Thai Pavilion after the makeover

I had dinner last week at the Thai Pavilion. Long had I wished to go, and this article by Vir Sanghvi tipped it over. I had to go. At least to see the coloured glasses by Super Potato. It's not fair to talk about the decor - after all Thai Pavilion is known for its food. The coloured glass jars - rows and rows of it filling up an entire wall - seem to be 3/4th filled with rangoli powder. Cute.

Now to the food.

The build-up was immense. Just last week I had read that it is the top five destinations in India - with Bukhara at the top and TP third. Till the last week, the only Thai places I had eaten were: Thai Ban (several times), The Thai Restaurant next to National College in Bandra Linking Road (now closed; I forget the name), A Thai joint in San Dimas, Calif, US; and a few Chinese eating paces that also serve Thai.

The water being served was directly bottled from the Himalayan springs. So much for the build-up! Tom Kha first, then Som Tam. The soup was nice; bland-ish, not hot enough and the veggies were - well, normal. Did not spot anything that surprised me (pleasantly!) and made me say, 'mmmmm. hhh, mmmm'. I did that on 5th Dec. when served with the T. Kha at Thai Ban.

A decidedly tepid start, I thought.

The papaya salad was, again, ok. Nothing that one did not expect a posh and famous place to serve. It was again bland-ish. The the papaya gratings could have been a tad finer and perhaps the peanut a little less coarse. Definitely more lemon juice, and a little bit of magic perhaps. Well, I had to rely heavier that I would have liked to on the sauces provided.

The portion was small considering it cost INR 500. (In fact all the portions for whatever we had that night were just under what one would expect. Hmmm. Not that we are big eaters. One likes to see a surfeit, I guess! After all there are doggie bags to consider)

By this time I was apprehensive that the meal was going only in one direction - down!!!

Then came the raw mango and water chestnut salad. Nice. But too simple. Just two basic tastes and two basic textures: the mango and the water chestnut; sour and bland. One thought it could have been made faaaaar more interesting. After all a Thai kitchen probably has the most astonishing array of condiments, sauces, dips and relishes. Once again, we all got too busy with the (four, yes, only four) sauces at the table. I asked for more - and was given a bowl of garlic in chili oil. Nice, but not Thai enough. The nam pla, though, was excellent!

By this time the main course had been ordered and we were looking at each other with trepidation. Oh Lord! What a disappointment!! I was already making mental plans - perhaps it's still not too late to nip in to Thai Ban.... perhaps one should call them, just in case...

Then came broccoli in some kind of a black-bean based gravy - very dry and aromatic. It was delicious! It went just perfectly with the plain rice. The black bean paste was flavorful, light and it did not have the bitterness that the Chinese one has. The garlic was just right. The dish was sweet and succulent and lovely!

Revived, at last!

Then came the old favourite. Green curry with veggies. It was fantastic! The best I had eaten. It had pieces of okra, plantain, barbatti and it has lots of flavours that kept popping and bursting in my mouth.

I left it mid-course to try the Phad Thai, thinking that it would be good to leave the tastiest for the last. Well the rice noodles was terrific as well. The textures were varied and perfect, the taste was fresh, the gravy was savoury enough to satiate my Indian palate. It was great! Only complaint - the portions! Oh! Did I already say that the portions were small?

Hmmm.

Well, it didn't take long to finish the noodles and get back to the rice and the green curry. Thankfully, the rice bowls seemed to be like Draupadi's - the spoonfuls kept dropping on my plate. Usually, I eat till I'm just over a-half full. That night, I was maybe a little over that. So yes, it was a nice meal, in the end!

And BTW, the service was chaotic at times, but the main server was knowledgeable. He stopped me from ordering a perfectly ghastly affair of batter-fried squashes (I have a horror for batter fried stuff), and recommended this-and-that-and-the-other. Good!

Learning: Do not order starters in this new Thai Pavilion. Go straight for the jugular. Score: 3.5/5

Hoysala

The most satisfying dinner that I have had in the US so far was in Hoysala, this quaintly (but aptly) named Kannadiga restaurant in Somerset. It was a buffet dinner, where they serve you one portion of dosa and uttappam and the unlimited portions of the stuff on the sideboards.

