Chutney Masala - the good, the bad and then the hype...

Twas a cold rainy day in fall, my MIL was visiting and we wanted to eat out. This left us with limited choices by way of cuisine - Indian, Indian and let us try that again, Indian. It is hard to believe that my husband and his sibbling and mother are related when it comes to food. My in laws are not very adventurous. Anyhow, Chutney Masala, was on our list of places to check out and there we landed on this cold, rainy blustery fall weekend.

The first thing that catches your eye is the decor and set up, they have done a good job of preserving character, introducing a touch of old India, while adding warmth and some fairly home bistro touches - they do call themselves a bistro.

As you can see, lovely yellow and green coloring with nice stone walls, the windows do give you a view of the water if you are lucky. The wait staff were very prompt and attentive, engaged the kids well. Now down to the food, the food was a combination of north and south Indian dishes, the restaurant should really stop at the northern side of the country. The palak paneer was just amazing, fluffy not too creamy spinach enveloping well seasoned pieces of paneer cheese, the lamb was succulent and cauliflower and chaat pretty decent.

An interesting touch was a sprouted bean salad with finely shredded lettuce, crisp and flavorful.

The above was where the problem began, the masala dosa rolls were cold and not crisp. The sambhar (lentil soup was pretty mediocre as well). I will however say, it is hard for a chef to do justice to both South and North Indian cusines equally, but this being said you can do a better job.

So the bottom line, I would go back again, but this certainly does not make my top 5 dining experiences for the year.

The details on Chutney Masala

4 Main Street

Irvington, NY 10533

914 591 5500

Foodbuzz- Pepperidge Farm tastemaker challenge.

I made these little tangy, spicy bites of goodness on thanksgiving
thanks mostly to the puff pastry that I recieved from Foodbuzz for the tastemaker's challenge program. The combination of the mango salsa and bits of goat cheese were pure magic when bitten with light and flaky puff pastry.

Mango Salsa and Goat Cheese Crisps

Makes 40 appetizer sized crisps

Ingredients

For the salsa

1 mango
1 small red onion (very finely chopped)
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1-2 green chillies, miced
1 tomato, cut into a dice
1 teaspoon oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon chaat masala
1 lemon
3-4 tablespoons chopped cilantro
2 sheets puff pastry cut, into triangles
1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese


Method of Preparation

1. Peel and chop the mango.
2. Mix in the onion, ginger, green chillies and tomato.
3. Heat the oil and add the cumin seeds and wait for them to sizzle.
4. Mix in the mango mixture and the salt, black pepper, chaat masala and lemon juice and cook for less than a minute.
5. Stir in the cilantro and let this mixture rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.
6. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
7. Arrange the pastry on the baking sheet, cover with 1 teaspoon of the mango salsa and a little goat cheese.
8. Complete all the triangle in this manner.
9. Bake for 10 minutes until the pastry is cooked and the cheese is lightly melted.
10. Enjoy warm...

Mutton Mushroon Stew - Lightly Spiced Lamb Curry

In Indian parlence, mutton reffers to good quality goat meat. Actually way back when - yes I am talking two decades (almost) back, when I was still living in India, lamb was not seen on menus, this has changed.





I see students and other give me a look of horror when I tell them about goat meat, but in reality goat meat is very tasty and a lot leaner than lamb. This being said it is not very easy to find in Westchester. My substitute is using American lamb, which I feel is a little closer in taste to goat meat. No one else in my household eats lamb. Nonetheless, for various reasons including freeing myself of the toxic situation at work, I felt that I owed myself a treat. So I cooked up a quick and satisfying lamb/mutton curry. It was spicy, somewhat robust, laced with mushrooms and potatoes. Just what you would want a wintery day like today. I have spent the entire weekend running around - dance class, grocery, you name it. I deserved something comforting just for myself.


I made some rice- also nicely flavored with fennel, cumin, ginger and nicely filled with spinach leaves to add some nutrition to the meal. Well, here it is, my treat to myself. Ok, Ok, I made some other stuff to go with the rice so that others at home could eat as well, I shall tell you about it later.


There was one other highlight to weekend, we went over to Rajni's (my household helper/kid shuttler) for a small gathering. They live as a 2 family (2 brothers and their own), her mother and father-in-law live with them too. I had always pictured their household as something chaotic, just because that is how our house is on a lot of days, with half the number of inhabitants. I was simply floored by the warmth, peace and homeyness that their house radiated. They were warm open, completely ready to share all that they had to offer.


