Welcome to the kitchen

Most restaurant kitchens especially in stand alone restaurants have signs to keep guests out of the kitchen. This is for a good reason, because you really don't want to see the business side of most eating places. Yes some restaurants do have show kitchens which is a little reassuring  and  there is the element of entertainment and even interaction.

The Rajdhani restaurant in Connaught Place actually has a sign which translated into English says 'Welcome to the Kitchen'.

This was so refreshing, I mean none of  the guests actually got up to see the kitchen, but hey, the message the restaurant is sending is 'We have nothing to hide' and we're actually quite proud of our kitchen and cleanliness and we could show you around.

For a bit I toyed with the idea of taking them up on the offer, that was till the thali service started. The thali is a large metal plate made of silver of more popularly and economically stainless steel. This plate comes with a large number of cute little bowls or 'katoris' which are used to serve curries.

Indian food is best eaten with the hands, tastes so much better, so sensuous,  just as I was wondering what to do about washing my hands, lo and behold! Yes, before the meal they actually briought around a brass jug and a large bowl so you can wash your hands while seated at the table. Talk about spoiling your guests :-)

Masala Chaas or buttermilk and Aam Panna which is a spicy sweet beverage made from tangy green mangoes soon appreared at our table and we knew the feast had started.

One by one the waiters brought serving containers with Rajasthani and Gujrati delicacies, there were so many kinds of chutneys and pickles, my mouth waters just thinking about them. Of course there were the usual suspects like the dal (lentil curry) and rice, however three dishes really stood out.

The first was the potli kachodi, like a small moneybag, pastry stuffed with a spicy lentil paste and then deep fried, this came with a lovely spicy, flaming red garlic chutney. The second dish that really intrigued me was the dal dhokli, small squares of chickpea dough boiled in a flavourful lentil curry with dices of apple and pineapple, believe me, it tasted awesome with the fresh wheat rotis. The third dish that I found pretty neat was the Chiku (Sapota) Halwa, very sweet with cashewnuts and cooked in lots of clarified butter.

Really loved the service in typical largehearted Rajasthani style, the service staff insisting you try this dish and that. With lots of ghee being poured on the rotis just like Maa did when we were children.

After our meal as we stepped out sated, into the remainder of yet another hot Delhi summmer afternoon, for a while it did seem like all was well in the world.

Vipin's Amla Chutney

Amla (Phyllanthus emblica)  or India gooseberry is an excellent source of vitamin C and is believed to boost one's immunity, some research says that it can reduce blood cholesterol levels, blood glucose and may fight some cancers too.

Today I'm sharing with you a simple, easy to prepare recipe for Amla Chutney, this does not have any added oil and can be used as a delicious homemade dip.

Vipin is a very dear friend and is a young ex-captain from the Indian Army. I tasted this amazing chutney at his house and after a lot of pestering he finally parted with the recipe.

Ingredients:

Amla (Indian gooseberry)                                                                          250 gm

Fresh green corrainder (cilantro) leaves                                                    100gm

Garlic cloves                                                                                               4 nos.

Fresh green chillies                                                                                     2 nos.

Salt                                                                                                             to taste

Method

Wash the amla, remove the seed or stone with a knife and cut into halves, clean and wash the corrainder, cut off the stems and keep the leaves, peel the garlic cloves. Slice the chillies open and remove the seeds with the knife to reduce the pungency.

Boil the amla with a little water till soft, strain the water and leave the amla to cool. Once the amla has cooled to room temperature, add all the ingredients in a blender and blend till you get a smooth salsa like consistency. Add salt as per taste and pour the chutney into a bowl and refrigerate.

After an hour or so, take the chutney out of the fridge, grab a bag of nachos or chips, switch on the idiot box, open a nice cool beer, put your feet up and enjoy!

Thank you Traffic Volunteers!

Gurgawan my beloved city, named either after one of my most illustrious forefathers guru Dronacharya or the Jaggery that was produced here, is growing up my friends, I was driving past Galleria Market in DLF Phase 4 and was very pleasantly surprised to see volunteers at the intersection with placards urging motorists to stop behind the stopline. There were others who were helping pedestrians to cross the street.

Now those of you who live in the US or Europe or other developed countries and have never visited India, probably must be thinking that I've lost my marbles to be writing about something so commonplace.

Well guys let me try to paint a picture of how it is on Indian roads, some of my foreign friends who have been driven around our cities leave with a renewed faith in a higher power. They step out of the car after their first car ride in India with sheer terror on their faces and a prayer on their lips. The ones who are not the praying kind, refer to their experience as being inside a very scary videogame with one obstacle after another coming right at you.

The same road space is occupied by cars and yes we have loads of them; they may be signs of how well the economy is doing for some people, but to me they also mean that the city planners paid no attention to public transport. There will be open trucks overloaded till they almost overflow, tractors with trolleys carrying anything  but agricultural produce. Mini buses, shared tuktuks or autorickshaws as we call them here, motorcycles, scooters, cyclists, rickshaws which are large tricyles that ferry people. There will be pedestrians, walking on the roads because many roads in our beloved city don't have footpaths or maybe because the space is occupied by hawker stalls or dug up for some reason or the other.

On top of this tossed traffic salad, please don't expect this very western concept called traffic rules, we drive in whichever direction we feel, even on one way roads. We revel in speed and accelerate like crazy regardless of the short distance till the next traffic light. Oh yes, speaking of traffic lights, a lot of people in India are color blind, there's no other way to explain how they treat the red and green lights the same. The only lights we care about are the headlights and they will always be set on high at night, blinding anyone coming from the other direction. We could teach car manufacturers a thing or two about saving money, e.g think of how much money could be saved on turn indicator lights, we don't use them anyway!

 

Now that you have a mental picture of the traffic situation, you can appreciate what a fantastic job the volunteers were doing!

This group has been working with the traffic police to streamline the traffic flow around Galleria market in DLF phase 4 and today there are designated pick up and drop points so that cars do not wait on the narrow road around the market and clog up traffic.