MACHAN - THE TAJ MAHAL HOTEL

Disclaimer: Not really a review.

Machan at the Taj Mahal Hotel is an institution in my family. We go there for birthdays, anniversaries, when my grandparents are in town or when we’re just feeling a little nostalgic. Once we get there most of the table will order fish and chips and the chatter will probably center around how my grandparents, my parents, my aunts and uncles have been coming to Machan for so many years.
 

This year when my grandmother was in town for her birthday the bits of my family in Delhi (well not really bits it came out to 2 kids, 5 grandkids, 1 daughter in law and a husband) went into a tizzy trying to identify the right restaurant to host her birthday dinner. The weeks preceding her birthday were filled with phone calls, facebook messages and in person discussions. Restaurants were rejected for being too gimmicky, the neighborhood they were in, because the menu options were insipid or too flamboyant or the décor was uninspiring or too provocative.

The spectrum of ages on the guest list extended from 8 to 80 with everyone included having strong opinions they cannot keep to themselves. There were logistical issues too, my grandparents can’t climb too many stairs and there were 10 of us. When we get together there’s always a lot of laughter, wild hand gesturing and crazy carbohydrate consumption.

I was really insistent that we go somewhere new together. We narrowed it down to 3 options. Then 2 different restaurants were booked for the night.

You’ve probably already guessed where we finally ended up.

I’ve been to Machan too many times to be able to review it. Even at the birthday I traded in the blogger cap for my elder-sister-pulling-a-hungry-brother’s-leg role early in the night. So this isn’t so much a review as it is a letter:

I love bread. That it's so photogenic just makes me love it more.

Dear Machan,
 

I’d like to congratulate you on the great work you’ve been doing  and for so many years. I realize you’ve been around since way before every Tom, Dick and Hardeep decided to open a “concept restaurant,” “organic kitchen,” or worst of all “lounge bar.” I imagine you look at the twenty nothing year olds swarming around Hauz Khas Village and shake your head with confusion. You must wonder what happened to the people who wanted quality food and good service and why everyone these days just seems to want fairy lights, empty birdcages and mason jars. I wonder too sometimes.
 

Don't rest on your laurels quite yet.
 

One of the things I like best about Machan is that I know what to expect. At the same time I don’t actually go there too often because I know exactly what to expect. I’m not saying “makeover” but small updates would really help to freshen your image up and keep you relevant.
 

The menu keeps changing and the Vietnamese Chicken Rolls I ordered were heavenly. I know the day my brother gets his first pay cheque he’s probably going to cash it in to buy a bathtub full of your Chocolate Milkshake and immerse himself into it face first. I am of course prohibited by my family to even think anything critical of the fish and chips.
 

When you have this kind of loyalty why would you serve watery tomato soup, Machan? Why would you and how could you?

 

Also, that poor woman who stands in the corner and sings around dinner time. The actual person keeps changing but it’s usually an attractive woman in something shimmery. Please could you just get rid of her? I don't mean to be cruel but slightly off key, mostly amateur singing has never done anything for anyone’s appetite.
 

But this is not meant to be a letter of criticism. In fact, in the end I’d like to say thanks. Thank you for allowing us to create our own family traditions around club sandwiches and milkshakes.
 

I just worry that you may end up relegated to a trunk of full of dusty memories.

 

Regards,

A Loyal Patron

(3^rd Generation)

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

Should you go: Yes! But it’s no bargain.  

Vegetarian Options: Yes.

Liquor License: Yes.

Smoking Area: No.

Address: The Taj Mahal Hotel 1, Mansingh Road, New Delhi

Phone: 011 23026162; 011 66513114 (Note: These guys don’t accept table bookings and work on a first come first serve basis).

Fish and Chips. Forever.

 

SPAGHETTI CARBONARA

"No one who cooks, cooks alone. Even at her most solitary, a cook in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past, the advice and menus of cooks present, the wisdom of cookbook writers." - Laurie Colwin

This is a classic Italian dish where the ingredients come together simply and beautifully. The creamy egg and cheese sauce sprinkled over with pepper and crispy bacon is divine. Just some things I'd like to point out though - first, since there are so few ingredients it's very important you use good quality, flavourful cheese and fresh ground pepper or you'll end up with a bland, soggy mess. Second, since the eggs used in the pasta sauce aren't totally cooked I would worry a little about putting this together during the Indian summer so use good, fresh eggs. Last, to make absolutely sure the flavours are as per your taste check the seasoning at every stage.

