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Friday 27 April 2018

Kebabs and Kormas – A Royal Repast!


Zeera, Conrad-Pune, is hosting a Kebabs and Kormas festival. I was supposed to attend the festival on the very first day but unfortunately that was not to be. Last evening I finally got around to visiting it. 


This festival is conducted by their Chef Pavan Kumar Chennam who has recently joined Conrad as Executive Chef. He had already stolen our hearts with the Parsi Food Festival, the one he conducted with Chef Anahita Gustaspi, and we were waiting to see what else he had in store for us. Pavan is one of the lucky few who has had the opportunity to work under Chef Imtiaz Qureshi (a chef who needs no introduction). When Chef Imtiaz Qureshi wanted a hundred and twenty of his recipes archived, he placed his trust in Chef Pavan to tackle this mammoth task. Having known of Chef Pavan’s culinary journey, I was sure the evening would be delightfully delicious!


We chose the non-vegetarian menu but we began our meal with one vegetarian kebab that the chef insisted we try; Nilofari Seekh. The seekh was made of lotus stems spiced with peppercorns, yellow chili powder and was fried crisp. Served with yum green chutney this kebab was excellent! I am so glad we tried this.


The non-veg kebabs served were Murgh Resha Kebab, Silbatte Ki Shammi, Murgh Kasturi, Chaamp Burrah and Tadfada Jhinga. 


The Murgh Resha Kebab was threaded chicken flavoured with curry leaves and green chilies, added to a smooth thick white sauce (quite like Russian kebabs), coated with sevai and deep fried. The flavour of curry leaves came through beautifully and yet it did not overpower. 


The mutton for the Silbatte Ki Shammi was minced on the silbatta (grinding stone) and tiny bits of onions, chilies and coriander were added to give it slight bite. We lost count of how many we polished off. *greedy grin* 


The Murgh Kasturi was a tikka mildly flavoured with kasuri methi and black pepper, coated with silken egg. They hadn’t gone overboard with the spices which is why the flavours of pepper and kasuri methi shone through. 


The Chaamp Burrah was robust and bold. It was perfectly tandoor’d with regard to flavour and texture. Not many people get the chaamp right, but they sure did! 


Tadfada Jhinga was batter fried Koliwada style and flavoured with curry leaves. Please don’t ask me how many I ate. They were stellar! 


The chef was kind enough to send us a full Tandoori Ajwaini Pomfret. It was perfectly done and flaked beautifully at the slightest touch of my fork.


For mains, we were served Koh-E-Awadh, Murgh Pista Korma, Kacchi Gosht Ki Biryani, Kaali Dal Sufiyana, Hare Masale Ka Kheema. 


The Koh-E-Awadh were lamb shanks in a smooth gravy spiced with ‘garam masala’. The quality of mutton used was excellent and the slow-cooked shanks were a melt in the mouth delight! 


The Murgh Pista Korma was a silken light green korma and for me, it was the star of the evening with regard to the main course. I simply could not stop sipping on the korma gravy. Sigh! 


The Hare Masale Ka Kheema was a dry preparation and as the name suggests was flavoured with various greens (mint, dill, coriander, green chilies and a bit of methi).


The Kaali Dal Sufiyana was yummy and the garnish of dill leaves and ghee felt amazing on the palate. 


Lastly, we were served Kacchi Gosht Ki Biryani. This is the kind of biryani I love. It was a yakhni style biryani, cooked in mutton stock. Minimal in spice but so very high in flavour! I was quite full by the time they served biryani and barely ate one piece of mutton from it but I could not stop eating that flavourful rice. This was a fabulous biryani!


They served us three desserts: Gulab Ki Thandi Kheer, Zauk-E-Shahi and Lehsun Ka Halwa. 


The Gulab ki Thandi Kheer was an elegant cold rice kheer. A simple preparation; I could find no fault with the flavours. 


The other two desserts, though, blew me away. The Zauk-E-Shahi were tiny gulab jamuns in thick slow boiled milk (rabdi); this was then gently baked. I was expecting it to be overly sweet but it was not so, it was perfect! 


As for the Lehsun Ki Kheer I have been yearning to try this for years and what better place to have it at, in Pune, than Zeera? The base of the kheer was similar to that of the Kada Prasad made from wheat flour. The hint of lehsun (garlic) in the sweet dish was subtle and spot on. It teased my olfactory senses without over powering my palate. I loved it!


The menu for this festival was well thought out and perfectly executed. Each and every dish was absolutely delish! This festival is on at Zeera (Conrad-Pune) until Saturday, April 28, 2018 and is available 7 PM onwards. This unlimited menu is priced at 1800 + taxes. Well worth the money. We were totally blown away with Chef Pavan’s knowledge of this particular cuisine and the outstanding food his team served us. With absolute honesty I have to say, Chef Pavan Kumar Chennam has done Chef Imtiaz Qureshi proud!

Where: Zeera-Conrad, Mangaldas Road, Pune
Call: 020 67456745
Until: Saturday, April 28, 2018
Timings: 7 PM onwards

A few more photographs...















Saturday 21 April 2018

Aloo Kheema


I rarely cook these days but I recently happened to come across this recipe. The photograph looked so amazing (and the recipe, too, made sense) that I decided to give up my sabbatical for a day and venture into the kitchen. I have added a few ingredients as I prefer kheema to be a tad robust but other than that this recipe belongs to my dear friend, Farida. 