Mutton (Lamb) Stew with potatoes and mushrooms

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes

Serves 4 people (recipe can very easily be expanded)

Ingredients

1/3 cup oil
2 onions, finely chopped
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1-2 sticks cinnamon broken
2-3 pods cardamom
4-6 cloves
2 tablespoons crushed black pepper
1 lbs lamb, trimmed of fat and cut into cubes ( plus some lamb bones)
1 teaspoon turmeric
1.5 teaspoons salt
2-3 tomatoes, cut into small pieces
1 large potato, cut into small pieces
2 cups water
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
1 cup chopped cremini mushrooms
a few dried red chillies

Method of Preparation

1. Heat the oil and add the onions, ginger and saute for 4-5 minutes. The onions should soften, wilt and begin turning lightly golden.
2. Add in the cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, black pepper and lamb.
3. Mix well and add in the salt and turmeric and cook stirring well for a good 10-15 minutes, until the lamb is well browned.
4. Add in the tomatoes and potatoes and the water and bring to a simmer. Cook under pressure for 15 minutes or covered on low heat till the lamb is tender and the gravy is thick. (note, the time here is provided for cooking in a pressure cooker, if you are cooking without one it shall take longer).
5. Cool slightly and remove the cover. Add in the cilantro, mushrooms and the red chillies and cook for another 3-5 minutes and serve.

Ginger and Spinach Pulao -Fragrant Basmati rice cooked with ginger and spinach

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

1 tablespoon ghee
1 tablespoon oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup basmati rice (soaked for 30 minutes and drained)
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon red chili powder (optional)
1.5 cups water
2 cups finely chopped baby spinach

Method of Preparation

1. Heat the ghee and oil in a pot.
2. Add the onion, cumin and fennel seeds and cook till the seeds begin to sizzle and the onion is soft and transluscent, this should take about 2-3 minutes.
3. Stir in the salt, rice, turmeric and the red chili powder if you are using this.
4. Mix well and fry the rice for about 2 minutes.
5. Gently add in the water, bring to a simmer and cover and cook for 15 minutes.
6. Remove the cover, stir in the spinach and turn off the heat.
7. Leave covered for 5 minutes prior to serving.

Brotherhood Winery - America's Oldest Winery

I am probably as eclectic about my wine pairings as I am about my food. This does not mean I do not end up testing my share of bad wine, but certainly along the way I end up picking up some really nice and unusual varietals.

Brotherhood Winery, yes, in our very own Hudson Valley boasts of being America's Oldest winery. It is quite a fun destination to visit, certainly if you like wine but also if you want to do some offbeat sight-seeing. Late this fall, when my friend was visiting from England, this is one of the destinations that I visited.

Despite all the green, this actually turned out to be quite a cold day!

If you trapeze down the cellar and the wine displays you are led through the various generations that give you a crash course on wine marketing and of course a good sense of how the winery has progressed down the ages. The "Farell era" that was the high tide of the winery, seemed to be quite influential both in marketing the winery in terms of wine parties and well as in terms of some of the more unusual favorites such as the May wine (a pink strawberry wine) and the Holiday wine (a spiced rose) both these wines are high on my list since I do find them rather unusual.

Well, the "new" Brotherhood, is actually owned by someone of a Chillean descent that has expanded the winery to more foreign flavors. It also does have a signature creation called "Marriage" that marries chardonay grapes (25%) with cabernet sav (75%) grapes, producing a unique and very eclectic wine. My friend was happy that she now had an interesting gift to take back home.

Other wines of note, were their Reisling and Honey Wine. Both these wines are really good options with Indian food.

They label their barrels in very clear manner. As you walk through you actually see the entire assembly line, the bottles, how they are filled, dusted and sealed.

The winery has a nice very warm setting and the wine tastings were very generous and descriptive. In fact, just this makes the winery a fun place to visit, if you want to try some good interesting wine and do not want to pay wine bar prices this just might be where you want to go.

The space is really nice and pretty, so a picnic on a nice day would hardly be out of place.

And, as requested by readers, here is the information on the destination,

Brotherhood Winery,

100 Brotherhood Plaza Drive

Washingtonville, NY 10992

845 496 3661

Tastings and Timings

Scallion and CIlantro Pancakes

I had mentioned the journey around the world - A-Z series I had begun a few weeks back, yet another ploy to keep the kids engaged about their food.

