Pork Vindaloo

Goa trip with my buddies had finally happened in July this year and along with it came a big surprise. One of my friends who is least experimental with food and sticks to north Indian cuisine all the time was coaxed (or forced, as he would say) into trying Goan cuisine. And he actually liked something! Pork vindaloo. Needless to say, once we were back to the traffic and routine of Delhi life, all he could talk about was the pork vindaloo. As the only one who cooks in the group, I felt I could perhaps re-create the Goa mood by trying my hand at the dish. And so I did...successfully.

(This pic was taken when the pork was still cooking on dry heat [no gravy at this point] and the lighting was awful. Sorry folks!)

Here's how you make it:

1 Kg Pork meat (meat with fat trimmed)
2 Big Onions
Salt as per taste
15 Kashmiri Chillies,
6-8 Garlic flakes,
1" Ginger
2 Teaspoons of Jeera,
3/4 tsp Haldi,
1" piece of Cinnamon
6 Peppers
6 Cloves
Vinegar

1. Grind the chillies into powder, add just enough vinegar to make a paste and keep it aside. Lets move on to prepping the pork.
2. Wash the Pork pieces well and then chop them up into nice bits.
3. Drain the moisture from the pork. You can do so by using a cloth to absorb all the water.
4. Add some salt and keep it aside. This step should help dry the pieces even more.
5. Now grind all remaining ingredients into a fine paste.
6. Add the ground masala (don't forget the chilly-vinegar!) to the pork pieces and mix well. Ensure that all pieces of pork are evenly coated with the masala. Add a little vinegar to the meat, mix it up once more and store it overnight in the fridge.
7. The next day, blend the onions to add to the marinated pork.
8. Heat a pan and on dry heat, transfer all the ingredients on to the stove.
9. Fry the meat till it starts to seal, that is, the color of the meat should have changed from pink to a pink-brown. Add 1.5 cups of water and let it cook on a slow flame.
10. Check the pork vindaloo in intervals. Once the meat is cooked and the gravy reaches the consistency that you like (the gravy is ideally not thick but is flavorful even when thin so adjust the water accordingly), your Pork Vindaloo is ready!

TIP: Like most Indian dishes that have masalas, Vindaloo always tastes better the next day as the meat gets properly marinated.     

Yummiest baked carrots ever!

In a quest to undo some damage that my "hobby" of trying new restaurants does, I've started experimenting low-cal ways of eating my veggies. I'm always looking for flavor, even in my boiled veggies. Last night, I felt a little bolder (and lazier) than usual and decided to bake my carrots to accompany some pieces of grilled chicken breasts for dinner.

A quick internet research on how to best bake carrots, I found myself yet again on the page of one of my favorite people...Jamie Oliver! knowing how simple, healthy and, most importantly, yummy his recipes have turned out in the past, I tried baking the carrots like he suggested. Try it out but please remember that I love this guy so don't come back to me with comments like, "I love Jamie too!" I do not react very well to real or imagined threats to inaccessible men I love...especially when that particular crush is a divine cook.

Okay, here we go:

• 750 g young bunched carrots, different colours if possible, washed and scrubbed
• olive oil
• Vinegar (or red wine vinegar if available)
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• a few sprigs of fresh thyme (optional)
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
    

Preheat your oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6. Toss your carrots with a good lug of olive oil, a splash of vinegar, salt and pepper, the thyme sprigs and the garlic cloves. Place in a roasting tray or earthenware dish, cover tightly with tinfoil and cook for 20-30 minutes until just tender. If you like your carrots browned and caramelized, remove the foil and cook for a further 10 minutes.

See how simple that was? it took 2-3 minutes to prep and shove the carrots into the oven  and in the meanwhile I grilled my chicken.

Guppy by Ai @ Lodhi Colony

Birthday dinners are a family tradition in my house and on my birthday, we always  wind up in a Japanese restaurant. Fortunately for me, my parents are quite experimental with food and once I introduced them to sushi, they too loved it. As a person who has explored most Japanese restaurants in Delhi, I was looking for a new place to go to and fortunately, 'Guppy by ai' had been making news for all the right reasons it seemed (also because I loved their logo). We decided to check it out for ourselves. 

The restaurant is in the main market of Lodhi Colony. Among the few white washed shops in that market, Guppy manages to grab one's attention with its simple red window that gives a peep into a magical world. 

Since we had landed there without prior reservation, we were led to the lounge area that had very interesting decor...pretty heart cut outs on the wall, manga comic prints on the sofas and origami shades on harsh lights to soften the mood. The decor was cheap but tastefully put together. If bizarre and class married, guppy was their baby. 

The staff was not only pleasant but friendly and accommodating as well. We were told that all tables were occupied and it was not certain when it would be free, however, they would be happy to serve us our drinks and snacks till a table was free. Once we settled in the tiny space they called the 'Lounge', we pretty much decided to continue sitting there.

We started our evening with their mocktail (no liquor license there yet!) 'Sip Sensation.' The drink was nothing sensational but the sushis, 'Spicy salmon special roll' and 'California roll' were excellent. That set our hopes high.

The mains we had were:

1. Ai signature pork belly: beautifully flavored but very small helping for something priced at INR 900!

2. Garlic fried rice with bacon: mildly flavored and decent dish but no great shakes.

3. Karashi chicken and bacon: a type of stew in mustard sauce (the waitress informed us that Karashi means mustard in Japanese). The chicken pieces were minuscule and the stew was lightly flavored with no overwhelming flavor from mustard. I think this would have tasted better with plain rice.

4. Tiger prawn tempura udon: think of this as a Japanese thukpa. Light, flavorful broth containing very slippery noodles and fried prawns and vegetables served separately. This dish did not inspire me in any way.

We skipped dessert (for cake at home! Yay!).

The conclusion for the evening was that the food is worth a try but are quite pricy for the serving. The mocktail section could be made more interesting with a wider selection at least until they have a liquor license. 

Avg. cost per person: Rs. 2000 (no alcohol)

Rating: 3.5/5

 

Tamura @ Green Park

On a rare occasion that I ventured into the Green Park area of Delhi, my friend informed me that there was a nice Japanese restaurant nearby and being the sushi-loving creatures that he and I are, we walked through the market till we found the barely noticeable board of "Tamura."

We walked in and found a fairly nice setting that had the usual "Chinese restaurant" feel to it that bizarrely had a billing and bar counter that looked like it belonged to a pub. Ignoring that, we proceeded to order our meal. We had:

1. Salmon roll (sushi)

2. Fried prawns set (ebi fry bento)

3. Pork cutlet on rice (katsudon)

The sushi was DRY and slightly rubberish. The fried prawns set was served with a small helpings of soup and salad. Considering that the rice had absolutely no flavor, the soup and salad helped push down the meal. The pork cutlet on rice was a much better dish, thankfully. It came in a pretty little box and they were generous with the quantity. The rice was mildly sweet and pork was done just right.

I seriously contemplated smuggling the box my lunch came in. It looked so pretty! And it would have been a serious upgrade of my usual lunch box. Let me not digress!

The staff was not very helpful, I add. The waitress seemed too be busy arranging and rearranging cutlery no one was asking for and was not interested in helping us decide on what to order. Only a couple of tables were occupied and so it seemed very strange when we were presented with a bill even before we had finished our drinks. That was just in poor taste, I felt. The general feeling I had was that my friend and I had probably interrupted their afternoon siesta. I do not plan to visit the place again. 

Overall, it was a very average experience.

Avg. cost: Rs. 1000 per person (with beer)

Rating: 2/5