Eggplant Sesame

One of my coworkers gave me this recipe; it’s pretty much the regular way to cook ‘baingan’ but you add sesame/til in it.


Ingredients:
1 lb eggplant (the small ones from the Indian store)
1 small red onion
1 tbs garlic ginger paste
2 green chillies
4-5 Curry leaves
1 tsp whole jeera
3 tbs til powder (secret ingredient)
1 tbs coconut powder
I tsp dhania powder


Method:
You cut the eggplants into small cubes. Leave the stems on but remove the leaves around the stems. In a wok, sauté your finely cut onions along with the curry leaves, green chillis and jeera powder. Once the onions turn a mild shade of brown, add the garlic ginger paste. Let this cook for a bit. Add the eggplant, close the lid and let this simmer on a slow flame for 10 minutes. Do not add water, this is a dry recipe, not a gravy.


After 10 minutes, add a generous portion of sesame powder (not whole til seeds), coconut powder and dhania powder. Let it cook again for 5 mnutes. The ‘til’ gives this ‘sabzi’ a unique flavor.


Cooking Time: 15 minutes.

Redfish - A Creole Bistro

As the name suggests, this restaurant is partial to sea-food. Sea-Food and Creole cuisine; nice combination. Though Redfish is situated in a nondescript part of midtown, it’s trendy and pretty upscale. It is a New Orleans based restaurant and the dark dimly lit interiors as well as the jazz playing in the background is supposed to conjure up a feeling of New Orleans.

They have an extensive wine-list and the servers will tell you exactly what wine goes with what fish and why, in minute detail! They also served complimentary ‘Chips and Dip’, the chips were good, like a cross between ‘papad’ and banana wafers. We ordered the catfish and the jambalaya. The food was delicious and the portions were pretty big. The entrées came with a choice of two sides. I needed a doggy-bag. I would only suggest this place to someone who likes seafood, else you’ll be stuck with French-fries and coleslaw. Enjoy all you Fish-Foodies.

Madras Sarvanabhavan - NYC

Yeah we went to New York and yeah we went to a Madras Sarvanabhavan. So what! I guess you can get us outta South India but you can’t get the South-Indian outta us. I’m glad we went though, I actually tasted two dishes I’d never heard of or seen in my life.

The first one was an appetizer called ‘mini idli’. It had about fifteen bite-size idlis soaking in a bowl of sambar. The idlis were really ‘mini’, almost as small as a quarter! It was delicious. The second item stole the show. It’s called ‘Kuthu Parota’. It’s a cross between a paratha and a dosa and stuffed with vegetables. It was spicy and just out of this world. I haven’t seen this dish served anywhere else.

I ordered the ‘Pesarattu’. This is another uncommon variety of a dosa. The batter is made of ‘moong dal’. The dosa is therefore slightly green in color. If you order the stuffed pesarattu, it comes stuffed with ‘upma’!!! (unlike a masala dosa).

Dessert; ‘Sabudana Kheer’, can you get anymore South Indian than that?

The picture says it all, we definitely had a mouth-watering, lip-smacking, sambar-slurping meal!

'Sukha Prawns'

I love my good old Mangalorean food; spicy, meaty, coconuty, yummy. As the name suggests, this is dry shrimp preparation and can be eaten with a simple rice and dal.

Ingredients:
½ lb shrimp
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp dhania powder
¼ tsp haldi powder
½ tsp jeera
½ tsp methi seeds
6 pepper corns or ½ tsp pepper powder
4 flakes garlic
½ onion
1 small tomato
4 tbs grated coconut
½ onion cut lengthwise


Method:
Grind to a paste: chilli powder, dhania powder, haldi, jeera, methi, pepper corns, garlic 4 flakes, 1/2 onion, coconut and the tomato. Run the mixer just once, you need a lumpy paste.
Fry 1/2 onion cut lengthwise in a little oil, and the ground masala. Then and the cleaned prawns and some salt. Cook on a slow fire for 10 minutes. Your ‘sukha’ prawns is ready. Simple.

The Real Chow Baby

I absolutely love this place. Reservation or not, it’s always crowded but undoubtedly worth the wait. It’s on Howell Mill road, just off 14^th Street. What’s so special about The Real Chow Baby? Well you create your own stir-fry, of course.

