Cooking escapades

The easiest way to lose weight is to 'throw your weight around' ! I don't seem to be good at it and my perennial battle against weight continues. Ever since my family has relocated back to India, my eating habits have been in a disarray. While I have been regimental about the timing of my meals, the discipline that I had enforced on my dinner has been somewhat slack and my sweet tooth has been working overtime. I have now decided to slowly get back into that discipline again.

One of the things that I have decided to do is cut out all the carbs in the evening, try my hand at cooking thereby reducing my meals outside. I have been browsing numerous food blogs and trying my hand at cooking. While the task of chopping veges seems onerous, once that is done, the rest is not as arduous.

My cooking skills are limited to Jeera Aloo, Anda Burji, Laal Maas, some salads and pastas.Just a couple of days back I tried out this recipe using a Butternut Squash which is easily available in this part of the world. 

Butternut Squash



This is very easy to cook, What I loved about this recipe that I came across  is the mild sweetness of the butternut  juxtaposed with the strong taste of ginger and cumin seeds.

 

If you don't have a butternut, you can use any other equivalent vegetable from the pumpkin family.

- Cut butternut squash into small cubes (approx 2 cups)- Take a pan or wok, pour some 2 tbps of olive oil.
- Once the oil gets heated up add 1/2 tsp of cumin seeds, 1 tsp of finely chopped ginger 
  slivers and 1tbsp of brown sugar.  
- Stir fry for 5 minutes on medium high flame then turn heat to medium and cover the pan.
- Let cook about 15 minutes until tender. Lift cover occasionally to stir.
- Sprinkle some rock salt to taste last (after cooking).

Give it a shot and eat it hot.... 

 

Weekend sojourns

Weekends! Oh la la la, something which every member of the family eagerly looks forward to. Many of us will remember our childhood when weekends meant visiting relatives, our mother's cooking something special for lunch and watching that evening movie on Doordarshan. Life was simpler then and our needs basic and simple, isnt it?.

 

While we continue to eagerly look forward to weekends even today, it now means visiting malls, going out to restaurants, grocery shopping and watching soap operas on TV. TV has remained steadfast in our weekend plans and will continue to rule the roost.

 

Something that I oft dream of is packing a picnic hamper, a camera and just get out of the congestion. To me sitting besides a gurgling brook, a riverside, the sea or even amidst thick green foliage is something irresistable. To be away from the din and noise and being one with nature us helps us recharge our batteries. Doesnt take much to do this but somehow rarely does one do it on weekends. One of the deterrents for us is the time taken to drive out of the larger metropolitan cities itself.Time to break the shackles and just do what your heart yearns...

 

I remember going off on weekend trips with friends to Lonavala/Khandala, Alibaug, Kihim, Harihareshwar and Bordi from Mumbai. We used to board a train or a  State Transport (ST)bus and get back the same night or stay overnight,

 

Some of the places that I have on my mind are Belur, Halebid, Chikmaglur, Gokarna and Madikeri in Karnataka and Nileshwar, Bekal  in Kerala and some of the temples in both states. While these remain as desinations, I would love to stop on the road en route and spend some time off road. Earlier this year, we went to Nileshwar in Kerala. It is a 2-1/2 hour drive from Mangalore. I found a small resort built by 4 French nationals in Nileshwar. The property was on the beach, every room of the villa was facing the sea and one could actually lie down on the bed and watch the sea and hear the sound of waves. There was hardly a soul on the beach and it was sheer bliss. The quality time one gets with the family on such outings is invaluable. Walks on the beach, playing with the kids, clicking sunsets, reading books and off course no televisions.

 

So whichever part of the country one is in, just use the internet, find out a few places closeby and take the family out to be one with nature... 

 

 

 

 

 

Mangalore

Mangalore, Kudla, Kodial - call it by any name it conjures fond memories of swaying palms, gushing seas, glowing sand, the narrow, winding cul-de-sac’s and the numerous summer holidays spent in my childhood.

