My Quest for Food

2011-04-29T01:01:00.002+05:30

My article about some delicious food of Mangalore

Mesmerizing Mangalore a Food Guide

Onam- Festival of Flowers- Beginning of the Harvest Season

2007-08-27T00:26:00.000+05:30

Its Festival time and Onam is one of the biggest festival of Kerala, The God’s own Country. This time of the year the rains pouring down makes the place GREEN and the flowers are in full blossom. Mythologically, Onam is a celebrated to welcome the return of King Mahabali after his success over a Demon king. To mark the victory, the people make PooKalam (rangoli :design drawn on the floor. ) with flowers to welcome the King. And Traditionally it marks the beginning of the harvest season. This festival is celebrated over a span of 10days and the last day being the most auspicious. Also Pulli Kalli is performed (people dressed as tiger dance) and the famous Snake Boat Race is held during this festive season.

And Onam is special for its grand feast that is prepared and it definitely does wake up all the gastronomical senses in me. Kerala Food is absolutely incomplete sans coconut, though people, who look at the calories or fat and nutrient facts, please don't think bout them when you are enjoying this feast and I bet every mouth of this feast will linger on forever. The feast is called as Onam Sadhya. The feast is served on green Plantain leaves, it consists of (in order which it’s usually served)

Banana - Nendhram Pazham, This is a variety which is widely grown in Kerala, it’s a long banana, and is usually cut into 4-5pieces and one piece is served.

Manga Curry(Mango Pickle), pieces of Mango are dices and mixed well with Red chili powder, salt, fenugreek powder, mustard seeds - fried in Oil and is mixed well.

InjiPuli (Tamarind & Ginger pickle), Tamarind extract is mixed with pieces of ginger, green chilies and is heated in a pan until we get a viscous consistency.

Banana Chips : Raw banana is deep fried in oil and salt is added to it. The specialty here is the banana is cut into small pieces in shape of triangle.

Sharkara Upperi- Banana chips is coated with a special Jaggery syrup, which contains dry ginger powder to give it a unique taste.

Pappadam- flat, thin circular fired snack. It’s made of urud dal. The papadam is deep fried in the oil.

Pachadi - it’s basically a raitha, pieces of cucumber and other vegetables like tomato is mixed with curd flavored with mustard-dry coarsely ground coconut tadka.

Aviyal, it’s a curry (semi-gravy dish), consists of pieces of various vegetables (carrot, yam, snake gourd, drum sticks, pumpkin) which is cooked in coconut milk and flavored with turmeric powder to give it a green-ish yellow color. It’s garnished with fried curry leaves and coconut oil.

Kootu Curry- this can be made with a variety of vegetables, usually made with pumpkin which is boiled and mixed with dry coconut mixture(this is a dry coarsely ground paste of coconut and red chilies). It is garnished with fried mustard seeds and curry leaves.

Kaalan- this is a dish which is made with curd, the curd is usually made sour and mixed with a paste of coconut and green chilies. It’s seasoned with coconut oil and turmeric powder to give it a yellow color. The consistency of this dish is thick.

Olan- it’s made of sliced cucumber, red kidney beans and pumpkin. They are boiled well and mixed with coconut milk in a low flame and seasoned with coconut oil.

Thoran- cabbage or beans finely chopped is fried and cooked with little water. This is flavored with coconut oil , and mustard tadka. It’s garnished with grated coconut pieces.

Parrupu- Steam cooked lentils with salt to taste and garnished with ghee. This is eaten with rice.

Rice- Chambavari Choru, This is a special rice that is found in Kerala, it’s small, fat, and red in color to look at.

Once the rice is served, they are topped with ghee(Clarified butter) and the rice is eaten in 4 portions, one with Parrupu, Sambhar, Rasam and Moru(butter milk). Along with the Rice-Sambhar or Rice-Rasam the above curries are mixed and relished.

Sambhar- This is the main ingredient that is mixed with rice. It’s a cooked curry made from tamarind extract water(tamarind is soaked in hot water and after a few minutes the tamarind is squeezed out and the water is strained for use.), cooked with vegetables like ladies finger(ogre), drumsticks, or pumpkin and lentils. To it is added a special mix of coconut, red chilies paste and flavored with turmeric powder, red chili powder fenugreek powder. It’s garnished with a tadka of mustard seed and curry leaves.

Rasam - A clear soup like dish taken with rice and ate after completing a portion of rice with sambhar. It’s made of tamarind extract water and tomatoes with little lentils and flavored with turmeric powder and a special mix of red chili, coriander, cumin seeds powder.