You choose what goes into your stir fry from a mind boggling number of items, ranging from types of water chestnuts to Malaysian noodles to salmon. There are varieties of noodles, rice, vegetables, sauces, meats, oils and garnishes to choose from. You pile all you can into your bowl and the chefs stir-fry it for you. The waitress will hand you a little ‘paddle' right in the beginning on which you write your name on. Once your stir-fry is ready, she will bring it to you at your table. The best part; well you can go back to the buffet table as many times as you want. Though both times that I’ve been there, I’ve been stuffed upto my eyeballs the first time round itself.

Don’t go by the looks of the place from the outside. It may seem a little ‘ghetto’ and you maybe tempted to turn back. Don’t though, you wont be disappointed.

The picture, that was the last time I went there; with S & A. Girlfriends, nostalgia and noodles, great combination.

Fritti Fritti

Fritti, again, came with a recommendation, else we never would have wound up at this fashionable, little Italian joint in one of the little knows alleys of midtown. Fritti and Sotto Sotto, belong to the same group and are right beside each other. Fritti serves primarily pizzas, custom made and fresh off the oven.

The restaurant was crowded. The tables were too close to each other; perhaps due to its weekend popularity they try to squeeze as many in as possible. They also have a small patio that seemed quite romantic. The pizzas were mouth-watering. I can’t quite remember what I ordered though. What I do clearly remember is the unique style of the menus. They were long, very long and incredibly narrow, almost so that reading it was quite a task.

The cherry on the cake, the complimentary valet parking!

Twist

I’ve been to this midtown sushi bar a couple of times, and have always left satisfied. It is absolutely necessary to make a reservation, else be prepared to wait for a good forty-five minutes or so. Twist is loud, chic and relatively expensive. It has outdoor seating as well as an extensive bar and saloon. This is not a family place. It’s pretty versatile though; a good place for a girl’s night out, to catch up with friends or for a hot date.

The service is quick and the complimentary assortment of breadsticks with the little mound of butter is absolutely delicious. Apart from their extensive sushi menu, they also have a regular menu with quite a few items that are worth writing home about. I have thoroughly enjoyed the Spanish style fried potatoes and the calamari. To me though, the most notable item on their menu is on the dessert section: the chocolate fondue, served with fresh fruits and marshmallows.

Twist is located at Phipps Plaza at Lennox Square. It belongs to same group that owns Noche, Posh & Strip, amongst others. If I had to use one word to describe all of them it would be ‘stylish’. There’s an AMC movie theatre in the same plaza; I think a midnight show is a good way to end the night.

Twist definately gets a G-Star.

Kofta Curry

This is my mum’s recipe, tried and tested but the finishing touches are mine. I’ve made it just twice, but both times, fortunately, it turned out pretty good.

Ingredients:

For the koftas:

300 gms paneer

1big potato

3Tbsp plain flour

Green chillies 

Dhania leaves. 

For the gravy: 

2 onions

1 Tbsp garlic ginger paste 

2 tomatoes or tomato puree

Chilli powder, dhania, jeera powder, haldi and salt, 

Kasuri methi 

½ cup cream.

Method:

For Kofta: Grate the paneer, knead it together with mashed potato,

maida, a little salt, chopped chilles and kothmir. Make a soft dough {no

water }. Make small balls and deep fry in hot oil, keep aside.

For Gravy : Fry onions till light brown and then grind to a ppaste,

Make a gravy with the onions, garlic ginger paste , tomato puree and the remaining

masalas. Finally, add the kasuri methi. 

Add the koftas into the gravy just before serving. (If you add the koftas into the gravy earlier on, the koftas will absord all the gravy and bloat up. You’ll have yourself a kofta-podge, not a curry!). Add a big dollop of cream on top and stir well. Here’s where my personal input comes in; I add one third cup full cashew nut paste to the gravy. It enhances the richness of this dish.

Vatika

This was a Sunday lunch a few months ago. It’s a small Gujrati restaurant in Marietta that serves vegetarian thalis. I think it’s a popular lunch-hub on weekdays for those working in the Cobb Parkway – Windy Hill area. There were only 5-6 items on the thali. The items were really delicious though and the supply unlimited. The food was very simple, fresh, aromatic and wholesome. The chapattis were being continuously made and served hot. I was a tad bit disappointed because the thali did not include dessert. I was looking forward to some nice kheer or gulab jamun.


I definitely recommend Vatika to all the Gujjus and other vegetarians. I however, kept weighing it against the other Indian restaurants in Atlanta that serve a forty item non-vegetarian smorgasbord at almost the same rate. In comparison, Vatika is expensive. As much as I love Dhoklas, the Minerva mutton curry, at the same price, definately steals the show.


