Gourmet Ice and the story of the 'ice entrepreneur'

Everything is not done before, and there is always scope for invention/improvement.

Molecular gastronomy, cooking with nitrogen and now this. To know more, click here.

Rajma pakode (Red Kidney bean fritters)

What you would need:

For the fritters:
Rajma (red kidney beans), soaked overnight- 2 cups
Onion - 3 large
Green chillies - 2 to 3 big sized
Ginger - 1 inch
Almonds - 10
salt to taste
Coriander leaves - 1 small bunch
Vegetable oil for deep frying the fritters (You can use Olive oil as well)

For the dip:
Yogurt - 1 cup
Processed cheese - 2 tbsp
Capsicum (finely diced) -for garnish

Prep:
For the fritters:
Coarsely grind the soaked kidney beans, mix in finely chopped onions, fresh chopped coriander leaves, ground chillies, ginger, salt and coarsely ground almond.

Heat the oil in a deep pan, and deep fry the fist sized flat fritters made of the above batter.

For the dip:
Heat the cheese in a microwave oven for 20 seconds till melted, quickly blend in the yogurt, whisking to avoid cheese lumps. Garnish with chopped capsicum.

Serve the fritters hot with the dip.

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Quick and easy, this snack is a welcome break from the traditional chilly/onion fritters.

Nutty Chicken

What you would need:
A mix of Walnuts, Almonds, Cashew nuts - 1/2 cup (Blanched, skin removed and ground coarsely, you can use a single variety as well)
Chicken - 400 grams
Ginger paste - 1 tbsp
Garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Cumin - 1 tsp
Yogurt - 1/4 cup
Onion - 1 medium sized ( finely chopped)
Tomato puree - 4 tbsp
Chilly powder - 1 tsp ( only if you like the curry hot, else skip this)
Green chillies - 4 no's
Garam masala - 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Fresh cream - 2
Salt to taste
Vegetable oil for tempering (You can use Olive oil as well)

Prep:
Marinate the chicken for about half and hour in yogurt along with salt, cumin powder and half the garlic and ginger paste.

Heat oil, saute the onions till translucent, add the tomato puree, green chillies, coriander powder and cook till aromatic and lightly brown. Blend in the chilly powder.

Add the chicken and allow to cook on medium flam for 10 minutes. Add the nuts and about 1 cup of water (if you have stock, that works great too). Cook for another 10 minutes with occasional stirring. When the chicken is almost done, stir in the fresh cream and garam masala, then cook for 2 minutes with a lid on the pan.

Garnish with blanched and peeled nuts. Serve hot with rice or roti (bread).

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Cream, yogurt and nuts make this dish rich and extremely delicious. :) .

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.