Be A CHILI-HEAD!!!! \m/

I went to Chili's, the restaurant. Prasad's treat. ;) ( I know its invariably his treat when we go to an expensive place :D )

So getting down straight to business; 15 things I liked about them... ummm..lets say 10 things I 'observed' about them;

1. Cool parking logo; 'Parking only for Chili customers. All other cars will be crushed and melted.' WOah!

2. Neatly tucked in shirts for the crew. Smartly dressed 'fit' girls.

3. 'Well groomed staff' -would be underrating them. They spoke cool, nice AND friendly as well.

4. The person serving you comes and 'introduces' himself.

5. The person taking order 'sits' and takes it down. Me and Prasad decided that must be to relax the customers who get panicked while ordering with the whole idea of someone 'standing' on their head. Neat, again.

6. FAT ASS PORTIONS. Jesus. We had to pack half the dish back home.

7. The inverted picture! Wacky idea but not-so-cool picture hung upside down following the Chili's-history.

8. The Guilt-LESS grills. Note: You still feel guilty about the quantity you're hogging. But, LESSER guilty. So remember, its not GUILT-FREE... just guilt-less. :|

9. The bill; a whooping four digit for the two of us. OK! OK! Was worth it for an outing.

10. The Game; They do have a large screen showing game at the bar. Oh did I not mention the bar they got? :)

11. The BIG FAT chilli on the entrance. Prasad tells me that's definitely from abroad. :)

12. The interiors, I must compliment the branding of this place. EVEN THE CHAIRS and DOOR handles had chillies on them. So, CUTE!

13. The poor girl who must have gone up and down the stairs like fifteen times bringing in the guests! No wonder the girls are so fit.

14. Their logo...

AND




15. I observed an inch increase in my belly as I walked out smiling :D

Bump-ing Bump-ing... here we go..

(The picture is for representational purpose only)

Some days are pure Blunders.
By that I mean, the moment you step out of bed. Your toe nail hits the bed side table. You toss on the door mat and stumble thankfully landing right on the potty seat.

You hit your gums pretty bad while brushing ( FYI, which will later result in an ulcer). The water turns out a tad bit TOO HOT when you step into the shower.

You keep the potatoes without water into the pressure cooker and only realize when the safety valve touches the ceiling. In a hurry to control the situation, you almost escape laying flat on the piping hot vessel.

You touch your car door only to get a static because of the silky clothes you 'love' wearing. Your hand slips on the gear shaft and your nail breaks.

You turn on the radio to ease your head and just ...breathe.
Suddenly the car ahead of you breaks and yes, this time, you were quick. :)
But you realize you spoke a lil' too much, a lil' too early. The guy behind you rode straight into you with a thud.
You stare back at him and he just stands there sticking his tongue between his teeth expressing 'apology'. You move on (of course, that's only because there was no damage done).

You reach office and see people admiring your car at a distance. You straighten up, stroking your gear like your pet cat and speed into the parking. The jinx must have been broken.

You recall all this while I eat the obnoxious food from the cafeteria, because you forgot your lunch box you see.

Mission MOMO!

I am still quite heart broken about the Neer-Dosa disaster I had on Saturday.
I had all the proportions right. Exact steps, no shortcuts..yet, I only had flying saucers ready for breakfast :o(
I'm yet to figure out what went wrong!

Nevertheless, the cook in me moved on asking for more recipes from Chef Google.
I found a match.

MOMO- A world famous Tibetan version of dumplings with all sorts of possible stuffing variations! You can have non-veg and veg versions of it as well.

Impressive I decided.

You see, here's the thing about me, traditional cooking is what I've seen, learnt and built my own style over years. Now, these unconventional stuff excite me! So, here I was making MOMO!

Recipe;http://darjeelingnews.net/darjeeling_momos.html
Its pretty short and sweet so, you too can have a sneak peek.

So, here are few things from first hand Momo-making-experience which you WILL NOT find anywhere else;

1. The dough; Tricky part. Shouldn't be TOO soft as they ask you to make it. Else, you'll find it skating around on your rolling board. Yet, if its hard; trust me, you'll need to sit on it to roll it out. No sweat, go slow while adding water to it, you'll hit the right buttons at some point.

2. The rolling out process; NOT as easy as it looks. You'll know when you get there :)

3. The shapes. No comments, I shall let the pictures below speak for themselves. Although I would "like" to say that I "tried" all the shapes.
But O.K., I agree, I can definitely work on these the next time.

4. The quantity. Unless you plan on having a party of 10. Do NOT overshoot beyond one cup maida(flour). Or else, you will end up having momos for the next few meals.

My hands were really greasy so I could only grab a few pics here and there;




But, all said and done. They tasted heavenly. I was particularly impressed with how my Smoked-Tomato-Spicy chutney (accompaniment yet crucial) turned out. I'd share that quick recipe with you all;
- 3 big tomatoes
- 5-6 big garlic cloves
- 2 tsp ginger garlic paste (yea! that makes it lots of garlic, don't question, just do it)
- salt, chilli powder (go a little overboard on chilli, Dude! its CALLED SPICY chutney, you gotta have spice!)
- Oil
- Now comes the MOST crucial and copyright ingredient of mine, MTR Chutney powder-2 heapfuls.

Process; Heat the oil. Chop and throw in the tomato, garlic cloves and ginger garlic paste.
Let it cook, mash the tomatoes while they cook.
Add one cup water and let it simmer on heat.
Add salt, chilli and chutney powder.

You'll be SURPRISED how well this goes with not just momo, but with rice, on bread, buns and even paranthas!
Bon Appetit!!

Seven-Step Eggplant Crispies

Sundays are Naughty-Chef-Time!
I love to make others indulge in untimely snacks and pamper them to a guilty glutton. That is what Sundays are FOR.

Today I made Eggplant-Crispies. I do wish I coin a fancier name for them. But, I will just let the taste speak for itself. Coming down to business:

1. Wash and cut the Big Eggplant (The ones we usually use for Baigan ka Bharta).


2. Make a mix of Flour (All-purpose-regular Atta), Salt, Red chilli, Dhanya powder (Coriander). Toss the eggplant pieces on this as shown below.


3. Heat a non-stick pan, grease it a little and toss these pieces on the pan on low flame. (Note; its OK to add a little extra grease for the crispi-ness ;) , we don't do this everyday! )


4. Toss the sides and let the pieces cook on low heat for a while.


5. In precisely 10-15 mins, your one lot of crispies will be ready. Squeeze fresh lime on it.


6. Sprinkle a tad-bit Chaat Masala. You may avoid this if you've used a lot of spice in your powder-mix already.


7. That's Eggplant Crispies for you.
Serve. Slurp. Eat. Burp.