Kathmandu- Three Nights, Three Rooms

18 long years, revisiting the place where I took my lovely bride on our honeymoon, one of the finest addresses in Kathmandu - Hotel De L'Annapurna.

Things have changed little, or well a little,  the hotel has dropped 'De L' and is now known simply as Hotel Annapurna. The team is very polite and courteous and that is where I will leave things. 

'Your room will take a little while' said our receptionist with a nice big nepali smile, the ladies are beautiful, so protesting was out of the question. So off we went to the coffee shop to have a bite, we weren't feeling too hungry, but it was time for lunch. How about the Nepali thali suggested the restaurant supervisor, by the time the thali came we were getting hungry. The thali was gorgeously presented in a very ornate silver platter with little silver katoris or bowls. There was a chicken curry and some mutton, not very exciting, however the fried fish was delicious. There was even some black dal, the one we call Ma ki Dal in Punjabi, but this was a very frail, unwell Ma, boiled, faintly spiced. The food itself is recognisable, our dishes look the same but each one tasted different, must be the water or the spices used.

Returning to the reception, our room was ready.

We were given a room on the ground floor, the first one on the right as you enter the corridor, it has a wonderfully damp smell and a gorgeous view of the kitchen exhaust from Arniko the Chinese restaurant and an almost dead, overgrown patch of lawn. This kind of room is what I call the doggy room, the last, most miserable room on a hotel's inventory, sold to the most unfortunate traveller.

Night One

Naturally, I had to decline and very kindly the reception team gave us a nicer room but with a twin bed. Well at least it did not smell, unlike the first one. This room faced the swimming pool lawns, the wife was pleased. Not for long, turns out there was a banquet function on the lawn right outside the window. The strains of soothing music travelled across the lawn, amazing I thought, how nice and civilised these chaps are, they do know how to host in style and look at our own functions, loud punjabi music assaulting the ears. Big mistake, in a short while, the party shook off all its decency and punjabi rock and desi songs blared right at our room.

There was no way we were eating in the middle of all that shor sharaba. We took a stroll down Durbar Marg looking for Baan Thai, we had fond memories of the restaurant from 18 years back. Business has moved up for Baan Thai, so much in fact that they've moved from the earlier first floor location to one on the fourth floor in another building. Plus there's no elevator, no way I was going to heave my heavy frame, wheezing up four floors.

We ended up at an Italian restaurant nearby,  they had a starter pretending to be a vegetable foundue made with bechamel sauce. Not nice at all.

Don't expect the food to be all that great on Darbar Marg, if you are looking for options other than KFC types. Try Thamel, that's what we did!

More on that later, in my next post.

Three Nights, Three Rooms in Kathmandu - Part One

Kathmandu- Three Nights, Three Rooms

18 long years, revisiting the place where I took my lovely bride on our honeymoon, one of the finest addresses in Kathmandu - Hotel De L'Annapurna.

Things have changed little, or well a little,  the hotel has dropped 'De L' and is now known simply as Hotel Annapurna. The team is very polite and courteous and that is where I will leave things. 

'Your room will take a little while' said our receptionist with a nice big nepali smile, the ladies are beautiful, so protesting was out of the question. So off we went to the coffee shop to have a bite, we weren't feeling too hungry, but it was time for lunch. How about the Nepali thali suggested the restaurant supervisor, by the time the thali came we were getting hungry. The thali was gorgeously presented in a very ornate silver platter with little silver katoris or bowls. There was a chicken curry and some mutton, not very exciting, however the fried fish was delicious. There was even some black dal, the one we call Ma ki Dal in Punjabi, but this was a very frail, unwell Ma, boiled, faintly spiced. The food itself is recognisable, our dishes look the same but each one tasted different, must be the water or the spices used.

Returning to the reception, our room was ready.

We were given a room on the ground floor, the first one on the right as you enter the corridor, it has a wonderfully damp smell and a gorgeous view of the kitchen exhaust from Arniko the Chinese restaurant and an almost dead, overgrown patch of lawn. This kind of room is what I call the doggy room, the last, most miserable room on a hotel's inventory, sold to the most unfortunate traveller.

