Delightful Healthy Recipes

Go ahead, rub it in!



Marinades and rubs are often a cook’s best-kept secret. They add a great deal of flavour and often tenderise the meat in the process. Slapping a piece of meat on the grill sprinkled with just salt and pepper is passe.With the advent of food television, palates were awakened and cooks suddenly became more aware of what they put on tables . Then came the health food trend and now everybody wants food to taste good and be good for you. The solution is simple; make healthy food taste good.
Grilling and roasting are considered to be the healthiest cooking techniques, and a rub is a great way to prepare meat, fish, seafood or poultry. Rubs are of two kinds: dry and wet.
Dry rubs are usually a blend of flavours that enhance the flavour of the meat rather than overpower it. Using coarse salt helps give dry rubs texture. Dry herbs and spices, powdered mustard, onion flakes, garlic or ginger powder, raw sugar, ground roasted nuts and seeds can be used to make a dry rub. The upside is that it keeps well for a few months, after which it may lose its flavour. it’s good to start simple — make a batch of pasta spice with Italian herbs, crushed red pepper, garlic flakes and Kosher salt and gradually work your way to Hot Cajun spice mix, Jamaican Jerk seasoning, Korean rub or Moroccan spice mix. Once the rub is ready, score the meat or fish and massage it in. Keeping it refrigerated overnight or at least for a few hours’ helps the flavours sink in. Adding a liquid to the dry rub turns it into a wet rub or paste, which can be easier to slather. You could also try using a favourite sauce, fruit juice, soda, wine, oil or even a few generous slugs of brewski!
A marinade usually comprises of combinations of vinegar, wine, oil, yogurt, hot peppers, honey, herbs, syrup, ginger, garlic and spices. These must be used within a day but serve the same purpose as a dry rub. A marinade is better suited to a tough cut of meat, which requires tenderising as well. It also helps the meat retain its moisture, which is useful while cooking pork or turkey, which can dry out quickly. Extra marinade can be used for basting or brushing on to the meat while it is cooking on the grill. Rub out fat and rub in flavour with lean cuts of meat, poultry, fish and seafood.

PARTY TIME FOR OLD DISHES

A new demand for traditional fare like the Goan prawn baffad, the Parsi khaman na ladva and the Maharashtrian panchamrut has caterers poring over their grandmothers’ recipes to get the flavours right, reports
 