Serves 4

Adapted from Tyler Hamilton

 
 

What you’ll need:
 

1 packet spaghetti (usually about 400 gm)

6 – 8 tablespoons heavy cream

4 eggs

2 chopped onions

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley (or use dry parsley but then you’ll only need about 3 tbsp)

10 bacon slices (cut into thin strips)

Salt

Pepper

Olive Oil
 

How to:
 

1. Boil the pasta till al dente.
 

2. While the pasta is boiling, fry the onion and bacon in about 2 – 3 tbsp of olive oil till the bacon is crisp.
 

Note: If you’re using dry parsley then add it to the onion and garlic and cook it.
 

3. In a large serving bowl, mix together the salt, cream, cheese and eggs. Add the onion and bacon mixture (with all the fat that it releases on cooking).
 

4. Once the pasta is cooked take a ¼ cup of the water the pasta has boiled in and add that to the cream mixture in your serving bowl.
 

5. Drain the pasta and then add it to the serving bowl with the remaining ingredients. Give everything a good toss and then invert a heavy plate on top of the pasta to trap in the heat.
 

6. Let the pasta set for 5 minutes. Add black pepper, grated cheese and fresh parsley and serve.

 

RESTAURANT REVIEW: CAFE 27

For when something serviceable is sufficient

The biggest problem with Café 27 is that it doesn’t know what it’s trying to be. Café, lounge, disco, restaurant – with too many discordant parts it doesn’t end up amounting to much.  



Al Funghi with Ketchup

LOOKS LIKE

The décor is actually quite sweet, the first floor has a fresh café vibe and the rooftop is pretty with exposed brick and smatterings of green. I wish they would get rid of the posters on the first floor though. They’re trying to so hard to be cute they end up mostly silly and sad. The club space on the rooftop is just unnecessary – I can’t imagine there are too many people trying to get into club “zephyr”.  

Chicken Salt and Pepper

TASTES LIKE 

The Al Funghi (Mushroom, Fresh Tomato Sauce) on a thin wheat base was bland and could have used a little more of… well, everything really. The Chicken Salt and Pepper had way too much salt but both were serviceable.  

The menu makes the common mistake of taking on too much. There are salads, wraps, rolls, Indian, Oriental and Italian options. With so many choices I can’t even begin to guess what the kitchen’s strengths and weaknesses might be. The menu would benefit hugely from a pruning exercise. I would recommend the owners slash the dishes down to half or even a third of what’s on offer now and focus on getting those right.  



The Rooftop

 FEELS LIKE 

The service was unremarkable.

The place has promise but the management needs to take a cold, hard look in the mirror to stop the place from descending into mediocrity. One admirable effort in this direction is trying up with these guys to arrange movie screenings every Monday and pub quizzes every month.

 

Club Zephyr

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

Should you go: Only for the pub quiz. Or if you’re using the place as a neighbourhood dive.

Vegetarian Options: Yes

Liquor License: Yes

Smoking Area: Yes

Address: 26, Level 2, Kailash Colony Market, New Delhi

Phone: 011 30146022

SPICED CARROT CUPCAKES WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

“Men are born to succeed, not to fail.”

― Henry David Thoreau

 

 

I have many a grouse with cupcakes though this last week of cupcake mania on my blog might have confused you. Why do I keep struggling with them if I don't even really like them? Because they're such a great format. If we could just stop dousing the damn things with all the sugar we can find, great things could happen in the world of cupcakes.

 

The biggest thing working in favour of these teeny cakes are that they make a great starting point for beginner bakers. The baking time is lower and the size makes them convenient and irresistable to kids (plus most adults). The amateur baker doesn't need to struggle with presentation because unlike cakes that can fall apart while unmoulding, most cupcakes (if you're using liners) will pop right out and into your eager, hungry hands. The other big struggle for a baker who's just starting out is getting a cake to rise, do it evenly and not collapse thereafter - since cupcakes are so tiny the rising process isn't as stressful. Throw them in the oven, watch them puff up and by the time they're nicely browned on top they're probably done. Quickly insert a toothpick and check to see if it comes out clean and you're sitting in a pile of pretty cupcakes.

