During the monsoons, one craves for different kinds of food: chai, pakodas/bhajiyas, hot soups, and a favourite of most, corn. Corn can be had in many forms; boiled or roasted with different seasonings like salt, pepper, chaat masala, red chilli powder, lemon juice to name a few but each person has their preference so it can be pretty much anything. Corn is used in a lot of cuisines for different dishes, salads, soups, fritters, chaats, baked dishes, pasta, pizzas, pancakes, in rice dishes , the options are endless.
With the local bhutta (roasted corn cobs) walas by the sea side diminished over the past few years luckily there are a lot of places in the city corn can be found in different disguises. The simplest form of corn can be found in movie theatres and malls at the boiled corn stalls that serve fresh hot boiled corn with different seasoning as per your choice. Soam serves delicious corn khichdi and corn panki. All time favourites of a lot of Mumbai-ites, New Yorker and Cream Center offer amazing creamed corn enchiladas, corn-capsicum quesadillas and cheese corn balls. Samrat at Churchgate have chatpatta corn bhel for the corn lovers. Blue waters at Oshiwara serves one of the best tandoori makkai (corn) in the city.
Corn is such a thing that can be had as a light snack or be used to make a hearty filling dish depending on the time of the day or one’s mood. It tastes equally good hot or cold and goes well with a lot of other ingredients. Here is one of my all time favourite recipe I came up with when I was in one of my experimenting moods and was looking for a fresh change from the usual. It was also featured in Me magazine a couple of months back.
Tri Coloured Corn Soup
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
2 ears American Corn
1 small Red Bell Pepper
1/4th Cup Spring onion leaves
4 Cups Vegetable/Rice/Noodle Stock
Salt to taste
Method:
De-seed bell pepper and cut into squares, place in baking tray, drizzle with olive oil. Roast in a preheated oven at 150 degrees C for about 10-15 minutes.
Meanwhile boil the corn and remove the kernels. Keep a handful aside.
Puree the rest till completely smooth adding stock as required.
Take the corn puree in a thick bottomed sauce pan and add stock to get desired consistency. Add salt to taste and boil.
While the soup is boiling. Make a paste of the roasted bell pepper. Keep aside.
Make a paste of the spring onion leaves and keep aside.
Remove 2/3rd and keep aside in a bowl or sauce pan.
In the remaining 1/3rd add the bell pepper paste and mix well and let it simmer for few minutes. Keep aside.
Take another 1/3rd in the sauce pan and mix the spring onion paste and simmer for few minutes.
Can be served in 3 small glasses as shots or small bowls in a platter.
Showing posts with label monsoon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label monsoon. Show all posts
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Mad about Meat
Dear Rushina,
When I first moved to Mumbai, my cousins took me to Leopold café. As I relished their beef mushroom soup and beef chilly, I remember thinking Mumbai would be full of great non-vegetarian places. Imagine my utter shock when I moved to Chembur and only found vegetarian places. To be fair, I later discovered that Chembur can boast of a considerable number of great non-vegetarian places. However, in the beginning, all I saw were vegetarian restaurants. It was a dark and gloomy time for me complete with the raging monsoon rains to bear witness. Not accustomed to how big and busy the city was, my timid attempts to venture out were largely unsuccessful. And the meat lover in me grew more ravenous and rabid, leading me to throw caution to the wind. I began frequenting very shady ‘bar restaurants’ in Chembur camp on my own to devour plate upon plate of chicken and mutton!
These were desperate times and even as I succumbed to the measures they called for, I knew I was living dangerously. This had to stop soon. I needed to get my fix with less risk involved. As if the universe feared for me, serendipity intervened and one afternoon, when the rains had paused for a rest, my friends invited me for lunch at Sunny’s. Now the thing about Sunny’s, like most other great restaurants is that, it is located in the most obscure corner of Chembur. If someone doesn’t take you there, you’ll never find it. Past Chembur station, under the bridge, under another, in the midst of furniture shops, a bakery and a booze joint, a sign with Sunny’s (the logo , no prize for guesses, is a sun with rays) diffidently lets you know you’ve arrived.
