Where pickle is dessert!

Food festivals are exciting if the creators are giving you insights during the meal. When a fellow blogger, who unlike me does significantly more cooking and cooking workshops, is at the helm and I know I can get some inside secrets, I was more than looking forward. But the inside secret came not from Sara Koshy, but from her cousin, who said that in their family, they eat pickle for dessert. More on that later. The Syrian Christian food festival at Hyatt Regency is ticking all the right boxes.

When it comes to Kerala cuisine, I need to taste three things. Aapam with stew, Idiyappam with gravy and parota with beef fry. Puttu and other things are secondary to these. What sets apart the cuisine of Kerala from the cuisine of the Christians in kerala? A simple tempering that I promised not to reveal. There is a very subtle difference in flavour that I was able to appreciate, thanks to Sara.

The appams (hoppers) were buttery smooth. Crisp outside with soft centres, these just soak up the stew with ease. And melt in your mouth with even more ease. And the idiyappam (string hopper) has some bite, so it goes great with the fish mapas, a nice thick coconut based gravy. And finally we transition to the dish with the most bite to it, the Parota served with beef fry, a loved staple in Kerala.

Now to the title. Pickle for dessert? I’ve always felt that Rice Payasam was a tad sweet, but dismissed it as the flavour of the region. Sara’s cousin, let me into a family secret. Cut the sweetness of the payasam with lemon pickle. And she told me this almost three minutes into my meal, so I was waiting for dessert. I (hopefully) gave you the same feeling of waiting. So, it didn’t cut the sweetness of the rice payasam. But, and that is a big but, it balanced it beautifully, by staying distinct. So my tongue could taste two distinct flavours, the sweet payasam and the sourness of pickle and that balanced it. Now that I’ve tasted it, I don’t know how I lived so long without having it this way. It was a surreal tasting.

The festival is on for another week and it comes with cooking classes with Sara herself. 

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Where pickle is dessert!

Food festivals are exciting if the creators are giving you insights during the meal. When a fellow blogger, who unlike me does significantly more cooking and cooking workshops, is at the helm and I know I can get some inside secrets, I was more than looking forward. But the inside secret came not from Sara Koshy, but from her cousin, who said that in their family, they eat pickle for dessert. More on that later. The Syrian Christian food festival at Hyatt Regency is ticking all the right boxes.

When it comes to Kerala cuisine, I need to taste three things. Aapam with stew, Idiyappam with gravy and parota with beef fry. Puttu and other things are secondary to these. What sets apart the cuisine of Kerala from the cuisine of the Christians in kerala? A simple tempering that I promised not to reveal. There is a very subtle difference in flavour that I was able to appreciate, thanks to Sara.

The appams (hoppers) were buttery smooth. Crisp outside with soft centres, these just soak up the stew with ease. And melt in your mouth with even more ease. And the idiyappam (string hopper) has some bite, so it goes great with the fish mapas, a nice thick coconut based gravy. And finally we transition to the dish with the most bite to it, the Parota served with beef fry, a loved staple in Kerala.

Now to the title. Pickle for dessert? I’ve always felt that Rice Payasam was a tad sweet, but dismissed it as the flavour of the region. Sara’s cousin, let me into a family secret. Cut the sweetness of the payasam with lemon pickle. And she told me this almost three minutes into my meal, so I was waiting for dessert. I (hopefully) gave you the same feeling of waiting. So, it didn’t cut the sweetness of the rice payasam. But, and that is a big but, it balanced it beautifully, by staying distinct. So my tongue could taste two distinct flavours, the sweet payasam and the sourness of pickle and that balanced it. Now that I’ve tasted it, I don’t know how I lived so long without having it this way. It was a surreal tasting.

The festival is on for another week and it comes with cooking classes with Sara herself. 

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10 years of Chennai Foody

Yes, I’ve been around for that long! What started as a small outlet for my writing has taken various pivots to come where it is now. While I don’t know what the future holds, I would like to take this chance to thank you! Thank you for reading this post and all of the other posts that you’ve read. Some you may have liked, some you have hated and sometimes you may have wished you were with me, eating those dishes. I can’t take credit for those. I promise, it was the chef who doled out dishes that brought out the creativity in me. I just wrote.