 

If you are thinking of taking the plunge into the universe of flour and butter start with these aromatic, (mostly) healthy carrot cupcakes. Try your hand at the classic (but not at all difficult) cream cheese frosting and then sit back and enjoy your accomplishments. You don't even need an electric whisk for this recipe so treat yourself to a couple after you work up an appetite whipping them up.

 

 

Makes 12

Adapted from Martha Stewart’s recipe

 

What you’ll need:

 

For the Cupcakes 

1 ½ cups flour

1 ½ cups grated carrots

¾ cup butter (melted)

1 cup powdered sugar

2 eggs

2 tbsp yoghurt

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon powder

½ tsp ginger

½ tsp grated nutmeg

½ tsp baking soda

For the Frosting

150 gms cream cheese

¼ cup butter

½ cup powdered sugar

1 ½ tsp vanilla essence

 

How to:

 

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

 

2. In a mixing bowl pour in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. Stir till really well mixed.

 

3. In another bowl whisk together the butter, sugar, eggs, yoghurt and vanilla. When well mixed stir in the carrots. Add the dry ingredients in batches and mix the whole thing really well.

 

4. Butter your cupcake tray or line with cupcake liners and divide the batter up.

5. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes till a toothpick inserted into one of the cupcakes comes out clean. Let them cool completely.

 

Note: My oven is very temperamental so I keep checking the cupcakes to make sure they’re not burning – since cupcakes are much smaller than cakes you might want to start checking in from 15 minutes on to make sure they don’t burn.

6. Mix together all the ingredients for frosting and beat super well till really smooth.

 7. If you’re good with a piping bag this is a good time to pull it out and do your thing. I can’t work those contraptions so I just heap a big dollop of cream cheese on the cupcake and spread it around with a butter knife.

8. Since I’m trying to be better with this decorating business (though I hate it! Hate it! Loathe it!) I grated some more carrots and sprinkled it on to the center of each cupcake for effect. You could also flake some walnuts or almonds on top.

 

 



POUND CUPCAKE WITH BROWN BUTTER GLAZE

“Congratulations!

Today is your day.

You're off to Great Places!

You're off and away!”

― Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go!

 

 

I hate wasting time on cake and cupcake decoration. Mostly because I'm not very good at it so I get stressed when I have to and I think most frosting is too sugary and drowns out the flavours of the sponge.  Marzipan and fondant both taste like sweet plastic to me. It's one of the reasons I don't like those photo cakes people get these days - the ones where a baker prints out a photograph on edible paper using food colouring. They keep saying the paper is edible but it tastes like paper in my mouth anyway and all that colouring! Why would anyone want to ingest all those chemicals?

 

This might not be a popular opinion but then I'm not running for election - all this sugar craft is overrated. It's great if your food is visually impressibe but not at the cost of taste. And definitely not at the cost of including so many harmful chemicals into your meal.

 

I like my desserts to be like this cupcake. Simple, delicious and with a glossy, natural elegance. Just make the glaze and plunk a tablespoon full on top of each muffin and the glaze will automatically run down the sides of the cupcake and give you this shiney, happy glow.

 

 

 

Makes 12

Adapted from Martha Stewart’s recipe

What you’ll need:

 

For the cupcakes

 

1 ½ cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

120 gms butter (softened)

3 tbsp yoghurt

¾ cup sugar

3 eggs

 

For the glaze

 

120 gms butter

1 cup icing sugar

2 tsp vanilla essence

2 – 4 tbsp milk

 

How to:

 

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Beat together the butter and sugar till pale. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each egg.

 

2. Add the remaining wet ingredients and whisk. Beat together the dry ingredients in batches. Whisk everything up together.

 

3. Butter your cupcake tray or line with cupcake liners and divide the batter up.

 

4. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes till a toothpick inserted into one of the cupcakes comes out clean. Let them cool completely.

