Childhood Pictures

Me & Dee....

 Dee Lifting Me...

No Wonder I Love Alcohol So Much!!! 

A Rare Bonding Moment!!!!

Find Me If You Can!!!

2nd Birthday!!!

My Bitchy Cat!!! Miss Her...

Stylish Baby!!! 

And The Love For Girls Began...

Wanted To Drink From The Moment I Was Born!!! Drunkard Baby

Me, Dee & A Girl I Couldn't Stop Staring!!! No Wonder I Like Them...

Me & Mommy!!! 

Just Trying To Read...

Are You Talking To Me????

Say Cheese!!!! Love It...

Cry Baby!!

1st Birthday!!!!

Celebrating Diwali With My Grumpy Sister!!!!

Chocolate Panipuri

A couple of months ago I attended my friend, chulbuli’s (for political reason cannot disclose her real name) engagement. It was my first outing to a Gujarati function in a long long time and didn't know what to expect at all... Never knew it would be an inspirational day... Got all decked up and went there...I was a bit surprised with all the events that was happening throughout the evening..

                                          After reaching the venue and meeting everyone we sat down and started watching the engagement ceremony as it happens but anyways that's not the point. There were waiters walking around with food, drinks and all the usual stuff, giving out confetti to throw on the engaged couple. After watching  the function for a while we started to get hungry and called the waiter for some munchies!!! He came by and gave us some spring rolls and random stuff.... After a while, baby yelled and said “Dana try the chocolate panipuri, its good" and I was like what the hell is this now??! Chocolate panipuri??? I thought I was the only one who was crazy with all wacko creations. So the guy came by and gave us and I tried it... It was a puri covered in chocolate and filled with some kind of falooda mixture with nuts. It was cold, crunchy and nutty... It was something different but good!!! I kind of liked it but I thought it lacked something, may be it could have been more flavorful or probably the burst of water you get when you bite the puri in your mouth or it needed some additional stuff..
                                     And at that very moment my brains started working towards creating something similar but in a very different and crazy way and would blow everyone’s mind!!! I told baby I would do something different and she said go for it and I am sure it will be good and can't wait to taste it!!! She pushed me towards it and I got even more excited and wanted to make it ever so more...

                                         Have been trying to make an inside out panipuri for a long time. This idea came to me when I was trying some molecular cooking and it’s been floating in my head for almost 2 years but haven't able to get the right consistency and balance of everything to get the recipe right... Where the water would be out, but encased in the water itself and sit atop of a flat puri with some mashed up potatoes and boondi... But haven't been able to get the proportion and ingredients of it correct. This is where I was using hydro colloids and science to make food and some people call it molecular gastronomy, but I call it playing with food and the minds of your guest or customers. So I decided would use the same principle to this and try it out. For the wacko dish to be called chocolate panipuri, it needed to have couple of components that would make it. It needed to have a puri, chocolate water and the burst!!! I said to myself this is the perfect time to experiment the inside out panipuri I have been trying for the past couple of years and won’t hurt to do a sweet version of it and wasn't difficult to make the chocolate water & sphere. So i began with process of recreating the classic street food into a dessert & a more modern version of it and I truly enjoyed the time I spent making the entire dish.