Well, I skipped doing anything "real" for B - cooking up some Dal and rice saying that it was Bengali, but from Bangladesh. So C took me to China.

This weekend had a lot going on, Deepta was going to be doing her first public Indian singing performance. Given that I have been teaching her music the stakes are really high here. To make sure that she ensures the tension level and keeps it really strong she woke up on Saturday morning, unable to speak. Yes, she had the mother of colds and sore throats. Well, I had no choice but the roll with the punches. All in all, she did well, when you are six, the world is rather forgiving! It took a little time for her to warm up to the Aalap.

Well, I made some very simple shrimp and mushroom dumplings and made scallion and cilantro pancakes mostly following the recipe from Soma's blog.

I followed her recipe pretty closely, with some small tweaks.

Scallion and Cilantro Pancakes

Makes 6 medium pancakes

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flour (atta)

1 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 cup boiling water

Oil for brushing

Extraflour for rolling

1 cup finely chopped scallions

1/2 cup chopped cilanto

minced green chillies optional

1 teaspoon minced ginger

Salt and pepper
Oil for shallow frying

Method of Preparation

1. Place the flours in a bowl and add in the salt and pepper.

2. Gradually add in the water and mix into a dough.

3. Set aside in the refridgerator for 1/2 and hour.

4. Mix the cilantro, scallions, salt, pepper and green chillies if using.

4. Break into small balls, roll out into thin circles with a little extra flour. (note, I found the dough much easier to manage this way).

5. Place cilantro across the pancake and then roll into a tube, (see pictures, the instructions on Soma's blog are very well illustrated as well).

6. Gently scrunch the tube and then roll into a coil.

7. Flatten and gently roll into a circle.

8. Heat a skillet and place the pancake on the skillet. Add 2-3 tablespoons of oil and lightly brown, turn and repeat on the other side.

9. Continue making all the pancakes in this way, cut into wedges and serve with the dipping sauce below.

Dipping sauce for Pancakes

Makes 1/2 cup

1/3 cup soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon hot sesame oil

1/2 teaspoon minced ginger

2 tablespoons chopped scallions

1 tablespoon vinegar

1 teaspoon sugar

Method of Preparation

1. Mix all the ingredients together and set aside for 15 minutes.

2. Serve and use as needed.

7. Flatten lightly and then

Around the world

Well, the kids have recently been show how to use the globe. Deepta gets it and Aadi sort of, kind of gets it! Well if you make a child a foodie, you have to be prepared, everything will be about food, you shall tell him about a country, he shall try to spell, when he tries to spell it, he shall ask you all about it and when he asks you about it, you shall tell him about the food, and when you tell him about the food he might want to heat it and chances are he shall ask you to cook it - if you make a child a foodie..

Well that was my attempt at the if you give a moose a muffin series, but we have decided to try to do an A-z series of food. It has so far been going well (we are upto "C" but there is always a lag in blogging, so A was Algeria.

I came across this blog - that is called Algerian Creole Cuisine and I made the egg tangine recipe which essentially is a nice baked egg stata - hard to go wrong with eggs, the kids ate the eggplants, this recipe essentially layers one ingredient on top of another and bakes them till done.

Egg tangine - Baked egg casserole

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour (mostly baking)

Serves 8

Ingredients

1 cup chopped tomatoes

1 chopped green pepper

3-4 egg plant slices

1/2 cup olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

2-3 cloves garlic

1 cup sliced mushrooms

6 eggs

1 cup half and half

Salt to taste

Lots of black pepper

2-3 tablespoons cheese

Cilantro to sprinke

4 slices, sliced baguette

Method of Preparation

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Grease and line a casserole dish.

3. Line the baking dish with tomatoes.

4. Add in the peppers.

5. Cook the eggplant in oil until brown and cover the tomatoes.

6. Cook the garlic and onions and mushrooms until soft.

7. Cover the tomatoes with this mixtures.

8. Beat the eggs and the half and halt with salt, pepper and the cilantro.

9. Cover the layered vegetables with this mixture.

10. Add the bread slices and bake for 1 hour until set.

The kids loved it and it makes a great plan ahead brunch recipe!

Gongura Chicken - Chicken cooked in sorrel leaves!

There is always this quandry, particularly if you like to take food pictures between what looks good and tastes good...

