RESTAURANT REVIEW: CARNATIC CAFE

For the love of dosa (and idli and uthapam and…)

 

 

Apart from the terrific food, Carnatic Café is inspiring for its commitment to its roots, eschewing fashionable frippery for good, old fashioned substance. The café is a jewel tucked into a corner of desperately dirty New Friends Colony market. Thankfully once you get inside the cheerful little restaurant you can forget about the filth of NFC and focus on the excellent, authentic south Indian food owner Pavan Jambogi is going to serve you.

 

Looks Like

The space is bustling, bright and simply furnished with a smattering of well taken photographs on the walls, the effect is very pleasant and accurately reflects the ethos of the restaurant – cheerful, efficient and focused on what they do best, the food.
 

 

TASTES LIKE

I can’t even begin to describe how happy I get when see a restaurant with an owner who knows his strengths, keeps it simple and plays to them. Elevating south Indian food above the homogenized idli-dosa routine that most Delhi restaurants provide, Carnatic Café is authentic but still exciting.
 

My favourite is their Rava Idli, pillowy soft, studded with lentils and curry leaves it’s served with an exquisitely cinnamon-y, chunky curry. If you’ve made peace with the calories tuck in to the dense, perfectly crisped Bambatt Dosa, rich with the warm, fragrant flavor of cinnamon and spice. The skilled addition of gunpowder, cinnamon and other authentic flavours makes familiar food like uthapams, dosas and idlis unexpected and delightful. The superlative Mahabaleshwar 18^th Cross Dosa is more traditional and filling with a lovely, tangy layer of gunpowder and white butter slathered on the inside.

The Raagi Dosa is another healthy option that won’t make you regret your diet – the millet adds a gratifying grainy texture to the preparation. Wash all this food down with the soothing, salty buttermilk or the fiery Rasam as per your preference but don’t forget the sublime filter coffee at the end of the meal.

 

 

FEELS LIKE

The quality of food being served up at Carnatic Café and their prices seem entirely unrelated. You can have a very filling meal for under INR 1,000 without any difficulty. People recognize value when they see it though so the place tends to be very busy – the owner and staff do a pretty good job of managing the hungry hordes. Their familiarity with their menu is particularly notable and this is one of the few restaurants in Delhi where the staff actually make helpful suggestions and menu recommendations.

This is going on my list of favourite places to eat in Delhi.

 

 
 

Should you go: If you love south Indian food you should have been there already

Vegetarian Options: Only

Liquor License: No

Smoking Area: No

Address: Ground Floor, India Mall Community Centre, New Friends Colony

Phone: 011 30146022 Extn: 925

 

FLAVOURED LOAVES OF BREAD

“Men can starve from a lack of self-realization as much as they can from a lack of bread.”

― Richard Wright, Native Son

If you've been following this blog then you know I went through a major bread baking phase. If you havn't then shame on you but here are my recipes for rosemary and thyme dinner rolls and garlic cheese rolls. I graduated to flavoured loaves recently and it was, as bread making usually is, superlatively satisfying. But it takes time. Not actual in the kitchen time but waiting for the yeast to work and the dough to rise can take up to 3 hours. And then it's probably going to take you another 20 - 30 minutes of baking time. Plus 20 to 30 minutes of time to let the loaves cool.

It's not all that intimidating and you can usually complete a step and then focus your attention on something else for a couple of hours but I'm not going to be replacing store bought loaves with my own creations any time soon. For beginner bread bakers I thought this recipe would be useful. It's for a basic loaf, which you can customize. I've added garlic, olive oil, some dried fruit and scallions to this loaf. You can put together whatever collection of flavours you want.

I've also added some portion of unrefined flour (aata) instead of using just plain maida. This will give you a nice, flavourful, dense, brown bread which pairs perfectly with soups and pastas. You can even use it in sandwiches or eat it plain. I was going to make some soup to go along with it but my and my borther polished off the loaf with just butter.

