Cherry Pie

It was the night of the World Cup finals. Popcorn popping in the microwave, soft drinks sitting in the refrigerator, choosing the right spot to sit, game fever was on. The night before lying in bed I contemplated over what victory dessert to put together. Presumptuous I know. But I settled for a Cherry Pie. As luck would have it, I had a jar of cherries in syrup just right for what I had in mind. Moreover this was a surprise dessert of sorts for Upasana and K who happened to be with us during game night. Anyways, since it was a ‘victory’ dessert, winning the match was crucial. Thank my stars we won and savored every crumb of the pie.

Refer to the Apple Pie (hyperlink) recipe for the crust.

Ingredients for filling:

1 ½ cups pitted cherries chopped finely

1 cup syrup from the tinned cherries

2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp corn flour

A dash of fresh lemon juice

Whipped cream to top the pie

Method:

Blind bake the pie crust, that is, lining the pastry in the pie tin, placing butter paper over the pastry and filling it with grains such as kidney beans or lentils just to weight it down. Bake this for 20 minutes in a pre-heated oven (180C). Take it out of the oven and remove the grains and bake again for another 6-7 minutes. In a saucepan, heat the cherry syrup with the sugar and corn flour. Tip in the cherries and let it cook for about 10 minutes or till it has thickened. Tip this into the baked pie shell and bake for 25 minutes at 180C. Remove from oven and let it cool before you top it with whipped cream. Chill in the refrigerator for an hour before serving.

We enjoyed the pie just as we did the game J

Roasted Potato

When you are done with the pop corns and the likes while watching the India Vs Sri Lanka, World Cup Finals 2011, what do you do? Well, we made roast potatoes with a garlic cheese dip. It sure does sound all fancy but this is probably one of the preparations where we have used the least number of ingredients in Purple Cinnamon. If you ask us how we come up with these, I guess ‘necessity is the mother of invention’ is what we have to say. J

All you need is two large potatoes, 5 pods of garlic, 5 large table spoons of cheese spread, Olive oil (sufficient portion to roast thin slices of the potatoes), Salt to taste and some ready-made Italian Seasoning.

In a bowl mix the potato slices with salt, Italian seasoning and drizzle just a little olive oil on it. In the meantime, pour some of that oil into your hot non-stick pan. Now roast both the sides of the potato slices and keep aside. For the dip, all you need to do is roast the chopped garlic and add it to the cheese spread, and mix well. If you prefer a slightly less thick consistency to your dip, please add some water to dilute it J

Garnishing tip: Adding freshly chopped coriander to the dip will give you the perfect zing to this finger food!

Zingron

Zingron is located in Koramangala’s 7th block, right opposite Jukebox and the building just before 64. The moment we stepped in, we caught a whiff of pungent bamboo. It was a little unsettling to begin with but it almost grows on you after a while. I am the last person to judge the authenticity of the North-eastern elements in Zingron. But my friend had somewhat of an idea and she seemed happy. We didn’t bother reading much of the menu, instead opted to chat up one of the staff about the food. As luck would have it she turned out to be the owner’s sister. She was gracious enough to help us with our order. So we started with the Smoked Pork and Steamed Chicken Momos. Since it was smoked, the pork was dry and tough, which to our understanding was authentically done in that particular way. The taste however was incredible. Very robust flavors of ginger, garlic and other spices and of course the shredded bamboo was delicious. The momos turned out to be one of the best we’ve had in the city. The shell was soft and easy to chew, keeping the filling juicy and succulent. For the mains we got Chicken Curry cooked in chilli powder and steamed rice. I was a mouthful away from calling the fire station. Extremely hot but still delicious I must say, the chicken curry is not for everyone. For drinks we had an authentic rice beer and gooseberry drink which didn’t go down well with us but if you want to try something authentic and not the usual soft drink please give it a shot, literally. A meal for two should cost Rs 800.

Margherita at Citrus (Leela Palace)

4pm and hungry, when all restaurant kitchens close. Upasana and I needed our dose of carbohydrates for the evening. We were at the old airport road. Not willing to cave and step into a barista or café coffee day the obvious choice at that moment seemed Citrus. We’ve had some really good meals there before. We thought we couldn’t go wrong. I guess we did. It wasn’t much that we had ordered. Just a pizza margherita and some coffee. I was really disappointed with the pizza. Dry and lifeless, there was no zing to it. But it did have a good punch of basil flavor. The tomato sauce did nothing for me and it definitely fell short of nice gooey stringly cheese. Coffee was also average. Full marks for lunch and dinners but not for quick bites in the evening. For just the coffee and pizza we shelled out Rs 1000.

Pallavi Shastry.

Chaipatty

Mushroom Cheese sandwich with Cutting Chai

I'm a coffee person so to speak. But I think Chaipatty has converted me. You'd never know there could be a nice tea-lounge or as they like to say 'teafe' on a busy 100ft road. An open place to enjoy your chai with a book in hand or just watching the hustle-bustle outside, hanging out at Chaipatty is like hanging out in your living room (minus the TV) with good service.

