Mutton Keema

Ingredients :

1. Boneless mutton cubes- 7 to 8
2. Onion- 1 large
3. Green chilly- 2
4. Oil
5. Salt to taste
6. Mutton masala powder- 1/2 tsp
7. Coriander powder- 1 tsp
8. Dry mango powder (aamchur)- 1/2 tsp
9. Jeera powder- 1/2 tsp
10. Vinegar- 1 tbs
11. Soy sauce- 1/2 tsp


Procedure :

First put the mutton cubes, green chilly and onion in hand blender and blend them properly, so that the mutton becomes minced. Now heat 2 tbs oil in a pan and add the mutton mixture to it. Add salt, coriander, jeera, aamchur, mutton masala powder to it and mix well. Keep on stirring it so that it does not stick to the bottom of the pan. After 4 to 5 minutes add vinegar to it and mix well. Cook for another 6 to 7 minutes. Add soy sauce and cook it till the mutton is done. Remove it.

Galouti Kebab

Ingredients :

1. Boneless lamb pieces- 6 to 7
2. Gram daal- 1 tbs
3. Cinnamon- 4 to 5
4. White pepper powder- 1 tbs
5. Cumin seeds (jeera)- 1 tbs
6. Potato (boiled)- 2 small
7. Ghee- 1 tsp
8. Ginger-garlic paste- 1 tsp
9. Salt to taste
10. Red chilly powder- 1/2 tsp
11. Oil

Procedure :

First roast cinnamon, daal, pepper and cumin seeds together over low flame. When the cumin seeds will turn dark, remove them and let them cool. Now first grind these mixture well and then add the mutton cubes to it. Grind it properly. Take it in a bowl and add salt, boiled potato (one can also use raw papaya pulp instead of potato), ginger-garlic paste, ghee and chilly powder. Mix it well. Now wet your hand a little and make small balls from this mixture and press them. Make the patties thin and large because when you will fry them, they will shrink. Now keep the patties in freezer for 15 minutes and then keep them outside for another 15 minutes so that they come down to normal temperature. Heat 3 tbs oil in a pan and fry the kebabs. The kebabs should be half submerged in the oil while being fried. Fry both the sides and remove excess oil from them with the help of paper napkin. Put one tsp of curd-mustard sauce on top of each kebabs and add finely chopped carrots and one tsp of  ketchup. Serve it hot.

Shorshe Ilish ( Hilsa in Mustard Gravy)

A hot favorite Bengali cuisine which is served with plain rice.

Ingredients :

1. Ilish (Hilsa fish)- 3 to 4 slices
2. Mustard powder- 2 tbs
3. Sugar- 1 tsp
4. Salt to taste
5. Onion (finely chopped)- 1 medium
6. Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
7. Red chilly powder- 1/4 tsp
8. Green chilly- 2
9. Black pepper powder- 1/4 tsp
10. Cumin seed (roasted)- 1/2 tsp
11. Oil
12. Garam masala- 1 pinch
13. Curd- 2 tbs

Procedure :

Wash the fish pieces properly and dry them. Now marinate the pieces with a mixture of mustard powder, sugar and a little salt for half an hour. Before marinating, you should mix mustard and sugar with a little water and keep it aside for around 30 minutes (this removes the bitterness of mustard powder). Heat oil in a kadhai and add chopped onion and fry them for 4 to 5 minutes. Make a long vertical cut in the green chillies and add them to the kadhai. Mix turmeric, red chilly powder, pepper , curd and a little water to the kadhai. Mix well. Now add the fish pieces and the mustard gravy and adjust the salt. Cover the kadhai and cook it over low flame. After 7 to 8 minutes turn the side of the fish pieces carefully so that they do not break. After 15 minutes remove it from the flame and add the roasted jeera (cumin) and garam masala on top of it. Serve it hot.

Matar Pulao ( Peas Pulao)

Ingredients :

1. Long grain rice ( soaked in water for 30 minutes)- 1 cup
2. Fresh Peas- 1/2 cup
3. Jeera (cumin) (optional)- 1/2 tsp
4. Salt- 1 pinch
5. Oil
6. Bay leaf- 1 long
7. Cloves- 4 to 5

Procedure :

First drain the rice and add salt and 2 and 1/2 cups of water to it. Cook the rice over medium flame. Keep it covered. Now fry 2 tbs oil in a kadhai and add jeera, bay leaf and cloves to it. Let them start crackling, add peas and fry for few minutes (do not over fry peas, let them be green). Keep checking the rice continuously. If the water dries up add a little more. Remove the rice when done. Drain the rice if any water is there and add it to the fried peas and mix well.

If you do not like the brownish color of the jeera then do not add it to your Peas Pulao.