Night One

Naturally, I had to decline and very kindly the reception team gave us a nicer room but with a twin bed. Well at least it did not smell, unlike the first one. This room faced the swimming pool lawns, the wife was pleased. Not for long, turns out there was a banquet function on the lawn right outside the window. The strains of soothing music travelled across the lawn, amazing I thought, how nice and civilised these chaps are, they do know how to host in style and look at our own functions, loud punjabi music assaulting the ears. Big mistake, in a short while, the party shook off all its decency and punjabi rock and desi songs blared right at our room.

There was no way we were eating in the middle of all that shor sharaba. We took a stroll down Durbar Marg looking for Baan Thai, we had fond memories of the restaurant from 18 years back. Business has moved up for Baan Thai, so much in fact that they've moved from the earlier first floor location to one on the fourth floor in another building. Plus there's no elevator, no way I was going to heave my heavy frame, wheezing up four floors.

We ended up at an Italian restaurant nearby,  they had a starter pretending to be a vegetable foundue made with bechamel sauce. Not nice at all.

Don't expect the food to be all that great on Darbar Marg, if you are looking for options other than KFC types. Try Thamel, that's what we did!

More on that later, in my next post.

Melt in your mouth Lamb Kebabs

Galouti Kebabs are a speciality of Lucknow and legend has it that they were created for an old toothless nobleman. These are absolutely delicious melt in your mouth kebabs and have a smooth almost creamy texture.

Today I am going to share a recipe  for similar kebabs with  you which my better half has perfected over the years.

Preparation time: 1 and a half hours

Cooking time: 10 minutes

To make the kebabs you'll need:

For the mince mix

• 400gm lamb mince from the shoulder of lamb  

          deboned and passed twice through the mincer ( ask your butcher to do this for you)

• 100gm of grated raw green papaya

          note to novice cooks - peel papaya before grating :-)

• One cup of hung yogurt

          yes, hang the yogurt tied up in a muslin cloth to drain excess water, it'll take about two             hours for this if you used the yogurt from a supermarket, takes longer if you're using                 yogurt made at home

• 1 cup of shelled  finely ground roasted Bengal gram ( sieve before adding to mince)
• 4 cloves of peeled garlic 
• 1 inch piece of peeled fresh ginger
•  3 green chillies
•  Dry ground spice powder - 4 cloves of garlic, one inch stick of cinnamon, 4 green cardamoms, little mace and nutmeg - grind finely (sieve before adding to the mince)

For smoking the meat

•  4 cloves 
•  3 green cardamom
• 1 small stick cinnamon
•  One large tablespoon of Ghee/clarified butter
•  One or two small pieces of charcoal

For the Chutney

• 100 gm Green coriander
•  One large red onion
•  One large tomato
•  2 green chillies
•  Juice of 1 lime
•  Salt to taste

For Garnish

• Raw onion rings
• Cucumber, tomato salad with chopped cilantro

Put the mince in the dough maker attachment of your mixer grinder, add the ground Bengal gram and hung yogurt. Make a fine paste of the ginger, garlic and green chillies and add to the minced meat. Add the ground dry spices and mix well.

Take out the mince mix into a large bowl preferably stainless steel, make a well in the middle of the mince, in this well keep a small stainless steel bowl ( katori). On your kitchen stove heat two -three pieces of charcoal till they are red hot, be careful and use a tong to keep them in the katori. Throw the whole spices for smoking onto the charcoal and add a tablespoon of ghee. Quickly cover the large bowl with the mince and katori in it with aluminium foil, you'll have to be quick so the smoke does not escape. Leave the mince to smoke  for 30 minutes and get high on the dry spices!

It's a good idea to refrigerate the mince for an hour or two before frying the kebabs, the mince binds better and is easier to handle :-)

For the chutney, just blend all the ingredients together till you get a nice green spicy paste.

Heat ghee in a frying pan and shape the mince into small burger patties and cook for 8-10 minutes on each side, you could also turn the patties over so each side is a light golden brown and then put a lid on the frying pan for 2 minutes so the patties come out nice and melt in your mouth soft.

