#nankhatai #indiancookies

Its a cloudy Sunday and all I wanted to do today was laze . All set to do exactly nothing I started whiling away time and something struck me and decided to bake. I didn’t want to bake a cake as I didn’t have all the necessary ingredients and nay! I ain’t going out to shop so decided to make something with all the the ingredients at home . Nankhatai told my brain , a recipe I have been wanting to try from the time the baking bug bit me . By the way this is my first attempt at blogging a baking recipe , so am nervous …

FullSizeRender-5 Nankhatai is nothing but Indian cookies that are mostly served as tea time snacks and available in most shops. Kids love them too.. Well! I wanted to make them on my own and then the experiment started .

Recipe:

Ingredients :

1 cup maida or all purpose flour
¼ cup besan/gram flour
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp sooji/fine rava
½ tsp cardamom/Elaichi powder
½ cup icing sugar / powdered sugar, this can be increased/decreased as per taste
½ tbsp dahi or yogurt
½ cup ghee
1 to 2 tbsp milk
few cashews

Method:

Sift the dry ingredients : Maida, Besan, baking powder ,baking soda and keep them aside. I mixed them well using a spoon however only sifting is good too.

Whisk sugar and ghee using a blender(I use a hand blender) until it is creamy . Add dahi to the mixture and blend again. Once that is done add the dry ingredients that is ready along with rava, cardamom powder , milk and mix well and make it a dough . I used the blender and kneading is not needed for this mixture. Once it is ready , we can roll them into the shapes we want (I chose the circular ones) and put a cashew each on the cookies (See below)

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For baking preheat the oven at 180 c and bake the cookies for over 20 minutes. Remove them once they are turning golden in colour. I let the first round bake to golden however wanted it more brown so the second round kept it for longer 🙂 . Choice is entirely yours. Now all you have to do is store them in an air tight container and savour with chai especially when it is raining ..Enjoy I say 🙂

Please note : 20 to 25 mins is good for an oven , if you are using a convection microwave , the time will vary which will be over 30 minutes, it is advisable to keep an eye post 20 minutes .

#by2coffee

After a tiring run on the MG road this morning all that i wanted is some comfort food and what better than Idli :).. We decided to drive down to namma malleswaram and enjoy the piping hot idlis at by2 coffee . This is located a few meters away from Veena Stores.

For starters I ordered Idli vada and this plate(see below) cost Rs.30 , I mean isn’t this economical? They don’t have the concept of sambhar but this coconut+mint chutney is yummy . Very swift service and I didn’t take time to fetch the idli+vada combo and relish it. The idli’s melt in the mouth and this is something I cant explain but one has to relish it ..

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While I was busy enjoying my idlis I saw a lot of them carry the uppit or kharabath and I was drawn towards the idea to try some of that too. So I got a plate of kharabath , immersed in chutney and it was delicious too. It was very different with peas and capsicum in it . What better way to begin the day than some good work out and delicious breakfast?

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My friend then enjoyed ondu glass bisi bisi kaapi ..

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Its an Aye from me .. If you plan to visit below are the details :

Address: 49, 7th Cross, Malleshwaram, Bangalore

Phone: +91 9632203201

#Thepermitroom

A permit room in India is that section of a restaurant where it is permitted to serve alcoholic drinks. When I heard about Permit room the new lounge on magrath road , my curiosity took its toll. I have been wanting to visit the place from long and alas! ended up going over the weekend . A lot of expectations loaded i decided to visit The Permit Room 🙂

Before I entered the “place”, this board (refer image below) was quirky and I liked it . It was a nice place aka permit room with low light and less crowded as it was around 7 pm on a saturday evening .

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The first order was Kane West(sexy name aint it?) , it was nothing but our very own Kane fish , deboned and tava fried and then I spotted Cubbon Park Salad which apparently is inspired by the carts at the park. Cubbon park has a special place in my life so I chose to order it .. It was grated cucumber ,baby corn, chilli peanuts , lettuce .Both were ok , I be had a lot expectations . The dressing for the salad as mentioned in the menu was missing . So we ate the kallepori and the salad just like that. The presentation was beautiful look below ..

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Since I dont drink I chose to order a crab rasam, it came in a fancy jar like below. Basically crab was in the bowl and the rasam in the jar. I wasted it as the coriander was over powering and it reminded me of something I dont like . Oh btw! I am a huge rasam fan. I can live on rasam rice everyday .. FullSizeRender-5

My friend wanted to eat potato and hence we ordered cheesy gun powder pondy fries. For some reason my friend couldn’t eat it beyond a piece and hence wasted it 😦 . The dip was good , however the fries were too cheesy and the gun powder was leaving a weird after taste or was it the curry leaves .. FullSizeRender-4

We dont give up you see so another potato dish and this was called crushed baby potatoes tossed in peanut masala . This wasn’t bad so this was nibbled with the drinks by my friends . FullSizeRender-9

while this was all happening , I sneaked in the Baked mysuru pak which was in the dessert section of the menu and it was mind blowing. So well done and truly a fusion dish . This is something all of us on the table relished . Main course was not on our mind by the time we finished this so headed out to grab some dinner. Friends settled for some steaming haleem while I decided not to indulge in anything more…

