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!