This blog has got me connected to so many people, I can’t even begin to describe the profound effect it has had in my life. It taught me to write, but later on it taught me to respect, both opinions and points of view. It got me talking to other writers and bloggers and then it taught me food. The more I wrote, the more I learnt. It also showed me the nasty world of hospitality and got me grounded. When I thought that there was no worse field than being a doctor, it showed me the nasty side of other professions. It was also the reason, my first book called 10 Patients was chosen by a publisher and was sold out pretty soon. The second edition will be out soon.

It also connected me with chefs. For a person who thought that there was only one biriyani and the rest were all tomato rice, the blog showed me perspective. Chefs who have been patient enough to explain, patient enough to show and then believe me enough to share. Their recipes, their life stories and their passions. It got me traveling, it got me writing for overseas publications, for governments and in one case, even to change the perspective about a city. Being featured and quoted in BBC, CNN Travel and writing for dailies like The Hindu and The Indian Express were all experiences that enriched me.

Every step of the journey was possible because of you. Because you thought it was worth your time to read what this writer doled out.

This calls for a toast, doesn’t it? How does a teetotaller raise a toast? Turns out that champagne glasses can do more than just load, duh, champagne. It can host a beautifully tasty strawberry cheesecake. Or present itself on your breakfast table with oats, cocoa, raisins and nuts. Thanks to Perfico, you can get a pair of these champagne glasses for yourself too. You can choose what you want to do with it, though. Champagne, breakfast, cheesecake or crack an egg, you choose what you want to do with it.

But to get it, here’s what you need to do:

1. Follow Chennai Foody on Instagram AND Twitter. The name is ChennaiFoody on both
2. Tell us either of the two a. What you like best about Chennai Foody (OR) b. What else would you like to read about in Chennai Foody. Reply in the comments section of either Twitter or Instagram and that’s it.

The best and the most creative answers will win a pair of champagne glasses from Perfico with your names engraved on it. Go for it. 

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A beautiful meal

I’ve cribbed about food. Perfectly palatable food. I’ve judged it, poked fun at it and at times, wasted it. All because I could pay for the food and I wanted value for my money. Money. But money is not a basic need. Food is. Ironically, you need money to buy food, but food is a basic need.

A few weeks back, when driving with my friend Bhisham, he stopped by the side and asked me to help take a packet from the back seat. I obliged. He got out of his car, walked over and gave it to a kid on the street. The kid looked up at him, surprised. He came back, but I watched the kid. The kid’s happiness had to be seen to be believed.

Food makes all of us happy, doesn’t it? We celebrate with food. Banquets and parties are all about food. But food is a basic need. We’ve gone past it, so we may not appreciate it, but it is. For those who scramble food out of dustbins, a clean pack of food given by a stranger is a party. Something that can bring happiness.

As I probed Bhisham, I realised that he has a mini army of people and they go around doing this every Friday evening. EVERY Friday evening. They call themselves the Robin Hood Army. Apparently present in over 40 cities around the world, they don’t make much noice. They don’t take donations. They simply collect food and distribute it.

Their philosophy? Well, apparently 80% of the people who go hungry around the world are not in poor countries, but in countries where there is food surplus! And a whopping 33% of the cooked food is thrown away. 33%. Yes, one third. Suddenly there was a flood of emotions. All the food I’ve wasted came to mind. All the times I cribbed about food started to haunt me.

Was I going to not crib about food? I don’t think so. Am I going to stop judging food? Nope. But I can do something about it. Maybe I will continue writing about Robin Hood Army every month with an update on how many people they’ve fed? Maybe every Friday, I will give excess food to RHA which I know will feed somebody hungry.

This Independence Day, they’ve taken up a huge challenge. To feed 1 lac people in Chennai. They are calling it the War on Hunger. I am going to help spread the word. And help get food from all my friends in the restaurant industry. You can help too. In any way you can. They don’t accept money, though.