 

Visiting Mangalore in my summer holidays was a high point of my life in school. I would wait for the final exams to get over with bated breath as it would mean going back to my birthplace Mangalore. Going to Mangalore from Mumbai in those days meant an arduous 24 hour bus journey sometimes or by air on some lucky occasions.  However Mangalore is now well connected by road and the journey is around 15 hours from Mumbai, an hour's flight from Mumbai with almost every airline flying into the city and off course the wonderful journey on the Konkan railway through the numerous tunnels and waterfalls. The Mangalore Airport is an international airport and the seaport is now a destination for many cruise liners which get tourists from the European countries.

 

Mangalore derives its name from the local Hindu Goddess Mangaladevi. Located on the backwaters of the Netravati and Gurupura rivers, the landscape of Mangalore comprises of rolling hills, coconut palms, freshwater streams, and hard red-clay tiled-roof buildings. The lush greenery is ambrosia to the soul especially after the monsoon season when one is landing at the Bajpe Airport, Mangalore.

 

 

Clicked from the aircraft, minutes before landing at M'lore airport

 

 It is a city which is slowly experiencing the impact of urbanisation i.e. high rises, shoppping malls, cineplexes and fast food chains but still retains the old world charm. As a coastal city, the best time to visit Mangalore is immediately after the monsoons in end August or in December when the weather is cool and bracing. The summers tend to be humid & torrid.

 

The four main languages in Mangalore are Tulu, Konkani, Kannada, and Beary. Tulu being the mother tongue of the 'Bunt' community, Konkani being the mother tongue of the Saraswat & Goud Saraswat Brahmin community, Kannada being the official language of Karnataka and Beary 'Bhasha' being the language of the Beary Muslim community. Tulu and Kannada are widely spoken along with Konkani. However as a tourist, you will face no problems as most locals do understand Hindi and English.

 

View of the Nethravati River from the Mangalore Club

 

Mangalore has been the cradle of banking with many banks like Syndicate Bank, Vijaya Bank, Corporation Bank, Karnataka Bank, Canara Bank having been originally started here and K. V.Kamath of ICICI Bank fame is also from Mangalore. Some of the other famous personailities with origins in Mangalore being film stars like Aishwarya Rai, Shilpa Shetty, Sunil Shetty, late film star Guru Dutt, Dr Girish Karnad, Dr Devi Shetty, Oscar Fernandes etc to name a few.

 

Let me briefly broach on the cultural aspect. While many classical dance forms and folk art are practised in the city. The Yakshagana, a night-long dance and drama performance is the most popular one, while Pilivesha (tiger dance), a folk dance unique to the city, is performed during Dasara and Krishna Janmashtami. Mangalore is a city of some beautiful temples and churches, some of them being very ancient. The Milagres & St Aloysius Churches, Car Street Venkatraman Temple, Kadri, Gokarnatheswar and Sharavu Mahaganapati Temples are really worth visiting for the sheer experience of some inner peace. The 'Car Festival" or 'Rath Utsova' of the GSB community in Car Street Venkatraman temple is so well attended that one can see a sea of humanity to witness this wonderful festival.

 

I cannot, not mention about the 'Kite Festival' held on the Panambur Beach where kite flying enthusiasts come with such unique kites from within as well as outside India.

 

 

 

 

The Panambur Beach is on the outskirts of the city and is now a a great place for spending your weekend or an outing with family and friends. There are boats, jet skis, eco friendly airconditioned tents etc for those who want some adventure as well. You can get more information on http://www.panamburbeach.com/.

 

There is much more to write about including some other tourist spots and off course the cuisine in Mangalore, which I will cover in the next update....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Delicious Dish

Almost 8 years in Riyadh and I had not heard of this restaurant called "Delicious Dishes" serving some fantastic North Indian food. A ' true hole in the wall' Indian restaurant located in the predominantly Asian area of Riyadh, called Hara. This was referred to me by some friends here who also heard of it recently while the restaurant has been there for many years.

