Mad about Middle Eastern food?

Try Nomad. It may not be that bad...an idea

Who doesn’t love eating out? I love it, though I could perhaps not do it on a daily basis. Being a journalist, writing a few paragraphs  by way of a restaurant review is hardly an issue. But not being a journalist on the gourmet beat, what I invariably do is place the order, and attack the food like it were last meal! For not only has one built up an appetite before going to X place for a meal or a snack, but also got there really hungry!

Can I be faulted for forgetting to click pictures of the entrance or the décor or the food as it is presented, or the menu card etc? More so since it is not part of a paid assignment, in which case there will be a photographer doing his job, while the reporter checked out the rest.

And so it was that when  friend Sati and I went to  Cafe Nomad, a Chandigarh  restaurant that exclusively served Middle Eastern/Mediterranean food.

I had been there a few years ago, enjoyed the food, the décor and the live band. The band was not visible, and we were told that  they had discontinued it almost a couple of years ago. Just as well, considering there were times when very few people heard or cheered  them , particularly on weekdays.

Sandwich of the day

What attracted my attention was the huge, wood fired  stone- oven built the way you see in travel and food shows covering the Mediterranean.


That was there, but I could not see the fire, nor the embers. Given the falling temperatures, it would made the place very warm and cosy, particularly because it is not huge space.  The menu  seemed more or less the same.

We chose a dish from the Mezze section—guided by our earlier experience that it was sufficient to serve as a meal. But since we were very hungry, we also ordered their sandwich of the day. And cappuccino it was to wash it all with. Small size pita bread came with all orders in the Mezze (platter/snack) section.

As I said earlier, I do not recall the name of the mezze item. Suffice it to say, it was an extremely greasy but far less girth than a regular samosa. Made of a reasonably thin sheet of maida—not the phylo sheets used in Europe/Middle Eas--, it was filled with a bit of mozzarella—good for our health considering it was indeed very little—and folded like a samosa and deep friend. The excess oil could have been papered out. They were served with a small helping of muhammura, that had no trace of pomogrenate, something I figured instantly last time. The pickled as well as sauted vegetables to go with it, was …well..But hungry we lapped it up!

The other dish was the sandwich of the day. Despite the menu stating that everyting is cooked /grilled/baked in the wood fired oven, I missed the scent of wood!

The stuffing—mushrooms and pickled jalepenos and the cappuccino -- great taste and grater presentation--however made up for that.

I do have some pictures that I clicked using my very ordinary cell phone, with available light.

Never having eaten Middle Eastern food in the Middle East, I can’t  speak about the authenticity. And ingredients etc are anyway   always adapted to suit the local palate, the global Indian notwithstanding. I have had Lebanese etc in Pahar Ganj eateries, and at times backpacking Middle Easterners have shared their recipe/taught the Nepali cooks, or even make them. This was decidedly better than the ME fare at, say  the famed Amar Bakery there !

On a Sunday when the whole town was out shopping, the place should have been packed, in fact bursting out of its seams. But  a couple of people trooped in  a little after us, and a family of two plus three came a bit later. It is an extremely popular place in the city mind you !

Would I recommend this? Yes, I would.

 Coordinates below:

(Photo grab from the Menu of Backpackers, the more popular  sister concern ) 

Makhana Kheer. Lotus seeds & Rice Pudding

Auspicious and Delicious!

Makhana ki kheer

The first time I  set eyes on “makhana” –some call it lotus seeds—was when I was gifted some “Prasad” by friends who had prayed at Vaishnodevi's feet, in Jammu & Kashmir.

It was there, round, light, sometimes like a white, slightly spotted ,dehydrated mushroom, sometimes like a ball of pith. It stood out in the midst of whole walnuts, dried apple slices, raisins, dry dates, almonds, and mishri—candied sugar or kalkandu in Tamil—which together form the material takeaway from Mata ki Darbar.

The next time I saw the “makhana” was again with dry fruits, but in a basket that  a bride’s family  gifted to the groom’s at an engagement. It was clearly auspicious, even if mysterious.

And then I saw sackfulls of lotus seeds at  Khari Baoli in Chandni Chowk where endless rows of traders sell dry fruits—you name it, and it is there.

Makha, Lotus Seeds

Recently, my sister-in-law’s daughter, Kritika, made it as a special dish for me—also her maiden attempt in the kitchen! She made an elaborate and delicious paneer-makhana, throwing in dollops of ghee, cream, and a paste of almonds-khuskhus-cashewnuts. The thought of it makes me want some of that dish for lunch that is an hour away, but when I bought makhana to gift to my prospective “sambandhi”, I kept some back, and made makhana-kheer, another delicacy using the lotus seeds. Jains, I am told, make this almost regularly.

It is really an add-on to the regular kheer.