According to their post,

If you are an organization that would like to partner with us, you can contact Bhisham at +91 98849 85343.
If you would like to donate food/beverages, raw material you can contact Bushan at 9790997354.
If you would like to volunteer, you can contact Avinash at +91 90941 04191.
For any other queries you can contact Archit at 9840532143 and if your the shy types write to us at robinhoodarmychennai@gmail.com.
Alternatively you can also go out on your own and distribute food, and tag your city and #Mission1Million and post on social media or call any of the above numbers and let them know how many people you served

And these guys have got some big names in the industry supporting them. Oriental cuisines, Winner’s Bakery, Sandesh’s restaurant group are among the few who give away food for the hungry to be fed. They’ve been doing it quietly. Let’s make them also famous.

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Big Bandha takes a walk in The Park

A few months ago there was a tiny stall at a food exhibition that emitted some damn good smell. Intrigued, we walked in and sadly very few items were left. Clearly, the aromas reached more nostrils than I thought. Baked Parota. Lasagna styled Parota. Paya Ramen. Mexican Bhel. Clearly the guy who is doing this was nuts, I thought. We got the baked parota and as we dug in, we couldn’t wipe the smile off our faces. Soaked in a ‘salna‘, a form of thin gravy found in South Indian households, the parota was fabulous. Plus it had a smoky cheesy notes that probably came from the oven in which he baked something else before our dish.

Three days back, I met the guy behind this. He is nuts. What else can explain a finance company’s CEO with no chef training going around creating confusing flavours that is supposed to be the exclusive property of molecular gastronomy? As Manoj and The Park hosted me for dinner, course after course, came dishes with varying influences connected by two things. A story and no compromise on flavours. Everyday Exotics at The Park, curated by Manoj is an exotic take on every day dishes, but each one has been loved by somebody before going on the menu.

Like the Bombay Toast stuffed with chicken and pickles. Uh? Yes, uh! A sweet bread dish with pickles and chicken? Inspired by his son’s breakfast. That is the story. A Panko fried idly with spicy molaga podi (spicy chilly powder mix). Idly and Panko? Like really? I missed the Mexican Bhel at the exhibition, but thankfully it was on the menu here. All things Mexican tossed in Indian Bhel puri style.

Jack Slider. While I would call any vegetarian burger as Vada Pav, Manoj’s burger made me eat my words. A beautiful vegetarian slider. A Thai inspired burger, it had jackfruit in it and the lemongrass in the bun. In the BUN! So the flavour of lemongrass was unmistakable and overpowering, like it should be, but the jackfruit held its own as the patty. This is a vegetarian burger! Something that doesn’t have to be called the Vada Pav.

A vegetarian paya. Simply, that cannot exist. Cooked the ramen style, this had top ramen noodles in a paya. While they have the mutton paya, the veg paya was able to bring the soothing elements that the mutton paya brings. I almost wished I had fever, to relish it. Since a paya goes great with idiyappam (String hoppers), the stringy noodles were able to do justice.

The baked parota. Yay! As I was digging in, I could not but notice the smoky cheesy smell. I looked up. Did he bring the same oven? Or did he cook another dish that the parota took up the flavour? Apparently not. Apparently, it was intentional. To have a smoky flavour? A parota lasagna is creative enough, but to add a smoky BBQ flavour to an already Indo-Italian fusion? Are we aiming for World war here? So, Manoj keeps visiting Nagoor Dargah and in the streets of Nagoor, apparently they dole out parotas using stones that have been smoking for over two or three decades. And that infuses a smoky flavour into the parota that he wanted to recreate. Now, I want to go to Nagoor and eat that parota. More importantly, I could sleep. The baked parota at the food exhibition wasn’t a borrowed flavour.

I was too full for dessert, so I just picked a spoonful of the beautiful saffron ice cream and the chocolate, but was too overwhelmed to judge it. Maybe I will go back and have that. And the jack slider. And maybe the parota as well. Let’s see.

On till the 31st of July, Every Exotics is available both as a four course degustation and a-la-carte. At 899 for a four course degustation, it is ridiculously priced. A 5 star four course for under 1k? Awesomeness.

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Drama Chef, starring Mauro Ferrari

The stage was set. The curtains were raised. The hero was there with his tools. A rolling pin, a knife, an expression. No, it wasn’t the villain, it was the hero. The audience largely expats. I guess that is expected when the first day first show is with an Italian hero. A big burly hero. A people’s hero. You could ask for pasta. Any colour. Any stuffing. Any shape. Any size. Unlimited at about twelve hundred rupees. And you can watch him make it. The FDFS special though was a beautiful set dinner. Long before the pastas arrived, we were treated to some extra special dishes.