Once you are done with this Payasam will be served.

Pal Ada Payasam or Kheer - A sweet dish, the Pal Ada payasam is a specialty payasam of Kerala, pieces of flour paste (ada) are boiled in milk and sweetened with sugar.

Then final portion of rice is served and is had with Moru (butter milk), the curd is churned with water and to flavor it a few pieces of curry leaves, green chilies are added and also fenu greek powder is added to give it a refreshing taste. The InjipPuli and Manga curry is had with curd rice.

Majestic Mysore

2007-07-04T14:01:00.000+05:30

Mysore or now known as Mysooru, a Royal city, this place is a major tourist attraction for the Palace, Chamundi Hills, Mysore Zoo, and a few Bird Sanctuaries to name Ranganthittu, Karanji lake and Kukkharahalli. But I have found Karanji Lake and Kukkharahalli Lake a better place for birding. Also a 30min drive you will reach Srirangapatnam, one of the places where Tippu Sultan once ruled. The famous Dussera (a 10day festival) is celebrated here in a pompous manner. One can also visit the KRS Dam, which is built on the River Kaveri. Mysore has a lot of history behind it, but getting to our main objective here... food.... Karnataka has a variety of cuisines within the state itself... There are bunch of cuisines which are common arund the state like Kesari bath, Khara Bath, Shavighe, Masala Dosa, then there is a North Karnataka cuisine, south Karnataka cuisine, Kodagu, Mangalore, Udipi Cuisine… that’s a long long list….I shall blog bout each of the cuisine separately, and the focus on this is the best of Mysore and what to eat, where to eat when in Mysore....…
Mysore boasts of the most famous and luscious Mysore Masala Dosa.
Mysore Masala Dosa is a topping on a Dosa (rice batter which is spread in a circular form over a flat hot pan)... the dosa is now spread over with a red-chili and garlic paste (it’s a thick paste), and masala (it’s a mix of boiled potatoes and garnished with onions and coriander). The dosa is then topped with a bit of butter ... Mysore masala dosa is the best you can get here in Mysore... the places famous for it are Mylari, and Gayathri Tiffin Rooms (GTR) located at Chamundipuram. Also good authentic masala dosa can also be had at Nalpak, Green Leaf and Indra's Sweet'n' Spice.
In GTR I laid my hands on the next famous bisi Kesari Bath... Kesari bath is a sweet dish, made of sooji, pineapple pieces, sugar and lots of ghee.... its one of my fav and the most quickest sweet to make... its yellow in color and is served hot hot....

Mysore Pak... This is another famous sweet of Mysore... as the name also reflects... this is made of besan powder, sugar and again lots of ghee.... its heated and brought to a consistency and cut into rectangular cubes... this sweet jus melts in your mouth and is definitely the most sumptuous... the best Mysore pak can be got at Guru Sweets @ Urs Road.
In Mysore North Karnataka Meals is available at Kamat Madhuvan in Najanagud Road....
Once you are in Devraj Urs road, dont miss out the chaat you get at Bombay Tiffany's and the Badam Milk... Also it has a gamut of indian sweets....
For some good South Indian meals, head straight to Hotel RRR @ Gandhi Square.
At Gokulam, for authentic punjabi food, visit Jwala... the Chicken Bartha, Dal Mahkani, and sunday special Kheer is simply lip smacking.. but the service here is too slow...
ParkLane.. this place is close to the Palace... the ambience and service here is simply great...These people have a good crowd and live music keeps the spirits high... This place serves good multi cuisine food. The factor that made me august is we have a bulb right above the table on switching it on the waiter is there to attend us..
So the next time you are in mysore make sure you have a good amount of time dedicated to explore the best food in Mysore...
My next mission in Mysore is to visit Mylari and try their Masala Dosa and Phalamrutha for its famous fruit salad with ice cream.... watch out for more soooon