Serve with onion rings and green chutney, if you want to make a meal rather than just a snack, then heat up some paranthas or naans, if you can't find them then just heat up some tortillas!

Foccacia con Olive, Pomodoro, Aglio e le Erbe

This is one bread that I really love baking and eating straight out of the oven. I was quite intrigued when I first heard the name and then when I saw it my first reaction was ' Oh, this is pizza without the tomato sauce and cheese!'

Foccacia is really easy to make and I've given a simple recipe below, I got the basic recipe from Jamie Oliver and it makes a good bread.

Step 1

Take 400gm Maida ( refined flour) in a large mixing bowl
 add 100gm Atta ( whole wheat flour)
 to the flour add a pinch of salt and leave aside.

Step 2

Take 100ml of water, stir in 1/2 teaspoon sugar and add a tablespoon of  baker's yeast. Leave this undisturbed for 15 minutes, you'll soon get a frothy, beer smelling liquid.

Step 3

Make a well in the middle of the flour and add the frothy yeast water and begin to bring it all together with your fingers. Also add a tablespoon of olive oil and more lukewarm water to make a soft springy dough. This will take about 5-7 minutes of kneading.

After kneading the dough, roll it into a ball and take some olive oil in your hands and gently coat the ball.

Step 4

Cover the bowl with dough in it with cling film or a clean moist cloth and leave in a warm place for the yeast to do its magic. This will take around and hour and the dough will rise to double its size.

Step 5

Remove the dough from the bowl, 'knock back'  - this is fancy bakery terminology for punching the carbon dioxide out of the dough. Grease a baking tray with cooking oil and spread out the dough with your fingers into a flat cake.

Step 6

Take sliced tomatoes,  peeled garlic cloves, whole pitted olives, rosemary, fresh basil leaves and decorate the dough. Take care to push these items into the dough as the rising dough can push them back out :-) , use your fingers to make indentations for the olive oil you're going to pour on in a short while.

You could grate some mozzarella on top or any other flavourful cheese, I haven't tried feta but my guess is it could be quite nice. Sprinkle salt and grind some fresh pepper onto the dough and drizzle  olive oil generously on top. For a spice kick you could sprinkle some chili flakes like I did!

Step 7

Leave the decorated dough to rise again for 25 minutes and in the meantime heat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius. Bake the bread for 20 minutes till you get a crisp golden brown crust.

Step 8

Remove the bread from the oven, let it cool for just a bit if you can, otherwise break into chunks, dip into olive oil and balsamic vinegar and eat with olives and chunks of cheese. Yum Yum Yum :-)

The Pasta Bowl Company - great Italian food in Gurgaon

" Bursting with Flavor", yes, that's how my daughter described the chicken lasagna at 'The Pasta Bowl Company". 

The restaurant is fairly new and is located at the Crosspoint Mall in DLF phase 4, Gurgaon, it's a nice cute little place with seating for 20. The decor is simple and the white walls have pictures of stuff Italian; you know - a map of Italy, a photograph of the leaning tower of Pisa, an ad for Vespa Scooters and plates with dry pasta representations. The plates on the walls can look cute or kitschy depending on your mood.

The place was empty when we walked in and we wondered whether we had made the right choice.

Pasta is the hero of their menu and we ordered a fettucine carbonara, the chicken lasagna and a roast chicken panini. The just so awesome aroma of garlic being sauted in olive oil soon wafted across to us from the open kitchen. Lasagna takes a while to bake and we were quite hungry, something to munch on while we waited would have helped. We did find it odd that the server assumed that we would have our beverages with our meal instead of just asking us.

I had a diet cola and the wife and kids went for the cold coffee, the coffee frappe was really flavourful, made with freshly brewed espresso shots.

Our  plates arrived shortly and I have to say this, they looked awesome and smelled fabulous. The fettucine had a generous shaving of parmesan and the lasagna had a sprig of parsley on top. What really got me was the parsley, it was beautiful, a lovely green, fresh, vital sprig of parsley, I admire a chef who takes care to pick a garnish beautiful enough to grace his creation.

