Tryst with Grub

Our fast lives rarely give us the time to make elaborate meals. Sandwiches, wraps and rolls have become a staple in many working households. Everybody loves to bite into one of those juicy, tangy, spicy rolls. The crowds at all fast food outlets is proof enough.

All of us have some form of comfort food every now and then. I guess it is the best form of self indulgence. Yet comfort food is generally calorie intensive and can prompt some form of self guilt too.

Pasta is something that brings back good memories. It was the first dish that was appreciated by my wife. It also happens to be one of the dishes I have cooked for my parents too. Cooking for someone you love is amazing. The feeling is pumped up a notch when they love what you have made.

This is a recipe that I concocted when we wanted to have a healthy version of pasta. Any form of pasta can be used but spaghetti tends to absorb sauce much better. I use whole wheat durum spaghetti which needs to be cooked al dente. Garlic is something I love in my cooking. As soon as you put sliced garlic in a hot pan, the aroma is mouthwatering and you salivate. Now add a good portion of tomato puree or paste depending on what is available. You can adjust the consistency of the sauce with water.

No pasta sauce is complete without Italian herbs. Oregano is easily available in India especially if you take out Pizza. Add that to the sauce and toss in you pasta and I am pretty sure everyone in the house will come to the kitchen to see what is happening.  Oh ! Don't forget to season with salt and pepper. For that extra dash of richness , you can shred cheese on your pasta just before serving. Buon Appetito!

When it comes to writing about food, an element of change is necessary. After all, food is one of the easiest topics to write about. I find it extremely easy to be passionate about  food. Showcasing my recipes and reviews gives a deep sense of satisfaction. However, not many connoisseurs blog about failures. Like all things in life, a food enthusiast can have bad days.

Thai cuisine appeals to my palate since it has many of those coastal tastes and flavours that I have grown to love. So I planned to make some Pad Thai and Thai Green Curry for dinner. I picked up some Pad Thai rice noodles and a Pad Thai sauce from MK Retail on my way back home last Thursday. I was so excited to cook and my mind lightened up at the thought of a brilliant dinner.

I had never cooked with Rice Noodles till then and was keen to follow the instructions on the pack. It clearly mentioned that I am supposed to soak the noodles in cold water for 10 minutes, drain and use it for my cooking. I did observe that the noodles were not softening enough, so I kept them in water for a longer period of time.

In the meantime, I started prep on my green curry. I cut a Basa fillet into bite sized pieces, followed by some mushrooms and red pepper. I sautéed the mushrooms and red peppers and then added coconut milk along with Thai Green Curry paste. Once the milk started to steam, I added the fish and allowed the curry to simmer till the fish was cooked.

In another pan, I sautéed another batch of mushrooms and capsicum followed by some frozen prawns. I broke two eggs in and allowed it to cook. I added the drained noodles and the Pad Thai sauce. Unfortunately the noodles was not cooked and my wife had to step in and put the whole mix into a steamer to make it edible.

It was sad because everything was smelling so good and the fact that I did not use my cooking brain properly raised the level of disappointment. I ended up feeling like one of those Master Chef cooks going into elimination. On the positive side, I have learnt how to not make Pad Thai now. Hoping for a better future with Thai food.

Food like many other things tastes brilliant when the experience is shared. From that perspective I consider myself lucky because my family is full of experienced gastronomes who love food as much as I do. The art of cooking is enhanced when you make a dish which satisfies the palate of someone who never liked the core ingredient before. This post does not reflect that sentiment since it would be difficult to find someone who does not like dessert.

A craving for Mediterranean seafood resulted in this delivery from Ruh. I used the services of delyver to get us some seafood tagine, rogan ghosht and tandoori roti. Unfortunately I cannot comment about the ambience because we ate from home. My o my , I was utterly butterly disappointed. First of all they did not have seafood and we had to replace it with lamb tagine. The quantities were so less for the premium price they charge. I would not have minded the extra buck if the food was mind blowing. It was definitely under par. The mutton curry was far too oily and I guess the chef forgot that he should go easy with cooking oil when he is using all that mutton fat. The tagine was ok but the couscous was dry. I guess you get the story now

The dearth of fish in Bangalore makes us crave for authentic kerala seafood delicacies. This prompted us to check out kumarakom for an early dinner. The ambience and music immediately brought us back to kerala and gave us that homely feeling. Bangalore is awesome but our birthplace is even more special and any reminders of the same give us a sense of happiness. The only negative to the ambience was the lighting. I felt there should have been a re-arrangement of the lamps used to light up the dining tables. I found it extremely difficult to read the menu.

Ok enough of the background chatter. Let me get into the food. We ordered a beef fry, soma malabar porotta and appam along with malabar meen curry and karimeen pollichathu. The food was tasting yummy and really made me miss my mom's cooking. Of course nothing can beat my mom's food. The portion of curry was slightly less for the order of porrotta and appam. So we had to order fish molly which was pretty good too. The only negative was the salty karimeen pollichathu. All in all a lovely place to take folks who love "naadan bhakshanam". Kumarakom is definitely a place I would like to visit often.

My rating :
Ambience - 4/5
Service - 3.5/5 (The guys need to smile a bit more and feel happy doing their job)
VFM - 4/5
Food Quality - 4/5

 

A typical day in my life..

5:30 am - Prayers completed. The occasional yawn and stretching. Looking outside trying to figure how rest of the day is gonna pan out.

5:40 am - Tea/Coffee/Green Tea/ Honey and Lime.. The essential warm water decoction that energises me.

And then starts my tryst with food.. Breakfast, lunch and dinner..

I hope to jot down my take on the art of eating through a series of experiments with ingredients and the occasional dining out review. Bon appetit !