The thing about this place - it was totally authentic and pandered to no firang tastes. Little wonder then that the clientele was 100% desi.

The food was very good. The dosai, for instance, were perfect! Crisp yet thick, sour and adequately grainy on the tongue.

Here's the entire fare ...


















A small incident about Hoysala. We had to make three visits before we got anything to eat. The first time, it was 9:30 PM and the usher said that many of the items were not, 'in enough quantity' and the potato sabji is, 'over'. So we left fuming and hungry - only to get into a frightfully revolting place called Pooja. The next day we were again there, only to see the dark doors staring back at us. It said, 'Monday Closed'. By this time, we ought to have given up. But somehow the place kept calling us, and we went next week.

It was worth the trouble.

McDonalds loses to McCurry

Malaysian courts have decided that Big Mac does not have monopoly over the usage of Mc. After 8 years of drama, we now finally have a situation where any eatery can use Mc. as long as its menu is sufficiently different from McDonald's.

This throws an interesting twist: consider India. Seeing this judgement, if Indian restaurants start doing the same then we may have hundreds of McShetty, McMoti Mahal and the likes, which given the jurisdiction, should be all right. But what about a McVadaPav? Is that sufficiently different from a burger? Which came first? Ah! It becomes all so interesting. Hey! 5 Star Vada Pav guys, are you listening?

Stuffed Green Tomatoes

Made on a whim. There were green tomatoes and they were priced decently (didn't need a mortgage like it does to buy some of the other veggies nowadays) and Robin had remarked in an offhand way that it was his favourite, absolutely the bestest and favouritest dish. So obviously I forgot all about such trifles. Till that day when I saw them nested next to lemons and I thought that I have never seen lemons of that particular greenness. Lemons, BTW, are in the Cadillac range just now - Rs 4 per. Ridiculous! To cut a short story, shorter, I bought 7 medium, tight and hard green tomatoes and made this dish...

Ingredients

1. Green tomatoes, small to medium, firm and round. Three per person is a reasonable portion.
2. Freshly roasted and ground coriander powder, 2 tsp per tomato
3. Red chili powder, 1/2 tsp per tomato
4. Freshly roasted and ground jeera powder, 1 pinch per tomato
5. Mango powder, amchur, 1/2 tsp per tomato
6. Salt, 1/2 tsp per tomato
7. Refined veg oil, 1/2 tsp per tomato

In case you want a gravy, here's what you could use:

1. Onions, 2 medium, for every 6 tomatoes
2. Fresh green coriander leaves and stems, 1/2 cupful for every 6 tomatoes
3. Tomato puree, 1 tblsp for every 6 tomatoes
4. Fresh ginger, 1/2 inch for every 6 tomatoes
5. Salt, to taste
6. Refined veg oil, 1 1/2 tblsp

Get going

1. Wash and dry the tomatoes, green coriander and ginger
2. Remove the brown tops and cut a thin slice from the bottom of each tomato so that it may stand straight without lolling around in the pan.
3. Make a cross cut over each tomato so that you have the quarters that can be forced apart but are not deep enough to cut the tomato into quarters. In case you are wondering why such intricacy, well, between the spaces of the quadrants you will stuff the masala. Duh!
4. Set the tomatoes aside and mix the coriander powder, the chili powder, the mango powder, the jeera powder and the salt together in a bowl. Mix well.
5. Force each tomato open along one and force a teaspoon of the mixture down to the centre. Do the same for the other cut. So you are stuffing in 2 teaspoons of masala in each tomato.
6. Once done, set the tomatoes aside for 30 minutes.
7. After 30 mins, once the tomato juices have absorbed much of the masala, stuff in the remaining masala equally on all the tomatoes. Use your fingers this time.
8. You are now ready. The cooking will require 30 minutes on medium-to-low flame. Give yourself 15 minutes for the gravy. You can also do the gravy while the tomatoes are simmering.
9. To cook the tomatoes, heat a flat bottomed large pan, add all the oil. Let it heat on medium flame for a minute.
10. Slide in the tomatoes one-by-one on the pan. Huddle them around in the centre for best results.
11. Cook them for 3-4 minutes. Then turn each of them gently in its sides and keep turning each tomato 90 degrees every few minutes to ensure it is uniformly cooked.
12. Once all the tomatoes are done this way, cover the pan and let is simmer on low for 10 minutes.
13. In the meantime heat up a kadhai, add the 1 1/2 tbslp oil and let it heat up for a minute.
14. Add the onions and stir gently at medium heat. Add the salt. Once translucent, add the coriander stems and the ginger. Stir gently for a few more minutes.
15. Dilute the puree and add it to the kadhai. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add the remaining coriander, stir and turn-off heat.
16. Place the gravy on a flat dish with raised sides.
17. Place the tomatoes around. Sprinkle with coconut and coriander