 

I stepped in for the first time one Friday morning some months back for breakfast. The restaurant has a breakfast menu serving 'puri aaloo', 'aaloo parathas' and some non-vegetarian dishes as well.  I have always maintained this, one has to figure out the best dishes in each restaurant and then enjoy them, one should never assume that every dish in any restaurant is good. Same goes for this restaurant  as well.

 

The puri aaloo is served with some raita and 'sheera' in Maharashtra also called  'sooji halwa' in Northern India. The aaloo subzi is worth dying for, truly divine. The gravy is tempered with cumin seeds, lightly spiced and garnished with coriander leaves. I can recall eating this quality in parts of Uttar Pradesh like Kanpur. All you need to do is squeeze some lime juice and dip the puris in this heavenly concoction and experience the sheer ambrosia. The other accompaniments like sheera and raita are nothing to write home about. The aaloo parathas are also great but keep that for another session as once you finish eating the puri aaloo, your may not be able to do justice to both dishes.

 

We also tried their luncheon menu and the items that I recommend are the 'Kadai Chicken' amongst the non-veg items, on the weekends they make some fantastic ' kadi pakoda'. The best that I have eaten in recent times. Their 'gulab jamuns' are also highly recommended.

 

Great value for money, superb taste and no frills, a great place to take the food home and enjoy it with the family.. Bon appetit.!!

 

Do write back to me if you want specific directions to the place...

 

 

 

UP Restaurant & Executive Suites Hotel

With a passion for trying out restaurants, sometimes I end up finding some restaurants which offer some lip smacking food in small corners of the cities which I live in or travel to.

 

Upto about a year back, I used to set out on Friday early mornings with my son for company and drive around the city of Riyadh trying to find out either new restaurants or those which I had not identified earlier. Similarly I also do like trying out any restaurant which a friend or an acquaintance may talk or recommend. Sometimes we also discover some great eateries when we go along with friends for dinner.

 

UP Restaurant in the Hara area of Riyadh, is one such 'hole in the wall' restaurant that serves food like simple, home made, North Indian Food. Clean, functional, no nonsense, no frills but a gem that has been satisfying pangs of hunger of bachelors living in Riyadh for decades. Unfortunately there is no family section here and hence you need to take a parcel home if you want the family to eat their fare. It is a favorite haunt for us from our office and we descend there in a group usually.While they serve both Veg and Non-Veg food, I guess their Veg food is more popular amongst us friends here. Their menu changes daily. You will not find some of the vegetables they use in restaurants elsewhere. Some of the dishes that are truly our favorites are Arbi (Colocasia) Masala, Pyaaz Patta (Spring Onion Leaves) Sabzi , Alu Palak, Turai/Lauki Ki Sabzi  etc to name a few. They serve steaming hot rotis, soft and fresh out of the tandoor, we usually dip the roti in steaming hot bowls of butter infused dal fry and the sabzis. They also serve the 'Tahiri' which is a UP style masala rice which is also simple and nice. A meal for 4 hungry souls, with 3 varieties of sabzi/curries, daal fry and rotis costs us less than SAR 50 for all of us together. Sometimes we think that the restaurant is doing social service with this pricing and quality. You will find people from all walks of life eating here including us bankers. For anyone interested in knowing precise directions, do write back to me and I will glad to share the same.

 

Just last week, we were invited for dinner by some friends at the Executive Hotel Suites at Olaya Street in Riyadh which is opposite the iconic landmark, Kingdom Tower in Riyadh. The restaurant is on the mezzanine floor of this pretty, quaint hotel. The ambience is great, service is excellent and impeccably clean. We decided to go for the buffet as the salads looked fresh and we are salad fans!.