The fettucine was nice and creamy, the pasta cooked Al Dente, really delicous. The lasagna was the star, the cheese stringy and melty and hot, delightful herby chicken mince between soft sheets of pasta with a gorgeous tomato sauce. The pasta was as good if not better than what we've had at Zanotta, the Italian restaurant at the Leela, Gurgaon.

For dessert we had the Tiramisu, artistically layered light and creamy spoonfuls.

A wonderful evening, with some great pasta totally bursting with flavor.

La Dolce Vita!

Cafe Delhi Heights

I had a lovely meal last week at Cafe Delhi Heights at the Ambience Mall Gurgaon. The decor is very simple and the place has a relaxed atmosphere. The chairs are a little uncomfortable though. The menu is extensive and you'll find salads, sandwiches, pasta and popular mains both asian and continental.

After going through the menu a couple of times wondering what to order, something familiar or unusual, I just gave up and asked the service staff for advice. The young man suggested I try their famous Juicy Lucy burger. The name sounds pretty weird however it tastes great and they've already sold over 22,000!

My colleague ordered pasta with mixed sauce, I know, sounds plebian right, but you'd be amazed it tastes delicious!

The chef rings a little brass bell whenever an order is ready for service and soon the bell rang for us. 

The portions are huge, reminded me of the ones I've had in the US, the lamb burger lived up to its name and was very juicy. Just a little note to the chef, the juicy stuff actually makes the lower part of the bun soggy and unappetizing. The pasta was very nice, tomatoey and creamy, with shreds of chicken adding to the flavour.

While we were having our meal, the table next to ours had ordered what looked like mocha frappes in these cute glass jars. Very creative.

In case you plan to go there on a Friday afternoon, plan ahead, there's a huge rush and the wait time is over half an hour. In fact on the previous occasion we were unable to get a table and went to the Zambar, a Kerala themed restaurant on the same floor. Had an interesting meal there too, but that's going to be another post.

Aphrodisiac foods?

Research by some scientists in England says that you should drink pomergranate juice for 15 days for good sex, yes, it was in an article in the Times of India. Hmm. got to buy some anaars (pomegranates) before the prices go up. 

Bet you've heard the joke about the man who was told to eat a dozen oysters before his wedding night, his well meaning friend asked him how it went the next morning, the man was upset and replied " Humbug, only six of them worked"!

Hotel kitchens are full of myths and stories around the approdisiac properties of food. Our chefs have various recipies for what they call 'Palang Tod' or bed breaker food,  recipes passed with a nudge and a wink from one chef to another, guaranteed to enhance performance.

One that chefs at The Oberoi New Delhi used to make was the mutton ishtew (stew), the duty was assigned to one of the cooks  in the afternoon shift. Cubes of mutton on the bone were cleaned and put into a large pot along with cloves, green and black cardamom, cinnamon, nutgmeg, mace, cumin seed, ghee (clarified butter), ginger,  lots of garlic, tomatoes, onions and lots of fresh cilantro. The whole thing was stirred over a flame till the meat caramelised and then the pot was covered with a lid which was sealed with dough and left to simmer for seven to eight hours on a low flame. 

At dinnertime, the lid would come off and there was a wonderful, flavourful stew, the meat delightfully tender falling off the bone, this would be accompanied by tandoori roti (an Indian flat bread baked in an earthen oven). The long slow process ensured a thick gravy with all the goodness of the meat and the bones that the cooks felt added that extra to performance.

Another chef friend of mine would lovingly make lobster thermidor, this served with rice was his idea of  a winner combination for the sack race :-), others would vouch for the dark freshly squeezed juice of passionate red grapes.

Ripe bananas are another favorite, probably the potassium helping to keep the heart healthy and of course if the heart is healthy and throbbing well, it does the same for other parts.

At the end of the day I guess  what really do the trick are the stress reducing micronutrients in food, fresh, healthful ingredients that keep on cleaning the arteries and washing away harmful clots.

Some people swear by the wonders of wine, especially Champagne, a couple of glasses with the object of your affection (or seduction)  helping to smooth the way to the silky sheets. However before throwing too many down the hatch, remember - wine makes the spirit willing but the flesh weak ;-)