Spaghetti in the Kitchen

Having enjoyed so many exciting dishes last week (courtesy my mom), this week I wanted to cook up something on my own. The whole while since today morning till evening I was thinking about what to cook. I flipped open a Tarla Dalal book I had purchased sometime ago. Then thinking of delighting Cheenu (she is fond of continental) and myself wanting some change in taste, I decided to try something exciting from the options.

We went through the several options together and zeroed in on ‘Potato Ring with Spaghetti in Tomato Sauce’.

Mostly I followed the recipe but added some of my customization as well. Here is how you cook it up. Serves: 1-2 people

Step1: Boiler Plate!

1. Boil two potatoes and cut into small sized pieces

2.  Boil 200gm of Spagehetti

3. Boil 2/3 cup of Sweet Corn (keep all these aside)

Step2: Choppy Waters!

Meanwhile chop two Onions, two Green Chillies and 6-7 Tomatoes (large pieces)

Step3: Saucy Sautee!

Boil the cut tomato pieces in a quarter cup of water. Once boiled use a sieve to separate out the pulp from the juice. Keep the juice aside.

Fry half of the chopped onions in 1 tb spoon ghee. Add the tomato juice, half spoon red chili powder, 1 tb sugar, some salt and let it boil on medium heat for about 10 mins. Your sauce is done.

Step4: Mixed Bag!

Now in your sauce, add spaghetti and 3 tb spoon of Fresh Cream. Mix it all well.

Step5: Couch Potato!

Fry remaining half of the chopped onions in 1 tb spoon butter. Add the green chilies, boiled cut potatoes, corn, half a cup of boiled spaghetti and half a cup of milk. Add some salt to taste. Mix it all well and keep aside. Your potato mix is done.

Important: the sauce preparation and the potato mix preparation should go in parallel as these two are served together hot. Here’s how:

The Plating: Take a small cup/bowl and fill it with the potato mix. Now turn it upside down on your serving plate and remove the cup/bowl. Surround the mix with the spaghetti in tomato sauce. Grate some Cheese on top.

Tada!!! Your dish is ready to be served.

Have Funn Cooking. Enjoy Madi!

South Indies: Mokka Junna Miriyalu Fry

Location: Bangalore (Indiranagar)

For a change I didn’t feel like cooking, I had had enough of north indian, Italian, burgers and sandwiches. I felt like having something different, something refreshing. I needed a change in taste. And because it was the end of a weekend, I needed something to cheer me up.

We (me and Sakshi) circled around on Indira Nagar 80 feet and 100 feet road thinking and re-thinking. We thought of several options but couldn’t decide where to dine. Then, it struck me. I decided to have my Sunday dinner at South Indies and try out some interesting south Indian options they had to offer.

As we were early, we got the table quickly and the waiter brought the menu. Along with it he got us some chips to munch on.

Their ‘Mokka junna miriyalu fry’ seemed to be especially tempting. This is basically baby corn marinated with crushed pepper , tamarind and besam flour served with three varieties of chutney. I wanted to try it for a looong time. The menu had an enlarged image of this and looking at it made my water. It tasted exactly the way it looked like in the menu … a-mazzing!!!

For the main course, we browsed through the menu and very quickly reached a consensus. We wanted to have their Appam and Kari Kari Stew. This stew is garden fresh vegetables cooked in a coconut milk based gravy, flavored with curry leaves and green chilies. This stew goes well with Appams and had been recommended by many friends.

The waiter came up to us and swiftly took our order on his i-phone.

The service was quick, I’m guessing probably because the order taking was computerized. The waiter takes order and sends it out. It is then automatically displayed on the digital signage along with serial number in the kitchen. The process is simple and quick. Coming back to food …

As soon as we had finished off the baby corn, he served us the stew. For the Appams there is always a live counter. It was delightful to have the freshly cooked steaming appam, served right off the pan. We ate off those in no time. For the repeat order we ordered the Podi Appam. This is appam sprinkled with a spicy masala and tastes even better.

We wanted to keep it light that day and so we stopped at this. But, there are several curry options here and you can accompany these with interesting varieties of dosa, roti, appam or parotta. Please click here for the menu.

I would suggest to all north Indians … Go on … do try if you want to have something beyond the regular.

Italian Khana

Location: Bangalore (Indiranagar)

I had not been for a buffet in a long time. I got the best excuse of going for one when I got up late last Tuesday. It was May Day and we had a holiday.

As it was already 10:30am when I got out of bed, I dint see any point in preparing breakfast. I woke-up my partner in crime (Sakshi) and suggested going for brunch.  As always, I started browsing on my smart phone for some good options. In just a few minutes we narrowed down to Little Italy weekday buffet brunch – one of the best in the city in my opinion. Probably the only place you get 100% vegetarian Italian food.

At the restaurant, we chose to sit outdoors.  As soon as we were seated the waiter arrived and then began a beautiful, splendid journey of Italian epicurean delights with a bit of Mexican tadka. And guys, let me share some of these visually … please don’t hate me for this gastronomical torture … though I love doing this to you all ;-))

Tossed veg. Salad from the Live Counter

Mixed sauce pasts with capsicum, sun dried tomatoes, broccoli and italian herbs

Here comes the wood burn pizza

Just can't stop ...

Here is another one ...

Crepe with fruits and chocolate sauce from the live counter ... yummylicious

Time for dessert

Everything wiped off the plate

Ahh mann ... im soo full ... 

One good thing about the buffet is that they serve you small quantities in a serving. That way you can taste everything and and enjoy the whole course from the starters to the dessert.


And guys let me tell you, the Weekend brunch offers more variety ... its bigger and better!!!