 

The salad spread was fantastic - variety of fresh Middle Eastern & Western salads. The Hummous, Fattoush, Tabbouleh, Muhammara, Baba Ghanoush, Muttabal, stuffed vine leaves, fresh golden yellow corn nibblets, baby corn, Caesar's salad, olives etc etc. They had 2 Soups on the buffet table, the Clear Sea Food Soup and Cream of Chicken Soup. I tried the Clear Seafood Soup which had the right amount of salt, fish and shrimps. Clear soups are easy to make but easy to also mess up as the taste needs to be subtle and there must be a ballad of harmony between the ingredients. This one was perfect.!

 

The main course spread was limited but that suits us fine as we tend to go low on the main course as we usually stuff ourselves with the salads. The fish in lemon sauce was great and worth mentioning. There was a seafood meddley dish with calamari which was also nice.  The desserts were decent too. I guess, the cost per person here is just under SAR 100 and hence great value for money. Will go again.!!

 

There are many more to write about and across different cities so watch out for more in the future...

 

 

 

Bateel Cafe

'Bateel' a name synonymous with delectable Dates, Date chocolates and desserts in the Middle East has also ventured into the restaurant/cafe business under the 'Cafe Bateel' brand. Cafe Bateel has branches in Dubai, Riyadh and some other cities of the GCC.

 

Located on the Tahlia Street of Riyadh, Bateel Cafe is spread over 2 levels. The ground level has a 'Singles'Section to your right and there are counters displaying a wide array of dates, desserts, chocolates and condiments to choose from. The display is tempting, so is the variety. We would have loved to take home the 'Dates Balsamic Vinegar' but unfortunately the same was out of stock. The Lime Relish looked good but did not try it.

 

We sat on the upper level of the Cafe which was the seating for families.The section was open and the ambience, pleasing. Being a weekday the cafe was fairly full, mainly with womenfolk with their friends.This is one of the few places where the family seating does not have any partitions or compartments and hence not claustrophobic.

 

We were offered both the breakfast and lunch menus but preferred to order from the lunch menu as it was past 1 pm. The choice was mainly Italian. We ordered for their Mushroom Soup which was recommended by the waiter. One of our friends had highly recommended the Chilean Sea Bass for the main course and I ordered that for myself, a Penne Arrabiata for my wife and another pasta dish for my son. Unfortunately there is no kids menu in the restaurant. I also overheard one of the staff saying that today the restaurant looks like a Mcdonalds, presumably because there were some kids accompanying their parents for a meal. If this is any indication, looks like kids are not welcome here.!!

 

While we waited, a basket of bread was placed on our table. We waited for a few minutes assuming that we will be served some butter but when we realised that the waiter seemed to have forgotten, I asked for some. The waiter informed us that we could eat it with the olive oil and the balsamic vinegar as well. I was surprised by the response and told him that I am aware of that but would like some butter too. Finally he brought the butter which was in a cute ceramic dish, made specially for Cafe Bateel perhaps from France or Italy and really yummy. The bread would have been better if served warm. We enjoyed it with the dates balsmic vinegar and olive oil fusion. The Dates Balsmic Vinegar is something truly worth dying for, awesome to say the least.

 

The Mushroom Soup had a oriental tinge in it, we could get the taste of some pureed chickpeas. It was nice, nothing to rave about. Servings were good and filling.

Coming to the main courses, the Chilean Sea Bass was highly priced at SAR 115 per plate, I thought that the quality was not worth the price. The Penne Arrabiata was at best average, we have eaten better than what they served at half the price in other restaurants in the city. When I glanced around in the restaurant, I saw other guests enjoying some snacks and coffees, desserts but very few people enjoying a full meal.

Would I visit Cafe Bateel again, yes I would but I would try their desserts and beverages rather than their lunch menu. 

We did not try their desserts as the main course had left us tad disappointed especially since they are highly priced but the dishes were not lip smacking per se. We dont have an issue with highly priced dishes but they should be well worth the price.

 

 

 

Back again...

