Vosges Haut.Chocolat

I have recently taken an interest and liking for exotic chocolates and just in the right time was introduced to Vosges and am since addicted! I went to check out who they were and was instantly attracted to their goal of bringing awareness of various cultures and its spices through chocolate. Simple thought, flawless execution.

I decided to try them out and here’s a look into what you are in for, A beautiful assortment of flavors. Yes you can get your regular truffles, dark, milk or any kind, with your classic nuts and fruit combinations(which are great as well) but for me, these following flavors sealed the deal in making Vosges one my favorite brands of chocolate.

A snapshot of the variety:

When you order gourmet, don’t you hate it when they send you something the size of an atom? Not here, large bars of chocolate as you can see! Another reason to love them.

Here’s all the flavor combinations in detail so you can choose for youself……whatever tickles you.

 

It was a tough competition to pick my favorite flavors among these list of my favorites, but with a narrow edge over the others Barcelona Bar, Woolloomooloo Bar and Red Fire bar win!

These flavors are just barely scratching the surface of their options, check more out for yourself!!

Food Art

A friend sent this to me this morning and since then I have been mesmerized by them! I can’t stop looking at them trying to wrap my head around how intricately this has been done and thought of to use only food. Amazing!

 

Jeera(Cumin) Pulao

2 cups Basmati Rice
1 onion, sliced thin
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 inch piece of giner, finely chopped
2 Indian green chillies, split into two( I use the seeds as well) Remove seeds if you don’t want any heat
1 cinnamon stick
4 cloves
1 dry bayleaf
2 tsp cumin seeds (Jeera in Hindi or Jeeragam in Tamil)
3 tbsp ghee
1 tsp Salt
2 1/2 cups Water
Cilantro for garnish

In a nonstick pan, heat the ghee over medium heat. Add in cumin seeds, cloves, bayleaf and the cinnamon stick. Fry for a minute and add in the sliced onions, garlic, ginger and chillies. Fry until the onions turn translucent and slightly golden brown.

Now add in the raw basmati rice. Fry this mixture over low heat continously stirring it for a few minutes. You will notice the rice slowly starts turning opaque and it smells insanely good!

Transfer this mixture into the cooking vessel of an electric cooker. Add in 2 1/2 cups of water and salt. Mix well and turn on the cooker.

Once cooked remove from the vessel spread it out in a serving platter top with chopped cilantro and serve with just about any Indian curry you feel like!

Broccoli and Cheddar Soup

I love this soup! But I am always skeptical of eating it in restaurants and cafes because of the amount of salt they put in and the chicken stock base they use. There is almost no one who uses vegetarian stock to make it, I wonder why! Ofcourse the solution is making my own. This way I control the amount of salt and fat that goes in and I get to make it 100% vegetarian friendly.

3 tbsp butter
1 large Jalapeno, finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp chives, finely chopped
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 cup vegetarian broth
1 cup heavy cream
3 cups broccoli (thawed to room temperature, if you are using frozen broccoli )
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese
Breadsticks to serve with the soup

In a medium pot, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the jalapeno, onions, salt, pepper and garlic and stir until soft, for about 3 minutes. Add the vegetarian stock and bring to a boil.

Add the cream, reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 5-7 minutes.

Add the cheese in, mix well until the cheese melts. Add the chopped chives and simmer for 2 minutes.

Add the broccoli and cook everything together for 20-25 minutes. Keep it on medium-low heat for the whole time and make sure you stiry frequenty to avoid the cheese from sticking to the bottom and burning.

Remove from the heat and ladle the soup into bowls and serve with bread.

Whipped Almond and Pistachio milk

1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 cup half and half
2 tbsp Badam, crushed (Almonds)
2 tbsp pista, crushed (Pistachio)
1/2 tsp Elachi powder(Cardamom)
1/2 tsp saffron
2 tbsp. hot milk ( to soak the saffron in)
3 tbsp sugar
Ice cubes 

Soak the saffron strands in the 2 tbsps of hot milk and set aside.