Drama Chef at Focaccia, Hyatt Regency is all about Mauro Ferrari. The no nonsense Italian chef who dishes out courses and courses of excellent food is now showing off the theatrics side of him. A crowd favourite, him rolling out pasta sheets, so smooth you could slide on them. And he tells you how to do it, to the minute details of milligrams.  For every 1 kg flour, you need to add…..well, go find out.

Priced at Rs. 2500 all inclusive, the opening night dinner had four appetisers, four pastas, a stunning dessert and the teetotaller version of Espresso Martini. What looked like mini profiteroles actually had mushrooms and truffle oil in them. What looked like Arancini was actually deep fried Bocconcini. What looked like Salmon was actually salmon. 🙂

Every pasta we had, had bite. It makes eating pasta outside so very difficult and, as Mauro explained, the bite comes from the slightly tweaked pasta recipe that you make with 1 kg flour and ……sorry, go find out. While the colours changed, the filling changed, the one thing that remained constant was the bite that every pasta had. Is this what is called the perfect al-dente?

The dessert served to us that night is probably the only thing that is not available a-la-carte and was an opening night special. A white chocolate puree stuffed in a merengue on a base of raspberry coulee and a frozen mango puree. Take the frozen mango stick and lick, while using the other hand to bite into the merengue. The dessert was stunning. We finished off with a shaken espresso martini sans alcohol. Chilled.

While the food was brilliant throughout, I love the fact that restaurants in Chennai are moving towards the opening night concept for food festivals. With drama, action, live cooking and special dishes. When theatres and operas can have opening nights, why not food? Mauro lived up to the expectation of being the drama queen and doled out dishes where every course was beautifully curated. If I had to nitpick, the broccoli pasta was a little underwhelming, but I am nitpicking.

On till the 31st of July, the Drama Chef is a great way to experience the best pastas in town, rolled, filled and cooked just right. Just right. Prices a-la-carte start at about Rs. 800, but the unlimited pastas at Rs. 1200 are a steal. A small bite of many pastas, all picked and chosen by you.

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Drama Chef, starring Mauro Ferrari

The stage was set. The curtains were raised. The hero was there with his tools. A rolling pin, a knife, an expression. No, it wasn’t the villain, it was the hero. The audience largely expats. I guess that is expected when the first day first show is with an Italian hero. A big burly hero. A people’s hero. You could ask for pasta. Any colour. Any stuffing. Any shape. Any size. Unlimited at about twelve hundred rupees. And you can watch him make it. The FDFS special though was a beautiful set dinner. Long before the pastas arrived, we were treated to some extra special dishes.

Drama Chef at Focaccia, Hyatt Regency is all about Mauro Ferrari. The no nonsense Italian chef who dishes out courses and courses of excellent food is now showing off the theatrics side of him. A crowd favourite, him rolling out pasta sheets, so smooth you could slide on them. And he tells you how to do it, to the minute details of milligrams.  For every 1 kg flour, you need to add…..well, go find out.

Priced at Rs. 2500 all inclusive, the opening night dinner had four appetisers, four pastas, a stunning dessert and the teetotaller version of Espresso Martini. What looked like mini profiteroles actually had mushrooms and truffle oil in them. What looked like Arancini was actually deep fried Bocconcini. What looked like Salmon was actually salmon. 🙂

Every pasta we had, had bite. It makes eating pasta outside so very difficult and, as Mauro explained, the bite comes from the slightly tweaked pasta recipe that you make with 1 kg flour and ……sorry, go find out. While the colours changed, the filling changed, the one thing that remained constant was the bite that every pasta had. Is this what is called the perfect al-dente?

The dessert served to us that night is probably the only thing that is not available a-la-carte and was an opening night special. A white chocolate puree stuffed in a merengue on a base of raspberry coulee and a frozen mango puree. Take the frozen mango stick and lick, while using the other hand to bite into the merengue. The dessert was stunning. We finished off with a shaken espresso martini sans alcohol. Chilled.