My ever grateful memory must narrate my entry into this now hallowed space in slow motion. Filled with men, women, children eating all sorts of wonderful exotic looking fare, I felt at home at once as we walked past them to the ac section. It was there, that my friends introduced me to south Indian (specifically Kerela) non-vegetarian food. Until then, I always thought all south Indian was vegetarian and basically masala dosas at that. Thanks to my outraged friends from different parts of ‘south’ India, I am now aware that this is perhaps the gravest misconception I am guilty of to date, and I have gladly committed the rest of my life to atone for it.
I had my first taste of Chicken Chettinad and marvelled at the complex medley of spices that flavoured the meat. Their mutton sukkha was unlike anything I’d tasted. Thanks to Sunny’s, I left my perilous practice of eating at ‘bar restaurants’. I had somewhere safe to go every time I craved meat. Now content, I calmed down enough to explore Chembur more leisurely and found many other fabulous non-vegetarian restaurants such as Oceanic, Le Café, the restaurants around diamond garden. My newest discovery is the café at Oro spa which serves great salads.
As far as meat is concerened, I am far from sober. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. But thanks to Sunny’s, I’ve learnt to indulge in my addiction in as safe a manner as possible.
When I first moved to Mumbai, my cousins took me to Leopold café. As I relished their beef mushroom soup and beef chilly, I remember thinking Mumbai would be full of great non-vegetarian places. Imagine my utter shock when I moved to Chembur and only found vegetarian places. To be fair, I later discovered that Chembur can boast of a considerable number of great non-vegetarian places. However, in the beginning, all I saw were vegetarian restaurants. It was a dark and gloomy time for me complete with the raging monsoon rains to bear witness. Not accustomed to how big and busy the city was, my timid attempts to venture out were largely unsuccessful. And the meat lover in me grew more ravenous and rabid, leading me to throw caution to the wind. I began frequenting very shady ‘bar restaurants’ in Chembur camp on my own to devour plate upon plate of chicken and mutton!
These were desperate times and even as I succumbed to the measures they called for, I knew I was living dangerously. This had to stop soon. I needed to get my fix with less risk involved. As if the universe feared for me, serendipity intervened and one afternoon, when the rains had paused for a rest, my friends invited me for lunch at Sunny’s. Now the thing about Sunny’s, like most other great restaurants is that, it is located in the most obscure corner of Chembur. If someone doesn’t take you there, you’ll never find it. Past Chembur station, under the bridge, under another, in the midst of furniture shops, a bakery and a booze joint, a sign with Sunny’s (the logo , no prize for guesses, is a sun with rays) diffidently lets you know you’ve arrived.
My ever grateful memory must narrate my entry into this now hallowed space in slow motion. Filled with men, women, children eating all sorts of wonderful exotic looking fare, I felt at home at once as we walked past them to the ac section. It was there, that my friends introduced me to south Indian (specifically Kerela) non-vegetarian food. Until then, I always thought all south Indian was vegetarian and basically masala dosas at that. Thanks to my outraged friends from different parts of ‘south’ India, I am now aware that this is perhaps the gravest misconception I am guilty of to date, and I have gladly committed the rest of my life to atone for it.
I had my first taste of Chicken Chettinad and marvelled at the complex medley of spices that flavoured the meat. Their mutton sukkha was unlike anything I’d tasted. Thanks to Sunny’s, I left my perilous practice of eating at ‘bar restaurants’. I had somewhere safe to go every time I craved meat. Now content, I calmed down enough to explore Chembur more leisurely and found many other fabulous non-vegetarian restaurants such as Oceanic, Le Café, the restaurants around diamond garden. My newest discovery is the café at Oro spa which serves great salads.
As far as meat is concerened, I am far from sober. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. But thanks to Sunny’s, I’ve learnt to indulge in my addiction in as safe a manner as possible.
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