DELHI food!

GUYS!
   Just came back from Delhi and the first thing I want to tell you is 'the food in Delhi is to fall in LOVE with'!
I managed to eat from road side dhabas to an upmarket 69 year old restaurant in connaught place and was completely left awestruck!

   the simple yet delicious aloo paratha's to the more intricate kebabs that were on offer, I enjoyed everything that was put on my plate to eat!

MOST IMPORTANTLY...got a glimpse into the kitchen at BUKHARA -ITC Maurya!!:))))))) it was just after lunch service...the restaurant was fairly empty and yet..the tandoors were HOT as hell..waiting to cook those delicious kebabs!

the last thing I ate was a chocolate pan ! I heard they even sell a 'chuski pan' ( with flavoured shaved ice)! thats the first thing for my next visit.

 Extensive wide roads to travel on, easy getting around in a metro...overpaying rickshaw wallas everytime and getting value for money on food! and a small glimpse of the INDIA gate and all new sports facilities under lights....

ahhhhh
DELHI..your bloody corrupt...but boy do you have some deliciously HONEST food ;)

 

GNOCCHI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Plating food for individual portions always allows for some artistic touches! this dish allows one get real artistic!

Gnocchi is type of pasta and there are three types....
the one I am going to tell you about is called 'Parisienne'

Again it is made from the most simple and basic ingredients

Flour, Butter, salt, Eggs and water!

Gnocchi can be served with a million sauces..the most basic being made from another local Italian ingredient 'tomato'

here is a take on 'Gnocchi Parisienne' with a tomato sauce

for the gnocchi you need
water            250 ml
butter             50 grams
salt                 5   grams
Refined flour   160 grams (maida)
eggs               4
Parmesan cheese ( if u can get hold of it)  50 grams (grated)

Process
I am going to make this very simple for you ...

    1)mix the butter, salt and water in a pot and heat it till the butter melts
Now get the pot of the heat and add your flour little by little so that it doesn't form lumps

2) take a wooden spoon and mix the flour into the water and butter mix
3) now put the pot back on heat and keep in stirring the wooden spoon vigorously till a time comes when the mixture will start leaving the sides on the pot without leaving any small bits stuck to the pot.

Now your mixture is ready to be cooked in water!

all you need to do is put it in a piping bag with a small 1cm nozzle and pipe out 2 cm cylinders into a pot of boiling salted water. Cook these gnocchi till they start to float in the boiling water ...then drain.

For the sauce

in a container take 500 grams of tomatoes, 6 garlic cloves, some basil leaves, some oregano and about 100ml olive oil.  cook this in an oven at 120 degrees Celsius for about 30-40 minutes and then put it all through a mixer.!

you can serve the gnocchi with this sauce in many ways but since we want it to be artistic..i'd suggest you try and do something like this!

recipee for your very own fresh pasta dough!

Pasta is traditionally made from durum what flour..( it has a darker husk) and eggs.

Nevertheless we can use normal refined flour as well. ( bakers flour/ strong flour if u can get hold of would be perfect)

all you need is

flour( maida-strong)    200 grams
salt                              2 grams
Eggs                            2
Olive oil                      15 ml
Semolina (rava)           50grams

*(for every 100 grams of flour use 1 egg.)*


sift the flour , add the salt (sprinkle it and make sure it is mixed through the flour)
now make a well in the centre ...crack your eggs in the well and add the olive oil . With a fork break down the egg yolk and mix it with the oil.
Now you can get your hands dirty and make a dough!

you can always apply some flour to your hands so that the dough doesn't stick to them but remember too much of extra flour and you will change the recipe and make the dough hard.

once you have made the dough--check it..feel it with washed hands ( just a finger will do)
It should be fairly hard and not soft like our chapati dough! BUT at the same time not so hard that you can see cracks in the dough!