Pour the milk and half & half in a pan and bring to a boil. Add in the almonds, pistachio, cardamom, saffron milk and sugar.  Mix well and let this mixture simmer on medium heat for 5 minutes.

Remove from the heat and cool it down to room temperature.  At this point you could serve it hot or warm. It will be delicious and comforting on a cold winter day!

If you’d like to make it into a cold drink (which in my opinion is a better way to serve) blend this milk mixture with ice cubes until whipped and creamy. Serve cold in a frosted glass.

 

Not your ordinary Mac ‘N’ Cheese

3 cloves Garlic, finely chopped
1 large jalapeno, finely chopped ( I include the seeds. You can discard the seeds if you want a milder version)
1 small Onion, Finely chopped
1 box of Pasta ( I usually use Fusili. Cavatappi or Penne would be great as well)
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup Swiss cheese
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese
Salt & Pepper
3 tbsp Butter

Bread Crumb topping:
1 cup Panko bread crumbs(Japanese crumbs)
1 tbsp Butter ( soft at room temperature)
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
Chives, finely chopped
Red Chilli powder
A pinch of salt

To make the bread crumb topping:

Add the panko bread crumbs to a mixing bowl. Add the butter and crumble it with your hands to incorporate it into the crumbs. Add in the parmesan cheese, chilli powder, chives and a very small pinch of salt. Mix everything well together and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Lightly butter a baking dish.

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the pasta, stir, and cook until it is al dente. Drain in a colander and transfer the pasta to the baking dish. Drizzle with some olive oil and toss to coat to keep it from stick with each other.

Melt 3 tbsp of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 to 4 minutes, until transparent.Add the garlic and jalapenos and cook for 1 minute longer, stirring constantly so the garlic doesn’t brown.

Stir in the cream, reduce the heat to low, and simmer, stirring frequently, until the sauce is reduced by half(about 10 minutes). Add salt and pepper.

Drop the heat to low and stir in all the cheeses. Whisk thorougly and continously until it becomes a smooth sauce. Check for seasoning.

Pour this sauce all over the pasta in the baking dish. Mix well.

Sprinkle the bread crumb topping evenly over the pasta.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the sauce is bubbling around the edges and the top is golden brown. Serve with any bread of your choice. I served it with Roasted Garlic sourdough bread rolls.

Palak Paneer

Know anyone who dislikes spinach? Make this creamy, delicious version of spinach with paneer(indian cottage cheese) and I guarantee they’ll become a spinach lover!

2 cups cubed paneer ( I buy fresh block of paneer and cube it myself. You could buy precubed partially fried paneer as well)

2 bags of baby spinach ( yes it seems like a lot, but it totally reduces volume when cooked)?
1 large onion, roughly chopped
1 large tomato, roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic
1 inch piece ginger
1 tsp coriander(dhaniya)seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
2 cloves
5 indian green chillies
1/2 stick of cinnamon
1 bayleaf
1 tsp garam masala powder
1/2 cup cilantro leaves
3 tbsp heavy cream
5 tbsp ghee

Wash the baby spinach leaves well, drain them and grind them in a blender to a paste and set aside. Use as little water as possible. You want a thick spinach paste, not a runny liquid.

Into the blender, add in the onion, tomato, garlic, ginger, chillies, dhaniya seeds, cumin seeds, cloves, cinnamon, cilantro and garam masala powder. Blend all of it together with a few tablespoons of water to make a smooth paste. Set aside.

Heat a pan with the 3 tbsp of ghee over medium heat, add in the bayleaf and pour in the ground masala paste. It will splutter so be careful! Over medium-low heat keep stirring the masala and let it cook uncovered for 15-20 minutes until the raw onion-garlic smell dissappears.

Now add in the ground spinach paste and mix well together. Add in salt and let it cook uncovered on medium heat for another 20-25 minutes until all the flavors blend together.

In the meanwhile, in another non stick pan, heat the remaining 2 tbsp ghee over medium heat. Shallow fry the cubed paneer 4 or 5 pieces at a time so that it turns golden brown on a few sides. Fry all the pieces and set aside.