 

Makes 1 loaf

Adapted from Chef John Cooks

What you’ll need:
 

225 gms flour (you can try half maida and half atta)

120 ml luke warm water

1 tsp sugar

½ tsp salt

3 tsp butter (melted) or olive oil

2 ½ tsp dry yeast
 

Note: Add chopped garlic, grated cheese, herbs, olives, dried fruit or onions for flavor. Don’t worry about the quantity you’re putting in – the flour will absorb quite a bit. Use as much or as little for a flavor as strong or delicate as you like.
 

How to:
 

1. Warm up some water and put it into a bowl with the yeast and sugar. 3 – 4 tablespoons water is enough. Cover the dish with a wet cloth.
 

Note: The yeast will wake up with the warm water and feed on the sugar. Let the mixture sit for about 10 – 15 minutes. When you remove the cloth, you’ll find a frothy, smelly mixture. This means your yeast is now alive and waiting to raise bread.
 

2. Put the flour into a deep bowl and add the yeast mixture. Add salt and butter or olive oil and any other flavor you want to.
 

Note: Add warm milk instead of water if you want the loaf to be softer.

3. Knead the dough. Add more warm water little by little so that the flour comes together. If you’re lucky and have a dough hook then put it to work for 10 minutes. If you don’t then get to work with your hands.

 

Note: This is a lot of kneading. Pummeling dough with your bare hands for 10 – 15 minutes can be exhausting so don’t bother with this recipe if you’ve just got a manicure.
 

4. Knead in stretching motions to create gluten strands. You should have a slightly sticky dough by the end of it. Shape the dough into a ball and brush it down with butter or olive oil.  Cover with a wet cloth and let it sit for a couple of hours or till the dough has doubled in size.
 

5. Take the puffed up dough and knead it down again. Roll the dough out and then fit it into a loaf pan. Tuck the sides in underneath so the top is nice and smooth.
 

6. Cover up the loaf pan and let it sit till the dough once again doubles in size.
 

7. Brush the top of the loaf with:
 

(a) a beaten egg if you want the loaf to be shiny;

(b) milk if you want the loaf to be soft; or

(c) water if you want the crust to be chewy.
 

8. Bake for 30 – 40 minutes or until golden brown on top.

 

9. Unmould from the pan and bake for a little while longer so the sides are totally cooked. About 10 minutes.

10. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before slicing.

 

THE RELUCTANT CHEF'S GUIDE TO CHEESE PLATTERS

Cheese is milk's leap towards immortality - I forget who said this.

 

 

I love cheese and I think a well put together cheese platter is such a great accompaniment for when you're serving wine. I wouldn't bother with it if there are going to be a lot of cocktail drinkers, it just won't pair as well, but if you want to host something which is just a little bit more grown up or you're just a fan of wine and cheese like me, keep reading.

 

It turns out my obsession with cheese platters isn't a new thing and I've already covered the Beautiful Mess' notes on it here. But I really wanted to try it myself and if you follow the Reluctant Chef on facebook you'll see I've been collecting material on it all week (you can find all that here). After some reading and research I do what I usually do with my ideas, panic and give up on it. Then I saw this message on Priyanka Chopra's Instagram feed and was inspired :

 

Yes, I follow Priyanka Chopra on Instagram. Also Sonam Kapoor. Don't ask.

I find that when I'm planning to start a new project I usually overthink it and get overwhelmed. Or my imagination runs away with me and I don't know how to implement my ideas. To counter this, I make lists. I liked this one so much I thought I'd just put the whole thing up:

 

Beautiful Cumin Gouda from Flanders Dairy

 