 

5. For the glaze, melt the butter on a stove top till nice, brown and fragrant. Take it off the stove before you pass out with happiness and whisk in the sugar, vanilla essence and 2 tbsp milk. Use more milk if the glaze is too thick. Use immediately.

6. Plunk a tablespoon full on each cupcake and let it cover the cupcake. Serve.

 

 



BANANA CUPCAKES WITH HONEY CINNAMON FROSTING

“Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.”

― Truman Capote

Oh man I love baking fruit! Strawberries, pineapples, cherries and peaches are a little exotic and can be tricky but bananas, carrots, apples and pears bake beautifully and very easily into cakes, pies, crumbles and whatnot. Their flavours permeate and amplify the accompanying flour, butter, sugar and cinnamon. Cinnamon is a must. Add nutmeg if you have some on hand.



 

Leave them naked. They'll still be really good.

Makes 12

Adapted from Martha Stewart’s recipe

What you’ll need:

 For the cupcake

1 ½ cups flour

½ cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ cup melted butter

1 ½ cups mashed bananas

3 eggs

½ tsp vanilla essence

 

For the frosting

¾ cup icing sugar

2 tbsp honey

2 tsp ground cinnamon

½ cup butter (softened but not melted)

 

How to:

 

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line your muffin tray with cupcake liners or brush down with butter.

 

2. Whisk dry ingredients together in a bowl. In another bowl combine sugar and butter, add an egg at a time and whisk well.

 

3. Add the dry ingredients in batches and whisk well. Add the mashed bananas and give the batter a good stir but don’t overbeat.

 

4. Spoon batter into your muffin tray and bake for 15 – 20 minutes.

 

Note: Watch carefully because cupcakes bake quickly.

 

5. For the frosting beat the frosting ingredients together for about 5 minutes till creamy and well amalgamated.

 

6. Apply frosting as best you can and top with a slice of banana if you have one to spare.

 

 





Not winning any prizes for frosting cupcakes but they taste really good and I guess that's all that's important.

 

COFFEE MUFFINS WITH BROWN BUTTER STREUDEL

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it."

― W.C. Fields

 

 

 After the super sugary Love Buns we're going to give our haywire glucose levels a rest with these perfect-for-breakfast Coffee Muffins. I love the strong coffee flavour but it's the crispy, fragrant brown butter struedel that I find exceptional.

Introduction to Brown Butter

I've become a faithful follower of the brown butter bandwagon. As you would expect the French with their unerring ability to indentify simple, beautiful, indulgent things are founding members of this fan club going ahead and giving it a fancy name Buerre Noisette as they tend to. And when you find a good thing why limit yourself? Buerre Noisette is applied to both sweet and savoury productions in French cooking - from pastry to pastas.

For all this fanciness there isn't really much to the exercise. Instead of chucking butter into the microwave to soften as you might ordinarily, all you do differently is pop it on to a stove top on a low flame. The butter will foam and start to separate because the heat is splitting the butter into its component parts of milk solids and fat. In a couple of minutes you'll see brown flecks start to sediment at the bottom of the pan. The milk solids are burning faster than the fat and getting toasted brown. The butter will go from golden yellow to golden tan to finally a nutty delicious smelling brown which is the basis of the name Buerre Noisette, literally translating to hazelnut butter, a reference to the flavour and colour of the sauce.

The only real hitch is you could burn the butter but if you keep the flame low and a hawk eye on your pan you should be fine. Don't get distracted by the amazing nutty aroma filling your kitchen making you lightheaded, once the butter has nicely browned take the pan off the stove and continue with your recipe. A lot of people seem to prefer using unsalted butter for this but it's really painful for me to hunt down unsalted butter and I just use the salted stuff for everything and I can't say I've had any trouble with it.

The magic of brown butter is its distinct, deeper flavour - use it instead of ordinary butter in other recipes also to kick up the flavour.

This is my hideous muffin tray but it's been around for years and does it's job well so I won't apologize for its derelict state.

Makes 12

Adapted from Joy the Baker
 

What you’ll need:

 

For the muffin
 

 2 ¼ cups flour

1 ¾ cup butter

3 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup powdered sugar

2 ¼ tsp baking powder

2 tbsp coffee powder mixed in with 3 tbsp hot water

 

For the topping
 

3 tbsp butter (cold)

½ cup flour

3 ½ tbsp granulated sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

How to:
 

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Butter up your muffin tray or line with cupcake liners and set aside.
 