Now in winter, I am doing what most people who conserved during summer do - I am reclaiming my refridgerator! Lots of frozen herbs, frozen chopped tomatoes, frozen tomato paste and such. The tomatoes are an interesting story, we probably had beginers luck this year, but Anshul had to do a lot of work to make sure we did not waste this years bounty! So the debate of the year (well, we still have 6 months to resolve this, is whether to plant fewer plants this year!). So among everything were these sorrel leaves called Gogura leaves - lovely bold lemony leaves. I guess I had picked them up and frozen some.

This is what I made, a nicely spiced chicken recipe that we enjoyed over saffron rice.

Gongura Chicken - Spicy Chicken in sorrel leaves

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 cornish hen, skinned and jointed (1.5 lbs)

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon red chili powder

3-4 tablespoons oil

1 onion, very thinly sliced

1-2 cloved garlic, chopped

2-3 pods cardamom

1 stick cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cumin powder

1/2 teaspoon coriander powder

2 tomatoes, chopped

1 cup chopped gongura or sorrell leaves

Chopped cilantro leaves to garnish

Method of Preparation

1. Rub the chicken with the salt, turmeric and chili powder and set aside.

2. Heat the oil and add the onion and cook for about 5-7 minutes, the onions, wilt soften and then turn golden brown.

3. Add the chicken, cardamom, cinnamon, cumin and coriander powder and cook stirring occasionally for 5-7 minutes.

4. Add the tomatoes and cook for another 10 minutes, until the chicken is fairly soft.

5. Add in the gongura leaves, cover and cook on low for 10 minutes, until the chicken is soft and dry and covered with cooked gongura leaves.

6. Serve with rice or chapatis!

Cauliflower Lentils and Turkey Chops

I had a really nice thanksgiving. Exhausting but just perfect, I woke up in the morning and cooked till I practically dropped, the myriad flavors washing away some of the annoyance that I have been feeling over the past few days - the flavors and colors quietly healing my senses. I had woken up in the morning wondering whether I could give thanks with the usual gusto and gradually as I basted the turkey, mashed the potatoes, chopped the zucchini, seasoned the stuffing a pure feeling of comfort emerged. I looked at the simple peace of my household - Dad and the two children running around and was deeply overwhelmed with gratitude. This grew and filled me with pure joy as our friends arrived. Everyone ate, talked and drank. I had a large constituency staying overnight who wanted Indian food before they left - so this is where some of the leftover turkey was used. We had this with rice and creamy lentils with cauliflower.

Turkey Chops or Cutlets

Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes

Makes 25 medium sized cutlets

Ingredients

2-3 medium sized russet potatoes boiled and peeled
2 cups leftover turkey meat (no skin)
1 onion, finely chopped
2-3 green chillies, finely chopped (optional)
1 teaspoon red chili powder
1.5 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon amchur powder
2-3 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup water
Plain breadcrumbs
Oil for frying

Method of Preparation

1. Mash the potatoes in a bowl and set aside
2. Pulse the turkey in a food processor.
3. Mix the turkey with the potatoes, green chillies, red chili powder, salt, amchur powder, cilantro into a smooth mixture.
4. Shape into medium sized balls and flatten slightly.
5. Mix the flour with the water into a thick paste.
6. Dip the balls into the flour paste and then coat with breadcrumbs.
7. After you have completed coating all the balls, place in a freezer for 5-10 minutes.
8. Heat the oil and fry the cutlets till golden brown.


Moong Lentils with cauliflower

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 25 -30 minutes

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

1 cup yellow moong dal
1 teaspoon turmeric
1teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cups water
1 cup cauliflower floretts
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Method of Preparation

1. Place the lentils, turmeric, salt and sugar and the water in a pressure cooker.
2. Add in the onion and cook for 10 minutes under pressure.

3. Cool and whip till smooth.

4. Add in the cauliflower and milk and simmer for another 10 minutes.

5. Mix in the butter and cilantro and enjoy with rice.

Just realized that Deepta has essentially started teaching herself piano, she plays the ode to joy pretty well, OMG- time for another activity!

Egg Masala with mushrooms!

Still savoring the remains of fall, the past few weeks have been rather stressful at work - feeling the sharp impact of the times. I have been trying hard not to let the impact get me down just before thanksgiving.