To Do	My thoughts
Step 1: Planning your Platter
A. How many people do you plan to invite?	From my reading I understand you should portion about 30 to 40 gms of cheese for each person.
B. Do you think your guests will be experimental or would prefer to play it safe in terms of flavors?	I love stinky cheeses but don’t go overboard with Blue Cheese if you think your guests will be happier with gouda, cheddar (flavors they’re familiar with)
C. When are you going to serve the cheese platter? After the meal as a cheese course or as an appetizer?	Presumably you’ll need less cheese after a meal since people would already have eaten.
D. What's your budget?	A great way to stay within a reasonable budget (while serving up great quality) is to stick to local cheeses and seasonal fruits. Imported fruits and cheese are more expensive and not as fresh.
Step 2: Getting your shit together
A. Find a large enough platter	The dish you’re using should have enough room on it for a bunch of people to paw at but shouldn’t look empty either.
B. Pick your cheeses	These days you get every kind of imported cheese in fancy grocery stores but I much prefer buying locally produced cheese.   Not only are they much more affordable, I feel better knowing that they haven’t travelled hundreds and thousands of miles and I don’t need to pay customs duty on them. I usually turn to Flanders for all my cheese needs and have never been disappointed, you can find out if they retail near you here.   For my platter I chose a really strong and slightly smushy Smoked Scamorza, a slab of spicy, playful Cumin Gouda and a big chunk of Smoked Gouda.   Try to get in a mix of strong, plain, soft and hard cheeses to cater to every taste.
C. Pick your vehicles	You can pair cheese with - ·         Seasonal fruits (I used apple, pear and pomegranate – grapes are of course a classic); ·         Dried fruits (consider almonds and walnuts); ·         Crackers (I used plain whole wheat crackers); ·         Cold cuts; ·         Slices of baguette; ·         Figs, apricots, prunes, dried cranberries; ·         Jams, sauces, pestos, dips; ·         Olives; ·         Slices of tomato and cucumber You’re good if you’ve managed to get a combination of sweet, salt and crunchy.
D. Pick your wines	The stronger the cheese, the sweeter the wine. Dessert wines will overpower Gouda or other simpler cheeses. Usually people pair cheese with white wine or a rose but at the end of the day, drink whatever you like best.
3. Platter Presentation
A. Organize your cheese from strongest in flavor to mildest	This is traditionally the way a platter should be served. I would go with a "what looks prettiest" perspective myself.
B. Make labels to indicate which cheeses you’re presenting	This is really helpful for your guests - and make it easier for them to discover what they like and don't.
C. Use an unconventional platter like a chalkboard or slab of wood to show the cheese and pairings off	I particularly like rustic looking platters like slabs of wood or wooden trays but this depends on you.
4. Some last thoughts
A. Keep small plates and cocktail napkins handy for people	Technically you should have little forks and a cheese knife too but don't go nuts over it.
B. Keep enough stock on hand that you can replenish the platter if you run out of any one ingredient	Not necessary if you're going to be serving other food also. This applies if you're doing only a wine and cheese evening.

 

Smoked Scamorza from Flanders Dairy

GOLDEN RAISIN SCONES

"“Hot scones,” said George, lifting the lid off a dish. “I never thought I’d like hot scones on a summer’s day, but these look heavenly. Running with butter! Just how I like them!”

The four looked at the home-made buns and biscuits and the great fruit cake. They stared at the dishes of home-made jam, and the big plate of ripe plums. Then they looked at Mrs. Philpot, sitting behind a very big teapot, pouring out cups of tea."

- Enid Blyton

 

When I was younger, my dream was to read every single Enid Blyton book. It was a complicated dream because if I accomplished this, there would be no more Enid Blyton books to read and what would I do then? Very Catch 22. This kind of stuff played on my mind a lot when I was a kid.

My solution was to spend a lot of time praying for her longevity so I would always have new things to read. My morbid fascination for crime, crime fiction and police procedurals might also have its genesis in my early exposure to the Famous Five, Secret Seven and Five Findouters. Maybe, my current obsession with food writing has the same roots?

You can't talk about Enid Blyton without talking about the elaborate picnics and celebratory dinners populating her books. A testament to her ability to reach and move a reader, even if only towards the kitchen, shows in her ability to make a finicky, little girl growing up in rural Andhra Pradesh salivate over descriptions of food she had never even seen. I still can't understand how I was tempted by descriptions of food so completely unfamiliar. And what on earth is blancmange?

Sometimes the meals were very elaborate:

" 'Cold ham and tongue, cold baked beans, beetroot, crisp lettuce straight from the garden, heaps of tomatoes, cucumber, hard boiled eggs!' recited Anne in glee.

