Showing posts with label quick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label quick. Show all posts

Saturday 23 August 2014

One of the iconic landmarks in Chennai is undoubtedly the tall triangle shaped building located in the heart of the arterial Anna Salai. Even from the air, this building is quite easily identifiable. Having been under construction for quite some time, it was great news for Chennaities when in 2011 it was announced that the iconic building was to be the Launchpad for Hyatt chain of hotels in Chennai. The ‘Hyatt Regency Chennai’ was opening its doors to Chennaities bringing with it some amazing restaurants. Being centrally located, it was an added advantage.

Over the years, Hyatt Regency has been a hotel that has been frequented by the family and myself as we share a lot of fond memories of family gatherings and functions. The food used to always make us feel better and never was there a complaint. Their all-day dining restaurant ‘Spice Haat’ is a regular fare for late night cravings. Recently, at a random discussion a friend told me that their Italian restaurant ‘Focaccia’ serves one of the best Tiramisu’s in Chennai. True to his words, it was divine when I got the opportunity to savour it.
Recently, the culinary department at Hyatt Regency has undergone a change of guard. The new executive chef at the helm of operations is Chef Subrata Debnath, who comes with a vast experience across Hyatt properties in India & South-East Asia. His best man who incidentally also joined recently is Chef Manvinder Singh. Coming from the food lover’s favourite city of Lucknow, this evening he wowed us with his arsenal. 
As part of the three year anniversary celebrations, Spice Haat recently had a ‘Northern Frontier Food Festival’. Banking on the expertise of Chef Manvinder, this food festival was all about culinary specialities from the regions of Punjab, Peshawar, Multan, Baluchistan and Kashmir. This region is also collectively known as the Indus region named after the famous river that flows through them. This food festival was also part of Chef Subrata’s ideology of incorporating culinary delicacies from this region onto their regular fare at Spice Haat.
The first dish to be served to us that evening was the vegetarian kebab platter comprising of ‘Bhatti da Paneer’, ‘Methi te Bhutte di Seekh’ and ‘Tandori Phaldari Chaat’. The paneer was soft and succulent while the tandoori fruit chat bought old memories back as this is something that many restaurants now do not have on their menu. The Seekh was crispy and had the right amount of flavourings to balance the kebabs on the platter. This was followed up with ‘Patiyala Shahi Machi’ and ‘Surkh Murg Tikka’. Not being a big fan of fish, the ‘Patiyala Shahi Machi’ on the contrary was perfectly cooked with the fish still being wet delivering on the flavours of the crispiness of its marinade. The Murg on the other hand delivered on all the flavours that one can associate with a Tikka. It was one of the best Chicken Tikka’s I’ve savoured till date.
(Veg Starter Platter)
(Non Veg Starter Platter)
With the starters done, the Main Courses started with an array of curries. The first to make its way was the ‘Thabe wala Kukkar’. It was a slow cooked Chicken curry with deep aroma of tandoor infused. This was followed by the ‘Keema Matar’ and ‘Masaledar Karele’. The Keema Matar was very delicate with juicy minced lamb while the Karele which is bitter gourd was creatively cooked and wrapped with veggies. The bitterness of the Karele was tantalizingly hidden with the flavoursome veggies that accompanied it. When its Indus cuisine, how can we miss out on the lentils. The ‘Maa Choliye di Daal’ is again a slow cooked dal. Chef Manvinder revealed that it is a common offering during Langars at the Gurudwaras. Just like the name says, it definitely had the feeling of mother’s touch in that it tasted absolutely like home food. The accompaniments for the curries were ‘Makke di Roti’ and ‘Meat wale Chawal’. The chawal was similar to the biryani but was different in that it did not have the usual spices rather was cooked in the stock of the lamb itself. The final gravy that made its appearance was the traditional ‘Sarson da Saag’. One difference here was that it was accompanied with Palm Sugar. Apparently in Punjab during the harvest festival, Sarson is served with palm sugar as Sugar cane is harvested at that time. I was puzzled on how the combination would work but it completely surprised me. The addition of the Jaggery gave it an extra dimension and elevated the dish in its entirety.
(Thabe wala Kukkar)
(Maa Choliye di Daal & Masaledar Karele)
(Meat wale Chawal)
(Sarson da Saag)
To bring a closure to this amazing North Western culinary experience, we were served with ‘Jalebi’ and a ‘Teele wali Kulfi’. The Kulfi was phenomenal with actual rose petals in it while the Jalebi was distinctive in its sweetness with a subtle and balance note to it. The highlight of this Northern Frontier Food Festival was also to identify the taste of Chennai in comparison to cuisine from this region as the dishes that have been accepted well will find its way on their regular buffer dishes. 
(Jalebi)
(Jalebi)
(Teele wali Kulfi)
For a price of ₹1450 plus taxes, one can savour a wide variety of International cuisines at the all-day dining restaurant ‘Spice Haat’ in Hyatt Regency Chennai located on Anna Salai.