Decades ago, when Francis Caraciolo, now 70, moved to Mumbai from Goa, he gradually lost touch with old Goan dishes such as prawn baffad and fish jeira meera. “What do people in metros know about traditional preparations? Everyone thinks Goan cuisine is limited to pork vindaloo and sorpotel.”
Whenever Caraciolo visited that dear aunt or distant relative in Goa, he would beg them to make his favourite dishes. Back in Mumbai, however, he made his peace by calling for cutlets, tikkas and curries for house parties until he came to know that Ann Dias, 59, a caterer in his vicinity, was ready to recreate traditional recipes. Now, for a get-together, or his children’s birthday parties, Caraciolo says he doesn’t need to settle for the typical fare.
Back to their roots
Dias, on her part, is surprised at the sudden rise in requests for old Goan dishes. “I’ve been churning out vindaloo and dodol for years now. But now, I think people are well-travelled and are more interested in reliving some part of their history. They want to eat what their elders ate. Others, like Caraciolo, just miss their childhood,” she smiles. Today almost a third of her orders are for authentic Goan dishes.
According to Dias, traditional Goan recipes are not that difficult to make. But you do need to put your heart into it because you may be out of touch with some techniques, she says. Then there are ingredients that must come only from Goa. Dias makes her masalas at home and gets other ingredients — like dried fish and palm vinegar — from Goa. “I wouldn’t touch local products,” she claims.
Every now and then, she visits Goa, where her brother has a catering business, and taps relatives for old recipes handed down by her grandmother and mother. “Tastes stay with you, you know. When I try out an old Goan dish, I don’t have an elder who can tell me what’s right and wrong. I rely on my childhood memories and decide what’s best.” Dias has no faith in the plethora of recent cookbooks. “It’s all half-baked and full of shortcuts. For xacuti, they simply say that you must fry onions. But you actually have to brown them really, really well. And the chillies should make your neighbour’s eyes water,” she says.
Heard of Vasanu?
At her Mahim home, Naynaz Munsaf, 35, says she’s expecting her next order for vasanu any day. Though the old Parsi dessert is unheard of in most places, Munsaf is comfortable with what it means to rustle it up. “It takes eight hours to cook,” she says.
In the past year, Munsaf has been cooking only authentic Parsi cuisine for clients, and says the demand has gone up manifold recently. “Parsi food served in most restaurants is sweet and sour, but authentic Parsi food is more balanced, and spicier than what you get there.”
Most old Parsi dishes, says Munsaf, have disappeared from daily cooking because they weren’t well documented. Only a few have survived. “Dhansak is just as old as vasanu, but people still make it because it is a part of your Sunday lunch routine, like the Sindhi curry for Sindhis.”
Some old dishes, like popatji (similar to appam), need specific utensils that aren’t available in the market. Munsaf, who is from Navsari in Gujarat, says she is thinking of going back and getting the vessel. If you want to sample authentic Parsi food, says Munsaf, you only need to step
into Navsari.
Just then, Munsaf’s brother enters her home with three bags of ingredients for masalas. “I grind the masalas here, but the flavour in my dishes comes from these Navsari ingredients.” Little details go a long way in getting old dishes right — one must never, says Munsaf, attempt to put chicken into an old dish like bhaji dana nu gosh (a dish made with spinach, coriander and green peas). “It is authentic only if you put mutton in it. You can’t interchange the meat like we do for contemporary recipes.”
Shermeen Merchant is not a Parsi, but cannot stop raving about how she has found the perfect answer to her Parsi cuisine cravings thanks to Munsaf. The 35-year-old HR executive studied in a Parsi school and remembers how, as a six-year-old, she craved for old Parsi delicacies that were served at the school every Friday. “My mother’s adoptive mother was Parsi and even today, my mouth waters when I remember her get-togethers. I get the same kolmi no patio, moora dal and chicken farcha from Munsaf’s kitchen. I thought I’d have to give up on certain old dishes before I heard of her kitchen,” says Merchant, who has been calling regularly for traditional Parsi dishes for the past few months.
A night of nostalgia
Shrirang Khatavkar, 40, who runs a catering service in Thane, says the demand for traditional Maharashtrian and Gujarati dishes has gone up because people are tired of the same old Chinese and Punjabi cuisine. Recently, a client asked for traditional, authentic Maharashtrian, Gujarati and Sindhi dishes for a three-day celebration.
“I do not agree to make every traditional dish, of course. For instance, a client recently asked me to make a Maharashtrian dish that few have heard of — appe (it is prepared like a puri, steamed and boiled). I refused because if I claim it is authentic, then it must be served piping hot. That’s not possible when you have 100 guests,” says Khatavkar. He does oblige when his clients are craving for aduche fudfude, a traditional dish made from adu leaves which aren’t easily available in most vegetable markets.
The caterer says his Bible for the recipes are yellowing papers and diaries left behind by his grandmother and mother, who tried all cuisines. “Thanks to those, I now know that authentic payasam (a south Indian sweet dish) was actually made with banana or jackfruit, and coconut milk drained thrice was used instead of water,” he says.
Six months back, when Madhavi Ranade wanted to throw a housewarming party, she wanted traditional Maharashtrian fare as a good omen. “I was thrilled when Khatavkar told me he can make panchamrut, an old Maharashtrian chutney that no one really gets right — most of us either get it too tangy, or end up with a sweet mess.”
Served with Khatavkar’s bhardyacha vada (red pumpkin vada) and bhajniche vade (vadas made of pulses), Ranade’s party became a rather nostalgic affair. “We sat late into the night and reminisced about our elders cooking, and how close this came to their preparations. I began my life in my new home on a very positive note with all that wonderful food,” says Ranade.