Here I am back again to writing my blog after so many months. We have been bracing ourselves up for some changes in life. My wife and son will be re-locating back to India in May'13 while I plan to be here for some more time. This is a big change as we have always lived together as a family. My son who has never lived in India and hitherto only been there on vacations will now need to be ready for a completely different lifestyle once back home. For my better half, moving to India brings its own set of challenges after over 13 years in the Gulf. She will have to play the dual roles of a father and mother to our 8 year old. For me, the challenge to live here alone and perhaps moving out from the comforts of our villa to an apartment will also be daunting too. We have been spoilt, time to get back to reality. Well, change always is difficult for all of us, isnt it ? I believe where there is a will there is a way and sooner the better.

In the last few months, we did travel to India and had one short but memorable stay in Bekal at the Vivanta by Taj. Bekal is in God's Own Country, Kerala and is just an hour's journey by train from the lush green coastal city of Mangalore. December is a great time to be in India as the weather is at its best.

While we could have hired a car and driven to Bekal visa Kasargod, the roads are bumpy and off course the costs would be approximately Rs 2000 v/s the train tickets which cost us under Rs 300. The train journey also is smooth and very comfortable.

I had booked our seats on the Mangalore-Chennai Express which left Mangalore station at sharp 7 am. The Mangalore station is small, quaint and busy mainly in the mornings. We boarded our compartment amidst the hustle bustle and got ourselves a steaming cuppa. As the train pulled out of the station and crossed the bridge on the river Sharavathi, we could see and capture the beauty of the rising orb.

We alighted at a station called Kotikulam at 8 am and walked out to find some autos parked. We hired one for a princely Rs 30 fare and were dropped at the Vivanta byTaj property at Bekal. We were greeted at the resort by a awesome looking Ganesha statue. Since we had reached really early and there were some hours left for the check-in we settled down in their library area overlooking a pond of water with lotuses. I always enjoy being close to a water body, gives me some kind of peace and a soothing effect, the feeling of serenity. Top it up with some chirping birds and swaying leaves, it is sheer paradise. My Utopia.

 

 

We had booked their top end suite and while we had seen the photos on the net, when we entered the suite, we were blown away. The sheer space, the lovely court yard with our own plunge pool, beach chairs and a day bed mounted on a swing. The bathroom had a steam bath et al. While we could have visited the Bekal Fort, we decided to just be on the property, enjoy the beach and off course indulge at the world class Jiva Spa. We could always visit the Bekal Fort later. Bekal Fort, a place of historic importance is also well known as the fort where one of the songs of Mani Ratnam's hit film "Bombay" was filmed with Manisha Koirala.

A little more about this heavenly Taj resort. Set amidst the backdrop of the backwaters and the Kappil Beach, this resort is spread across over 50 acres. My son gladly accompanied me one morning on their bicycles to explore this awesome property. The Jiva Spa is set on one end of the resort. The resort has a play area for kids and a fantastic bar adjacent to the restaurant. There are plenty of things to keep the kids busy and happy. We spent one full morning at the Jiva Spa. The best ever experience, no words can do justice, only experience can. PLEASE do not miss this. It is expensive but you should pamper yourself once a year at least, isnt it?

 

 

We spent three heavenly days at the property, just relaxing, reading books, taking walks on the beach, treatments at the Spa, in our own plunge pool and enjoying the true Mallu cuisine. Time just flew by in a jiffy. It was time to say good bye, their Front Office Manager and the General Manager were there to say good bye to us. We were pleasantly surprised when one of the Jiva staff came to present us a bottle of the fragrant oil that we had loved. This is the difference that the Taj is known for..small gestures, great service, they all add up to great hospitality.

 

 

 

 

 

I must also share with you that Tripadvisor has sent me a congratulatory email last week that my reviews are amongst the top 3 % read and liked by its reviewers across the world. I am touched and also encouraged to keep writing and contributing...