NOW...this is the most important step.

you will be required to wrap the dough in plastic wrap and keep it in the fridge for 30 minutes.
(this relaxes the gluten and makes your pasta not stretch and contract like a rubber band when u roll it)

once the dough has been rested get it out of the fridge and leave it to come at room temperature so that it becomes easier to roll! now cut it into two halves and roll it through a pasta machine , once you get a flat sheet sprinkle some semolina so that they don't stick to each other and the machine. Now cut it and boil it in boiling salted water!
( the semolina will fall off in the water and not make any changes to the taste of the final product)

To roll it and cut it is an ART...I will tell you that in another post..in the mean time you can have a look at some videos on youtube which show the rolling process!!

Abhijeet.

pasta when cut and par boiled, stored in two trays with olive oil so that it doesn't stick!

Pasta- Again

My last post was on how amazing black squid pasta can look on a plate ( i'll post the recipe soon) and so I thought i'd continue with some more of the Italian Delicacy!

       There is nothing better and satisfying than eating a bowl of freshly made pasta with some grated cheese and Extra virgin olive oil. When I say freshly made I mean freshly made pasta and not dried pasta from a plastic bag dropped into a pot of boiling water.

     Very few restaurants make their own pasta. The reason being making pasta is a skill not everyone can master! Its made from the most basic of ingredients ( flour, egg, salt) . What makes it difficult is the process of actually making the dough without any water whatsoever, resting it and then rolling it thin!

Even after you've mastered the art of making the dough and rolling thin sheets, pasta can still make you look like an amateur! as simple as boiling it on hot water sounds ...IT IS NOT! Pasta needs to be cooked 'al dente' ( which means it must still have some bite left and not feel mushy)

here's a fact! Italians use to throw pasta strands onto their kitchen walls..if it stuck they knew the pasta was cooked.!

getting back to the ART ....pasta cooked in a basic tomato sauce is bright on the plate..add some basil leaves, olive oil and parmesan cheese and you would get something as beautiful as this..!

Will upload the recipee to make your own fresh pasta soon!! Its really easy!

black food on a plate. sounds burnt right!

The colours red and yellow are said to make you hungry and light up your eyes if u ever find them on a plate you are about to eat.
But ...what would you say when i said the colour Black is on the plate. I am sure the first thing you would think is I am about to serve you burnt food! Well it so happens that one of the most sought after dish from ITALY does come in BLACK too! The colour BLACK - courtesy some beautiful squid INK combined with an Italian Staple -pasta!!! gives you the most deliciously ugly looking dish! HAHa

Here is a take on an Squid ink pasta served with lobster sauteed in some herbed butter!

talk about colours..we chefs have a lot of them to play around :P!!

Food- its irony of being a necessity and a luxury at the same time.

Ever wondered what type of food kings and emperors ate? 
ever wondered what type of food their slaves ate?


the answer to the first question even though its rhetorical is an endless list of produce from all over the world cooked to perfection by hands belonging to families who lived to serve the royal kitchens! such hands would be priceless in today's world as they belonged to craftsmen and artists who dedicated their lives to satisfying something as simple as hunger!

the answer to the second question is the most basic food that comes to our minds when we think of the term 'slave' ...'Bread'!


food is diverse, it is simple and yet sophisticated, its existence is needed. It has the innate capacity of playing the role of a basic necessity and an unaffordable luxury to some!


what is it about food that makes it so diverse??
what is it about food that lights up our eyes??
what is it about food that makes us feel good?? 
 These simple questions have many answers, different answers that too! The way in which people perceive food differs. Food is not just produce we eat. It is our culture, Food defines us. We are What we Eat!
    long before the deep fryers were invented, people ate food closer to its natural state ( kept them healthier too) but as time has passed we have come across machines and technology which can cheat nature and make a mango available  even in winter! 
  What if people ate seasonal. and ate that only which was in season ..needless to say they would eat less processed food and thus not avail the luxury of eating mango all year round.! (in whichever form )

luxurious food to me is when it is not in season and yet available in abundance! call it better storage conditions  ! 
I will be writing and sharing pictures of how I have been plating food! Food on a plate can speak a language understood by all! making the plate a canvas to paint with food has always been an ART I wished to master!


P.S.---lets try and keep food as a necessity . a luxurious outing once in a while is more than welcome though!:)