Flaky radish dimsum - grated radish wrapped in a flaky, deep fried shell, which has been on the menu since the time Golden Dragon opened. The other favourite was the crunchy Lotus root and celery dimsum. These were lapped up with sweet chilli sauce, the best I've had in Mumbai so far. Golden Dragon has one of the best dimsum selection in the city and has a special dimsum lunch menu on Sundays. 

An open letter to Rasna

Dear Rasna,

The other day I was in a supermarket buying summer coolers when I spotted you. At first, I couldn’t recognize you between the packets of Tang and ice teas; you all looked the same to me. I think that clarifies my initial indifference; I wasn’t trying to ignore you, not deliberately at least.

In order to reunite with you I bought a packet. It had a fancy name of a foreign kind of orange; looked like you were trying hard to impress. You were never about real fruit and added vitamins. Those fads are for juice companies. You were always about fun and taste and that’s what all the kids loved about you. You were our one glass of bliss after a game of langdi-kabaddi or kho-kho in hot Sun. You were the stuff all birthday parties were made of. We never had to buy Coca Cola or Pepsi for our friends cause we knew you’ll always be there with your orange, mango, cola, khus khus and tutti frooti flavours (11 flavours in total). You were there to lift our spirits after a tough day at school; you were there to calm us down before a tough exam; you were there to make play times better and to make study times bearable. Every time we lifted a glass of you we said "I love you Rasna" aloud, and that love came straight from the heart.

Restaurant Review - Brunch 'n' Munch, Malad West

It was Sunday morning and I woke up craving a big breakfast, preferably English breakfast. Sadly, there aren't many places serving a good English breakfast in Goregaon and Malad and going to Indigo Deli burns a big hole in the pocket, especially during month end.

While I was thinking of options I remembered Chef Joel D'souza tweeting about a place in Orlem, Malad which serves English breakfast. Orlem has some very shiny gems hidden in its by-lanes and the three month old restaurant/cafe Brunch 'n' Munch is definitely one of them. Located in the same lane as Uncle's Kitchen, this restaurant is sandwiched between a tattoo parlour and a salon, all three owned by the same guy J'son D'Souza.