Ingredients:

Makhana-1 cup

Rice-2 tablespoons

Milk-1 litre

Cardamom-three or four

Honey- a little bit

Raisins—a handful

Ghee-1 teaspoon

Cooking time: 45 minutes

Halve the makhanas, roast them, and make plain rice cheer

Break the bigger makhanas into halves, roast them in the ghee, and keep aside. Bring the milk to boil , with the cardamom, in a hard bottomed, non-stick pan, and add the washed rice. Let it simmer for about half an hour, until it looks like a well-blended pudding—stirring all the while. Now add the roasted makhana, and simmer for another five minutes.

Take it off the gas, and cool a bit.

You may now add half a cup of sugar. But I used honey and raisins to sweeten the makhana kheer.

Enjoy !

Lotus seed Pudding

Green Pepper Pickle & breathing Mylapore air!

Like Emeralds in the Sea!

Green Pepper, the spice "they" came to India for!

Want to soak in the spirit of Tamil Nadu, then simply soak in the atmosphere around the Kapalishwar Temple in Mylapore, “Tank” for the locals, because of the huge square water tank with steps leading down. It is the heart of the city, and there is something about the place that has a huge attraction for me. Every visit to Chennai, includes at least one to Mylapore. Often more. And there is always there is something new that I find in the place. And though I know it may not be easy to live there, I wish I could… such a hustle and bustle of business and spirituality, of the mundane and the divine. It encapsules life like nothing else does. Some of the stores have remained, for ages, unchanged. Time in fact stands still even as the atmosphere is dynamic, effervescent.

I always stop to buy coffee beans at Leo’s. And some little stuff at Vijaya Stores,where there is every dress and accessory that Hindu gods may want. This is where women converge to shop for their "navaratri " requirements.

I buy a  lot more from Ambika stores in the corner. Once known only for Appalams, now it has everything a South Indian kitchen would need, in terms of ingredients.

And I  never come back without one of the stainless steel vessels I can do without. I have tender coconut, and  the raw banana bajji outside the Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan. 

I peep into the Rasi Silks just to feast on the stuff, and also admire every piece of art and craft that Rasi has in a tiny, traditional house, restored a bit odd , in the shadow of the tall  and colourful gopuram of the temple.

The fragrance of fresh jasmine and desi roja raft in the air, alongside that of freshly roasted coffee, sambar and spices, supari and turmeric...all blending peacefully with each other.

I invariably go back home with some odd vegetables, they are fresh and lovely. This time it was green pepper, to pickle,that I decided to buy. It is what dries into what the world knows as black pepper.

 They look like pearl shaped emeralds, jewels indeed-- bunched beautifully, like grapes, perhaps with more detailed crafting. 

I am surprised fashionistas haven't strung the bunches to make an exotic, original and organic necklace -- it is that beautiful. 

No wonder the spice is a treasure exported from India. I missed it on a trip to Kochi because it was not in season.

 The women selling it, also sell everything else that goes into it-- lemon and ginger primarily. 

It is simple to make.

Wash and drain off water. Cut as many lemons  as you please, and ginger if you have. I used the lovely, huge, seedless and juicy lemons that I harvested from my  five-year old lime tree  in Chandigarh.

Toss them all in a clean dry glass jar, add four tablespoons of salt for four cups of the pickling material, top it with fresh lime juice.

 Rest the jar in the fridge for a few days, and it is ready !

Pickled Green Pepper or Kurumilagai

We eat it with curd rice, but toss some on a salad, and it will be out of this world!

Street Food & Improvised Oven

Design Sense: India's pride, the world's envy

Oven design

The “nankathaiwalas” of Delhi are pretty well known, and popular. On their carts, using their  improvised ovens,  generally they bake fresh, crisp “nankathais”—cookies if you will—on the spot. If you happen to bump into one of them before 2 pm, you can see them make the cookies, using no more than a broken end  of a serving spoon (karhchi) as a mould, and the mix that they have prepared and brought in tins that would have held 16 litres of  oil or vanaspati. The 16-litres tins themselves are called “pipa” !

The rest of the day, they sell the kathais that are ready and kept. One of the boys selling them told me that people rarely have the patience or time to see them being made. They are content to hurriedly buy the quantity they want, and move on. But yes, they want to taste and see if the kathais are warm and crisp from the outside, and soft inside. So, the oven is “on” all day.

I was surprised to discover that there is nothing uniform about these kathaiwalas’ ovens. Before I began this blog, and started clicking pictures, I had seen one wherein he used two tawas, a frying pan that had seen better days, and two thirds of the cylindrical part of tin cans in which Dalda, a popular brand of vegetable fat, used to be sold.

But I "borrowed " a picture of one guy using a tin, but not of Dalda :(  .

Tin-based "oven"

  The above picture is thanks to Chowder Singh

Then I noticed one nankathaiwala, whose “oven” was made of an old tyre  and hubcup, and I posted  some pictures .

