Of Crumpets and Scones….With Love Great Britain

British food has not been discussed enough in media and in reality too.Infact if you ask a layman about British food, he would be clueless.So was I, til I visited UK in 2011 Summer

So far I had just heard about Fish and Chips.Which is like the vada pao of UK.The most commonly available. Basically it consists of fish (usually fried in a batter made of water and flour with a little baking soda).Chips refers to what the ameican call as” fries”Mind you..The British refer to fries (French fries) as chips and chips(like lays or wafers) as “crips”.This is staple dish of UK and you will get it at joints and outlets

Then comes macaroni cheese.The best food for vegeterians.Its a rather bland version of what we get here.Good to have as a side dish.

The next possible food which I ate without thinking was the baked beans.And I loved them .Somewhat like a westernized distant cousin of our home made Rajma .This particular dish is generally sold frozen.It is typically made in tomato puree and sugar is added for a little flavour.Tradtionally it is eaten with a bread

Next comes a famous English food item.”Crumpet”.This was completely new to me.This is a kind of pancake or a bread.It can be compared to a small uttapa. Usually the size of a small pancake.It is circular in shape having a flat top with many small pores. Crumpets are generally eaten hot with butter, , honey, jam, marmalade, peanut butter, cheese, Nutella. The Scottish variety of Crumpet is a little different.It may contain raisins in between

Scones as the English call it is pronounced as “Skawns”.Generally a favorite for afternoon tea time. These are light, buttery quickbreads made with flour, sugar, butter, milk or cream, and eggs, besides a leavening agent such as baking powder and are are usually round in shape,

My personal favorite was Hashbrowns .When I tasted them I thoughts it’s a cheese bread or something but actually they are cooked potatoes, fried until brown.The mixture is usually pressed down into a flat cake in the pan and browned on one side, then turned and browned on the other. It's sometimes only browned on one side. Other ingredients such as chopped onion and green pepper are often added for flavor excitement.

Think Scotland Think Haggis.
Haggis is a very old Scottish dish, which combines meats, spices and oatmeal to create a a delicious feast. Its description is a little weird and hence people may not experiment.
In fact, its simply delicious. If you haven't tried authentic Scottish Haggis...you must

The famous Scotsman Poet Robert Burns has made a special poem on Haggis”Address to Haggis” thus considering it an integral part of Scottish Culture

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o' the puddin-race!
Aboon them a' ye tak your place
(Translated as :Fair is your honest happy face,Great chieftain of the pudding race,Above them all you take your place)

Haggis is tradionally to be had with Neep and Tatties.”Neeps” is a shortened form of Turnip and “Tattties” is shortened for potatoes

Oh dear..last but not the least...Tea is an important part of the british cuisine.I couldn’t understand the difference between “builders tea” or “breakfast tea” and “afternoon tea”..but they really savoutr tea.They have it with meals and serve it either with milk and sugar or honey and lime.

All said and done..Just 10 days were not enough to know about this beautiful country and its lovely food.After eating all this I returned back home thinking that I will cook it sometime,but the day hasn’t dawned yet.Lets hope it happens soon

Whenever this happens will post the recipe on the blog

On having a pani puri

The excitement begins since the moment we are given plates to eat.This is just any other roadside stall where I have been with my 5 more foodie friends.But we have been eating here since we were very little.We all stand there with plates in our hands.My hearbeats start increasing as one by one we get one ‘puri’ each.It is filled with cooked white peas, tamarind chutney and a spicy warm liquid made of jeera ,chilly and black salt.As we all get the puri..our tastebuds rejoice.The sweet,tangy,spicy,salty,warm crunchy,crisp hits us.

Again and again we are served a more puris each..as if it’s a marathon.We all savour each and every puri..Finally the last puri comes..we all eat a little slow .as it is the last puri :-(..We still relish it..enjoy it ..but it hurts a bit because that’s the end of our pani puri marathon…Now we are just looking forward to only one last thing “the Masala Puri”

After we all had our six puris each..we get the last masala puri..it is a dry puri with the white peas,salt,chat masala and some dry sev..We relish it..we have almost reached “Gastronomic Nirvana”

We make the payment and with a heavy heart..walk home.But we ll soon come again for another plate of Pani Puri

Italian food

It often happens when we reach an Italian restaurant even in Bombay,we are amazed by the menu and do not know what to ask for and in which order.Our second part of Italian cuisine series deals with the various courses of Italian food and in what order it is to be eaten

Italians are very systematic and particular about their food. Usually their food is broken into several courses usually balancing proteins carbohydrates and drinks.Their food is usually broken into 7-8 courses and they relish each n every one.Lets discuss each in brief

1.Aperitivo

Apéritif usually enjoyed as an appetizer before a meal, includes Alcholic drink like Vermouth.