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Below is the coaster I liked. Put one 😀 FullSizeRender-11

It wasn’t my day , or may be we ordered the wrong dishes . The setting was good, service was good in the beginning and as the crowd started pouring in say by 9ish there wasn’t anyone to even look . I would say an “aye” as experiences can change and food may be different on another day . Enjoy maadi 🙂

Their Address: 16, Opp Garuda Mall, Magrath Road, HAL 3rd Stage, Ashok Nagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560025

Phone:090191 13388

#kallepori #Bhel

After my regular Sunday Cubbon park time I was stepping out of the park when I saw an old lady unpacking a huge sack near the gate. Very curious I peeped to see what was she trying to unwrap and realised she was preparing to sell kalle pori as she referred them to(Bhel ). I was stumped as I love bhel and i had never seen anything like this before , she read my expression and jumped in to clarify that this was “wheat Bhel” . My happiness knew no bounds 🙂 (Oh!yes , these small things do make me very happy) . She had this north karnataka accent, was very humble and she was talking to the right person as I cant stop myself from trying anything new . Before I realised I asked her how much and bought one litre of it and parted with the cash and walked away…

Once I reached home I inspected the treasure I had with me , this thing was three times the size of the regular Bhel and the puffs were cream in colour . She had told me “madam you can do oggarane with it “, she meant to say that I can temper(tadka) it and savour . I stored it carefully in an airtight container . I woke up this morning to a raining Bangalore and I had this urge to munch on something healthy during the day .. Something which is guilt free . So I prepared this .

Recipe: I added a spoon of olive oil into the wok and when it heated added mustard , dry red chillies , peanuts , turmeric powder , asafoetida and sautéed .. Once I felt it was ready I put the stove off and added red chilly powder and mixed it . Finally added the puffed wheat corns into the mixture and voila you get to see the result and it tasted yummy too . I didn’t add salt to this as I didn’t feed the need to … What better way to enjoy the Bangalore weather? 🙂

PS: you can make this with the regular bhel and corn flakes too 🙂

#Treat

Good food will always remain a reason to revisit a restaurant . We humans end up going to the same place and ordering the same food most times is not because we are scared to experiment but because we like comfort food at times . We know some places wont let us down and that we can count on them and one such pace is Treat , a north Indian restaurant located on 80 feet road Indiranagar which is easily missed . I know this place over 15 years and still going strong , now what would you call that ?

When we at work want to eat happy food , this is the place we head to. Courteous staff , good service and great food 🙂 . We ordered for Dal Fry , Steamed rice (not in pic ) and chicken kalmi kabab along with tandoori khoombh (mushroom) . Please dont miss trying the pickled onions and chilly chutney as accompaniments served . We cleaned the plate in flat 15 minutes and stepped out of the place . Tandoori chicken , biriyani are my favourites in this joint too ..

Its an Aye from me , so please do visit and try . Thank me in your heart and I will receive the blessings 🙂 .

Address :3047, HAL 2nd Stage, 80 Feet Road, Indiranagar, Bangalore

Contact Numbers :080 25253902 or 080 25282137

#HotelChalukya

My dad has taken me there as a kid , I have visited this place several times years ago and forgotten in this hustle bustle of the city. Who will travel from Indiranagar to race corse road for a dosa? This went on till this morning when after a good run at Cubbon park a craving for some yummy dosa popped in and for some unknown reasons Hotel Chalukya flashed as the only option.

Located on race course road its a place one must visit for some yummy dosa and chutney . It was going almost full around 8 am and we listed our orders. One plate idli, ondu plate idli vada, one khara bath , one masala dosa (without red chutney ) and after some thought a kesari bath (yes we could have said chow chow bath but this was ordered in instalments ) and coffees .

The idlis reached the table first . It was soft, yummy and the chutney was delicious . In this era of watery , runny chutney this was a welcome change and with no repeated request . The sambhar was nice too . The dosa was crispy which means it made those criiiisssssppppppp noises and the potato well done . I believe its an art to make good dosas however simple that sounds . The khara bath was a simple no fancy one and frankly nothing much to say about it . Finally the kesari bath was yummilicious . Not dripped in ghee , not excessively sweet , right amount of sugar , the perfect amount of ghee and this was one of the best i have tasted .

Came out happy , smiling and content and with the feeling that glad some things have maintained its charm in my city. Old is Gold they say and this place just prove us right . Its an aye! from me . If you have not been there being in Bangalore then please do visit once and if you are a Bangalorean and haven’t been there for years (like me) then please do the honours . Basically you have no choice left but visit them 🙂

The price for all the above item was approx : 360 Rs which is economical in my opinion considering the kind of prices i have been doling out

Address: No 44, Race Course Road, Near Basaveshwara Circle, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560001

Phone:080 2226 6866

http://www.hotelchalukya.com

#lazysuzy

This cute little outlet on the corner of 80 feet road Indiranagar intrigued me .Oh boy! i love bright colours and the name is so inviting to just walk in and plonk myself and gobble up some food .. Yet! I didn’t find time or reason to go and it kept teasing me overtime I drove past that road . One fine day! few cookies and macaroons land on my desk thanks to a dear friend and I was all reasons to visit them.