'Just the kind of meal I like,' said Dick, sitting down. 'What's for pudding?'

'There it is on the sideboard,' said Anne. 'Wobbly blancmange, fresh fruit salad and jelly.' I'm glad I'm hungry"

Now I'm hungry.

And there were a lot of picnics. Another love that transferred over. Eloquent picnic basket descriptions where  really simple foods, salad leaves, bread, butter and eggs, sound so so good:

"Soon they were all sitting on the rocky ledge, which was still warm, watching the sun go down into the lake. It was the most beautiful evening, with the lake as blue as a cornflower and the sky flecked with rosy clouds. They held their hard-boiled eggs in one hand and a piece of bread and butter in the other, munching happily. There was a dish of salt for everyone to dip their eggs into.

‘I don’t know why, but the meals we have on picnics always taste so much nicer than the ones we have indoors,’ said George."

But my favourite were the crazy confections she dreamed up in the Faraway Tree and her other more magic oriented stories:

Silky was pleased. She sat there brushing her beautiful, golden hair and ate sandwiches with them. She brought out a tin of Pop Cakes, which were lovely. As soon as you bit into them they went pop! and you suddenly found your mouth filled with new honey from the middle of the little cakes. Frannie took seven, one after the other, for she was rather greedy.

While looking up these quotes I saw there are tons of articles out there on Enid Blyton and the importance of food in her stories and everyone from child psychologists to stay at home moms have an opinion they want to share. If you're a fan though, I recommend you skip reading those, find your battered copy of your favourite Enid Blyton book and enjoy it with these gorgeous golden raisin scones. Running with butter or with pots of jam, of course.

Makes about 12

Adapted from Martha Stewart

What you’ll need:
 

4 tbsp butter (cold) + a little more for buttering the baking tray

2 large eggs

¼ cup milk

1 1/3 cup flour

1 tsp baking soda

3 tbsp sugar

1/3 cup golden raisings

¼ tsp salt
 

How to:
 

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C. Lightly butter a baking sheet and set aside.
 

2. In a bowl, whisk together the egg and milk. Set aside a little bit for an egg wash.

 

3. In another bowl throw in the flour and cold butter (cut into cubes). Using your fingers lightly work the butter into the flour till you have a course mixture. Add in the sugar, salt and raisins.
 

4. Gradually stir in the eggs till a sticky dough forms.
 

Note: Add a little more flour if you find the dough too sticky to work with.
 

5. Roll out the dough a ¾ inch slab and cut into the shapes you want – transfer to baking sheet.
 

Note: Mine are slightly more *ahem* rustic looking because I couldn’t be bothered to do all the rolling and cutting so I just shaped them into rough squares and plunked them on to the baking sheet.
 

6. Brush with the egg wash you have on the side and put it into the oven.
 

7. Bake till golden – should be about 15 minutes.

RESTAURANT REVIEW: YUM YUM TREE

For the love of brunch

 

If you follow this blog you know I’m a complete brunch junkie. I love the Sunday brunch at Olive and it’s been my favourite so far. Unfortunately a significant chunk of its charm is lost in the Delhi summer. I enjoyed my experience at Cheri very much but I understand their chef has left. So I was running low on options and I don't like not knowing where to brunch. It stresses me out.

Thanks to a new project I’m working and my discerning partners in this enterprise I was introduced a few weeks ago to the Yum Yum Tree brunch and my quest has come to an end. For now.

Looks Like

Yum Yum Tree is deceptively large with its separate dining, bar and sushi conveyor belt sections. The gilted kitsch look is a bit over the top for me but the place is still very presentable. I like the area with the sushi conveyor belt the best since its less stuffy than the formal dining area and looks out on a spacious green balcony. The bar is quite elegant but the dark walls can feel a little oppressive during the day.

 

 

TASTES LIKE

One of my biggest issues with all the new restaurants mushrooming across the city is how little thought the owners put into their establishments. Yum Yum Tree is not one of these restaurants and it undertakes the difficult task of serving up quality sushi and sashimi in India with considerable grace.

