Sunday 23 April 2017

Make-over to the leftover rice - 'Rice-Tomato Omlette'

Rice-Tomato Omlette
We ladies normally have the ingrained habit of giving the leftover food a make-over. This is one such make-over of leftover rice, which reminiscing me of my granny. 

My granny (amma, we used to call her) once happened to visit her friend on Monday, which was her weekly fasting day and this dish was accidentally served to her. Amma, who herself was an excellent cook, couldn’t figure out that the dish had cooked rice in it.  Upon asking for the recipe, she realized that her fast was broken as there was rice & onions added in it. 

Nevertheless, though her fast was broken, she loved this omelette so much that this new recipe sought a place in our regular menu. So, she passed on this recipe to my mother and now on to me. I have added my innovation to the recipe. I am very glad to share this to all of my readers. 

I am sure once you try this, it will be a part of your regular diet. 


Rice-Tomato Omlette 

Ingredients:
Rice-Tomato Omlette
1 cup cooked rice
1 cup besan
1 tbsp rice flour
1 tomato chopped
1 onion chopped
1-2 tsp chilli powder (as per taste)
½ tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp garam masala powder
1 tsp garlic-ginger-green chilli paste
salt to taste
1-2 tsp oil for drizzling
few coriander leaves


Method: In a bowl mix besan, rice flour, chilli powder, turmeric powder, garam masala powder, salt, garlic-ginger-chilli paste together. To this add cooked rice, tomato, onion and coriander leaves and mix well.  Add water to form a batter. Adjust water quantity to form dosa batter like consistency.
Heat tawa and drizzle few drops of oil on the hot tawa and spread it well on the tawa. Pour the 1 ladle batter on the hot tawa and spread like thick dosa. Cover and cook for 1 min or till the side edges turn slight brown. Now drizzle few drops around the edges and cook for few seconds. Flip this omlette/dosa on the other side and cook it golden brown. Once golden brown on both side its done and ready to serve. Serve this hot, taste better with butter, tomato ketchup/ chutney.
One of the best ways to use your leftover rice. It’s like “Best out of Waste”.

Do try this and please share your comments and feedback. 



Monday 20 March 2017

Preview of 38° East - Wholesale Bar & Pan Asian House


The world comes closer when it comes to cuisines, and here we are talking just about our Asian Continent. So it will take only 38° East to travel to the Asian Continent, wherein the new Pan Asian restaurant called 38° East at Powai will be coming up soon. 



Now if you are wondering why the name ‘38 Degree East’, let me turn the magnetic needle towards the reason. 

The cocktails/mocktails and cuisines are specially curated across Asia right from India, Burma, Tibet, Singapore, Thailand, Korea, Malaysia, Japan, China, Indonesia , Mexico, Hong Kong etc by the Master Chef. He had travelled 38 degree east from India on the Asian hinterland to discover their local cuisines and hence the name.


I was very fortunate to receive the invite to preview the pre-launch of this place; and geared up to experience and encapsulate the journey of Asia wrapped into the 2 storey (floored) stand out to narrate different stories of Asian Continent


As soon as you enter the interior showcases the theme of cuisines that is being served. The ground floor had a fine dining setup with a representation of Asia. The entrance had a niche wall with statues of Buddha meditating in serenity; while the textured wall with huge Chinese dragon is what caught my attention. 



The ground floor ambience was perfect for a casual dining experience. 


The wall filled with graffiti reminded me of CafĂ© Mondegar, as we walked up the stairs to the first floor, which was a lounge bar and was stocked with various kinds of spirits.



Here is where all the mixology gets into action. 








They served drinks at the wholesale rate and the stewards wore T-shirts having a back print of this motto saying “#PITERAHO Drinks @ Wholesale price”


After drowning yourself into the wholesale drinks, when one gets upstairs, you find yourself embracing Nature on their open terrace overlooking the beautiful  Powai  Lake.  A perfect place for a romantic dinner date.



After we all settled down in the bar lounge, for our preview session, the Cranberry Delight, a refreshing mocktail made the first entry on our table. This ruby red mocktail was a mixture of refreshing sweet-sour cranberry, slight sharpness of ginger ale, citrus lemon juice and mild spiciness of the in-house spicy citrus lemonade. This beauty was served chilled with dry ice adding all the smokey drama on the table. This turned out to be my favourite drink of the night.

Cranberry Delight
The second beauty to arrive was Tango Twist, a combination of Mango Puree, Strawberry crush, Pineapple juice, orange juice and vanilla ice cream. This dense and creamy mocktail with its sweet & a hint of tangy flavour would undoubtedly be a Hit with someone having a sweet tooth.

Tango Twist
Now it was the turn of starters to walk in, Veg Singapore Spindles walked in gracefully, with crispy fried noodles embracing its soft cottage cheese finger spiked with oriental spices. It was served in the bombaiya “cutting chai glass” with sweet chilli sauce at the bottom. The two different textures of crunchy noodles & soft cottage cheese fingers as well as the flavours of slightly spicy fingers dipped in the sweet-chilli sauce was like a perfect medley in the mouth. 

