ROAST GARLIC SHRIMP SLIDERS WITH ORANGE ESSENCE

“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.” - Margaret Mead

 

I spent an afternoon with my adorable, fourth grader fluff ball cousin recent and was, as usual, amazed by everything she did. She regularly demonstrates more awareness, confidence and wisdom that I only hope for at 27. I guess children are captivating because of the second chance they represent. You can't help but try to atone for your mistakes by trying to keep them from repeating them. As if dictating their behavior will absolve us of ours.

 

There are two things that have been floating around in the back of my sub-conscious since that afternoon. The first, how far do children really need to be protected and do we really help them by shielding them? Obviously I don't think second graders need to be exposed to extreme violence or sexually explicit material but what about rigorous schools and coaching? Is shoving a kid into a classroom for 10 hours a day setting them up for the hard knocks of real life or just oppressive? What about choice? We can't allow kids to make all their decisions because they may be too young to understand the consequences but there's a whole range of decision making that precedes that level. When I was growing up most of my friends and I didn't get to pick what we wore from our wardrobe, forget about shopping for it. Baby fluffball though is a little diva who will not entertain sartorial interference. She picks what she wants and when she'll wear it with accessories to match. I'm not sure if there's any connect, what with not having any kids and definitely not having a degree in child psychology but her increased sphere of independence, appears to me, to make her more sure of what she wants. An attribute that will stand any little girl in good stead.

 

I guess, based on my once in a financial quarter interaction with people under the age of 23, the most important thing you could teach a kid is how to live well. To all those who would insist that the most important thing is actually math and that all this holistic living, new age bullshit doesn't work in India, I highly doubt that if you manage to raise a kid with some hobbies, some athletic acumen and a healthy sense of perspective "who haath se nikal jayega." Every day I meet young people who spent their childhoods in tuition centers and as adults don't have the tools to move beyond going to work like an automaton, getting their work done like it's homework, counting the hours till they can leave, with only junk food and alcohol as outlets. Anything that lends a kid the ability to combat stress while giving them a sense of perspective and accomplishment will take them much further than a 97 in Chemistry in Class 8.

  

Perfectly sized for any young cretins in your life, these shrimp sliders were a revelation. They're adorable, fuss free finger food and the juicy shrimp chunks burst on your tongue with the complementing flavors of garlic and orange. I have to admit these aren't exactly for a reluctant chef, getting the patties together and keeping them together while frying them was tough. I'm not particularly good at frying things anyway, all the oil and pressure freak me out but if you're handy with a sauce pan and don't mind getting your hands dirty, these little shrimp burgers are definitely worth trying. 

Makes about 6 mini burgers

Recipe adapted from Food 52

 

What you need:

250 g frozen shrimp

¼ cup red pepper (chopped into little bits)
5 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp garlic paste
1 egg
1 cup refined flour (maida)
1 orange (zested and juiced)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 lemon

For assembly:

6 small burger buns

Mayonnaise
Cheese Slices (optional)
Lettuce leaves (optional)
Tomatoes (sliced) (optional)
Cucumbers (sliced) (optional)

How to:

1. Defrost the frozen shrimp and chop into tiny bits. Add in the egg, red pepper, the zest of the orange and a couple of tablespoons of orange juice.

2. Pop some oil into a small pan and roast the garlic till it browns and is fragrant. Stir the garlic into the shrimp mix.

3. Flour up your hands and make little patties out of the shrimp.

Note: This isn’t that easy and you may need to mix some flour into the shrimp mix just to get it to hold. Basically throw maida into the mix, around it, around your hands and do whatever you have to do to get the patties to hold together. Try not to use more than a cup of maida in this whole process though – otherwise you’ll end up with shrimp pakodas.

4. Now that you have patties that (mostly) seem to hold together, heat up the olive oil on a large flat pan. Add more oil if you think you need it.

5. Once the oil is hot, carefully transfer your shrimp patties on to the pan. Let the patties cook till they start to change color at the base and then very carefully flip them over. Let the other side cook.

