Pancakes

Bombay is expensive. We all know that. But you start noticing how high the prices are only when you live in another city.

In Ahmedabad, students like me can actually think about going to a 5 star for a buffet. And we do, regularly. To the Courtyard Marriott. The breakfast buffet there costs Rs. 450 and they also have a 25% discount for students from select institutes.

So the all you can eat features fresh fruits, salads, 3-4 kinds of cheese, croissants, muffins, breads, any egg preparation, Indian breakfast, some chinese-y things, a huge range of fruit preserves, a range of muesli and chocos and fruit juices, waffles and pancakes.

Their pancakes are great, I love having them with a generous dollop of butter and trying them out with all the preserves and jams.

So, this post is really about pancakes. We have all tried to make them at home for breakfast and for dinner.

I like mine buttery and slightly salty. This recipe is just that. The outsides are so crispy and nice and the insides soft. It takes a while to cook. But follow the directions and it will be heaven.

A cupcake shop!

I know a lot of people who love food, they are the best kind, and most of them want to have a restaurant of their own sometime in the future. 

Future.. when? After we are all done paying our student loans (me), having slaved for the corporate overlord and or having satisfied your parent's expectation of having a nice, well-paying and settled life. Everybody needs some capital to start a restaurant business, and according to Mr. Bourdain 95% of them tank. 

Honestly, I can't wait that long, or even to see whether it will succeed or not. So, I have decided to open a cupcake store from home, only for a month.

Why? Because Navi Mumbai needs cupcakes. There isn't a single cupcake store here. 

All that said and done now, please head over to my facebook page to know about the menu and to know how you can order. 

Feta Love, Cupcakes and Hairbands!

Who has a new obsession?

Me! Yes. Me! (JD reference).

Obsession #1: Feta
Have you ever eaten something that just exploded in your mouth, smooth and flavourful?
It happened with me and Feta at the Kala Ghoda Café. I ordered a salad with feta in it. And since then greek salad is the only kind I have ordered. I have even saved it up after finishing the salad to add to my pizzas.

So when J and I went to Yellow Tree Café, which is the sunshine-iest of places I have been to, I had to order it. And it didn't disappoint me. Though I would have liked my salad with cherry tomatoes and not big chunks of tomatoes.

The cafe has big windows and happy yellow walls with happy coloured stuff on it

The lovely salad with the out of place large tomatoes

We also ordered sun-dried tomato pesto chicken sandwich and cilantro chicken sandwiches that came with curly fries. The sandwiches come with a garlicky tomato sauce and mustard sauce. Both these sauces complimented the sandwiches really well. Just added that extra bit of zing.

The sundried tomato pesto chicken

The curly fries look more dominating than the cilantro chicken sandwich, no?

The yum sauces

We then went to find Lulu's cupcakes. If you subscribe to BPB (if you don't you should) then you would know who she is. She turned out to be close by at an exhibition and we got to have her chocolate cupcake and red velvet cupcake. The chocolate was soft and the frosting smooth and rich. The red velvet has an amazing cream cheese frosting.

Lulu's cupcakes

Obsession #2: Hairbands
At the exhibition the first stall I encountered was selling hairbands. I couldn't stop myself and was bought two of them. One very classy and the other bright. This obsession, according to some of my friends marks my transition from a tomboy to a girl. I don't know about that, but I do plan on adding to my tiny collection.

Tell me about your recent obsessions!

Starry Starry Cupcakes!

So what do you do when a friend invites you over for a nice Kashmiri lunch with 13 other starving PG kids interning in Mumbai?
You gang up with another one of the invitees and spend a fun afternoon baking and frosting cupcakes.

What recipe did we use? This one. We just subbed the chocolate chips with grated dark chocolate. Also made vanilla ones subbing the cocoa for more flour.

Pictures? Here: 

The starry sparkles

Green Being mixed in

Pink colour being mixed in 

Yellow being mixed in

We had lots of fun with the starry sprinklers

This is my friend Pooja, icing the cupcakes. She is unbelievably thin for someone who loves food so much and eats as much too! 

Pizza by the bay

So, J and I wanted to have the traditional Bombay dinner at Pizzeria sitting by tables overlooking Marine Drive. Our timing though was horrible. This section is now shut for renovation. We decided to go ahead and sit inside what was formerly Jazz by the Bay, but has now been renamed (repositioned?) as Pizza by the Bay.

I haven't been there before, so I can't write a before after piece. The interiors were white and blue and the place had a distinct corporate air. Such places tend to scare me, but with the thought of pizzas we moved on. We found a table for two.

A not here about the tables which seat two, they are rectangular and not square one would be used to and the length is longer than the breadth. So J and I had to sit at the far ends. After a few minutes he got up and moved closer to me (we were sitting on adjacent sides now). The staff promptly moved his plate and cutlery. (+1 to the service)

The menu according to BPB (Brown Paper Bag, no? Go to their website now!) hasn't changed much. I was ultra excited to see the Pizza Pot Pie section. Fellow TLC viewers would have seen the segment in Best Food Ever where they cover a Chicago joint which offers the best Pot Pies. Having seen the episode often, I have dreamt of having the pie.

