Restaurant review - Chakum Chukum

This time my Bong instinct took me to another adventurous rolls journey and I landed in Chakum Chukum. You can blame Times of India or the owner's connection with them for it. They keep raving about their rolls in their publications every now n then. So I was at their counter to do the authentication check! Its in Indiranagar....well in residential indiranagar and not the main road. You can easily pass by it without even noticing.
My GPS settings helped me to locate them quite comfortably (i love my phone for this feature) and the tech advanced owners have made sure they are listed. So there I was...Chakum Chukum a small kitchenette...yeah that's what you can call it...a small place crowded with almost a staff of 10 people including the lady who runs it and the security guard( have no clue who he guards). Gosh wonder why would you need so many people for making a roll. No I am not talking stupid. Coz I have seen well flourishing roll centres with less staff.
Anyway its owners have found a good way of publicizing their venture to make up for the footfalls of a main road joint. They have contacted every possible media resource and have got reviews, awards, writeups, all hanging on the walls. good one!
The guy who takes orders doesn't have committed place and is almost stuffed in the kitchen. We ordered two rolls and a moghlai. The lady who runs it was upfront to convey the delay of 30 minutes if we wanted a moghlai and we had no issues waiting. That was a honest commitment. Being a weekend, the rush was defining their success story. Lots of parcel orders and take away..(it has to be takeaway, one may not find a place to sit).The staff looked busy and efficient. The aroma was uncontrollable to such an extent that we ordered another roll (the last order was a parcel) and we got it in no time. Double Mutton double egg Shammi roll - a huge one...good enough for a dinner of a normal person...may be I would need two of them! They even have options for health conscious one at an extra charge. They will churn you a roll only egg whites and more with a Atta chapati base
The filling stood for its name of 'double mutton'. But I thought the pricing could go down a little - Rs. 135 for a Roll! gets me rolling.
The options at this place are amazing....right from the conventional egg, chicken and mutton rolls...they had liver roll, kidney roll and a lot of vegetarian options - aloo, paneer, veg, spinach etc etc...so you will have all your desires answered here.
Now comes the taste - ummmmm they are good but could do better in terms of the juicy quotient. The filling was tasty but dry unlike the kolkata joint. Even my friends who have visited this place have complained the same. Hope they do something about this very soon
And lastly not to miss, I took a glance at something humungus and devil like. Unable to control the devil in me, i enquired and got 'Malav' for my next visit. Yeah it is a roll..no.no. ROLLLLL. A big one using two paratha golis, more eggs and more filling. looked Tempting...So that's going to be on my plate on my next visit...my mouth is already watering....yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Hot Garlic Chicken n Noodles in Olive oil

I know the goodness of olive oil but I want to remind myself every now and then by treating by taste-buds. And if you are a connoisseur of food, you will echo my sentiments. Well last night my mind and the eyes couldn't relate to the food I had already cooked and my Chinese soul screamed hard. So instead frying my brain any more, I decided to fry some hot garlic chicken and noodles in my kitchen. And when its the soul which calls you, nothing goes awry....so get ready to churn some delicious mix in your kitchen this weekend. Don't forget to pass on the invitation.

For the Hot Garlic Chicken

Chicken preferable boneless or breast pieces - 400 gm
Garlic - 15-20 flakes finely chopped (the more the merrier, remember its garlic chicken!)
Onion - 1 big finely chopped
Chilly sauce - 2 tbsp
Tomato Sauce - 2 tbsp
Soy sauce - 1 tsp
Butter - 3 tbsp
Olive Oil - 1 tbsp
Vinegar - 1 tbsp
Red Chilli Paste - 1 tbsp (made by boiling the dry red chillies n grinding)
Kashmiri chilli powder - to avoid the artificial red color - 1 tbsp
Sugar - 1 tsp
Salt - as per taste
Wine - 2 tbsp (optional)
ajinamoto - 1/2 tsp (optional) i don't recommend as I don't use it either
Capsicum - 1 big cut into cubes
Cornflour - 1 tbsp mixed in 1 cup of water

Method: Marinate chicken with half the vinegar, salt, red chilli paste. Now in a pan add 1tbsp butter, 1cup of water and the marinated chicken and cook covered till water evaporates and chicken is boiled completely.
Now in another pan add the remaining butter and olive oil. Add garlic and fry for a minute. Now add the chopped onion and fry for 3-4 mins. Add capsicum, a little salt and fry for another 3-4 min till it becomes soft. Now add the sauces and rest of the vinegar. In this add the boiled chicken and fry for 2-3 mins. Now add the cornflour mixed with water wine and let it cook for till it becomes thick. Remove from fire and serve hot with Noodles. (And when I say serve hot, I mean literally as Chinese food has to be consumed hot, though it is mostly made with stale stuffs!)