                                    So for the puri, I went with a flat one instead of a hallow puri, but instead of making it from a plain dough,  i mixed it with some cocoa powder and since I wanted it flat i decided not to fry it but bake it!!! It was gone be round in shape as I wanted to give it the authentic look ... For the chocolate water, took some chocolate, milk, cream and sugar and heated the whole mixture with some calcium chloride and bought it to a boil and strained it and kept it aside!! For the burst to happen I needed the correct proportion of everything and with the help of internet and some researching I figured it out. The spheres were gone be made from the chocolate water which would eventually give you the bursting effect. Took some cold water and mixed in some sodium alginate and set it aside for an hour or so for the bubbles to settle down.. 
After waiting for a while  came the moment of truth whether the sphere would form or not when the chocolate water comes in contact with sodium alginate mixture... Took a measuring spoon and tried it out and my heart was racing like a formula one car and was finally relieved when it did form a thin layer of skin around the water and the got encased in the skin which was form when the chocolate water came in contact with the sodium alginate mixture. Nothing got screwed up this time was ready to present the dish the other components were easy to make... The main headache was out of the way and it was time for the whole creation to be assembled. On the puri I decided i would smear some mixture like you get when you eat on the streets. As I wanted a similar texture, I went chocolate & orange mousse and smeared in on the puri. After that I carefully took the chocolate water sphere and placed it on the puri and to brighten the whole dish i grated some white chocolate on it and that bought the whole dish together!!! I was very skeptical whether the dish would live up to its name or would the water burst or will I fail??? It was time for the dish to be tasted!!!! Couldn't be the first one to try it, so as usual Manisha (due to political reason cannot disclose real name) was my Guinea pig and he tried it out!!! His reaction was a mix one as if he was asked whether he is a boy or a girl!!! Then my sous chef tried it out and he liked it... He said it was different!!! Had my restaurant manager also try it and he also liked it and said it is different and that there could be a little more burst of the water!!! Made most of the staff tasted it. It was a different thing for everyone to try and it was my turn to try it out and it was indeed 

The Final Product!!!

different and my manager was correct it needed a little more burst otherwise you could taste the chocolate, the orange and you could get the crunchiness from the puri as well....

I was happy with the overall outcome of the dish but somewhere I knew I could make it better and I did... So made some changes to the recipe and made another one with more burst and colder as you would get at the panipuri hawker. This time the burst was perfect, and everything synced together. Unfortunately the person who pushed me and inspired me couldn't taste it and I hope she could taste it. Inspiration is all you need and i am glad that I have such a special person in my life that will always inspire me to do the crazy and wacko stuff and see me successful!!! And the best part of all this is that she believes in me which I don’t. This is for her!!! Thank you!!

I hope you enjoyed reading the post and found it interesting... More to come soon, till then take care and enjoy and be safe!!'

Sayonara!!! 

War Zone!!!!

I guess there is nothing more scarier than being in a war torn country other than staring death in your face or maybe staring at  your angry wife!!

SIerra Leone

Cotton Tree!!

But let’s be serious, born and raised in a country where the per day income of an average working person is less than a dollar doesn't define what that country is but only gives you an overview of how unfortunate it is especially when the country is rich in minerals. What can I say, greed is your biggest enemy, I suppose.

Beauty of the country

                                       Waking up in the mornings with the sounds of gun shots or your father sending a car to pick you up from school because the city has been attacked by the rebels, is one of the worst experience you could have in your life. The fear of not knowing if you are going to be able to see your parents and your loved ones again makes everything all the more worse. While growing up in Sierra Leone, I somewhat had a normal childhood, but not the one an average kid usually had while growing up. For instance, going to the park and playing with your friends or watching cable tv or going to restaurant on a Sunday with the family or even getting a take out from your fast food joint so you could give mommy a day off from the kitchen.  My childhood was full of surprises & craziness, not realizing a bullet was aimed and fired at your mom or while travelling to another city you wouldn’t know if you are gone make it or you might get ambushed and probably get killed or all you could see & hear is gunshots and people running for safety and wondering what would happen next.

RUF(Rebels)

                                           I am here to write about the county that was torn apart because of the glitter and the fancy diamonds it had. Many people would think why a country would be so poor & underdeveloped even though it had all the glitter & gold from the minerals. The only thing I got to say its cause the developed countries aren't gaining anything from it so why bother and interfere....

 Merciless Killing

The war in the 90s, but shit hit the fan on 25th May 1997; three days after my birthday, when the government run by Teejan Kaabah was overthrown by prisoners who had broken out of the country's biggest prison and were led by one of their inmates. The war had now actually started between the rebels, the army who were supposed to protect, and the Kamajors who were also supposed to help in protecting the nation. But it had become an entirely different ball game when the coup happened! The capital was controlled by 2 parties, one was the ECOMOG, these were the armies from neighbouring countries, and the other party consisted of the rebels. When the coup happened, we had to leave the country and the only way to travel was by car and cross the border into the neighbouring country, Liberia, from where we could go to India. The main culprit of the war was the president at the time, Charles Taylor, and with the aid of the western world all this happened to be possible. I left my father and my life as a kid, and embarked on a journey which would change my whole life and what I am today. The funniest part of all this is that 90% of the population had never seen a diamond in their entire life at that time of their life!