I've been there twice in the past week. If only I lived closer. They serve the best cutting chai! I could have 3 cups in one sitting. They also serve good eats as well. The chicken maggi is pretty good. And no I don't think you can get the same thing done in your kitchen.


The mushroom cheese sandwich was alright. Nothing to brag about. The kulfi was good. But what makes you a loyal is the feel-good factor. You're at home when not. Limited seating area with natural lighting feels wonderful. I'm also very happy that they support causes like stray puppy adoption.
I'm definitely going back. Again

Pallavi.

TOIT

Tiramisu

(not so) Boozy chicken
BBQ chicken wings
Potato skins with bacon
Calamari
Pizza Margherita

God bless Bangalore and its pub culture. AND the good people who started Toit, for keeping the culture alive. Did I mention they also house a micro-brewery? They do. But unfortunately they haven’t gotten their licenses yet, so we have to wait for a bit longer to taste some freshly brewed beer. But we can still talk about the food. It looked pretty cool I must say. Inside out. Lots of wood and lots of space! We were 4 and chose the non-smoking section on the upper floor. Nice round booths with camel toned couches. Pictures of old Bangalore adorning the walls seemed a little familiar (corner house). Our super friendly waiter seemed keen to wait on us. We ordered for cheesy potato skin with bacon, batter fried calamari and chicken wings. Potato skins were good, not out of this world but good. Calamari was very good. Crisp yet keeping the calamari soft inside. But the winner was the chicken wings. No arguments there. Sticky, spicy, sweet and juicy. We were on the cusp of embarrassing ourselves by ordering 3 of them. We did order 3, may be the fourth would’ve been embarrassing. Moving on. We actually couldn’t move on. Or move for that matter. All the starters seemed to fill us up pretty good. That’s precisely why we ordered just 2 main course dishes. One boozy chicken and one pizza margherita. Boozy chicken was good. Creamy but not ‘boozy’ exactly. But I must mention that the chicken was cooked extremely well. The pizza was alright. I’ve had better. But I wouldn’t complain either. Hearty portions of cheese and basil were the saving grace of this margherita. We finished with a tiramisu. Absolutely delightful. It was indeed tiramisu unlike its pitiful versions available elsewhere. So that’s about it. Really fun and delicious pub lunch at a reasonable price. All this for the four of us cost less than Rs 2000. Great place to hang out with friends over some beer and not to forget the chicken wings ;)

Pallavi

Bruschetta

Bruschetta

There was this one scene in Julie&Julia, where Julie is in conversation with her husband while cooking dinner. She dices tomatoes, a little later she flips a few baguette slices on the griddle turning them golden brown. Next thing you know, the tomatoes are nesting on the baguette and she’s garnishing them with fresh basil. I must have rewound and gone through the scene like 7 times at one go. It looked absolutely beautiful and it definitely helped that her husband loved it. So many months have gone by and now is when that scene would come to life in my kitchen. Technically in Upasana’s kitchen. Did it exactly how I played it in my head. But of course by now you should know we do bend the rules here and there. So we added a little extra for some zing. Cheese! Straight from Paris.

5 slices

Ingredients:

5 slices of baguette (you can use any other kind of bread slices)

2 chopped tomatoes

½ yellow capsicum finely chopped (green or red would also do just fine)

1 basil leaf for each slice

A pinch of fresh thyme for each slice (substitute with dried Italian seasoning)

Grated cheese to top the bruschetta (we used gouda)

1 clove of garlic

1 tbsp olive oil for toasting baguette

Salt and pepper for seasoning

Method:

Sauté the finely chopped yellow capsicum and keep aside. Toast baguette in olive oil on both sides. Rub garlic on each slice to infuse the flavor into the baguette. Top it with the chopped tomatoes, approximately 1 tbsp for each slice and the capsicum. Sprinkle a pinch of thyme and season with salt and pepper. Now add basil finely chopped or the whole leaf. Top this off with cheese and serve.

It works really well as an appetizer for a dinner party. Yes, you can show off. I would ;)

Baked eggs with cheese and herbs

Simple. Straight forward. You can play around with the ingredients and make it your way. I just had some cheese and eggs sitting in my fridge and Upasana and I were trying very hard to battle midnight cravings for eggs. I did not want either of us to sweat over a stove that late. Well, we did a little bit eventually. Anyways, the result was good. Tummy happy, us happy and all in the world was good again. Ok I have gotten carried away, but we do really love eggs.

Ingredients:

2 eggs

A pinch of fresh/dried thyme

2 tbsp cheese (processed/cheddar/just any kind)

¼ cup cooked veggies (carrot, capsicum, beans) finely chopped and seasoned with salt and pepper

1 tsp butter

Method:

Line the cooked veggies on the bottom of your ramekin or baking dish. Add the 1 tbsp of the cheese. Break 2 eggs into it carefully. Season with salt and pepper. Top it with the remaining cheese. Bake in a pre-heated oven (200C) for about 10 minutes or till the cheese melts.

At this point it’s pretty much you and your bowl of comfort. Dig in and don’t leave the dirty bowl beside your bed!