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Sunday 20 July 2014

With the month of Ramadhan coming to a close soon, and with most Iftar packs not capturing the right mood of Iftar, for a change I decided to venture out into a very unorthodox territory. I stumbled upon an offer from Marrybrown and being in an adventurous mood that day decided to take the leap.

Marrybrown as most of us know were the first to bring the concept of broiler fried chicken to Chennai way before KFC stepped in. So my association with marrybrown has been quite old and even today feel that their Hot Touch burger is one that cannot be replaced by any other in Chennai. I also had the opportunity of tasting the same in Malaysia which incidentally is their home country. Compared to the other brands, their chicken has always been a hit.

With such a close bond with Marrybrown, I decided to have their ‘Ramzan 786’ pack that they are promoting for a short time during the month of Ramadhan. Usually this combo is sold at ₹ 1,000 but now it is available at only ₹ 786. Aptly named, the combo consists of 7 pieces of strips, 8 pieces of chicken and 6 pieces of wings and comes with 2 drinks. For those hard core fans of chicken, indulging once in a while for Iftar with so much chicken can be fun and trendy. It would have been great had they also added some dates & fruits as then it could easily pass of as an Iftar Pack.

This offer is available only till the end of Ramadhan and all you fried chicken fans out there, don’t miss it. 

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Thursday 27 March 2014



More than often we predetermine what kind of eggs we would like to have for Breakfast or snack time. This often depends on our mood and the accompaniments that we want along with the egg. But did you ever experience a situation where you knew you are going to eat some eggs but highly confused by looking at the egg menu. This is what Chef Sridhar from Paprika in Courtyard by Marriott Chennai has exactly in mind. Take this simple ingredient and make a menu completely surrounding it.

Yes, they are running an Eggs special menu festival called “Eggs & Kegs”. With 10 different preparations to choose from one can only sit and wonder how such a simple ingredient can be cooked in so many different ways, each having its own unique flavour and taste. To accompany the egg preparation, you get a mug of Beer and for those who do not consume alcohol, it will be replaced by a Mocktail of your choice.

Having never consumed more than two eggs at a time, I was a bit wary about how the entire evening was going to be gastronomically for me. Just as the conversation was ending with a friend who had accompanied, we get four different preparations of the eggs from the menu sent to our table. The ones we had were
(Assorted Platter)