It was a rainy evening , the place was so welcoming . Yellows and blues , so refreshing ain’t it? Simple furniture , surrounded by breads , cookies and pastries . A simple one pager menu and the entire place was at my disposal thanks to the rains 🙂

A simple menu is always welcome as I am not confused what to order. I chose to stick to simple food as it was dinner and I prefer it super light . It was a veg wrap for me and a chicken wrap for my friend . And one macaroon for meeeeee entirely. The macaroons here are to die for , they make me happy in simple words.

The wrap was nice , light and simple . The service was lovely .. I also picked one loaf of their wheat bread home which was nice too.. In short This is an Aye! Please don’t forget the macaroon ..

Address : 36, 80 Feet Road, Indiranagar, Bangalore. Contact Number :080 49653565

Kadai Crust

A small restaurant tucked inside a building this was the old Mandarin if I am not mistaken and just before Nagarjuna on Indiranagar double road. Initially a colleague recommended to me stating that the south India meals is awesome there and I was like Kadai crust doesn’t mean south Indian hence didn’t visit for months and once again another colleague mentioned and I thought let me go and see . For someone like me who loves food and loves to try ,what will happen and why judge by a name I thought ? We(friends) visited and from then we visit several times in a week. Its a place which serves comfort food for us . Simplicity and there is no “soda” in the rice like my friends say 😉 . We feast on Sambhar , Rice and fish fry on most days and Prawn pepper , Dosa or Biriyani on others . I wanted to start my food blog with a really simple place with tasty food and lovely staff.

When you enter the place you will get to see a lot of post-its which are compliments , feedbacks , reviews by the regulars . Without much ado let me talk about the food 🙂

Images : The Sambhar is typical Tamil Nadu style and is very homely , the one in the image was raddish sambhar . The fish fry is done perfectly and it doesn’t smell. Ok here is the explanation while I am a sea food lover I cant stand the smell, I really hope some of you understand what I mean . . My smelling and tasting capabilities are very strong :), while all on the table might say no smell, I can find it and I am unsure this is a blessing or bane .The prawn pepper fry was ok as I am not a fan of batter fried food as feel meat has to be relished in its simplest form and batter is reserved for chinese . Lastly the egg biriyani which is very simple , not a shoo shah food .

The Dosa picture is missing and I would say its a must try as it reminds me of my amma’s kitchen.

I say this is an AYE place for me!

Their Address: No 197/A, Double Road, 2nd Stage, Indra Nagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560038

Phone:080 4207 4371

Happy Eating!

#Now

In this busy world “now” is just another word , a word which is perhaps used without understanding the depth it carries. I have been making efforts to live in the “now” from a long time now, while I have not mastered the art yet , I still wanted to share what I know with few to whom it may matter . Oh by the way, that is my hand and the tattoo symbolises “Now” 🙂

The word “now” is powerful because that is all we have , we dont have yesterday or then …All we have is “now” .. We dont have tomorrow or later , its again just the now. What we want to do has to be done now, our life is now , its basically now or never . There is a reason why “now” is referred to as “present”, it is a gift that the Universe has bestowed upon us but wait! who has the time to understand that ? We have so much to do, errands to run , projects to finish , for some reason we humans believe that we have a guaranteed life span of 75 years and we will live life then . I get amused when people say 5 years later I plan to start travelling , my mind quickly plays a monkey and guffaws and tells me, ask your dear friend how does he know future? I hush him up and smile.

We postpone the good to the end , is it because we have grown up reading stories which says and “they lived happily ever after ? ” , are we living a life of a fairytale ? I really hope that comes true though..

There are simple ways of being in the present .

1.) concentrate on our breathing . Notice . Be there . It helps us realise how fragile our life is , it is working an a breath 🙂

2.) Take regular intervals in a day and say for 2 minutes just concentrate on the breath ,take nice long breath and just be

3.) when thoughts occur on our mind (monkey) about what happened in the past and what may happen in the future, just listen to the thoughts , understand what it has to say .. Don’t associate with it , but watch it and let it go …

4.) If a negative thought arises , listen to the thought and say this thought is trying to say something and understand the good part of it , the part for which the thought arrived and divert the attention towards it . Negative becomes positive in no time ..

5.) Make it a habit to listen to the mind chatter and recollect what it said and be aware of what it said and move on . This sharpens the awareness in us

I wanted to share what I know as this has helped me immensely and I am a believer that the more I share , the more I learn. If there is anything I can do or if there is anything you want to ask me about the “Now” , please feel free to email me on bindugopinath20@gmail.com

Stay in the Now!

Stay Happy!