Once the spinach gravy is cooked and ready, add in the heavy cream and stir it in evenly.  Add in the cilantro, then immerse all the fried paneer pieces in and mix well.

Remove from heat after a couple of minutes and serve. I personally love to serve it with any kind of Pulao or Naan.

Mysore Veggie, Massachusetts

Food : 1/10
Customer Service : 1/10
Ambiance: 1/10
Cleanliness: 5/10

Massachusetts seems to be on a growing trend for South Indian food. There used to be one, now there are atleast six, although, the overall quality seems to have dropped drastically since as early as three years ago. I would rather have  few places to go, but with high quality food and one you would want to go to everytime you miss home. When you are suddenly craving mom’s food you need a place to go to where their only goal is to serve great food, authentically and sincerely made. Unfortunately, Mysore Veggie fails to satisfy any of my basic restaurant needs.

MysoreVeggie: “authentic south Indian” they advertise. I was blown away by the number of people who told me about its opening a few months ago. Yes, of-course I went to try it out. As a Tamilian and a foodie, my level of expectation for south Indian food is quite high. I understand it is very challenging to recreate the authenticity here. There are the constraints of ingredients and most of all, labor. But having said that, when you start a ‘south indian’ restaurant business there are a few basics that need to be provided. It goes beyond my comprehension why you would invest money, time and energy on something if the end result is not going to be sincere and high quality. Especially when it comes to food, I would assume quality takes top priority.

This review I’m afraid might be too ‘indian’ centric and irrelevant to you if you are not very familiar with Indian food. I try to avoid doing that and keep it global but this restaurant just needed to be reviewed.

To elaborate on my ratings above,

The food gets a 1 and believe me, I am being nice here. It started with the appetizer and drink course. Molaga(jalapeno pepper) bajji(fritter), bhel puri and chickoo milkshake came up. All of them disappointing. The best of the worst  was the bhel puri. Mediocre is the word that comes to mind. The milkshake was watery and had an extremely unpleasant aftertaste. The horror began with the molaga bajji. One bite is all it took to notice that I was biting into raw liquidy besan(chickpea flour) batter and raw jalapenos. Still crisp and green like it would be when you bite into a raw chilli. The runny besan batter really turned me off 5 minutes into the meal. Worst of all, when I asked for the waiter to take it back and showed him how raw and uncooked it was, he couldn’t care less!

The main course was next. We ordered two iyengar thali’s as they called it. One Indo-chinese chilli fried rice( I have no idea what this was doing in an authentic south indian restaurant!), Chilli Kothu parotta and masala dosa. Sounds’s yummy right? I wish it tasted the same. The “iyengar thali” was average. Again medicore is the word. It had everything non iyengar about it, everything was garlicky, full of ‘masala’ and variety of kurma’s. Yes and an obligatory sambar, rasam and payasam. It didn’t bother me that the name was totally ironical, but just thought it was funny to mention.The applam served with it was like a rag cloth. Bruised, soft, leathery and everything an applam must not be. The sambar, rasam and aaloo curry were okay. Nothing good or bad to say about it. There were two kurma’s on the plate I don’t know for what reason. I would think a kootu or a keerai would’ve sealed the deal as a south indian thali. But no, there was a vellai kurma, a butter masala kind of kurma, semiya payasam, thakaali(tomato)chutney, raita and pickles. A national integration on my “iyengar” plate.

The masala dosa was good. Yes you read it right, the word good comes in the first time in this review. It was tasty, well made and delicious! I wish I had gotten two of those and called it a night. But no, then came the nightmare of the kothu parotta. Garlic and salt overloaded chilli kothu parotta. We literally did not eat more than one bite of that. The indo chinese was yet again mediocre. No big surprise there.We didn’t dare go into a dessert course or even have coffee or tea there because I could just imagine how that would be.

