Monday 15 September 2014

Apoorva, Fort - A Treat for Fish Lovers

Apporva definitely Stands out in its price when it comes to the other popular seafood restaurants in the vicinity. Its a very ordinary looking restaurant which has a typical Udipi styled ambiance and the top floor is more like a shady bar.

They serve superb seafood and I have been here number of times. In my past two visits though I wasn't too happy with the Pomfret fish fry and the Prawn Koliwada that I had. Fish fry tasted not freshly fried and fish were small in size. The batter on Prawns too dint taste all that great to me. Anyways, that dint matter much as Apoorva has proved to me how good they are in my past numerous visits, so such minor discrepancies do happen everywhere. They do serve Good fish fries though, try the surmai, pomfret, rawas or even the less famous Lady fish .!!!

The Fish Curries like gassi (surmai, rawas, pomfret-all are Good) and the prawn curry, The bombil fry is a must here as they make it perfect everytime...crisp and oil free. Crab masala is also Mouth watering. All the curries taste Good with the Neer dosa and the bhakris.

Only once did i try the crispy prawn in Chinese and I dint like it much...So lesson learnt that i should stick to the cuisine they are popular for.

I hope on my next visit i get the same old flavors and quality of the Apporva that I remember of since years gone by.

If you want to binge on good fish anytime, without being particular about fancy ambiance and equally fancy food, head to Apoorva, which is why this review is devoid of any pictures as good food being main focus of my review.



Tuesday 9 September 2014

AMC : Eat Better, Live Better



Have you ever imagined cooking without oil and additional water??? Yes this is exactly what AMC vouches for...cooking without oil and additional water. When asked how could one cook without adding additional water? This mystery is explained by Mr.Anshu Begai, MD, AMC Cookware India as follows - “when the food is heated, the moisture rises and cools off on the lid and drips back into the food and heats again. The closed cooking cycle between the base of the unit, the cooling zone and the perfectly closing lid allows waterless cooking with AMC.”

Range of AMC Cookware
 Imagine a single cookware used for multi-cooking method - Cooking pulses/ rice/, pasta, Steaming, Poaching, Frying, Double Boiling, Reheating, Stack Cooking, Roasting and Baking...Yes, you heard me right; you can even roast chicken and bake a cake in this cookware !!


Whole range of AMC Cookware
 
Accessory - Idli Stand
 
Accessory - Poaching Moulds

The cookware has different units with the below advantages:

1) The material used is high grade surgical stainless steel, chrome-nickel steel mixture that lasts for decades.
2) The Akkutherum capsule base, which captures the heat and distributes it uniformly.
3) The cooling wall zone, wherein the sides gets less heated compared to the base, thus dropping the temperature on the sides, which causes steam to condense and drip back into the food. The cooking temperature thus stays below the boiling point and preserves the vitamins.
4) The condensation groove, which is on the upper rim of the cooking unit, traps condensing steam to form a film of water between the unit and the lid. This water film prevents moisture from escaping out of the cookware during cooking.
5) The handle which is made of stainless steel with built-in ceramic block in-lays, ensures that the handle never gets very hot and makes it easy to grip.

In addition to the above advantages it also has Sentsotherm, which accurately measures the temperature inside the cookware, Visiotherm which indicates the temperature inside the cookware and Audiotherm which monitors the cooking process and beeps when the cooking reaches the indicated temperature.

Sentsotherm
 
Visiotherm

Audiotherm
Using this cookware is slightly tricky; however they do have in-house demos. They only have direct marketing, so difficult to locate this at any store. So if you are interested and want to experience Zero Oil without excess water cooking, you can call the Customer Care and fix up a schedule for a demo.

Customer Service

Customer Care Contact:  +91 80 676 10 610

Customer Care Timings: 10:00 am - 6:00 pm

Email ID: in@amc.info



Having said that, I felt that the rate is on a higher side for a common man on his pocket. But for those who are health conscious and don't mind spending few grands on a cookware, can give it a try.

Couple of weeks back we - the Food Bloggers were invited for the demonstration and cook along event.

AMC representative giving Demo

 
 
Cake Batter
 
Ready for Baking
 

Finally Baked Cake
 
Frying onion without oil
Roasting Chicken without oil

Frying ginger-garlic paste without oil

Frying vegetable without oil
Cooking Vegetables without adding additional water


Vegetables cooking in its own steam

Final cooked vegetable

Steamed Vegetable without adding water

We tried our hands on baking cake, frying chicken without oil, cooking pulav and biryani.

Below are the dishes which we cooked without oil and excess water.

Bake a Cake

Vegetable Pulav

Chicken Fry without Oil
 
Vegetable Biryani
 
Chicken Curry without oil


This is the feast that we Food Bloggers cooked without oil or excess water …. Isn’t that amazing !!!!



All that we cooked without oil or excess water