Mumbai Meri Jaan

2007-05-06T14:04:00.000+05:30

I wanted to start off this blog with one of my all time favorites... my fav city... Mumbai... I prefer calling it as Bombay though....
Bombay... its a city of dreams, a city of opportunities, a city that never sleeps.... if you have a dream then the best place to kick start your desire is Bombay....
Bombay is the best place for snacks... and of all my fav snack...
VadaPav....This is a snack which is and sledgehammer reply to the burgers... I call it the Indian Burger.... The history of this lies some 30yrs+ back... when a snack seller experimented out his hands on combining the Batata vada and the Pav..... And lo we have it the Vada Pav.... Batata Vada by itself is a snack... it’s a potato filling which is dipped in besan flour and deep fried.... Pav is a staple food base... it’s a form of bread...VadaPav is also known as 'Garibhon ka Pav Bhaji'..... VadaPav has grown with its popularity... Lots of people have experimented and still experimenting on it....the latest versions of Vadapav gets a couple of chutney's, viz: mint chutney and the special Garlic chutney on it... u can even find it filled with some freshly chopped onions, mango pieces and Mixture(a mix of fried snacks composed of Sev, Groundnuts, Rice flakes, much more)... There is Samosa Pav, wherein the Batata vada is replaced by Samosa.... Samosa is a triangular shaped snack which is filled with a mix of potato and is deep fried.. this can also be had with mint chutney and sweet 'n' sour chutney ....The latest is the Jumbo Vada Pav; as the name says it’s a Jumbo Pav with Jumbo Vada.... its one of the most sumptuous snack I ever had.... the best places for this is ideally the stations... and Andheri Station being the best spot to get the most lip smacking Vada Pavs'... And if you are traveling to Pune in a train then don’t miss to try the VadaPav at the Karjat Station.....They are usually priced between Rs. 3-6....

Bhel Puri, its one of the quickest snack that will be made right in front of your eyes. Its got many names... like Jhal Muri in Calcutta. Bhel Puri was basically a Gujarati snack but later it got into Bombay....
It can be has Sukha (Dry) or a bit Soggy.....Its a mix of Puffed Rice, Lentils, some chopped onions, tomatoes, few pieces of finely chopped mango, coriander then some Chatpata masala.. This is mixed well and served in a cone made of newspaper... for the not dry it will be pepped up with a couple of Meetha (Imli ka chutney) and Thika (Spicy Chilli) Chutney.... Meetha Chutney is an extract of Tamarind water and jaggery (I don’t remember the right name), it’s basically a block of sugar, brown in color. It’s then heated to get a viscous consistency and the Thika chutney is a well ground paste of green chilies and coriander. Its one of the best and Bombay's Fav snack... the best place to eat this is from any bhelwala and i bet it will be a luscious snack... oops the very thought make my mouth water ;) ....its priced around 5-8Rs.

Still More to come here in this section....
PavBhaji
Sabudana Wada
Sabudana Kichdi
Misal Pav
Poha
Thalipeeth
Ragda Patties
Modak
ShriKand
Puran Poli
Besan Ladoos

My Quest for food

2007-05-06T13:11:00.000+05:30

This is my first entry to the blog world and I wanted to start off with one on my favorite instinct.... my quest for food.... A little bout me... an engineer by profession, a Foodie at heart... and am passionate bout photography, cars and F1.... Ferrari being my fav among them :)

Blog for food... WHY??? This is one of my biggest passions, so any place I travel; the first thing is to try eating the lip smacking specialty of that place..... be it the roadsides or the 5*'s.... but it has to the best in the place where i eat... hence thru this space I wish to share my experiences and the way the food is made.... and im sure its going to be a good guide for people traveling to new cities....

Food.... What is food?
Technically food is a substance which is a composite structure of Proteins, Carbohydrates, Fats and Water.
And to me it’s a substance which keeps me active and all energetic... of all make me happy :)

Like everyone says, "My Mom is the best Cook in this World", my mom is no exception here.... she is one of the best.... and she really is.... ;) .... my moms specializes in South Indian and North Indian food..... She has a great set of hands and they do wonders..... My best from her is Sāmbhar, Rajmha, Chole, Kadi ... Her Biryani is the best.... Yummy! She does cook out some great Kerala food, and she is simply superb in it.... especially the Kheer's, the luscious Ladoos (sweetmeats).... and a whole bunch of snacks
And yea it won’t be fair if I don’t talk bout my sister... she is another Clone of my mother... a brilliant cook... and has a great heart for trying a bunch of different experiments.... She njoys tryin her experiment on me and my BIL :)
I really enjoy my sister's Mysurpa and her varieties with Egg....

I really am thankful to them both because of whom, my taste buds have grown so well, and my genes for food have definitely come form my dad who loves food and my brother in law who is a Hotel professional for his expert tips and my Brother Venu Anna, he is a great guide, and I definitely make sure I don’t miss the places he suggests...
I also thank my friend Neha, who has been a great buddy in going to places all over Bangalore and Pune to quench my quest, my buddies Rohit and Sankalap..oops Sankalp we three teamed up and explored Hyderabad.
And last but not the least... my inspiration... Anthony Bourdain

Im sure this is going to be an informative blog for a lot of people... Your comments are welcome... and i request you all to keep visiting my blog for more and more of a yummy experience....