2. Melt the butter for the muffins in a pan on a not very high flame. It’ll first melt and then slowly start to brown (at which point it is going to start smelling amazing!). Let the butter brown till you see little brown bits in your pan and then remove from heat.

 

Note: Keep an eye on your pan to make sure the butter doesn’t burn!
 

3. In a bowl whisk together milk, eggs and vanilla. Add the (slightly cooled but still liquid) butter and whisk some more. Add the milk.
 

4. In another bowl mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Mix the egg mixture and whisk well.
 

5. Divide half the batter in the muffin slots. Stir the coffee mix into the remaining batter. Now divide the rest of the batter between the muffin cups.
 

6. For the topping mix together all the ingredients with your fingers till it’s nice crumbly. Top your muffins with this.

 

7. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes (just start checking on the muffins from 15 minutes up). Cool them before serving.

 

 Note: These are muffins not cupcakes so serve warm – you can even split them and serve with a pat of butter and a cup of coffee.

 



 

NIGELLA'S LOVE BUNS

“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”

― Winston Churchill

 

 

One thousand people looked at the Reluctant Chef's facebook page and hit like! One thousand! Sounds so good I think I'll walk around this otherwise dreary monday morning saying it over and over again to myself. One thousand!

 

We've had lots and lots of cakes up on this blog and not all that many cupcakes so I thought we could celebrate "one thousand" with a week's worth of cupcake recipes. As you can see from my amateurly put together collage up top, it's going to be quite a line up. I'm pretty sure I've got a recipe for everyone's tastes. We're going to have:

 

Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Coffee Muffins with Brown Butter Streudel

Pound Cupcakes with Brown Butter Glaze

Classic Banana Cupcakes with Honey Cinnamon Frosting; and of course

Nigella's Love Buns

 

Chocoholics can relax. Since a cupcake is basically just a baby cake you can easily plop cake batter into your muffin tray and end up with a whole pile of cupcakes. And vice versa. Bake this cupcake batter in a larger dish and you'll have cakes. So I didn't bother trying out anything chocolate since I already know this dense, fudgey chocolatey explosion would make the perfect chocolate cupcakes. Prefer a chocolate muffin? Try these.

 

So getting to the love buns (name and recipe from Nigella) these are perfect to start off this cupcake party. So bright and cheerful they might even cure my monday morning blues.

 

 

Makes 12

I think the name makes it quite obvious where I got the recipe

What you’ll need:

 

For your buns

125 gms softened butter

125 gms powdered sugar

125 gms flour

3 eggs

½ tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp vanilla essence

3 - 4 tbsp milk

 

For the icing

3 egg whites

4 tbsp honey

75 gms icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

¼ tsp salt

Sprinkles

 

How to:
 

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

 

2. Pop all the ingredients for the buns into a large bowl and mix, mix, mix till you have a smooth batter.

 

3. Butter up your cupcake tray or line with cupcake liners. Divide up the batter between the slots in the tray.

 

4. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes till they’ve nicely risen and they’ve cooked through. Stick a toothpick in to check and see if it comes out clean. Let them cool once they’re done.

 

5. For the topping, you’ll need to put together a double broiler – heat a pan with water and put a bowl on top of this that fits snugly into the first pan.

 

6. With the water barely simmering, put in your egg whites and honey and start to whisk till you have a gleaming white paste. Add the sugar slowly and whisk some more – it should hold peaks. This will probably take ATLEAST 5 minutes of whisking.

 

Note: Okay so I never find this very easy. Things you have to keep in mind (1) don’t let the water get too hot or the eggs will cook, (2) can’t do this without an electric whisk, (3) this takes a while and you need to be careful that your whisk doesn’t tip the hot water over so be very patient – it will be worth it.

 

7. Take the bowl off the pan and keep whisking to cool the mixture down. Add the vanilla.

 

8. Smear the cupcake over with topping and swirl it around the best you can. Add the sprinkles immediately and let them set.