But before I get to the mains I'll get to the starters. In true J and S fashion, we ordered Garlicky Potatoes (so I forgot what it was called but it is the usual spicy garlic potatoes.)

The serving was more than this, ok? We ate some before J reminded me about pictures. So they were chunky wedges which actually had grated garlic in the batter. It was yum and garlicky but I had to add a little salt on mine. The mayo alongside was nice according to J. The tomatoes with herbed perfectly and weren't limp. 

We next had the rissoto with parmesan, eggplant and zucchini. It was one of the first rissotos I had had which wasn't overtly drowning in sauce. The parmesan flavour was strong. I loved it. The zucchini and eggplant well done. It was so yum. Sigh!

Now the Pizza Pot Pie. It was served in the same manner as TLC (yay!). Excitement mounted. As we tried to cut a chunk we found a watery mess running out. We soldiered on. But well.. it was quite disappointing. It was called Great Balls of Fire.It wasn't spicy and the balls (chicken meatballs) weren't properly cooked. I think the watery mess was due to baking it with the tomatoes. I wonder why they had to add them if they already had tomato pesto in it. Anyhow it was a big disappointment. 

The food overall was great. The service better. I hope all the pot pies aren't like the one I had. 

Buttercupp Bakery

Ahmedabad is a nice city. Great infrastructure, nice places to eat, shop but it has one deficiency (apart from the lack of alcohol), this place doesn't have a nice cupcake place.

Forget a dedicated cupcake shop, not even one bakery that did cupcakes. Coming from Bombay with the convenience of Theobroma, Candies, 210's and Butterfly; this Gujju land was devoid of any cupcake happiness.

Till about two weeks ago.

Buttercupp: A Cupcake Shoppe was started by Amar and his wife. They flew down from the US to start this place. Not professional bakers, them, the wife (sorry, I didn't get her name) has done a baking course here and there but is an engineer by profession.

So, we (J and I) entered this place at 5 pm, and saw this:

Empty shelves, but you can see the Banana cupcake, can't you? Say hi!

empty shelves. 

Panicked we ordered 1 each of everything we saw; red velvet, oreo and banana bread. On enquiry we found that lemon cupcakes were on their way out and there was one last double chocolate dip. We ordered those as well. 

Lemony Love

So here goes,

Red velvet: the cake tastes nice. Though it could have been a nit more moist for me. The icing was nice, but it could have tasted more of cream cheese. 

Oreo: No one can ever go wrong with oreo. 

Banana Bread: Aah! These stole the show. Gorgeously moist, with the slight banana flavoured icing and the caramelised banana on top. *Sigh!* We had two of these. (It is nice how much J indulges me when it comes to food). 

Double Chocolate Dip: Oh so moist! our teeth go right through. With a light chocolate butter cream frosting, this on was chocolate heaven. 

Lemon: J and I love lemon. And it is so easy to go wrong with it. But this one was perfect. Not overtly sweet or lemony. 

The empty wrappers. Phone calls went unattended as we sat in silence for a minute savouring the  last crumbs. 

We ate six cupcakes while we were there. Took ten back to campus. Apparently, if you eat as much as we do, they throw in a lemon cupcake and also give u a discount.

So dear Ahmedawadis. Go there. Please! Go early. Call before you go, Amar will save some for you.

The cupcakes here vanish before you can say, "Wow!". Around 20 people would have walked in the 30 minutes we were there. They were met with empty shelves, but wait, no one goes back empty handed (or stomached). They make sure you get to have something or the other.

Here they are on Facebook show them some love. 

Veg Casserole

It is that time of the year again. When you want to snuggle into your quilt and watch movies all day long or sleep or well just not study. So I am jealous of all you people out there who do not have to write exams. 

To snuggle you need comfort food. This is when all your mac n cheese, soup pasta, french toast etc come of use. 

Here is another. That you can make and tuck away into your refrigerator to be warmed up and has with buttered bread. Presenting the casserole!

You can add whatever vegetables you want (chicken if you eat meat).

I have here: Green Bell Pepper, Broccoli, Carrots, Yellow Squash and Mushroom. 

You can also add: French Beans, Potatoes, Cauliflower and Zucchini. 

A very important component of a casserole is the cheese. I bought Cheddar from Go Cheese. It isn't at all expensive. The pack you see below is only Rs. 139 a quarter of what you would pay for the imported stuff. The cheese mixes beautifully into the sauce and it smooth and gorgeous.

So chop all the veggies, into bite sized pieces.

Boil the broccoli for 2 mins, saute the carrots in olive oil with basil and garlic.
Then add the bell peppers, saute more, ass the broccoli and the mushrooms.
Close and toss it around for a while till almost cooked.

Make a white sauce and add the cheese, so it becomes a beautiful liquid.

Layer the veggies as desired and pour the sauce on top. Make sure it goes all the way through.

Grate some (a lot) of cheese on top.

Cover and bake on 180 for well 30 minutes.

Then take it out, let it cool or like risk burning your tongue.

Cuddle up and enjoy.

What are your yummy cuddly winter treats?