 

Note: Should take about 4 -5 mins on each side but you’ll be the best judge of when it’s cooked through.

6. Slice your burger buns, slather the insides with butter and stick them in the oven for 5 minutes to toast up.

7. Layer the buns up with mayo, tomato/cucumber/lettuce or whatever else you like.

8. Add a squirt of lime over the shrimp patties and assemble them into the burger buns. Serve.

 

 

RESTAURANT REVIEW: SAKLEY'S, GK I, M BLOCK MARKET

For the love of the hills

 

 

Sakley's is where I plan to spend the scorching Delhi summer. Unless I get leave in which case I'm going to make a dash to some actual mountains. If you are (as I suspect I will be) stuck on the plains, this tiny chunk of hilly heaven is the respite you need.

 

My trip to Sakley's followed a couple of fun new restaurants I'd just been to, including Diggin and the Colony Bistro in Kailash Colony Market. There's also a bunch of new places I've heard great things about but haven't gotten a chance to get to yet. All of which adds up to the promise of some exciting eating this summer!

 

 

Looks Like

 

If you (or anyone you know) is planning to open a restaurant, try to get the guys who put together Sakley's as designers. Whoever they are, they aren't just designers, they're magicians. I saw the giant hoarding for the mountain café from across the street in hectic GK I, M Block Market while ducking harried Punjabi aunties and street shopping college girls. Up two flights of stairs and I walked into an almost story book representation of a hillside lodge.

 

Thankfully, on the second floor you can't see the rest of the now totally unglamorous M Block Market. The giant windows have, as would be appropriate for an establishment in the hills, a view of tree tops. The (I'm guessing false) stone walls, fire place and ceiling covered with logs all add to the après ski ambience without ever feeling too weighed down.

 

I personally loved that there are a couple of books kept on each table and a few bookshelves dotting the place in case you want to pick out something else to read. The restaurant is funnily shaped so don't just sit at the first table you see, check out the small corner at the end if you'd like a little more privacy.

 

 

Tastes Like

 

Sometimes at restaurants with decors I really like I hesitate while ordering because if the food is crap all that prettiness goes down the crapper. Exhibit 1 in said category: Café 88, Meharchand Market. Sakley's is not going to be Exhibit 2.

 

 

The menu is a charming collection of unfussy classics that the mother branch in Nainital made its name selling to boarding school brats. There's a range of hearty generic continental including breakfast dishes, thin crust pizzas, pastas, sandwiches, and burgers. The designing and sweet references to hill stations, well known boarding schools and Beatles songs makes the menu fun to flip through and keeps the usual pizza/pasta spiel fresh. I think my next order will be the Doon Valley Grilled Basa Fish with Lemon Butter Sauce, with a side of Matterhorn Jacket Potato with Cheddar Cheese and Jalapenos and a Norwegian Woods Cappuccino. A meal and a happy trek through the hills in my imagination.

 

 

The salad, the name of which I've unfortunately unforgotten was a star with the perfect salad leaves to strawberries to vinaigrette ratio. Proof that healthy options don't need to be drab or flavorless. I also loved the Six Pack Summer High Protein, Low Carb Egg White Omelette with Spinach, Tomato and Exotic Herbs but the deep flavor left me wondering who's six pack the eggs were referring to. I don't know the dish's nutritional details but each rich and buttery bite was perfectly cooked - one of the best omelettes I've had in a while. If you're not interested in half hearted calorie counting, I'm proud of you and I recommend you head straight for the Half Pounder Lamb Burger topped with Gherkins and Iceberg, a gargantuan but impossibly soft and satisfactory lamb patty, grilled gloriously to make a meat lover's day. Every mouthful an explosion well seasoned red meat and cheese.

 

 

The lemon iced tea was a little too sweet and the dessert selection insipid and uninspiring. But these are small quibbles, you can be sure I'm going to be back in Sakley's trying out more of their menu this summer.

 

Feels Like

 

The staff is pleasant and helpful as well as capable of making good recommendations. It gets quite busy at meal times but also makes a great place to relax away from the market mayhem.