Tyre-based "oven"

Yesterday, my husband saw one nankathaiwala, whose oven design left us totally impressed.  It looks like a chimney…and it looks like the old copper bath water heater, a hamaam. It also looks a bit like the “sigris” of Himachal. And possibly like an unpainted  post box, the kind used in India, but chopped off from the bottom.

Take a look… starting from the one right on top.. if only for the design sense that has gone into it.

Tandoori Soyachops, dry or in gravy

Rich in protein, the vegetarian  chicken

Soyachops, the vegetarian "tandoori chicken" !

Ask  any old resident of Chandigarh the name of a veg dhaba that serves the best food, and most you are most likely to hear the name of Swaran Dhaba in Sector 30.

It  was exactly the way my Balu Uncle and Radhu Aunty described it. Your uncle would rather eat there everyday if he could, she would say. My stomach is aching because I haven’t eaten there all these days, he would say. 

On my first visit, I learnt what was special about a tiny place operating from two booths in a lowly market. The food. Fresh as fresh can be, and unmatched taste. The menu was limited then, 35 years ago. It is unchanged even now !

It was always a bit pricey for  the dhaba food. But those who ate once did not mind that and returned and returned and returned. They also recommended the place. So much so that even 30 years ago, if one did not reach latest by 1 in the afternoon, there would be no food left. And always one has to wait for a while to get a seat ! Bournville is not the only edible thing that has to be earned.

Uncooked Soyachops

What reminded me about Swarn dhaba as I write this post, is the fact that on Tuesdays when many places , this one included, don’t cook non-veg, they make what is known as Soyachops, spelt by many as Soyachaps. 

The idea of protein rich soya wound around the stick of a stick ice-cream, and shaped to look like the leg of a chicken/broiler, must have had its origins in Punjab. But Swaran Dhaba cooked it real rich, full of cashew nutes and raisins, apart from a whole lot of other masalas, obviously the “karchi “ (long ladle) had been “chalaoed”—moved around—quite a bit to make the gravy that delectable. If one wants that once in a week dish, one has to reach there in very good time!

Last week I saw the soyachaps  soaked in water, and kept next to the huge chunks of cottage cheese at  the Haryana Paneer Bhandar in Chandni Chowk. I bought it, and decided to make it tasty without making it as rich as what Swaran Dhaba did.

Soyachops in marinade

In a quarter kilo, there were seven pieces, that I marinated  together, but cooked in two different ways. One was a plain tawa-fried soyachops, and the other tandoori soyachops in tomato-onion gravy.

Here goes the list of ingredients and the process:

For the marinade:

Yoghurt-1 cup

Ginger-1 inch piece

Garlic-4 pods

Pepper corns- a few

Salt-to taste

A foil bit gives it a handle

Grind the above fine in a blender, dip each soyachop into this sauce, till they are coated fully, and arrange in a container. 

Pour the leftover marinade over the chops and refrigerate overnight.

Before cooking, wrap the “ice-cream stick” portion not covered with soya, with aluminium foil so that it does not burn. Do that will all the soyachaps.

For the gravy:

Vegetables for gravy

Onion-1 large, chopped

Tomato-1,chopped

Capsicum-1,chopped

Green chillies-1 chopped fine

Ginger- Half inch, chopped fine

Salt to taste

Red chilli powder-1 teaspoon

Vegetable oil-3 teaspoons

‘

Tawa fried soyachops

METHOD:

FOR DRY  TAWA-FRIED CHOPS

Heat a  tawa, add oil all around. When it smokes, place three chops in the centre of the tawa, and drizzle oil over. Gently turn the chops around after every three minutes, till they are golden and crisp.

Take them off on to a serving plate, and have with green chutney and slices of onions.

Gravy in the making

FOR THE CHOPS IN GRAVY

Heat some oil in a frying pan, and add the onions, ginger, green chillies, capsicum and tomatos in that order.

 Add salt and red chilly powder. Stir well. 

When the tomatoes look cooked and musy, pour the marinade in the container, into the pan, stir well. 

Tandoori soyachops

Meanwhile, grill the marinated chops with the foil handles, in an electric oven or over a gas /charcoal tandoor or BBQ . 

Take care to turn them around, so that they are uniformly cooked.

When the gravy is almost ready, gently place the  grilled chops into this gravy. 

Tandoori Soyachops  simmering in a light gravy

Stir once, so that all the chops are coated. Let them simmer for a few minutes, till the gravy has thickened such that the chops are all coated with it.

Serve by itself, as a snack. Or with rotis, as a side.

My husband looked at them very reluctantly, because they looked like kalami kababs or chicken legs. But when he ate one, he asked for more. “ I wish they had shaped it differently” was his comment.

But I know many like it because they are shaped like chicken legs !

A protein rich wholesome meal. Totally vegetarian