While the food was brilliant throughout, I love the fact that restaurants in Chennai are moving towards the opening night concept for food festivals. With drama, action, live cooking and special dishes. When theatres and operas can have opening nights, why not food? Mauro lived up to the expectation of being the drama queen and doled out dishes where every course was beautifully curated. If I had to nitpick, the broccoli pasta was a little underwhelming, but I am nitpicking.

On till the 31st of July, the Drama Chef is a great way to experience the best pastas in town, rolled, filled and cooked just right. Just right. Prices a-la-carte start at about Rs. 800, but the unlimited pastas at Rs. 1200 are a steal. A small bite of many pastas, all picked and chosen by you.

via Blogger http://ift.tt/2eJi6r1

Drama Chef, starring Mauro Ferrari

The stage was set. The curtains were raised. The hero was there with his tools. A rolling pin, a knife, an expression. No, it wasn’t the villain, it was the hero. The audience largely expats. I guess that is expected when the first day first show is with an Italian hero. A big burly hero. A people’s hero. You could ask for pasta. Any colour. Any stuffing. Any shape. Any size. Unlimited at about twelve hundred rupees. And you can watch him make it. The FDFS special though was a beautiful set dinner. Long before the pastas arrived, we were treated to some extra special dishes.

Drama Chef at Focaccia, Hyatt Regency is all about Mauro Ferrari. The no nonsense Italian chef who dishes out courses and courses of excellent food is now showing off the theatrics side of him. A crowd favourite, him rolling out pasta sheets, so smooth you could slide on them. And he tells you how to do it, to the minute details of milligrams.  For every 1 kg flour, you need to add…..well, go find out.

Priced at Rs. 2500 all inclusive, the opening night dinner had four appetisers, four pastas, a stunning dessert and the teetotaller version of Espresso Martini. What looked like mini profiteroles actually had mushrooms and truffle oil in them. What looked like Arancini was actually deep fried Bocconcini. What looked like Salmon was actually salmon. 🙂

Every pasta we had, had bite. It makes eating pasta outside so very difficult and, as Mauro explained, the bite comes from the slightly tweaked pasta recipe that you make with 1 kg flour and ……sorry, go find out. While the colours changed, the filling changed, the one thing that remained constant was the bite that every pasta had. Is this what is called the perfect al-dente?

The dessert served to us that night is probably the only thing that is not available a-la-carte and was an opening night special. A white chocolate puree stuffed in a merengue on a base of raspberry coulee and a frozen mango puree. Take the frozen mango stick and lick, while using the other hand to bite into the merengue. The dessert was stunning. We finished off with a shaken espresso martini sans alcohol. Chilled.

While the food was brilliant throughout, I love the fact that restaurants in Chennai are moving towards the opening night concept for food festivals. With drama, action, live cooking and special dishes. When theatres and operas can have opening nights, why not food? Mauro lived up to the expectation of being the drama queen and doled out dishes where every course was beautifully curated. If I had to nitpick, the broccoli pasta was a little underwhelming, but I am nitpicking.

On till the 31st of July, the Drama Chef is a great way to experience the best pastas in town, rolled, filled and cooked just right. Just right. Prices a-la-carte start at about Rs. 800, but the unlimited pastas at Rs. 1200 are a steal. A small bite of many pastas, all picked and chosen by you.

via Blogger http://ift.tt/2eJi6r1

Drama Chef, starring Mauro Ferrari

The stage was set. The curtains were raised. The hero was there with his tools. A rolling pin, a knife, an expression. No, it wasn’t the villain, it was the hero. The audience largely expats. I guess that is expected when the first day first show is with an Italian hero. A big burly hero. A people’s hero. You could ask for pasta. Any colour. Any stuffing. Any shape. Any size. Unlimited at about twelve hundred rupees. And you can watch him make it. The FDFS special though was a beautiful set dinner. Long before the pastas arrived, we were treated to some extra special dishes.

Drama Chef at Focaccia, Hyatt Regency is all about Mauro Ferrari. The no nonsense Italian chef who dishes out courses and courses of excellent food is now showing off the theatrics side of him. A crowd favourite, him rolling out pasta sheets, so smooth you could slide on them. And he tells you how to do it, to the minute details of milligrams.  For every 1 kg flour, you need to add…..well, go find out.