2.Antipasto

A meal in Italy usually begins with an antipasto (starter), a sort of "warm up" dish before the real meal begins. It includes hot and cold appetizers such as crostini, bruschetta sometimes even typical thincrust pizzas and garlic bread

3.Primo

"First course", usually consists Carbohydrates .Its usually consisting of pasta, minestrone, risotto, or zuppa (soup) or lasagne. It is often served in bowl

4.Secondo

"Second course", the main course, usually Meat/Fish often meat, poultry, game, or fish. This is often the bulk of proteins in the food

5.Contorno

"Side dish", may consist of a salad or cooked vegetables.

A traditional menu features salad along with the main course vegetables such as melanzane (eggplant), spinaci (spinach), or insalata mista (mixed salad also includes /asparagus/broccoli)

6.Formaggio e frutta

Literally means "cheese and fruits"

7.Dolce

Its the “dessert," which includes such favorite sweets as tiramisù, gelato,granitto,bisotti,cheesecakes, crostoli and fritole

8.Caffè

Coffee. They have many types of coffees .Italians are known for their varieties of coffees

9.Digestivo

These are "digestives” Ammazzacaffè, a common Italian custom, especially after a generous meal.

10.Wines

Red wine in the Veneto region such as Cabernet and Merlot is often served as table wine, while white wines like Prosecco and Moscato are more common for dessert wines.

So next time you go to an authentic place don’t forget to taste each n every course in petit portions:)

Bon Appetit

Ash

Italian Cuisine.. An introduction

Italian Cuisine.

My first memories of Italian cuisine goes back almost 12- 15 years ago.My parents used to often take us to a restaurant in Shivaji park,our neighbourhood which served Italian food.Since then I had developed this taste for Italian food .Infact now I cant imagine a life without Italian food. In Mumbai,people refer to pizzas and Pastas as Italian food.Infact Italian food goes much much more ahead of Pizzas and pastas.

First and foremost traditional Italian food has to be cooked in extra virgin olive oil. Secondly it uses varieties of ingredients right from legumes,vegetables,poultry,game,red meat,fish and fruits. Italian cuisine also uses flour and wheat flour to form dough for making of bread,or pasta which is one of the most important element of Italian cooking and food. Various herbs too are used. It also includes large variety of milk and milk products primarily cheese and cream. Again in the beverage section,both coffee and wine are also very important. Lastly,the desserts are different and mind blowing Lets discuss each in brief

1)Olive oil: No italian food is complete without olive oil.Infact italian food wont taste authentic unless you cook in olive oil.A true italian food tasting wizard will know the moment he took the first bite,whether it is cooked in olive oil or not Olive oil falls in many catagoeries viz Extra-virgin olive oil ,Virgin olive oil,Pure olive oil,Olive oil,Olive-pomace oil etc( in the descending order of quality)

2)Ingredients: Italian food consists of all ingredients like legumes(peas,beans etc),Poultry,Meat,Vegetables(Bell peppers,Mushrooms,Olives,Asparagus) as well as Fish

3)Pasta: Pasta is ideally made of flour and cooked and served with the preparation as a part of it.Ideally there are 3000-4000 shapes of pastas including penne,spaghetti,fussililli,macroni etc Above explains the very few basic pastas

4)Herbs: Italians use many herbs basic being oregano,followe by basil,parsley,rosemary,thyme etc They put the typical flaour in the food.

5)Milk and Products: All Italian food is incomplete without cheese and cream

6)Breads: It includes both garlic bread and pizza breads

Garlic bread typically consists of bread topped with garlic and olive oil accompanied with pastas.Then comes Pizzas having origin in Italy,but now has become more of an international food

7)Coffee and Wine: Coffee as called cafe is a huge thing in Italy.

Caffè macchiato; ristrettocappuccino caffelatte café au lait, Latte macchiato.

Wine can be Rosso(Red) and Bianco(white)usually served as per the dish accompanying it

In our next post we shall discuss how are the foods served and related topics..

Till then Ciao!!

Ash