Goes well with Fulka and daal. The tomatoes should be cooked but just a touch crunchy. By some good luck, hopefully they will not be too tart. In case they are, you might want to let go of the mango powder. This means you'll need to taste the tomatoes when raw. I don't mind them when tart. I just add a dollop of unhealthy salt!

Sukhe Aalu

So I am loving the potato this season; big deal. Before the rains come down, you may want to try some. The rest you can try while it rains (hah, droll!)

Ingredients

1. 3 Large, hard and shiny-skinned potatoes
2. Masala A: Dhania powder (1 tsp), chilli powder (1/4 tsp), Aamchur powder (1/2 tsp), ajwain (1 pinch) and hing powder(1 pinch), turmeric powder(1/4 tsp) and salt (1/2 tsp)
3. Masala B: Marathi goda masala (1 tsp), roast jeera powder(1/2 tsp), red chilli powder(1/4 tsp), turmeric powder(1/4 tsp) and salt (1/2 tsp)
4. Masala C: Sambhar powder(1 1/2 tsp), chopped garlic (2 large pods), red chilli powder(1/4 tsp), turmeric powder(1/4 tsp) and salt(1/2 tsp)

Get going

1. Wash, peel and cut the potatoes into 1.5 inch triangles and cubes (depending on where you make the cut)
2. Soak in cold water and ready the pan
3. Heat the pan and add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
4. Immediately add the potatoes and stir so that they do not stick
5. Reduce the heat after 30 seconds and put in the first ingredient of the Masala Combo of your choice. Add the salt. It will start to sweat. Stir and reduce heat if it starts to burn
6. Add the other ingredients keeping the chilli powder for the last
7. If you are adding the garlic, add only half now. Keep the remining for last.
8. Stir till it is nicely mixed; cover completely and heat it on low for 10 minutes. If required, lift once to give it a stir.
9. Check after 10 minutes. Depending upon the quality of the potatoes, you may require 2 to 5 minutes more. Just prod the largest piece to see if the centre is still firm.
10. If just a few minutes away, add the remaining garlic and cover till done.
11. Do not over cook - they become mushy.

They are delicious with chapatti, of course. But the surprise is when you have it with nice aromatic rice, either basmati or kali mooch or even punjab boat. Don't smother with daal - just have the pristine rice with a piece of the aalu - you'll discern the flavours and texture of rice merging with the richness of the masala. Its different. Try.

Looking for the perfect dosa

The Dosas in Mumbai restaurants are sweet. The sambhar is also sweet, or bland. The chana-coconut chutney is tasteless and often watery. Of course, very few serve gunpowder (malagapudi) here; one has to ask.

Lets start with the dosa. Instead of letting the daal and rice batter ferment on its own, the restaurants, especially the Udupi ones, add yeast immediately after making the paste. As we all know, yeast is more the bread kind of thing, it produces glucose as an end-product of fermentation, sweetening the batter and giving it the rose-like fragrance which is wholly inappropriate for dosa. Dosa needs that tangy, sour smell of fermentation, and a sour and sharp taste.