Well, a few nights back, I made a very simple curried egg version. Actually, much simpler than the Dimer Dalna, that some people liked a lot. It is different but nice as well. It would make for a good brunch dish, or really anytime of the day!
We actually had it for dinner over rice.
Egg masala with mushrooms

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Serves 4 people

Ingredients

2-3 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
6-8 shallots, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon grated ginger
2-3 pods of garlic, minced
4-6 minced green chillies
8-10 curry leaves
1 teaspoon curry powder
3-4 tomatoes, quartered
1 teaspoon salt
6-8 boiled eggs halved
1-2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
1-2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Method of Preparation

1. Heat the oil and add the cumin and mustard seeds.
2. When the mustard begins to pop, add in the shallots, ginger and garlic and cook lightly till soft and transluscent. This takes about 5-6 minutes.
3. Add in the chillies, curry leaves, curry powder, tomatoes and salt cook till the tomatoes are soft and a light gravy is formed.
4. Lightly fold in the eggs and stir in the vinegar.
5. Heat the butter and saute the mushrooms until the mushrooms are soft, this takes 3-4 minutes.
6. Stir in the mushrooms and cilantro and serve immediately!

What makes a restaurant complete? - Silver Tips!

One of my favorite places to visit is the Silver Tips Tea Room -in Tarrytown. This was a chance discovery several years back, and the place reminds me of home. If you have Indian roots like me you are fussy about your tea. Actually, make that eastern indian roots, we bengalis like our tea brewed not boiled.
Probably more attactive than the quaint victorian set-up and great tea selection is the charming and lovely Anupa who owns the tea room. Anupa's passion for tea and her her deep knowledge permieates anytime you visit making you feel special, living up to the tea room's logo - Every visit is a treat!


Well, after being closed for a while the tea room has opened to a nice and expanded state of affairs! The set-up is more modern, the above is a view out of the window on a cold rainy fall evening, just the perfect setting for a good warm cup of tea!

I had gone in with the crew - Anshul, Deepta and Aadi. The kids love their smoked salmon sandwiches! I tried the Nilgiri frost and Anshul had their black currant tisane. I also came home with the citrus blend. This is another special feature about this place, I am yet to run out of new teas to try out! I do have my favorites - my morning starts with their Makaibari Darjeeling tea!

After taking in their nice spacious decor and biting into their delicate and light textured cheesecake I realized that Anupa was missing! Here is what is interesting, the menu remains the same since it is mostly catered and the tea is just as nice but the presence is what makes the restaurant complete. This is unfortunately my second visit without her leaving me to wonder whether I want to visit again - this is how strong a person impact can be.

Lemon Tree - Yet another Asian place

I had been eyeing this opening for a while and yet one fine day, without my notice, lemon tree opened it's doors. Yet another newcomer on Cedar Street aka restaurant row, in Dobbs Ferry. Well, a good choice at lunchtime I went over to try it. True to its name the restaurant has a crisp cheery decor, the yellow walls and nice sunny linen help to uplift the spirits,

The menu is at first first blush not very different from your usual asian fusian place, what is interesting about this one is that it does have a few different sushi items such as the Dobbs Ferry Roll and some Malaysian items in addition to Thai offering that find their place with the Japenese and Chinese offerings.

I ordered the Malaysian Red Curry - which was simply amazing no so much the actual curry but the lovely assortment of vegetables that accompanies the chicken and soft flavorful tofu in the curry. They even had baby okra. An unexpected tiny spring roll came with this selection, which they really should have left out. This item tasted stale and re-fried not what you look for in a spring roll.

Also had a nice plate of Goyza! My general 2 cents, if one is in the area it certain makes an interesting choice and worth trying out, I would not go cross county for it!

The Co-Ordinates

27 Cedar St

Dobbs Ferry,

NY 10522-1711

(914) 591-7088

A simple fish curry

It has been busy the past few weeks with all kinds of things going on. I have also been somewhat under weather - nasty cough and flu. I get particularly sad when this extends to the weekends.

Folks, some weeks I live for the weekends, it really is rough when I hack and cough into my precious saturday sleeping.

I made a simple fish curry earlier in the week, with acorn squash the only little time I spent was in browning the onions.