Chopped off limbs!!!

                                                    Coming back to the war, things got worse day by day and it went on for 5 years. The atrocity the people suffered was cruel and I hope no one suffers as much as the people of Sierra Leone did. Chopping off limbs and legs of innocent people was one of their ways to cause and spread terror. Their motive was, "If you are going to vote against us, you won't be able to because we will chop your hands off!" Their way of asking was do you want short sleeves or long sleeves!!!

                                       The atrocity they carried out was beyond anyone's imagination. Diamonds there were found in numbers and one's luck would change in a matter of seconds if they found the perfect rock! But the diamond wasn't the only thing Sierra Leone had; it had rich culture and food. I still remember, every Sunday we would have pepper soup or cassava leaves or potato leaves. It was the local’s favourite meal and it was good, really good! I miss the place and it will always hold a special place in my heart, because I was born and raised there. And it taught me a lot.

Another beautiful beach!!!

                                    I have been planning a trip to see my parents but something or the other keeps coming up and I haven't been able to visit my birth place. It's been three years! There is nothing much to do there, but if you were to go there, I can promise you that it is something very different and something you probably haven't seen in your life!!! All you get is peace & tranquillity & i am in desperate need of both.

                                     That's it for now; I hope you liked this life changing post of mine. I will share a link where you can see the actual war that was captured by the brave journalist called Sorious Samura. Not bothering about his life, he wanted to show the world what his country & the people were suffering and what help the western world provided!!!

 The link: - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WHl2UmJXYU

Tandoori Chicken Bhel

My craziness for tandoor & Indian street food goes a long way back. The craziness for tandoori chicken, chicken tikka, the breads and my love for Pani Puri and Sev Puri made me come up with the crazy idea for this creation. My love for both gives me the chills sometimes! So, one day on my way to work, I thought, "what the hell, let's come up with a dish that combines my love for both these dishes." There would be nothing better than making a dish that combines the flavours of the street with a hint of smokiness and spiciness you get from. So I said to myself, "what would be good? A bhel that contains crisp puffed rice, potatoes, spices, and chutneys or would a sev puri be better?"

In the the mix!!!

I decided bhel would go perfect since it gave me more room to play with the dish. 

I haven't dismissed the idea of making a tandoori chicken sev puri though, and that's my next attempt on the wonderful craze of Indian street food i have got recently...

And so began the craziness!

So to begin with the dish, i firstly looked into the original dish; the ingredients that go in it and after that, I decided to redesign it up with my creation. I decided to add the regular stuff that goes into a bhel, and some other stuff that would make it different to make it a tandoori bhel. The chutney was going to be made using a tandoori marination that was used to marinate the chicken. So, I cooked the marination in oil until all the spices were cooked and gave it that tandoori smell and smokiness. With a touch of water and oil, I adjusted the consistency of the chutney. I also decided to add some mustard oil and of course the main highlight was the tandoori chicken with its smokiness and charness. I then gathered all the ingredients and it was time to re-invent this street food! I mixed my crispy rice puff with boiled potatoes, mustard oil, onions, thin sev, finely chopped cilantro, freshly squeezed lemon juice, and to bring everything together...I couldn't forget the two main things, one was the chicken, and the other was the tandoori chutney. I then added a little bit of spicy chana dal.

Old skul with a twist!!!!

There was only one way i was gone serve this street food, even though it was a bit fancy than your regular, I did not want to serve it on a plate or glass, hence, I told Bhavika; one of my best servers (can't disclose real name due to political reasons), to get me some paper from old magazines. Made a cone out of the old paper and filled it with the bhel. I garnished it with a little bit of chopped coriander and gave a puri to scoop out the bhel. Made little cones and gave the entire staff of the restaurant to try out my new experiment.