 

THE GOOD PEOPLE AT GOONJ AND MEXICAN MOCHA CRINKLE COOKIES

“No one has ever become poor by giving.”
― Anne Frank, diary of Anne Frank

 

I think we all want to do good. I believe most people would like to leave the world a better place than they found it. Sometimes this life we're trying to better gets in the way of our efforts at improvement. Our good intentions can get buried under smaller but more numerous daily distractions. Unfortunately the world we live in makes ordering pajamas from a different country easier than helping the one we live in. Thankfully, people like the ones behind Goonj can inspire and remind us to do better.

Instead of throwing out your old stuff check out the Goonj website for the donations they accept and considering passing these things on to the people who need it more. They do excellent work reusing old clothes through their donation and Cloth For Work programs. They're also working to collect relief material for those struck by floods in Assam, Bihar and West Bengal and trying to forge long term strategic relationships between well off urban schools and rural schools. You can read more about their exceptional work at their website (http://goonj.org/).

Whether you just want to donate some things or some money, do reach out to this outstanding organization to see how you can help. One of the easiest but most effective things to do is organize a clothes drive to collect old clothes from our friends and acquaintances - me and my friend have tried this with enormous success.

Remind yourself of how much good we can all do if we put our minds to it and bake yourself these celebratory cookies once you're done. They're lovely, crunchy, sticky, spicy and chocolatey all at the same time and very, very easy to make.

 

Makes about 20 fat cookies

Recipe adapted from A Spicy Perspective

What you’ll need:

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup powdered sugar
2 cups flour
1 ¼ granulated sugar
½ cup vegetable oil
2 tbsp instant coffee granules
4 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla essence
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 pinch red chilli powder

How to:

1. Whisk together the cocoa, granulated sugar, coffee, cinnamon, red chilli powder, baking powder and salt. Add the oil and mix together.

2. Add the vanilla and eggs - beating the batter till smooth. Refrigerate for an hour or 2 to firm up the batter.

3. Preheat the oven to about 170°C. Pull out 1 or 1 ½ inch balls of the batter, roll into balls and then roll the balls in a plate of powdered sugar.

Note: This rolling into balls business is not going to be as easy as it seems. This is the problem with most recipes. People just write stuff like “roll into cookies and bake” like it’s simple without telling you that this is going to be a fudgy mess that refuses to hold any kind of shape and destroys your manicure. So the best way to go about it will be to flour your hands lightly, use a spoon to scoop out the quantity you want (a heaping teaspoon is about right) and to use your fingers to scrape the batter off the teaspoon and into the powdered sugar. At this point use the sugar to give you traction and roll the dough into a ball.

4. Plonk on a greased baking tray and bake for 10 mins. Let the cookies cool completely before trying to scrape them off or eat them.

RESTAURANT REVIEW: TOWNHALL, KHAN MARKET

 For the sushi (and the Japanese Lemonade)

 

Before we talk about anything else, we have to acknowledge what an exercise in ambition and resources Townhall is. With 2 storeys, 160 seats, multiple cuisines, and the Oberoi’s Master sushi chef Augusto Cabrera at the helm, it’s safe to say that Khan Market’s lanes haven’t had this kind of star power flung at them yet.

LOOKS LIKE

The “go big or go home” theme carries through to the interiors. The first floor is, by far, the single largest and grandest space in Khan and the rooftop the most expansive. I like that the first floor is split into separate rooms – allowing the restaurant to host private parties or small gatherings without getting in the way of walk in patrons.