Ingredients:

1 kilo mutton mince (kheema), washed in a sieve
6 large onions, finely chopped
4 green chillies, finely chopped
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
200 ml tomato puree (1 small tetra pack)
3 tomatoes, liquefied in a mixer (or grated – skin discarded)
2 tablespoons ginger-garlic paste
3 teaspoons red chilli powder (I used MDH Deghi Mirch powder)
2 teaspoons red chilli/cumin/garlic paste (I used Aatash brand)
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
2 teaspoons coriander-cumin powder
1 teaspoon Parsi Sambhar masala (optional)
6 medium sized potatoes cubed
2 cardamoms
1 inch piece cinnamon
8 black peppercorn
Salt to taste
Oil, use sparingly or liberally (I, of course, used it liberally)
A handful of coriander leaves, finely chopped

Method:

  1. Heat oil in a cooker. Splutter the cumin seeds. 
  2. Add onions, cinnamon, cardamoms and peppercorns; fry till onions are golden brown. 
  3. Add ginger-garlic paste and red chilli/cumin/garlic paste. Sauté for a few seconds.

  4. Add powdered spices and sauté. Do not allow the spices to burn.

  5. Add the grated/ground tomatoes and the tomato puree and cook till the raw smell of tomatoes is no longer evident and oil separates.

  6. Add the mutton mince and cook until it uniformly comes together with the masala and the colour of the kheema/mince gets a tad darker.

  7. Add the cubed potatoes and cook for a minute. 
  8. Add salt and a glass of water. Close the lid of the cooker. 
  9. Cook for three whistles, lower flame and continue cooking for 2 minutes. 
  10. Allow the cooker to cool down. When cool, open the cooker check the water content and, if need be, simmer if you wish to reduce the water content.

  11. Check for seasoning and sprinkle with chopped coriander leaves. (I added coriander leaves while simmer the kheema to adjust the water content as mum doesn’t like raw coriander sprinkled on her food. Sigh!!) 
  12. Serve with ladi pau, brun pau or chapattis.

Chef’s Notes:
  1. The ingredients added by me that aren’t in the original recipe are, cumin seeds, green chillies, Coriander-cumin powder, Parsi Sambhar masala, peppercorns, cinnamon, cardamom and coriander leaves. 
  2. I have also increased the quantity of oil and chilli powder to suit my taste buds. I refuse to cook dishes like kheema in minimal oil. To me that is sacrilege. *evil grin* 
  3. Please do not let the dry spices burn when sautéing them. If need me add a wee bit of liquefied or grated tomato to help it along. 
  4. The water content added to the kheema may be adjusted depending on whether you wish to have the Aloo Kheema with rice or pau/chapattis. 
  5. In the original recipe the potatoes are cubed and fried. While I did use ample oil to cook the kheema, I decided to cook the potatoes with the kheema and refrained from frying them. Feel free to fry them and add them to the kheema while serving if you so wish. 
  6. Please do not tell me it Qeema or Keema. We Bawas (Parsi’s) say Kheema so Kheema it is. Deal with it! :P 
  7. You may share the direct blog-link of the recipe/s but do NOT publish my recipes and my photographs on any blog-site or website without my explicit consent, or attempt to pass off any recipe/s as your own. You will be held accountable for plagiarism. For this recipe, the credit for the base recipe goes to Farida Ankleshwaria.

Friday 13 April 2018

A Stellar Gujarati Thali - Hotel Chandralok - Lonavala


I rarely write full reviews these days but when I encounter places that serves me a meal that warm the cockles of my Bawi heart, I cannot help but pen a full review. 

Sometime last year Priyus (Priyadarshini) dragged my big, fat ass all the way from Wanowrie to Chinchwad to eat Dal Battis at Baba Ramdev Dhaba. I'm not as big a fan of the stuff but I love trying out new places hence happily gave in. At the time I thought that was the furthest i had travelled, merely to eat a meal; a vegetarian meal at that (yes, I'm a hardcore carnivore). Little did i know at the time that I'd be travelling even further for yet another vegetarian meal.

A couple of days ago Priyus mention her visits to Lonavala. On both visits she ate a Gujarati thali at Hotel Chandralok (with excellent unlimited aam ras). Once told about this how could i resist. Plans were made and finally put into action this morning. We drove to Lonavala and back for this fabulous thali.

Beginning from a bunch of dishes scattered at 6 o'clock position and moving left to right the thali consisted of.. Batata Wada (superb), Patrel/Patra (no great shakes), Veg Sesame Toast (so darn good it would put good restaurants to shame) Bhindi (so, so, so good), Lobia (very good), Aloo Rassa (excellent), mixed veg (did not touch.. too vegetarian for my liking 🤪), sweet Gujarati Dal (yummm), spicy Dal (very nicely made but I'm always partial to sweet Gujarati dal toh ismein bechari spicy dal ka kya kasoor), sweet Gujarati Kadi (loveddddd it), Aam Ras (please, please don't ask me how many helpings i had, i'd be too bloody embarrassed to tell ya.. just know it was bloody STELLAR) and lastly the mixed fruit custard (nahiiiiiiiiiiii, except for mangoes and bananas mein koi bhi fruit ko haath aur muh nahi lagaungi). They also served us taak, papads, puris, phulkas, bhakri, rice and khichdee (drizzled with pure ghee.. sigh! ).

The price of each thali was 400 buckaroos. Effin' VFM! The service was superb too. Prompt, efficient and yet when we told them to slow down they did just that. I'm going to totally ignore the mediocre patrel/ patra and say.. All in all, this meal deserves a hearty 5 on 5 rating. Psssst... yes, though vegetarian, I'm definitely going back before the mango season ends. Give it a try even if you have to travel all the way from Pune. It's so worth the trip.

Address: Near Bus Stand & Post Office, Opposite Mumbai-Pune National Highway, Lonavala, Pune
Tel: 02114 272294 / 02114 273939

Hotel Chandralok Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato