Meat ke Gole, Dil bole, Ole Ole!!!

If you are a hardcore carnivorous  human ( that's how I would like to refer the bhai bhandu  who is into meat eating, with all due respect, of course) , you would certainly get a fair idea of what am gonna talk about today.

The minced meat, grinded and given a ball shape then fried & presented with a gravy base, the good 'ol Kofta  has been one of my favourite non-veg delicacies. There are different versions to it and it is cooked in different styles. In middle-eastern countries (where is is popularly known as Kefta Kebab) its skewered in seekh  and then roasted on tandoor. Trust me, when you see it being cooked that way, I can vouch that har mard ko dard hota hoga ;)

In our country, its simply fried before being placed in a gravy or just allowed to cook along with the gravy. The taste of course varies. One of my favourite kind is nargisi kofta, which I first had when I was 9 years of age and was in Lucknow for my brother's marriage.  As you dig into it, you find that the kofta has been stuffed with boiled eggs- minus the yolk. Its heavenly delicious when eaten with butter laden nan/tandoori roti. Oh what a lovely time it was, chill winter hot food and the feel of being in place from where we have got some of the best food (including biryani).

Today evening, rather 15 minutes back, I got a hunger call and was desperately scanning the refrigerator for something to gorge on. Then I noticed the two beautiful pieces of meat pearl kept in a side. This was sent by a friend on the eve of Xmas. She's a Christian by faith and was sweet enough to get some yumm fruit cake and box of kofta made by her father.

Just finished having it and realized that till date no matter how many times I have eaten Kofta, it always differ from one household to another. Some times, the gravy differs, at times the texture and most of the times the shape and size.

But winter time you just cannot say no to Kofta. Till date I have never eaten something like 'Moti Biryani' which one can find on the menu of Amber, Near Paradise Cinema. For sure it is among the top restaurant in Kolkata serving Indian food. The place has very much retained its old world charm.  'Moti Biryani'  is nothing but birayni dish without the aloo ,and instead of a chunk of meat, you find no. of small pieces of Kofta.

Coming back to my kofta snack break, it is certainly one of the popular non-veg dishes one can try . To sum it up. i would say, Meat ke Gole, Dil bole, Ole Ole!!!

                                                    

At ease with Lebanese

My first tryst with Shawarma was way back in 2006. It was my birthday and my friends and I had gone to burrp at The Forum mall for our evening of nashta paani! There I saw a gigantic chunk of chicken vertically skewered on a grill staring at me. I had been open to trying new dishes and this one was a must. I went ahead and and asked about the dish, the word lebanese was so mouth watering when jointly said with the word 'food' that I could not say no.

Few minutes later, there it was, grilled chicken wrapped in pita bread and stuffed with garlic sauce and pickles. From that day, Shawarma for me was a compulsory food to eat whenever I visited the mall.

FAST FORWARD>>> 2011, its Bangkok Time. Yes, I was elated and excited for my very fist phoren trip. Google was my best friend those days advising me on what to do and also what to do that one should not do :D ;) ....

Once in Thailand, I was excited to see the roads, bikes, buildings. I was truly in the metropolis of Thailand. From TV shows and Google, I knew that street food culture was an important part of the thai gastronomy and I was all ready to dig into the new food experiences.

My major concerns was that I did wanted to eat where pork was being served, precisely for three reasons:

1- Pork is haram in Islam
2- The thai people  were not very good  at understanding English (Not generalising, simply based on personal experience) and there was a fair chance for them to make mistake. (An incident happened with my friend where an international burger chain served him beef when he asked for chicken, so there was no reason for me to take chance)
3- They would use the same grill/oil/utensils to prepare chicken and pork which was a strict no no for me.

So my only way out from this difficult situation was Arab Street. What energy that place had. People form different countries, mostly middle east, running superb food joints. I headed straight to a shop and there i see the Shawarma, this there was a beef option.

It was 4 PM and I was hungry. I wasted no time after shawarma was served and the taste was so different, so good, so delicious. I noticed that before serving shawarma, the cook use to press the shawarma in a sandwich toaster which gave a crispy crust to the roll and the filling this time included pickle, jalapenos , garlic sauce and lettuce. all this for 60 Baht. I tried to eat at different shop everytime I went for my meals. Once to an Egyptian, then to a Syrian, then to someone from some other middle eastern country.

For rest of my 5 days in Bangkok, I lived on shawarma, eating two at a time and thrice a day.

Surely, I was at ease with Lebanese!

Dahi Chicken- Forgotten Spice, taste with no compromise

Winter makes you lazy ,winter makes you fat...In the past 6 months I have gained a whopping 10kgs. Whoever meets me these days, quotes with all excitement ' you have gained, a sign of prosperity it seems,' and I looking at them with fake-pale smile reply ' I think its a sign of laziness'. With the onset of winter am lil scared, cannot afford to gain more weight and cannot wait to try the winter victuals.

'aaj mere yaar ki shaadi hai'  was my song for the day. A dear friend got married to his college sweetheart. What a glorious Marwari wedding it was. Long rituals, traditional dresses and men dressed in formals and pagdis. For once I thought I was on the set of a Sooraj Barjatya film. Giving me company was Raghu Rai (aka Raghav - he got the former name as he has an advice for everyone). 

Ek taraf Dost ki Varmala, dusre taraf the bride side was getting in emtional mode, we were confused which way to go...then Aamir style yaad aya...bola yaar chocolate shake pe concentrate karo...then came the sweet corn soup with mini buns, followed by fresh cream with grapes, paneer shashlik, crispy babycorns, pineapple pastry, dal makhani, shahi matar, aur yaad nahi yaaarrrrrr!!!

Now it was time to wish my friend good luck and head straight to home...Few hours after I reached home....I started feeling hungry again as I am not an early eater and since all the food splurging happened between 6-9 pm, I was hungry again. It was 2:15, and I was HUNGRY. Opened my refrigerator and I found a bowl of Dahi Chicken which I fondly call Chicken Dilfarezi.

Few years back, my elder sis in law was making dinner for us. She's a champ when it comes to cooking good Indian/Mughlai food. But that very day, before the dinner hours she was silent and tensed. I did not even realized that she was nervous till the time we all sat for dinner. I, in all excitement uncovered the lid of the dish and was delighted to see the orange spice laden chicken ogling at me. I started searching for my favourite piece and there it was, a soft juicy tender breast piece hidden under few legs and wings pieces.

I started digging in and it was NOT the usual Dahi Chicken...it was wieredly different and incredibly tasty...I looked at my sis in law and saw the same expression on her face. She finally admitted that while cooking the dahi chicken she forgot to put one of the most important ingredients of the dish. I was like...........

From that very day, the forgotten spice version of Dahi chicken was renamed as the Chicken Dilfarezi as it touched my heart....Its a dish with forgotten spice but tasted without any compromise!!!!

BTW, if you can guess the spice which was not used and is one of the most important ingredients, you will be set for a treat of Chick Dil ;)