 

TASTES LIKE

The menu is equally formidable, and includes Italian, French, Thai, Continental and of course, Japanese dishes. I’m skeptical of multi-cuisine restaurants as a rule but Townhall might just be the proverbial exception. If anyone has the culinary capital to pull off the long winded menu, it’s these guys. It seemed appropriate to start with Chef Cabrera’s signature rolls, we chose the Spicy Hamachi with Yellowtail and Wasabi. The rolls were gloriously fresh and so flavorful it seemed a shame to roll them around in soy, a generous layer of caviar had texture exploding in my mouth with every bite. We followed this up with the Townhall Antipasto Sharing Platter which comes with grilled prawn skewers, bocconcini and cherry tomato skewers, melons wrapped in parma ham and grilled red and green peppers with walnut bites. A generously portioned platter for two that could easily extend to three, I loved that each skewer and dip (down to the pesto that coated the bocconcini) was so obviously fresh. We concluded our culinary trip around the world with a French Baguette with Smoked Ham, Avocado and Tartar, which was, like each other dish, substantial and clearly just made with great quality ingredients. The star of the show, was unsurprisingly, the sushi but each dish held its own, even if under the shadow of what is clearly the Chef’s forte.

 

Townhall hasn’t managed to get its liquor license yet which is a crying shame because the gorgeous bar and lovely rooftop would be the perfect place to get a drink in Khan. I suppose its small consolation that our local licensing authorities don’t appear to respond to anyone irrespective of the size of the establishments applying. Currently they have a (no surprise here) vast range of non-alcoholic beverages to choose from, which I’m slowly and surely making my way through. My favorite is the peach flavored Japanese lemonade which comes from a banta bottle and is served with Kaffir lime leaves and a cherry – I’ve never tasted anything like it and I think I’m addicted. Next up is the watermelon juice which is light, refreshing and happily has no sugar added to it. If you’re feeling adventurous try the Gems and Mint Milkshake – a totally bizarre but absolutely delicious combination of flavors.

 

FEELS LIKE

This kind of scale inspires proportionate expectations and while Townhall is suffering through some teething trouble, I have great hopes from the place. The interiors are spectacular, as is the sushi and the staff. Once their cocktail menu is up, this is going to be the best way to spend an evening in Khan. Go before they get their liquor license and thirsty hordes descend upon Townhall. I love Townhall’s versatility, it’s pretty enough to take your date, the menu wide enough to accommodate the diverse tastes of a large family gathering and buttoned up enough for a post-work drink. There’s something for everyone at Townhall but my recommendation is to go with the sushi-lover in your life.

 

PERFECT SUMMER RECIPES!

Every summer has its own story.

I like summers. I like shorts and flip flops. I like lemonade and ice cream. I like how everything slows down because no matter how removed from reality we might be nobody can ignore the blistering heat. It's easier to get up in the morning and nothing beats falling asleep under a whirring fan. The days seem longer and it feels like the pressure is off... I don't think we ever recover from the feeling that summer means holidays.

In advance of the summer of 2014, here are five of my favorite recipes from previous summers.

 

1. Cold Cucumber and Mint Yoghurt Soup

 

2. No Bake Mango Cheesecake with Mango Jelly

 

3. Crab, Apple and Pomegranate Salad

 

4. Red Pepper and Pomegranate Molasses Dip

5. Lemon Yoghurt Marinated Chicken Kebabs

RESTAURANT REVIEW: RARO BAKERY, DEFENCE COLONY

For the bread

  

I’m so excited about all the new stores opening up in Defence Colony Market. So far most of the recent entrants have been half baked clothing and accessory stores for women with the usual festering piles of bird cages, tropical colors and butterflies. But I continue to remain hopeful that somebody will get their act together long enough to open something sensible one day.

Keeping my fingers crossed I decided to walk into Raro, Defence Colony’s newest bakery.

Looks Like

It’s a tiny space painted an odd purple-maroon but not unattractive. One side has a fantastic collection of bread including chubby, little dinner rolls, fat slabs of olive and herb encrusted foccacia and long, elegant baguettes. The other side is a refrigerated display case with the usual collection of tarts, pastries, chocolate confections and mousses. There are a few small tables tucked into the back.  

 

Tastes Like

The Mascarpone Cherry Tart was well made with a flakey, buttery pastry crust and creamy mascarpone filling but the cherries were replaced with a cloying cherry jam which dragged the treat down. The Eclairs have their highs and lows, the outside too hard, an almost crusty exterior but generously filled with gently sweetened cream and dipped in decadent chocolate. Not really anything to write home about.