The a la carte can be quite expensive but their weekday and Sunday brunches are a wonderful demonstration of the best Yum Yum Tree can offer at not such expensive prices. I particularly like that the spread offered is a generous but balanced combination of carefully crafted sushi, light salads and excellent dim sum allowing you to eat (relatively) uninhibitedly without being tortured with regret for the rest of the week.
 

My favourites are the Spicy Salmon In & Out Rolls, Prawn Tempura Rolls, Salted and Steamed Edamame. The best way to go is to order one of everything, find what you like and then repeat your favourites. From the dumplings, I really like the moist Pink Crab Dumplings with Garlic and Pepper, the juicy Spicy Basil Chicken Sui Mai, the crunch in the Spicy Water Chestnut Dumplings and the delicate sweetness of the Baked Vegetarian Puffs.
 

 If you’re up for a boozy brunch you can top yourself up with a varied and well made lot of martinis, Kir Royale or Prosecco. They have mains also but I’ve never managed to save the appetite to get to them. I have it on good authority that the Barbecue Pork Spared Ribs are very good. For dessert, they serve you mini portions which is very appropriate, the Tiramisu with Kahlua and Mascarpone, Belgian Chocolate Cheesecake with Crème Anglaise and Cappuccino Ice Cream are all very well made. The Mango with Sticky Rice doesn’t really work out as well though.

 

FEELS LIKE

The service is helpful and not at all stingy, bringing us plates of sushi and dumplings before we could finish what we had in front of us. The manager was particularly helpful, recommending flavours of ice cream and getting us an extra plateful even after we’d paid our bill. A courtesy many much more expensive restaurants will not afford you.  

Should you go: Brunch lovers unite! And head to Yum Yum Tree!

Vegetarian Options: Yes

Liquor License: Yes

Smoking Area: Yes

Address:  1^st Floor, Community Centre, New Friends Colony

Phone: 011 42602020

RESTAURANT REVIEW: NAIVEDYAM

For south Indian vegetarian food you can always count on.

 

One of the few real restaurants in HKV, Naivedyam is an old favourite. Reasonably priced, with happy sized portions and reliable south Indian vegetarian cooking this restaurant is a rre lasting fixture on the constantly changing HKVscape.

 

Rasam

 

LOOKS LIKE

The décor here is nothing to write home about but I actually really like it at Naivedyam. It has an odd cave life feel which keeps it cool in the summer and warm in the winters. The entrance with a statue of Nandi and multilevel lamp is charming and there’s clean lined, functional, dark wood furniture inside. The odd Tagore style paintings are an eyesore but it doesn’t make all that much of a difference. You’re going to have your snout deep in your plate.

Sambhar Vadai

TASTES LIKE

I’ve never managed to exercise enough discipline while ordering to reach the dessert section here and I regret it every time I think of the place. Considering the kind of trustworthy cooking coming out of the kitchen I would love to try their Kesari Bhath or Payasam.

Benne Rava Masala Dosai

Of the things I have tried, I love that every meal starts with a spicy rasam shot. The Sambhar Vadai is excellent and served up with tomato, coconut and coriander chutneys. I didn’t have any complaints with this dish till I tried the fresh off the pestle chutneys from Spice Water Trail. To be fair, I still don’t have any complaints but if there was a chutney competition my money would be on Spice Water Trail.

 

The Idiappum is sublimely soft with sweet light coconut milk. The Benne Rava Masala Dosai is a heavy, buttery dosa – yeasty and perforated with a fat helping of potato tucked inside. Though there may not be a more committed lover of dosai than I, my favourite dish at Naivedyam is the Chitranna (Lemon Rice). Every sharp, snappy and sunlit yellow bite comes alive in your mouth.

Lemon Rice

FEELS LIKE

Efficient and professional the waiters at Naivedyam are attentive and unobtrusive.

Idiappum

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

Should you go: Definitely!

Vegetarian Options: Only.

Liquor License: No.

Smoking Area: No.

Address: 1 Hauz Khas Village, New Delhi

Phone: 011 26960426/ 011 26536045