Eating Out - Cafe Coffee day Lounge

Props to Cafe Coffee Day for changing it a bit and bringing in 'The Lounge'.

Refreshing, tasteful and an overall pleasing first impression. Finer interiors, better music and a larger variety to choose from.

We tried the Siphon ( which is strong coffee, minus milk and sugar and is served with dates for the sweetness - I felt a craving for tea with cherries when this was brought in : ), Lounge Frappe ( this was a little weak in flavour, but was a satisfying tall glass of smooth cold coffee ), and the veggie nuggets with mint chutney.

All in all, much prefer this to the regular CCD, I just hope that in trying to achieve a lot I hope it does not end up with a identity crisis - confused borderline lounge/bistro/coffee shop :) ??

Veggie Nuggets - the mint chutney was divine.

Siphon - As promised a pleasure to the senses.

P.S: The Lounge also allows you to customize your sandwiches and pizzas- you can choose the bread, filling and spreads you want in a order slip and pass it to the chef.

Crunch and Syrup

Pancake sandwich with diced apple filling, dash of maple syrup topped with a drizzle of flavoured powdered sugar **. Breakfast today :D.

** Flavoured powdered sugar :

You would need :

Roasted Chana Dal (roasted bengal gram)- 1/2 cup

Sugar - 4 tablespoons

Elaichi (Cardamom)- 1 0r 2 for fragrance

Prep :

Grind all ingrediants to a smooth flowing powder. Sprinkle on the hot pancakes to get a nutty sugary taste. :)

You can store the left over powder in a air tight container for future use.

Ragi Rotti

Ragi Rotti a delicious succulent chewy bread made of Ragi (Finger Millet) is perfect for a snack or even a meal.

Seen in the picture this very traditional dish is served with another Andhra speciality - 'Allam pacchadi' or ginger pickle.

Personally I love to eat the ragi rotti with fresh curd, potato curry and dal :). You can store ragi rotti for couple of weeks to a month, which makes it the perfect 'back up food' :).

For the recipe of this very special dish, do mail me at jchaitanyareddy@gmail.com .

We take breakfast very seriously

Healthy, nutritious, filling and packed with energy. If there is a contest for families that take their morning meal seriously, mine would end up in the top.

Breakfast today was 'Grilled Chicken' Sandwich NOT Grilled 'Chicken Sandwich' :D.


What you would need:
Grilled Chicken ( you can buy this off the counter in many restaurants, if you wish to make your own you will need to marinate chicken in curd, chilli powder, salt and grill this on slow heat with constant application of butter) - cut into bite size
Fresh baked bread
Onions - Finely chopped **
Tomatoes - Finely chopped
Green Chillies - Finely chopped
Fresh coriander leaves - finely chopped
Butter
Cheese slices ( You can use grated cheese of your choice as well)
Pepper

Prep:
Apply butter on one side of the bread, put the cheese slice over this.
Then put layers of chicken, onion , tomoatoes, green chillies and corainder leaves. Sprinkle some pepper
Butter another slice of bread and cover the sandwich.

You can grill, toast or pan toast this sandwich. I made the pan toasted version today and it was delicious :) . Enjoy with a bit of ketchup !!

** Do not restrict your sandwich to these vegetables, use what you have at home, thin slices of mushroom, carrots capsicum etc would make this sandwich even better.

Keeping it simple

Lunch Today - Dal, dahi raita, bhindi masala and roties.

Planning for lunch on a working day can be done easily if you pick basic, simple dishes for the menu. Try and complete as much prep work the night before so the morning effort goes into adding the finishing touches.

Desi Tadka Pasta

My grandmother more often than not complains about how I keep bombarding her with flavours and ingredients for which she has not yet acquired the taste :). Hence, this time I tried a desi spin on making pasta using local ingredients - my granny loved the results and so did the rest of the family including me :).

So here goes, (the recipe makes enough to serve 3 people ):

What you would need:

- Ribbon Pasta - 3 to 4 fistfuls
- Mixed vegetables (cut in julienne style) - 6 to 8 cups
(I love my pasta loaded with veggies and for this recipe, I used potatoes, cabbage, spring onions, mushrooms, red onion, tomatoes, beans, green chillies and asparagus)
-Olive Oil
-Roasted Coriander and khus khus ground to powder
-Tomato puree
-2 cloves garlic
-Salt to taste

Prep :

For the pasta: cook the ribbon pasta in boiling water with a dash of olive oil and some salt. Drain, run under cold water and set aside.

For the Vegetables: Heat oil, add garlic and cook till light brown ad the onion and toss occasionally till translucent. Now add the vegetables that take longer to cook foll wed by the ones that take lesser time. Stir in the tomato puree, ground powder and little salt. ( As I like my veggies to be crunchy the cooking of the vegetables is very stir-fry style, also be careful on how much the salt you add at this stage as the pasta already has been infused with the same during the boiling)

Once the vegetables long enough to suit your taste, add these to the pasta and garnish with a drizzle of grated cheese.

Do try and let me know how it works, I would also be really glad to hear about any variations that you may have tried.

Cheers!!

Ridge Gourd Chutney

Made this tangy, spicy chutney as part of lunch today - great side accompaniment to the meal.

What you would need:
Ridge Gourd - 2 large
Mustard and Cumin seeds - 1/2 teaspoon each
Green Chilies - 3
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Asafetida - Pinch
Roasted chickpeas - 2 Tbsp
Black split gram (Urad Dal) - 2 Tbsp
Refined Oil (I ran out of this so used Olive oil instead)
Tamarind Pulp - 1/2 cup (To get this soak a marble sized tamarind in water and extract pulp)
Salt to taste

Prep:
Heat Oil, add the mustard and cumin seeds, when they begin popping add the roasted chickpeas and black split gram. Once all these ingredients take a golden hue, add the chopped ridge gourd and turmeric. Cover with a lid and cook in low flame till the gourd is cooked. (You will need to periodically stir to ensure uniform cooking).

Once the gourd is cooked, turn off the heat and sprinkle salt to taste and mix, allow this to cool.
Grind the cooled cooked gourd along with the tamarind pulp.

The super yummy and tangy ridge gourd chutney is ready :). I like to eat this with rice, rotis and dosa's.

Many variations of the same can be tried:
1. Add a small eggplant chopped along with the ridge gourd while cooking
2. Add tomatoes while cooking the gourd
3. Replace the green chilies with dry red ones
4. Roasted peanuts when added while grinding the veggies also renders a unique taste

Try the basic recipe and do share if you tried any twist in it :). Cheers.

War of the Instant Noodles

First there was noodles, then along came smoodles and now we have foodles. The naming is possibly where the differentiation against Maggie noodles and new entrant Horlicks foodles* ends.

Foodles tastes just like Maggi noodles ( and possibly better, the quantity of the spice mix looked a little more than in the Maggi packs – which seems to lend a richer taste).

The verdict : When Maggie noodles and Horlicks Smoodles are so close in taste, texture, quantity and pricing I would not bother much about which to pick. Although I really like the aroma that comes only from cooking Maggi noodles .

* Horlicks smoodles claims to be a a multi grain noodle which comes with multi-vitamin enriched spice mix. Maggie has also being playing on the health angle by promoting its product as a healthy snack with its now popular tag line “Taste bhi Health bhi”.

Also did you know that there is a World Instant Noodles association?