Mishti Pulao (Sweet Pulao)

Ingredients :

1. Long grain basmati rice ( soaked in water for 30 minutes)- 1 cup
2. Clove- 4 to 5
3. Cinnamon- 3 to 4 sticks
4. Black cardamom- 2
5. Bay leaf- 1 long
6. Salt- 1 pinch
7. Sugar- 3 tbs (according to your taste)
8. Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
9. Oil
10. Ghee- 1 tbs
11. Cashew nuts (halved)- 15 to 20
12. Raisins ( Soaked in water for 30 minutes)- 10 to 15

Procedure :

Drain the rice and cook it in a large vessel adding half of the bay leaf. Now heat 1 tsp oil in a kadhai and add cloves, bay leaf, cinnamon and cardamom to it. After few minutes add cashew and fry them till golden brown. Add raisins and fry for 2 minutes. Now add turmeric powder, salt and sugar and mix well. When the rice is done ( let the rice be a little hard ), add it to the kadhai and mix well. Adjust sweetness and turmeric for color. Remove it from the gas and mix ghee properly.

Home delivery @ BTM, Swathi Restaurant

I have already mentioned about Marwa's home delivery in another post. Here I have one more restaurant which delivers tasty food at home in BTM layout. It is Swathi Spice n Ice, an Andhra style restaurant. It is located just above the Canara bank, between silk board and BDA junction. You can get veg family pack @ 180 /- and non-veg family pack @ 225 /-. Apart from that one can easily opt for north Indian or Chinese food. For home delivery you can call @ 9900013406. The minimum order for home delivery within 3 kms is INR 250/- . 

I tried the chicken sholay kebab and baby corn 65 as starters. The kebab was nice but the baby corn was disgusting according to me. But the murg makhanwala, mutton chops and kashmiri pulav was very nice and tasty. The prices are very reasonable (lower than Marwa, I must say). The delivery was done within 40 minutes on weekend. I am pretty happy with the food. Will definitely try some other preparations from this restaurant in future.

Review of Hotel Hiland, Kolkata

I stayed overnight at the Hotel Hiland, Kolkata for my next day morning flight from Kolkata airport. Though the hotel was a bit pricey (INR 2300 for double occupancy and INR 300 for an extra person plus taxes), I went ahead to book it for its location which was closer to airport yet a little crowdy. The hotel is located just opposite to the Ruby Hospital on Bypass. Hence one can easily get cabs or some eateries even in odd hours. When you reach to Ruby junction take a turn towards Kasba- Gariahat road and you will find a petrol pump on your right side. There is one lane just opposite to the pump, the hotel is located on that lane. 

I booked my double room through cleartrip at a discounted price. The room was nice, spacious and clean. It had LCD, mini freeze, phone, ac. The bathroom was ok as it appeared to be a little old. The drawback of the hotel was that it did not have any car parking!! They had in room lunch/ dinner/ snacks services. The breakfast was included in the price of the room. They had a good variety of food ( chinese, moghlai and south indian). The food used to be delivered within half an hour. 

There was some water problem on the next morning. I called the reception at 4:40 a.m. and a person arrived within 10 minutes to check the problem. And it was nothing but air trapped into the pipe which caused the water problem. I was impressed with their services at that odd hour also.

It took around 20 minutes to reach to the airport and it was a nice stay at hotel Hiland.   

Bangalore Call Taxi Review

Meru cab :

I always rely blindly on Meru Cab Service, Bangalore for call taxi service, until December 4, 2010. Though they charge INR 50 extra for phone booking, I was ready to pay that extra amount for the trust. I had an important examination on 5th December and for that I called Meru on 3rd night to book a cab. They informed me that they can not book a cab before 24 hours. Hence they asked me to call the next day. I was requesting them because I did not want to miss the cab service next day. They assured me that the booking would be done next day without any problem. But the next day there was no cab available when I called in the morning!!

Another instance of Meru cab service's negligence : I booked a cab for railway station drop in the morning for a 5:00 p.m. slot. I called again in the afternoon to check the status of my cab and was told its booked and the driver's details would be sent at 4:30 p.m. But at around 4:45 p.m. when the details did not reach to me I called back only to know that no car was available at that area at that point of time. They could provide a cab only after 2 hours!! It was very disgusting.....the last moment rush. I must say Meru cabs used to be a good cab service provider but now it has become very disgusting.

Garden city cab service : With no other option left with me, I booked a cab from this service provider on 4th December, 2010. And they assured the cab will come well before time so that there would not be any problem in finding my examination hall. And it did!! The driver was polite and came 10 minutes before time.

For the railway station drop I called Garden city cab and was given a cab within 30 minutes!! A really trustworthy cab service.