The thing that frustrated me the most was lack of interest and sincerity the whole place had which refelcted 100% in the food. No one cared.The food was served more as a product to make money. Nothing more. That’s not how food works. When you make and serve food you should have a love for it, a vision of the taste especially when it is going to be served to people! The ambiance was terrible. Hey , I am all for the ‘rickety table, plastic chair, disposable tumbler’ setting much like a “kayendhi bhavan” back in India, but there should be quality in the food. Mysore Veggie was somewhere in-between. The ambiance was a much higher than a ‘kayendhi bhavan’, lower than fine dining of-course without finding a place for themselves. Same was the state of their food.

Their menu had 50 -60 items. Is it humanly possible to make everything at the same time with 3 chefs? No. It’s just there to make it seem like they have a lot of options. I don’t believe that helps in anyway. I am big fan of these food trucks or the roadside eateries, where they make only 5 things but they excel at making it. Mysore Veggie would do very well if they could have just 10 of the most authentic south Indian dishes and have enough people who actually liked doing what they do and did the 10 dishes justice. That way, they wont be overworked and overstressed when the crowd picks up and take it out on the customers!

Customer service 101 is a class they desperately need. And did I mention I fell sick almost immediately after I got out of there? I sincerely hope this is a trial phase of theirs and they make drastic changes to make it an Authentic South Indian restaurant as they claim to be.

If you are daring enough, here’s where you can find them:

Mysore Veggie
1689 Middlesex St
Lowell, MA 01851
(97 452-8700

Poori

What’s tastier than deep fried bread to go with some yummy curry? Nothing! Here’s a really simple recipe to make Poori’s, a delicious deep fried bread.

3 cups wheat flour ( I use golden temple brand from my local indian store)
1½ cups of warm water
1 teaspoon saltCanola Oil for deep frying

In a bowl, combine the flour and salt. Spread the flour to the sides of the bowl and make a small well in the center. Pour in the warm water into it and Using your hands mix it gently until it forms a firm dough. Mix well to make sure there are no cracks or crevices and its smooth evenly. Cover the bowl and set aside for 15 minutes.

Shape the dough into a golf ball sized rounds. Using a rolling pin, press these balls into a circle(roughly the size and thickness of a CD)

Fill a frying pan with oil about half its height. Heat the oil on medium-high for about 5 minutes.

Gently immerse the poori dough into the oil and push-down once with slotted spatula and let go. You will notice the poori will balloon up. At this stage turn it over and let fry for another minute.

Remove from oil and let it drain on a paper towel. Make more poori’s and stack ‘em up.

My favorite side dishes to serve with pooris are Channa/Chole masala or Aaloo Curry (Potato curry).

Aaloo Curry (South Indian version)

Here is one of my all time favorite side dishes to serve with Pooris or any Indian bread. This was a standard Sunday feast my mum used to make when I was a kid. It brings back endearing memories and the smell of home whenever I make it.

3 large potatoes ( I use yukon gold)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 green chillies, finely chopped
1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped
1/3 cup curry leaves, finely chopped
1 1/2  inch piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 tsp channa dal ( Bengal Gram Dal)
1/2 tsp Split Urad Dal ( split Black gram Dal)
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp Asafoetida powder
3 tbsp ghee
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp salt

Fill a large pot of cold water, salt liberally and add in the potatoes. Place over high heat and boil the potatoes for about 10 minutes or until fork tender. Drain, cool and peel them.

In a nonstick pan, heat the ghee over medium heat and add in the mustard seeds. Just when it beings to splutter, add in the channa dal and Urad dal. Let the dals slightly brown. Now add in the chillies, ginger, turmeric and asafoetida powders. Fry on heat for about a minute and then add in the chopped onions. Fry until the onions are translucent and just begins to brown.

Break all the boiled potatoes with your hands over the onion mixture. You do not want to mash the potatoes, just roughly crush them with your hands so that there are still big chunks of potatoes in the curry. Sprinkle the salt and stir everything well together. Be gentle, over stirring could make the potatoes mushy and break down.