For the Noodles

Egg Noodles - 1 packet (try buying the thinnest ones)
Garlic - 10-15 flakes - chopped finely
Onion - 1 sliced finely
Vegetables - 3 tbsp sliced finely (capscicum, carrot and bean)
Olive Oil - lots and lots of it - i mean - 3 tbsp
Salt as per taste
Pepper - as per taste
Chilli flakes - as per taste
Dried herbs as per taste (optional)

Method: Boil the noodles in 2 cups of water and 1 tsp of oil . Once done, run it under cold water, drain and keep aside. Now in a pan, put the olive oil. Remember olive oil has low smoking point. Therefore right after 30 secs, add garlic and onion and fry well for 3-4 mins. Add Veggies and salt and cook till they are done. Now add the noodles and toss them well. Turn off the oven and add pepper, chilli flakes and herbs. For the extra taste drizzle a little olive oil and serve with hot garlic chicken.

Tip for Vegans: You can replace the chicken with paneer and follow the same recipe. You will have your hot garlic paneer ready for the noodles!

Bandal Hills (Nandi Hills)

After a lot of holiday cancellations on this long weekend (coorg, ooty etc), we finally managed to convince ourselves that holiday is not meant for us, atleast for now. But my brimming mind never gave way, I suggested my Husband that we should do a day outing to a nearby place on this 15 Aug.

Having lived in Pune for last 2 years, Ghats and hills were our neighbours, so the thought of a hill in Bangalore excited us. Though I am from Bangalore and have visited Nandi hills in the past (the last when I was a kid) the idea didn't seem too bad. But to my horror everything has changed. Located about 60 kms from BEML gate(where I live), I took the longer and no traffic route - old madras road and ring road from there on towards kammanahalli, nagawara, hebbal, yelahanka, doddaballapur road and nandi hills. It was soothing as we didn't fight the regular traffic and were able to cruise through, so we didn;t mind the fuel too. And with my brand new Etios, the drive was quite good enough.

We had started at 12:00 and it took us about an hour and half to reach. The road to nandi hills was well maintained with villages on both sides, vineyards and rose plantations. You would see a chain of people on both sides of road selling farm fresh grapes. Now comes the hill climb. Was simple and boring. It looked deserted with fewer trees and green blanket was torn apart. On top hill looked chopped with its height creating a confusion in my mind about its hill status. We were charged about 80 bucks to park the car which turned out to be wasteful too.
With Pune boasting of some of the western ghat wonders nearby Nandi hills was a sheer disappointment. It looked like a hill top garden. Man made beauty had replaced the natural essence. Lots of stone bricks structure all around. Perfectly manicured garden and some trees. And this is no summer. Rainy season and no greenery! Alas, Tipu Sultan could just pass this place as just another road if he came back to life. So no Photographs too, didn't capture my interest
With a visit to this place my hopes of finding a nearby outing place was shattered and have decided to forgive the humans like me to destroy the nature. But I am afraid if nature will!

Dum Aloo Recipe

 I know potatoes can help you add those extra kilos and you have every reason to hate them. But you can never deny their taste quotient. They are irrestible! So go potatoes this weekend

Ingredients:

2 Potatoes boiled and cut into cubes
Tomatoes - 2 chopped into cubes
To be ground into a paste
1/2 onion
1" ginger
3-4 flakes garlic
2-3 green chillies

Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp
Chilli powder - 2 tsp (its supposed to be spicy..you can adjust it as per your taste)
coriander powder - 1 tsp
cumin powder - 1 tsp
Salt as per taste
Yoghurt/Dahi - 2 tbsp
Fresh Coriander - 1 tbsp chopped finely
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Fresh made garam masala - coarsely powdered - 1/2 tsp (made of cardamom, cinnamon and cloves)
Oil - 1 tbsp

Method:
Heat Oil in a kadhai. Now add cumin seeds and garam masala. Add tomatoes and fry for 2 mins. Now add the ground paste and dry masala. Fry for 5 mins. Add yoghurt and potatoes and cook for 10-12 mins and add chopped coriander Now fry till all the masala is dry and a little brown in color. This step is very important as it enhances the taste and finally makes the dish perfect. serve it pooris, rumali rotis and simply phulkas.

Aloo Methi Recipe

A north indian dish which I made this weekend in the kitchen turned out to be good as usual. For people who want to try their favorite potatoes in a different style.

Ingredients (serves three)

2 medium potatoes cut into small cubes
2 bunch methi leaves/1 cup (now a days the bunches are thinner else one would do)
garlic flakes - 8-9 crushed
jeera - 1 tsp
dry red chilli broken - 2-3
turmeric - 1 tsp
chilly powder - 2 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp (can use a little less too if you are health conscious)
salt as per taste

Method:

Clean the methi leaves and wash at least 3-4 times or till you can see clean water. Chop them finely and keep aside. Heat oil in a kadhai. add jeera, dry red chilly and crushed garlic. let it fry for 1 min and add potatoes and fry them till they are half done. Now add the chopped methi, spice powders, cover and cook till the potatoes are done. Now remove the cover and fry till they start sticking in the kadhai. This dish is supposed to be eaten dry. So wait till all the water is evaporated and methi sticks to the potatoes. Serve it as an accompaniment with dal and roti/rice.

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