  • Egg – Salt N Pepper
  • Egg Pakoda
  • Burmese Egg
  • Muttai Kal Varuval

I take a bite of the ‘Egg Pakoda’ and my first impression was on how delicately the eggs were boiled. They were one of the finest boiled eggs I’ve seen and tasted. The yolk were perfected such that a fork pierced came out clean while the whites still had that tad bit of sweat on them. It took the entire experience to the next level. The batter for the pakodas was very light and fluffy that it felt awesome having the pakodas. Very different from the one’s we make at home. The secret to the perfectly boiled eggs was the time which the Chef revealed to be * minutes. Did you really think, I would be entailed to such a privilege? Yes the Chef did give me that privilege but I believe it’s his secret and should remain so.
The ‘Burmese’ Egg was a twist on the famous Burmese dish ‘Khow Suey’, as the boiled eggs were topped with fried onions. The ‘Kal Varuval’ was the Chef’s take on the classic ‘Meen Kal Varuval’. This imparted the flavours of south and Chettinad into the eggs which gave it a different dimension over the others that we had so far tried out. The ‘Salt n Pepper’ was again slightly similar to the pakodas but the batter here was very thin almost just like a small wrap over the eggs with flavourings of salt, pepper and chilli incorporated along with the batter.

The portion sizes are between two and three eggs depending upon the preparation and the eggs used are Free-range gggs.With this adventure, we were willing to call it quits as we couldn’t take any further intake of eggs. That’s when we realized that how can we miss the King of all Egg preparations, the mighty ‘Bread Chutney Omelette’.

(Bread Chutney Omelette)
The instance the ‘Bread Chutney Omelette’ was placed on the table, the aroma begin to play with us with an intense desire. As were honestly full, we just ordered one serving and decided to split it between us. The omelette was wrapped around the two humongous slices of bread that were smothered with butter and a very different chutney than the ones we regular get on such omelettes. It wasn’t spicy yet carried the hotness, wasn’t fluorescent green but on the contrary was a darker dull green with strong influences of mint. The incorporation of the cheese within the omelette gave it a good fluffiness and texture.

The ‘Eggs & Kegs’ is available all day at Paprika, located on the Ground Floor of Courtyard by Marriott on Mount Road until the 31st of March.

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Saturday 1 December 2012

Who doesn't love Garlic breads. If there is any accompaniment that goes well for majority of European cuisines, it has to be the mighty Garlic Bread. Aren't there times we used to spent a fortune for garlic breads when we go to restaurants and eat it by proportioning it between all those present on the table. Well gone are those days. Here you will find how to make different varieties of Garlic bread in a quick, easy and consistent manner.

Serves: 3-4
Preparation time: 2 minutes
Oven time: 20 minutes 

Ingredients:
  • 1 baguette of plain French Bread
    • Available at all bakeries - Prefer the one at Star Bazaar/Hot Breads/French Loaf
  • 100 gms of butter (No harm in putting more)
  • 3 cloves of Garlic 
    • Can also use 1 tsp of Garlic paste but make sure u strain it.
  • Oregano/Parsley seasoning
    • Can also use Garlic Bread Seasoning from Keya - Available at Amma Nanna, Adyar

(French Baguette)
Method:
  1. Pre-heat your oven to 180 C
  2. Place the butter in a microwave oven and heat it for 15 seconds on High. This will melt the butter sufficient enough to mix our ingredients yet preventing it from melting into liquid state.
  3. Crush the cloves of Garlic using pestle and mortar (in case you do not have one, just place the gloves on a flat surface and crush them using the side of a broad knife).
  4. Mix the garlic paste, butter and seasoning (according to taste) in a bowl.
  5. Make diagonal slices on the baguette carefully by ensuring you do not cut it all the way down.
  6. Spread the mixture between the diagonal pockets as shown.
  7. Smoother the remaining butter on top of the baguette and around its sides.
  8. Wrap the baguette in alumnium foil and place it in the pre-heated oven in the middle tray.
  9. After 10 mins, turnover the baguette and leave it for a further 7-10 mins.
  10. Remove it from the oven and slice the cuts all the way down and serve it.
(Garlic Butter mixture smoothered)
(Fresh from the Oven)
Variations
  • You can also mix in shredded cheese slices to give it a cheesy flavoring.
  • After removing from the oven, you can even place some cheese and chicken cubes on top of each slice and place it back on the oven for a few minutes to have a Cheese Chicken Garlic Bread.
If this recipe interested you, please share it so others maybe interested too.

Please feel free to leave your comments.

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