The place was pretty crowded though and if you’re like me and tend to judge restaurants by how crowded they are, then this one will definitely get a thumbs up.

Django

Django is on Peachtree Street. I’d heard rave reviews from some people so we decide to try it. ‘Django’ is an old gypsy-word and this three-level restaurant definitely had some kind of a gypsy feel to it. The brick walls actually made the place quite cozy. It wasn’t crowded even though we went on a Friday night, that itself should’ve told me that maybe the place isn’t that great after all. The bar seemed to be far more popular than the restaurant as there were people swarming for drinks.


The upper level seemed to have a dance floor, going by the sound of the music and the heavy thudding. The main level is the restaurant and I’m not quite sure what was down below. The service was very good though and so was the Mojito.


On a Friday night, I prefer places that are a little noisier, where you can hear the din of cutlery, places with a happy weekend buzz to them. That’s probably the only reason why I didn’t dig Django too much. It think it has a Zagat rating and is definitely worth trying at least once, I’d say.

Date & Carrot Cake

My mum loves to bake. Of all her varied confections, my favorite is her date and carrot cake. Among the many things that she gave me when I left home was the recipe for this cake. Over the last five years, her keenness to have me bake hasn’t dwindled and she continues to enthusiastically mail me recipes every now and then. I even have something about a banana loaf somewhere in my inbox. I know for a fact that she fervently hopes that at least one of her daughters develops an interest in baking. I being older, the onus is on me. I don’t know if I will ever be able to make the perfect date and carrot cake from scratch but I know that I’m sure as heck going to try………someday soon!


Date and Carrot Cake:
INGREDIENTS
2 cups maida
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
2 cups grated carrots
1 cup chopped dates


DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside. In a separate larger bowl, mix together the eggs, sugar and vanilla by hand. Stir in the oil; the mixture should resemble pudding. Gradually stir in the dry ingredients, and then fold in the carrots and dates. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and spread evenly.
Bake for 55 to 60 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a small knife inserted into the cake comes out clean.


Serve warm with alotta love!

Noche

Ah! Virginia Highlands. I’d love to live there. There’s something so up-market about Virginia Highlands that I can’t help liking that place. If you drive too fast, you’ll definitely miss this restaurant. It seems like a tiny, little bistro from the outside but once you enter you’ll realize it opens up into a wide airy patio. I think it’s a perfect place for a nice romantic dinner. Candles on the table, cosy tables for two, soft lights, the works! The most distinctive feature of Noche is that the style of the menu is like none other. They do not have appetizers, salads and entrees. The have an eclectic variety of different foods, small-portioned and all served at rates ranging from $4 - $6. Definately try the cheese platter.

Parking, a tad bit of a problem.


I give this place a G-Star.

Palomillas

We’d been wanting to eat authentic Cuban food for a long time. Bobby Flay had a show recently on Cuban cuisine and that further whetted our appetite. Atlanta citysearch recommended three in the metro Atlanta area; Mojito, Pozole and Palomillas. The reason we chose this is because it was the only one that had a Cuban chef and served only Cuban cuisine. The others seem to be a mix of other Latin American cuisines as well.


Palomillas was formerly a Thai restaurant, until the Cubans took over!. Simple decor, a few traditional artifacts on display, J-Lo crooning in the background, friendly Spanish-accented waitresses and sizeable portions of food can best describe this restaurant. The entrees are all served with white rice, plantains and black beans. Overall, I thought the food was a little bland for my taste. I always lean towards the spicy. I would recommend the chicken empanadas as appetizers and the house Sangria. Very heady!

Rosa Mexicano

Sitting prettily in Atlantic Station, Rosa Mexicano brings to you Mexican food with a difference. It isn’t your usual challuppas and enchiladas, actually it is all of that but with a whole lot of panache. It apparently belongs to a chain – Rosa Mexicano LLC and this one is the first to open up in the south.

This restaurant will always be a very special place for me. This was the place of an important 'first'. Honestly, I can’t quite remember what I ate. I do know that whatever it was, it tasted real good. The décor; that I do distinctly remember. As the name suggests, the color scheme is red and pink. The wrought iron fixtures on the wall and the mellow lighting are probably meant to lend an air of old-time Mexico. The ambience; a mix of romantic and friendly. Not the overly hush-hush place where you can hear the scrape of every knife but not bustling and noisy either where you can’t hear each other speak.

The best way to end your meal, would be with a quite stroll around Atlantic station, if the weather’s just right, you can’t go wrong with that.