 The mixture will be quite dry now, add in 1/2 cup of water to give it more of a gravy consistency.

Let it boil over mediumlow heat for 5 - 10 minutes just so that all the flavors blend in well together. Finally add in the cilantro and curry leaves, stir one final time and Serve with hot Poori, Chapathi or Naan

Mini Samosas

Samosa in the traditional fashion is quite big and the dough is made from scratch. It’s a long and hard process. Although I do love to make it that way, sometimes you just want to find a faster and simpler way to do it without compromising its flavor. This is the recipe I came up with to solve that problem. It is ideal to serve as an appetizer because it is bite-sized.

3 large yukon gold potatoes, washed and cleaned well
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed to room temperature
2 Indian Green chillies ( Substitute with 1 serrano pepper) Use half the quantity to make it milder)
1/3 cup finely chopped cilantro
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1″ ginger piece, finely chopped
1/2 tsp dhaniya(coriander) powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp ghee
Oil for frying

12 Wonton wrappers (available at most grocery stores)

Boil the potatoes in a large pot of water for 12-15 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked until fork tender. Drain, let them cool and peel .

In the same hot water blanch the peas for 2 minutes. Drain and lay it on paper towels to slightly dry.

In a large mixing bowl add the ghee, cumin powder, dhaniya powder, chilli powder, cilantro, lemon juice,garlic,ginger, salt and green chillies. Add in the cooled, peeled poatoes and mash it all together. Dont over mash, you want some chunky peices of potatoes. Taste for salt, adjust according to your taste and then add in the peas and mix them all together. This is your filling.

Heat a pan filled with canola oil for deep frying over medium heat. While the oil is getting heated, place a small amount of the filling in each Wonton wrapper and wrap according to package instructions. Line them on a baking pan with greased with cooking spray.

After about 3-minutes of preheating the oil, drop the heat to medium-low or low heat. Fry each samosa about a minute or two on each side until golden brown.

Drain on a paper towel and serve with Cilantro or Mint chutney.

 

Mango Milkshake

This version is huge hit with my family and friends. This one is a usually a special request from them whenever they visit!

2 cups mango pulp (available in all indian stores or some grocery stores)
1 cup ripe mango cut into pieces
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup ice cubes
1/2 cup sugar

Put all these ingredients in a blender and blend them smoothly. If the shake is too thick, you can thin it out with more milk. Serve it cold in a frosted glass. Refreshment at its best!

Boiled Peanut Salad

This is my favorite snack of all times. Its really easy to make, it makes for a great party snack and it also uses items that are usually in your pantry. Its a no muss, no fuss yet absolutely delectable dish. Don’t let the word salad fool you into thinking its boring or bland!

2 cups raw peanuts ( You can find them at any Indian store or your local grocery store. I use the peeled ones, you can use the ones in the shells and then peel them yourself. But you want to make sure they are not roasted. They HAVE to be raw)

1 large onion, finely chopped
5 indian green chillies, finely chopped with seeds ( you can use one jalapeno or serrano pepper with or without seeds depending on how spicy you like it)
1/3 cup cilantro, finely chopped
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp lemon juice

Fill a large pot of cold water and salt it liberally((about 1tbsp). Add the 2 cups of raw peanuts to the cold water and place it on high heat. As soon as the water comes up to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-high.

Let is gently boil for another 30 minutes or until the peanuts and completely cooked(keep adding water if necessary). It should have a bite to it yet be soft to bite into. Drain and let it cool to room temperature.

The tough part is trying to keep your hands off these tasty salted boiled peanuts before you put the whole thing together!

In a large bowl add in the the chopped onion, green chilli, salt, lemon juice and cilantro. Add in the boiled peanuts, mix well and serve warm or cold.

Spiced Sesame Powder (Yellu Podi)

Here is my mom’s classic recipe for Sesame powder which is authentic South Indian food. We usually eat it mixed with rice, drizzled with ghee on top. It’s just heavenly!

Sesame seeds are known as Yellu(or Ellu) in Tamil. Podi is the Tamil word for powder.  So this dish is called Yellu (Ellu) Podi.