On the other hand, the baguette was a long, beautiful, exercise in yeasty flavor. Perfect for use in crostinis or just by itself with a little cheese or a hot soup.

 

Feels Like

I really appreciated that when 2 women walked in asking for gluten free crème brulee the waitress and cashier promptly admitted they didn’t know and called the chef to check. Too many places respond to customer queries with blank stares and mumbled half truths.

Raro is a tiny thing and presents no reason to skip the stalwart Defence Bakery or the functional Angels in my Kitchen. If they don’t up the ante soon I’m not sure how they’ll survive.

Should you go: No particular reason to go. No particular reason not to.

Vegetarian Options: Yes
Liquor License: No
Smoking Area: No

BROCCOLI STALK AND APPLE SOUP

“An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup.” ― H.L. Mencken

 

A lovely friend invited a small bunch of us over for an incredible home cooked meal recently. With a small group of charming people, the comfort of home, delicious, hot, home cooked food on a lazy Sunday it was impossible not to have a great time. My reflections on why we need to entertain at home more often will be the subject of another post. This one focusses on part of a conversation where we all concurred that spending 5 years in a residential law school, specially one that was conveniently located an hour into the middle of nowhere with 300 barely adults is possibly one of most traumatic things that can happen to a sheltered 17 year old. 

 

Predictably each of us processed it differently, some buckled under, some buckled down and some lost the plot entirely. We found backbones, lost individual identities and each of us grew more than a little cynical. Now 5 years after I graduated, law school looks very, very different. By the time I was done I swore I'd never go back. I realize this petulance was superfluous, I can't ever go back anyway. Fortunately (or not) it's impossible to replicate the comic tragedy of being an undergraduate student. The now purely hypothetical question is would I go back if I had to do it all over again and I realize I wouldn't. 

 

Though I'm a lawyer now and can't imagine doing anything else at 17 I had a lot more imagination. I spent most of that formative phase learning things I didn't and still don't enjoy, at the cost of the many things I love that I now know little about and don't have the time or opportunity to pursue. The atmosphere that shaped a large part of my adult personality was one I didn't often understand and/or agree with and that's created a large part of me that I don't understand and/or agree with. When I'm caught in situations that remind me of this, usually office parties or meeting acquaintances from other law schools, I feel awkward, like I'm wearing a shirt that just doesn't fit right. 

 

I always thought I wouldn't be afraid to take chances but I realize I am. Figuring out what isn't working and to take the leap that'll fix it - it's much easier to do when you're watching Christina and Mer on your laptop. Not that I don't have some crazy, good memories, not that I was an utter failure in law school, not that the place didn't set me up with a life I mostly love. It's just that after 5 years I realize that in some ways the law school system (specially in the context of students that go on to join law firms) is a bit of a scam. The expectations, the lifestyle and the money isn't really real, these things don't really add up the way they said it would.  
 

Completely unlike this light, delicate Broccoli Stalk and Apple Soup that I had 3 helpings of the first time I made it and then made it again a week later. Healthy, nourishing and with just a slight undertone of sweet this is great soup for the hurting law graduate's soul. 

 

Serves 4

Adapted from Food 52

 What you’ll need:

1 large head of broccoli (cut off the florets and chop up the stalk)

3 apples (peeled, cored and cut into chunks)
2 onions (sliced)
2 tbsp butter
6 cups vegetable/ chicken broth
Red chilli powder to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
Oregano/Thyme/ Rosemary/ Parsley or whatever seasoning you prefer

How to:

1. Melt the butter and sauté the onions till brown and soft. Add the apples and stir some more.

2. Once the apples are a little softer add the broth and broccoli stalk. Bring the soup to a boil and then let simmer for 20 minutes.

3. Add the some of the broccoli florets and cook some more (about 5 – 10 mins should do it). Season as you like.

4. Puree the mix and check the seasoning. Fix it as you need to and serve.