Barbeque Nation’s ‘The Treasures of the Sea’ festival !

At BBQ Nation the ‘The Treasures of the Sea’  festival is on from January 23rd  to February 8th  at the 7 outlets in Bangalore.

Barbeque Nation’s ‘The Treasures of the Sea’ is a Seafood festival that aims to enthrall diners with the freshest and tastiest catch from the seas. Enter a whole new world and treat your taste-buds to the scintillating flavors of marine delights. Get mesmerized by an ambience reflecting a sea-faring vessel with little treasure-boxes with tasty treats, and fishing games to fishing nets on the ceiling.

The signature dishes include Crumb Fried Squids with Aioli Dip, Crispy Fried Anchovies with Tarmint Sauce, Nasi Goreng and Mangalorean Crab Curry amongst others. Also on the menu are vegetarian preparations such as Lychee Surprise and Thai Green Curry. Offerings on dessert include Blue Sea Cheese cake.

 Pirates!!

 Paneer Tikkas

 Lychees, mushrooms, corn, soya, paneer and many more...

 Cajun Potatoes

 

Desserts

 chocolate mocktail

Pan Kulfi

and so far Barbeque Nation is one of my favorite place to dine!!
To drool over Sea food pics go to my friend's blog Cranium Bolts!!

Vegit Halwa Mix with a Twist!

Christmas and New Year is just around the corner, twinkling stars and jingle bells everywhere, Christmas trees are surrounded with presents and the stockings ! No celebration is complete without sweets, gifting goodies, decorating trees and cakes. Keeping with the spirit of festival, Vegit a leading player in ready-to-cook mixes brings healthy and delightful Vegit Halwa. Satiate your sweet tooth craving in just 2 minutes with Vegit Halwa, the first ever dessert by Vegit. 

I too received some goodies from Vegit!

When I first heard of the name halwa mix with potato flakes, I was a little skeptical, but when I looked into the ingredients and preparation time I was very happy.
After trying it out, the taste was good and very handy if you need to make some dessert for sudden guests!

I had to make  a twist recipe out of the halwa so i thought of making sweet pancakes or Paniyarams (Tamil).

 Ingredients:
2 cups idly batter
1 cup halwa mix
1 tbsp grated coconut
2-3 tbsp sugar
oil or ghee for frying

Preparation
Add the halwa mix to the idly batter and add required amount of water for a smooth batter. Add the rest of the ingredients and leave it for 10 minutes. If the batter gets thick some more water can be added. Heat the Pancake mold. Add ghee to the mold and make pancakes. Lovely golden brown crispy pancakes are ready! Kids will love this.

But I liked the original halwa :) better than the twist!

Here’s Vegit Christmas Halwa cake recipe for you by Brand Chef Arun Kumar, Zambar. 

Ingredients
Vegit Halwa mix :500g
Grated Coconut : 200 g
Cardamom Powder :  a dash
Cashew Nuts: 12 - 15
Raisins/Sultana: 12 – 15
Candied Fruit : 100g
Icing Sugar: 250g
Water:Enough to mix Halwa and Icing Sugar

Method

1. Take 500g Halwa mixture. Add 200 g Grated Coconut, 2 teaspoons cardamom powder and prepare Halwa by either of the 2 methods mentioned on packet. 
2. Mix in the Cashew Nuts, Raisins/Sultanas, Candied Fruits (save some for garnishing)
3. Press the above mixture into an appropriate cake mould and overturn
4. Mix icing sugar with water gently, stirring to avoid lumps, to get a thick pouring consistency
5. Pour over the un-moulded ‘cake’, sprinkle some candied fruit and allow to set
Celebrate this Christmas and New Year in Vegit – “Hamara Mix, Aapka Twist style.”

 

More Vegit recipes are on their way.....

Christmas Workshop With Chef Saptasri ! Making of Vanilla Kipferl and Mince Pie !

Christmas time is in the air again and people are busy baking and entertaining. Its an awesome festive feel every where. Plum cakes, cookies, candy canes and gingerbread are some of the sweet aromas in the air....

I was invited to a Desserts and Baking Workshop by JW Marriott. The workshop was at Godrej Nature's Basket. It was conducted by Chef Saptasri Parswanath, Chef De Partie, JW Marriott, Bengaluru.

 The chef worked on two recipes namely Vanilla Kipferl and Mince Pie.
Here are the pictures and its recipes.