1 cup black seasame seeds (You could also use the white one. I use black ones because it looks a bit more exotic and it is also more fragrant and more intense tasting than white ones. You could use white sesame seeds for a milder flavor.

1 tbsp gingely oil (aka Sesame oil) Traditional South Indian- Tamilian cooking always uses ginegly oil. Sorry, but no substitute for it, this is a key ingredient.

1/4 cup bengal gram dal ( Kadalai paruppu in tamil or Chana Dal in Hindi)
1/4 cup split black gram dal ( Ulutham paruppu in tamil or Urad Dal in Hindi)
1 tbsp coriander seeds
7 dried whole red chillis ( If you like it really spicy, make it 10)
1/2 tsp Asafoetida powder
1 tsp salt

Add half of the oil in a pan, add in the Bengal gram, split black gram dal and Asafoetida powder. Fry on medium heat until the dals turn golden brown. Keep tossing them around continuously so they don’t burn. Set aside to cool.

In the same pan add the remaining oil, when it is heated add in the mustard seeds. Just when they begin to splutter add the coriander seeds and toss them on medium heat till they are roasted and smell crazy good ! Set aside to cool.

In the same pan dry roast the red chillis on medium-high heat and toss them for 2 minutes. Set aside.

Now add the sesame seeds in and dry roast them on low heat till they roasted. Be sure to keep tossing, they tend to burn very easily. It’s hard to judge with black sesame seeds when they brown or burn. So be extra careful. Keep the heat low and you can easily judge with the smell. It may take 2-3minutes. Set aside.

Grind the dals in a blender or food processor first. It has to be coarse where you can still see a few broken pieces of dal. Transfer to a bowl. Now grind the coriander & mustard seed mixture with red chillis a bit smoother than what you did with the dals. Add to the same bowl as the ground dals.

Now grind the sesame seeds. Be sure not to grind it more than a few seconds. If ground too much, it will release it’s natural oil and form a paste ( Not appetizing!) You want it to be a coarse powder. Just a one pulse will break it down. Maybe two pulses at most.

Mix it with the earlier ground ingredients in the bowl. Add the salt and mix well. If you are going to store it, then make sure it’s in an airtight container. Try not to store it for more than a couple of weeks. The oil in the sesame might make it smell a bit stale after a few weeks.

Eating it fresh with steaming hot rice drizzled with ghee on top is the absolutely greatest thing in this world ever! It magically transports me home and to my mom’s kitchen every time. Comfort food at it’s best!

Raisin and Vanilla Pancakes

Fresh out of the pan, here is our Saturday late morning breakfast. Instead of the same old plain pancakes, I tried out this raisin/vanilla one and you can guess how excited I am because it came out so well! Hence this posting to share my happiness : )

It’s quite simple and quick, yet the flavor is so much more intense than a regular pancake. 

It’s as easy as adding vanilla and raisins to your regular pancake mixture. There are a million ways to make them and everyone has their own way. Here’s how I do it

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tbsp sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tbsp baking powder
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg  (Optional)
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cups milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/3 - 1/4 cup raisins ( Feel free to add less or more according to your taste)
3 tbsp unsalted butter

In a bowl, beat the eggs and then whisk in the milk and vanilla extract. Melt the butter in a pan and whisk the butter into the milk mixture.

In a seperate large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and nutmeg.

Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture, and whisk until a thick batter is just formed. Try to make it as smooth as possible, but dont sweat it, a little lump never really hurt anybody. After the batter is nice and smooth add in the raisins and gently fold them in.

Use a non-stick skillet and keep in on medium heat. Spray liberally with cooking spray and ladle in about 1/2 cup of the batter. (Use 1/3 cup or 1/4 cup of batter per pancake if you want smaller ones). Cook, until bubbles break the surface of the pancakes, and the underside is golden brown, about 2 minutes. Flip it over and cook about 1 minute more on the other side. Make more, stack em up and serve warm with maple syrup or honey.