Priced at Rs. 2500 all inclusive, the opening night dinner had four appetisers, four pastas, a stunning dessert and the teetotaller version of Espresso Martini. What looked like mini profiteroles actually had mushrooms and truffle oil in them. What looked like Arancini was actually deep fried Bocconcini. What looked like Salmon was actually salmon. 🙂

Every pasta we had, had bite. It makes eating pasta outside so very difficult and, as Mauro explained, the bite comes from the slightly tweaked pasta recipe that you make with 1 kg flour and ……sorry, go find out. While the colours changed, the filling changed, the one thing that remained constant was the bite that every pasta had. Is this what is called the perfect al-dente?

The dessert served to us that night is probably the only thing that is not available a-la-carte and was an opening night special. A white chocolate puree stuffed in a merengue on a base of raspberry coulee and a frozen mango puree. Take the frozen mango stick and lick, while using the other hand to bite into the merengue. The dessert was stunning. We finished off with a shaken espresso martini sans alcohol. Chilled.

While the food was brilliant throughout, I love the fact that restaurants in Chennai are moving towards the opening night concept for food festivals. With drama, action, live cooking and special dishes. When theatres and operas can have opening nights, why not food? Mauro lived up to the expectation of being the drama queen and doled out dishes where every course was beautifully curated. If I had to nitpick, the broccoli pasta was a little underwhelming, but I am nitpicking.

On till the 31st of July, the Drama Chef is a great way to experience the best pastas in town, rolled, filled and cooked just right. Just right. Prices a-la-carte start at about Rs. 800, but the unlimited pastas at Rs. 1200 are a steal. A small bite of many pastas, all picked and chosen by you.

via Blogger http://ift.tt/2eJi6r1

Drama Chef, starring Mauro Ferrari

The stage was set. The curtains were raised. The hero was there with his tools. A rolling pin, a knife, an expression. No, it wasn’t the villain, it was the hero. The audience largely expats. I guess that is expected when the first day first show is with an Italian hero. A big burly hero. A people’s hero. You could ask for pasta. Any colour. Any stuffing. Any shape. Any size. Unlimited at about twelve hundred rupees. And you can watch him make it. The FDFS special though was a beautiful set dinner. Long before the pastas arrived, we were treated to some extra special dishes.

Drama Chef at Focaccia, Hyatt Regency is all about Mauro Ferrari. The no nonsense Italian chef who dishes out courses and courses of excellent food is now showing off the theatrics side of him. A crowd favourite, him rolling out pasta sheets, so smooth you could slide on them. And he tells you how to do it, to the minute details of milligrams.  For every 1 kg flour, you need to add…..well, go find out.

Priced at Rs. 2500 all inclusive, the opening night dinner had four appetisers, four pastas, a stunning dessert and the teetotaller version of Espresso Martini. What looked like mini profiteroles actually had mushrooms and truffle oil in them. What looked like Arancini was actually deep fried Bocconcini. What looked like Salmon was actually salmon. 🙂

Every pasta we had, had bite. It makes eating pasta outside so very difficult and, as Mauro explained, the bite comes from the slightly tweaked pasta recipe that you make with 1 kg flour and ……sorry, go find out. While the colours changed, the filling changed, the one thing that remained constant was the bite that every pasta had. Is this what is called the perfect al-dente?

The dessert served to us that night is probably the only thing that is not available a-la-carte and was an opening night special. A white chocolate puree stuffed in a merengue on a base of raspberry coulee and a frozen mango puree. Take the frozen mango stick and lick, while using the other hand to bite into the merengue. The dessert was stunning. We finished off with a shaken espresso martini sans alcohol. Chilled.

While the food was brilliant throughout, I love the fact that restaurants in Chennai are moving towards the opening night concept for food festivals. With drama, action, live cooking and special dishes. When theatres and operas can have opening nights, why not food? Mauro lived up to the expectation of being the drama queen and doled out dishes where every course was beautifully curated. If I had to nitpick, the broccoli pasta was a little underwhelming, but I am nitpicking.

On till the 31st of July, the Drama Chef is a great way to experience the best pastas in town, rolled, filled and cooked just right. Just right. Prices a-la-carte start at about Rs. 800, but the unlimited pastas at Rs. 1200 are a steal. A small bite of many pastas, all picked and chosen by you.

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