Now the sambhar. They make it mostly with tomatoes here, with tamarind making a guest appearance, or not at all. And the masala is not quite OK - too little dhania powder and hing, too much of chili powder and SUGAR!! OMG! Its terrible, the sweetness of it all!

Chutney - well! the word itself a touch of onomatopoeia about it - chhhhuttt- nee! the chhhhutt is the mouth-watery click of the tongue against the back of the teeth. And look what we get - the blandest possible paste of insipid nothingness - no tang of the green chillies, no back-of-the-throat sensation of the ginger, no roundedness of the coconut milk and the faint nuttiness of ground chana daal.

The tiny joint on Dadar TT, a few shops before Parsi Dairy makes it the way I like it. Crisp but thick dosa, made from proper sour and salt batter. The sambhar and chutney come in small bowls. The moment you finish any, the waiter will replace it with another. You suddenly feel that the sambhar and the chutney are precious - not to be lavished upon yokels. The sambhar is not the best (you can have better in Radhakrishna in Andheri West opposite Shopper's Stop); but the chutney!!! Ooooh! exquisite! The consistency is just right - a bit of the solids and enough gravy to soak your dosa into. The coconut is not ground down mercilessly into a gooey paste, but retains the granularity and hence the juices. There is ginger and green chillies - plus a hint of garlic and tiny bits of coriander stalks. Its just perfect! Try it.

Pat Style French Beans

It started off when we saw this mound of shiny and tender french beans in the thela last week. So we selected the best from the heap and then wondered what could be done with them that was different from the usual (the usual is to stir fry it for a Hakka noodle or blanch it in salt water and dress it for a salad). I remembered a beans sabzi with fresh-coconut in Mangalore. It had a little gravy and also had some kokum, if I'm not mistaken. The sabzi that I made that day turned out to be an eclectic mix of styles. And Robin loved it. Then I made it again last Sunday, and my bro, bhabhi and my niece loved it. 'Hey!', I thought, 'Hey! let's post it; maybe some more people will like it..." So here goes...

Ingredients

1. French beans - 250 gms. Take the trouble to pick tender, green ones.
2. Onion - 1 medium, red.
3. Tomato - 2 medium, red, firm.
4. Dry Coconut powder - 2 tablespoons + some more for the decoration
5. Jeera - 1 teaspoon.
6. Kasoori methi - three pinches.
7. Tomato puree - two tablespoons (for the tartness and for a touch of thickness of the masala).
8. Salt to taste.
9. Sugar - just a little, to round off the tastes.
10. Vegetable oil - 1 and half tablespoons.

Get Going

1. Pare, wash and dry the beans. Chop them into tiny cylinders of half centimeter.
2. Clean and chop the onions fine.
3. Pare the top off the tomato and chop it fine. If if find the tomato skin annoying, do take the trouble of removing the skin. I leave mine in.
4. Roast the Jeera in a kadhai, wait till it browns evenly; then add the oil. Once the aroma starts to waft, put in the onions. You must have noticed that I have put no chillies. Yeah, strange, but true...
5. Stir till translucent, add the beans and put in some of the salt so that the colour is retained. The kadhai is to be kept at medium heat throughout. As the water dries off, and the beans still look green and crunchy, add the chopped tomato.
6. Stir in the tomato till it becomes mushy. Add it the salt and stir it till the tomato becomes part of the gravy. Keep tasting the beans - they should be crunchy, yet cooked. It should not have the rawness, say, that is desirable in stir-fried beans.
7. Add the puree to adjust the tartness and the consistency of the masala. Remember this dish is not intended to have a 'gravy' but will have some nice masala. around the beans pieces. This should take 8 minutes.
8. Add the coconut powder and the kasoori methi and work it into the sabzi.
9. Adjust the salt and the sugar to your taste
10. The sabzi is ready. Keep it in the kadhai as the beans sweat and cook a little while not losing its crunchiness.
11. Serve in a bowl and sprinkle more coconut powder on it.
12. It goes well with phulka and daal