                                 My God, what a re-invention of something so simple, or I'd rather say what a great twist to the old school street food we all crave for. I hope you guys enjoyed reading this post as much as I did while writing it. So get your butt and go make some for yourself, and enjoy!  You could also make it with paneer if you're a vegetarian, or could add your own little twist to the dish! Do let me know how it turned out!! 

Ciao!

Braised cow tongue empanadas, pepper foam & chimichuri

"Ewwwww!!!", is what most of you would say after reading the name of the post. Hahah... but it's not ew, it's good and sexy!!!!

This dish was made for my tasting menu while I was doing my culinary degree in Chicago about 2 years ago, and was inspired by a similar dish which was on the menu of Graham Elliot; where I was working for a while. I really loved the dish that was served there and I wanted to create something similar but different. The dish sparked my craziness for empanadas and working at Graham Elliot's made me a better cook and l learned a lot from the chefs there.

For our tasting menu, we had to make 5 courses and I chose one of these. I was working with beef tongue for the first time and had to research a bit and ask a couple of chefs. After doing the needful I decided to make beef tongue empanadas and see how it tasted.

Beef empanadas!!!

 I started off by cooking the cow tongue, and God, it took hours to cook! While the tongue was cooking, I was thinking what to serve with the empanadas. I thought of serving pepper foam. I made that with pepper purée, a bit of gelatine and isi whipper. Since empanadas are mostly Argentinean, I thought of giving  chimichuri as well and instead of putting the boiled eggs inside, I'd put them on the plate. I then made the the dough with flour, melted butter, some cold water and salt. The tongue was ready and it was time to finish the filling with spices and all the other stuff. I added some olives, tomatoes and onions, garlic, some seasonings, cumin, paprika, and oregano. I diced up the tongue and mixed it the other mixture, and my filling was ready. 

It was time to make the empanadas. I rolled out the dough and made discs and filled half of it and closed it to look like a crescent moon. I decided to fry them rather then bake them. I fried 2 pieces and cut them in half; platted 3 of the 4 pieces and followed by the red pepper foam and the chimichuri followed by some fragments of hard boiled yolk. The dish tasted and looked good. I wasn't very happy with the outcome of the dish as I wanted it to be a little more classy and sophisticated but, I was content with what I had made. My chef who was doing the tasting of our dishes was also happy and a bit surprised seeing what was presented in the plate. I personally was a little bit disappointed with the plating but the rest was good.

Okay guys, enough of me making your mouth water and drool. Go grab an empanada from your nearby store or get your ass off the chair, and make some!

Thanks for reading the post and I hope you keep doing it...

Ciao!!

Hazelnut cappuccino!!!!

Every Tom, Dick & Harry likes coffee these days; be it the different variety you get from cappuccino or espresso to coffee latte or macchiato. 
Personally, I'm not a big fan of coffee. I sometimes tend to have some cold coffee just to change the mood and that would be once in two weeks or even a month. But one person I know who loves coffee; cappuccino and not just any cappuccino, but cappuccino from Starbucks; hazelnut to be precise, and no other flavour. This person is such a maniac. Well, let's go no further and reveal this person's name... but I guess you got it right, it’s no other than my retarded sister, Dee (cannot reveal her real name due to political & government reasons). She really loves it, and drinks nothing else but that. Sometimes when I am with her, I take few sips from her and yes, it's good. It has that toasty, earthiness you get from the coffee and the hazelnut and having it hot just takes it to another level

The hazelnut cappuccino!!

So one day, I decided to make a dessert based on the hazelnut cappuccino that she likes so much, and dedicate something to her and say I made it just for her. In short I would say she was my inspiration for the dessert.  Making the dessert was not a hard task, but what components to put was a bit tricky as I wanted  different taste,  texture and mostly wanted it to look like the cappuccino she drank. I finally got the chance to make the dessert when I was giving my food trial where I am currently working. I was making a five course tasting menu and decided this was going be one of the dishes and I took the risk. Since it was my first crack at it, I decided I would keep it simple but yet classy and sexy!!! So I deiced to make a chocolate creamux at the base, followed by a coffee sponge and then followed by hazelnut panna cotta. To give the whole feel of someone having a cappuccino, I decided the dessert will be served in a coffee cup, and also added the milk frothing and put some granules of coffee and hazelnut atop.