Ingredients

3-4 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon nigella seeds
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1 -2 green chillies, slit
1 cup finely cubed acrorn squash
1 teaspoon salt
1 lbs fish (I used tilapia - rubbed in turmeric and salt)
1 lemon
1/3 cup water
1-2 teaspoons cilantro

Method of preparation

1. Heat the oil and add the cumin and nigella seeds.
2. Add in the ginger and the onion and cook on medium heat stirring frequently for about 10 minutes until the onion is soft, wilted and nicely golden on the edges.
3. Stir in the cumin powder, coriander powder, chilies and the fish in a single layer and cook for 2-3 mintues.
4. Turn once, cut the lemon, lemon the seeds and squeeze the lime juice and add the water and simmer for about 15 minutes.
5. Stir in the cilantro and eat with rice.


In the meantime, we went to watch the NYC marathon, yes, dear brother was running! Kids did the subway - as you can see very excited.

Fall brightens the sky and the view and we look on to another week.

An ungodly hour - a simple recipe

I am actually uploading some really nice pictures my brother has taken of his current trip to the east coast. I am up waiting while flick uploads the pictures, in bars of pink! I was around today. I took Aadi for a check to the immunologist. I was a little sad to see, how excited he was at the prospect of being taken to the doctor by me. Usually, dad does this. Well, such is life...

This morning I was really feeling on top of my act, because I woke up in time to make a good breakfast for all of us (we were all at home, but I tend to sleep in on Saturdays!), until I saw what my daughter had scribbled while I was making breakfast. LOL!

It read, " On Saturday, I went trick or treating! Mas is taking so long to get my eggs ready. Aadi is eating his rewards!Ma gave me my egg now, I don't have a spoon with my egg, I have a fork"

Gosh, tough crowd. Well, I made this fairly straighforward paneer recipe a couple of weeks back, try it!

Paneer Manoranjan - Indian cheese with mushrooms

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 tablespoons oil

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/8 teaspoon asafetida

1 cup diced tomatoes (I used a mixture of red and green)

1 teaspoon red chili powder

1 teaspoon tandoori masala

1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger

1 lbs paneer, cut into cubes

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon chaat masala

1 tablespoon ghee or butter

1/2 cup diced portabella mushroom

Cilantro to garnish

Method of Preparation

1. Heat the oil and add the cumin seeds and wait for the seeds to sizzle. Stir in the asafetida.

2. Add in the tomatoes, chili powder and tandoori masala and the ginger and saute for 20 seconds.

3. Stir in the paneer and salt and cook for 10 minutes.

4. Stir in the chat masala.

5. In a separate pan, heat the ghee and add the mushroom and saute for 2-3 minutes.

6. Mix into the paneer and garnish with cilantro and serve.

Warm and Comforting - The best crossiant!

A lot of chunks of life can be just mundane, to beat it we all need to find spots that cheer us up in simple peaceful ways, add something special just by being there. A place that I like to stop at if I can is at this lovely french wine bar and restaurant. I have been there on occasion for brunch, but what makes my day is the wonderful cafe au lait and their fresh baked crossiants!

They make these sometime around 10am on weekends and they are gone within an hour or so..

WE
En route to errants, I like to stop by take 15-30 minutes to myself and relax. The place is exceedingly peaceful before the lunchtime crowd starts and does get pretty full before that. I had recently stopped by the day before halloween a day that seemed to be crazy to say the least. I was running around co-ordinating royal outfits, prepping for a food demo and in general going a little crazy...

However, the lovely smooth creamy cafe au lait hit the spot! They still did not have their regular crossiants, I needed little persuasion to try their moist buttery, gooey almond crossiant...


It fortified me with enough calories and caffiene to tackle the rest of the wonderful fall day that I

was going to spend braving the crowds in the preparation for our annual ode to the sugar industry! We even make sure that we dress the little ones for the occasion to celebrate the sugar high!

Ok! Ok!, while I am not big on the candy part of things and do clean out most of the junk that they collect, I love the dress up and the hoopla of halloween! This year, the greatest fun was dressing up my son, who really feels jewelery deprived. Yes, if he had his way he would wear it all. Well, this halloween, we decided that he could be a prince who could actually ransack my necklaces.

Beads and bead and a fake tiarra from his sister is what completed his day!

As an Indian princess, all I needed to do is to get a veil and place it securely over my head with a bright big fake crown! My brother was over from West coast to join the funfare and all in all we all had a good fun day, now onto thanksgiving!

Chiboust

14 main street

tarrytown, ny

914 703 6550

http://www.chiboust.com