Veg Singapore Spindles

Veg Singapore Spindles

Veg Singapore Spindles

Next on the lime light was hot and spicy Murg Lal Mirch Kebab. Thought the name sounds scary, the dish was super yummy.  The Murg was perfectly marinated with the right amount of spices to hit you on right spot. The Chicken was cooked well, it was soft, moist and melted in the mouth. It was served with mint-coriander chutney and lacha pyaz.

Murg Lal Mirch Kebab

Gamja Jeon arrived on a cart to drawn our attention, which didn’t work for me. It reminded me of vegetable pudla, which we make at home. Though it tasted good, yet didn’t steal the show.

Gamja Jeon

Gamja Jeon

Gamja Jeon

Laying on the cast iron skillet pan entered the Wanton Nachos. The crispy fried wanton nachos were covered with baked beans, Sichuan sauce and tomato sauce. The generous spread of cheese sauce on the top was Salamander to perfection. The stringy cheese, sweet sauce and crisp wanton eaten together had the power to awaken your taste buds.


Wanton Nachos
Rolled up in Nori Seaweed, the sushi landed its flight. Upon trying both veg and non-veg sushi, I preferred the veg sushi as it had well balance flavors with perfectly cooked rice. Whereas, the non-veg sushi had overcooked rice with a bland flavor that did not appeal my taste buds.

Veg Sushi

Veg Sushi
Non-Veg Sushi



Non-veg Sushi
Tacos Lime Grilled Chicken was next to follow it was boneless chicken skewer marinated in tacos lime spices & grilled. It had a strong lemony flavor and mildly spiced with a hint of tacos spice.


Tacos Lime Grilled Chicken
Veg Tempura arrived in a shopping trolley, with delightful crispiness. The juliennes of zucchini and other vegetable were dipped in tempura batter and crispy fried to perfection.


Veg Tempura

Veg Tempura
Finally amongst the starter grand entry was done by this huge Singapore Crab Chilly dish. The fiery red huge crab got all our jaws dropped down and eyes popped with excitement. Cooked in spicy red chilly and tomato sauce, flavored with Singaporean curry powder and garnished with coriander, the crab was nicely cooked and fleshy with juicy meat inside. The best way to indulge into its juicy meat is by being ambidextrous using both your hands and fingers. This would surly leave you with a finger licking and a lip smacking taste and memory.  


Singapore Crab Chilly

Singapore Crab Chilly
I, being a Soup lover wanted to try one, the server recommended Burmese Soup which had shredded vegetables and noodles cooked in creamy coconut milk with a mild flavor of Kaffir lime. The sweet nutty taste of coconut milk gelled well with their secret Burmese spice & kaffir lime that left a taste still lingering on my tongue. This was like a bowl of golden creamy goodness.


Burmese Soup

Burmese Soup

Now it was the turn of the head of the family or you may call it as main course to walk in.

7 Jewel Rice from the Chinese family walked in a bamboo tube. The wok tossed fried rice was topped with exotic Chinese vegetables, chicken/prawns in authentic spicy chinese oyster sauce. The rice was cooked to perfection and the sauce was mild sweet and spicy. It was an amalgamation of different flavors that danced on your tongue.

7 Jewel Rice
Nasi Lemak was next to greet us on the table and arrived with the entire family. This Malaysian rice was flavored with coconut milk and panadan leaves, was along with lamb semi-dry curry, boiled egg, cucumber and fried peanut. The rice had mild sweet nutty flavor of coconut milk and crunchiness of vegetable. However couldn’t get the strong flavor of panadan leaves. The lamb was soft and well cooked, complementing the spicy sauce and the nutty peanut added crunch to the taste. This when eaten in combination was like a party of different texture and flavors.


Nasi Lemak

Nasi Lemak
Last but not the least to arrive were the senior most members, the dessert. 

Gulab JamunTruffle took a centre stage on our table. The layers of Gulab Jamun, whipped cream rabdi and cake were arranged in a mason jar and topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream was loaded with rice creamy sweet goodness for the sweet tooth.  I would not go for the second helping as it was way too sweet for me.

Gulab JamunTruffle
Fruit Filled Baked Wantons was a show stopper of the evening. These crispy baked wanton cups were filled with berry compote, cream cheese and topped with scoop of vanilla ice cream. This was a cold treat to our soul. The sweet & sour of berry mingled very well with the cold sweet ice cream and crispy wanton adding a texture to the dessert. 


Fruit Filled Baked Wantons

Fruit Filled Baked Wantons

This indeed was an extravaganza of culinary elements that allowed me to actually circumvent the Asian subcontinent under one roof. Also, hats off to the master chef for designing such a plethora of Asian variety on our plate.



Head to :
Panchkutir, Pawarwardi, 
Adhishankracharya Marg, 
Opposite Powai Lake, 
JVLR,Powai, Mumbai

Cost:
AVERAGE
Rs.1,000 for two people (approx.) with alcohol 
VAT & service charges extra
Rs.99  for a pint of beer (approx.)
Cash and Cards accepted

Open the Doors for public:
From 15 March 2017