With the cookie!!!

The dessert was made and it was time for the chefs to taste it. At first I was a bit edgy as to whether they would like it or not. But they loved the concept as well as the dessert. I was also happy with the final product, but I knew it could have been done better. So I made a point that I would re-create the dessert again and have it on our specials menu and that too a better and tastier version of it. 

Months passed by and i hadn't made the dessert and just couple of days ago I decided I wanted to add another dessert to the current menu and I knew what I was going to adding. So I said to myself, "I will add hazelnut cappuccino and will do it differently than what I did during my food trial". I decided to go with the same flavours, but change the texture of the components and present it the same way i did for my trial. This time, the base was a very soft chocolate panna cotta infused with hazelnut and coffee followed by the same coffee sponge, and then instead of the hazelnut panna cotta which i doneearlier, i decided to go with hazelnut ice cream. To give the idea that you are having a cappuccino or coffee, I decided to give a small cookie with it as you would get when you are actually having coffee.

The inner beauty!!!

The dessert was tasted by some of the morons at the restaurant and they loved it. For once, I was very happy with something I had made and it made me feel good. And I guess, since it was for my retarded sister, it also made me very happy. The texture and the flavour combination went so well that you could literally have an orgasm in your mouth. In short, it was a killer dessert and it made me very happy! It's on the menu now and I have gotten some positive feedback from the guests who've tried it.

I hope Dee is proud of the dessert as it was made for her, but the funny part is she hasn't tasted it yet. I guess she has to wait for it! 
Anyways thanks for reading the post and hope you enjoyed reading it. Have a great day and it's time now for me to go work and whip up something interesting!

Ciao bella!!!

Candy crunch, Strawberry & Granola

Who doesn't like ice cream?! That too when it's hot, and you need something to cool you down. Many things can cool you down, but ice cream is something that relaxes you and satisfies you not that other things don’t!!!!

Today's post is about a creation I came up with, without having to put my brains together and think hard; not that I do! But anyway, this creation made me proud and it's amazing how simple things can turn into wonderful things. I am not always proud of the things I do, and nor do I take recognition for it, but this one made me take credit and I felt proud that I created it!

Anyway, lets' talk about the creation and its existence! I love ice creams and dessert. I guess that must have been obvious by now, but if not just letting you retards know that I do love them. I literally eat ice cream every day at work, and that too different flavour! After a while, I got bored eating the same flavours and wanted something new and exciting, something sexy to arouse my taste buds. At that time, I was working on creating granola or had already done it. I loved what I made, and we even started using it as one of the desserts that I created but with help of my pastry cook!

One day after having my lunch I decided to try this creation and see if it works out. I also had this habit of having my ice creams in tea cups. Very weird, I know and who eats ice cream in a tea cup?! Only retarded people like me do that or I guess not even crazy people do ...just me! 

My Sexy Baby!!!!

So, I went to the pastry section and grabbed a scoop of candy crunch ice cream and put it in the tea cup, and my pastry cook had made this strawberry compote once, and I liked so much that I was gone add it to give another texture and taste to the dessert and the last thing I had decided to add was something crunchy and was not going to add anything else but granola..

It was time to devour the creation. I took the dessert to the table and sat and started eating it. Everybody was wondering what I was eating. I then told them about the invention and everyone liked it. It became a habit of mine & everyone to eat it every day after lunch. After a week or so, it was on the menu of my restaurant and we serve it the way I ate it. It's still going strong and I still eat it. I really loved what I had made & needless to say, people were very proud of it. 

As they say sometimes, you really don't have to do anything to create something that will wow people, but just simple ingredients and a little bit of creativity.

That's it for now. Hope you enjoyed the post. Please don't curse or abuse me for just making you read all these creations and not making you guys actually taste it. But if you come by where I work, I will definitely make you try all the creations!

Candy crunch ice cream, strawberry & granola!!!

Thanks for reading the post and have a wonderful day ahead!

Ciao!