 Vanilla Kipferl

Ingredients:

•1050 grams butter
•500 grams Castor sugar
•1 tsp salt
•2 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
•5 numbers of lemon rind
•10 numbers of vanilla pod
•1400 grams flour
•500 grams toasted hazelnut powder

Procedure:

Ensure that the butter is at room temperature.
Cream it until smooth.
Scrape the vanilla pods.
Add sugar, salt, lemon rind and the scrapped seeds of vanilla pod.
Mix everything properly.
Add the flour and the hazelnut powder.
Refrigerate the dough for 45 Min's for resting.
After 45 Min's, take it out and knead well.
Divide the dough into small lemon sized balls typically of 20 grams and roll it into crescents.
Bake at 190C until light golden brown.
Dust with icing sugar while still hot.

It was indeed a yummy delight. I also got some dough to take home and bake!

 Mince Pie

 Ingredients:

For the dough base:
•180 grams butter
•90 grams sugar
•270 grams flour
•1 egg
•5 ml vanilla essence
•2 grams salt

For the filling:
•250 grams raisins
•250 grams sultanas
•100 grams cherries
•50 grams orange and lemon peel
•50 grams blackcurrant
•50 grams candied papaya
•930 grams grated apple
•200 grams brown sugar
•50 ml rum
•50 ml brandy
•10 gram cinnamon powder
•3 gram nutmeg powder
•2 gram clove powder
•2 gram cardamom powder

  Procedure:
Cream the butter.
Add the egg, beat it and mix.
Add sugar and mix.
Sieve the flour and add it along with the vanilla essence.
Do not over mix.
Rest the dough in the fridge.

When the dough is kept in fridge, in a bowl add the dry fruits. To this add the spice powders and the grated apple.
Pour the liquor into this and mix it lightly.
Take the dough out of the fridge after 30 Min's.
Roll it and cut out a disc and line the tart mould.
Fill the tart mould with soaked fruits.
Cover with the sweet paste disc on top.
Decorate the tart with cutters.
Apply egg wash.
Pre-heat the oven to 5 Min's at 180C.
Bake the tart for 30 Min's at 180C.

The liquor can be skipped and egg replacer can be used in this recipe is what I learnt!
 It was a wonderful experience for me and the kids to learn and bake something.
Thank you J W Marriott.

Tangra Food festival

JW Kitchen- JW Marriott Bengaluru's all-day dining restaurant is hosting its first ever food festival - the Tangra Food Festival, a culinary fair presenting varied flavors of street Chinese food.

  On behalf of JW Marriott Bengaluru, I was invited for a live cooking demo by Chef Surjan Singh Jolly and experience this food festival on November 1, 2014

Tangra is a region in east Kolkata that traditionally housed a large number of tanneries owned by people of Hakka Chinese origin. "47 South Tangra Road", may be the most confusing postal address, as it used to cover the whole of Chinatown Tangra with over 350 tanneries.

The Hakka Chinese of Calcutta have gradually turned this part of the Kolkata into an important destination for sourcing finished and semi-finished leather.
Food from Tangra is a distinct variety of traditional Hakka Chinese cuisine adapted to Indian ingredients and the Bengali palate. This has spread to the rest of India, along with the recipes earlier unique to Tangra. Tangra is now the most popular destination for Chinese food. Chinese food sold in Tangra restaurants are now known all over the world as 'Hakka Style" Chinese food.

 The food festival started on October 31 is a ten day long food festival aims to recreate a complete experience and showcase the best of Kolkata Chinese street food .
I am a big fan of Chinese food and I was lucky to get some good vegetarian Chinese food though the Tangra cuisine which is less of vegetarian. But catering to Indian adaptions many vegetarian dishes have been included like golden fried baby corn, mushrooms, threaded crispy paneer, vegetarian momo etc.
The master class workshop by  Chef Joly Director F & B and Chef Edwin Lou and his team stirred up some very yummy dishes. Here is a glimpse!

The ‘Tangra Food Festival’ also showcases a special Chinese cocktail menu featuring drinks like the Shandong Mary, Beijing Bellini, Red Lotus and this refreshing drink  Mango Spice Cocktail made of olives, jalapenos, lime and mangoes.

Experience Chef Jolly recreate the magic of Tangra at the Tangra Food Festival at JW Kitchen, Bengaluru.
on till November 9