Traditional Payasam
Ingredients
l4tbsp rice l4tbsp moong dal l4tbsp jaggery l2tbsp ghee l1 ripe bananal1 cup freshly grated coconut, 1 cup l3-4, powdered cardamom lCashews and raisins to garnish l2tbsp ghee
Pressure cook the rice and moong dal, or cook in a pan till it has the consistency of khichdi. Grate the coconut and sieve with a muslin cloth. This is the first milk. Keep aside. Add some water to the grated coconut and sieve again to get the second milk. The third milk goes into the rice and moong dal mixture. Heat ghee in a thick-bottomed pan, add cashews and raisins and cook till light brown. Add jaggery and stir. Bring to a boil, add rice and moong dal mixture and boil again. Then add the second and third coconut milk. Mash a banana or jackfruit by hand and bring it to boil. Add cardamom powder and serve.

Fish jeira meera

Ingredients
lFish-surmai, pomfret or rawas, salted for l15 minutesl2, medium onionsl2-3 slit green chilliesl8-10 red chilliesl1 tsp jeeral10 pepper cornsl1 tsp turmericl15 flakes garlicl2tbsp oilla small ball of tamarind soaked in waterl2-3 cups water lSalt to taste
Grind the red chillies, jeera, pepper corns, jeera, turmeric and garlic and keep aside. Heat oil in a pan and fry onions and green chillies till light brown. Add the ground masalas and some salt. When you begin to get an aroma, add the tamarind juice and water. When the gravy boils, throw in the fish and cook till well done.

Bhaji dana nu ghosh

Ingredients
l2 onions l200gm green peas l1 pureed tomato l2 cups methil 2.5 cups corianderl1tsp red chilli powderl1.5tsp turmeric powderl 3-4 sticks cinnamonl 3-4 pieces clovel 3-4 black pepperl 1/2tsp garam masala l300gm mutton l1tsp each ginger garlic paste l1cup water
Take oil in a pan and brown onions. Add all the spices. Add the ginger garlic paste and fry for 30 seconds. Add the red chilli and turmeric powder and cook for 30 seconds. Now, add the tomato puree and cook till oil starts separating from the mixture. Here, add the mutton, methi leaves, half of the coriander, the green peas and cook for 4-5 minutes. Sprinkle the garam masala and add water. Pressure cook the dish for about 3-4 whistles till the meat is tender. Sprinkle the rest of the coriander on top and serve hot.

Aduche fudfude

Ingredients
l15 medium-sized, soft adu leaves, chopped into small pieces (make sure you don’t buy the thick variety) l1 bowl (mix another 1tbsp with water) gram flour la fistful peanuts l2-3 tbsp oil l1tsp cumin seeds l1tsp fenugreek seeds l1tsp curry leaves l1tsp turmeric powder l5-6 finely chopped garlic flakes lmedium sized-ball tamarind l1tbsp jaggery lSalt to taste
Clean adu leaves and pressure cook for about 3-4 whistles with gram flour and peanuts. Keep aside. Heat oil in a pan and add cumin, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves, turmeric and garlic. Add the cooked adu to this. Add the mixture of gram flour in water at this stage. Put tamarind in this mixture and bring to boil. Then add jaggery and salt and boil for 10 minutes. erve with roti or rice.

Enjoy tapas and paella as chef Jordi Gimeno brings Mediterranean delicacies to the city
L overs of Spanish cuisine have a lot to look forward to at the ongoing food festival at 022 Bar Lounge at Trident, BKC, that features fare from the heart of the Mediterranean country. “We wanted to bring the regional dishes of Spain to India through this festival,“ says chef Jordi Gimeno, who is also the chef at Antic Mas, a restaurant in the Pyrenees region of Spain. “People can try an extensive selection of dishes like Mar I Muntanyas, Fish Cakes, Spanish Tortilla, Chicken with Spanish Garlic Sauce, Meatball with Cuttlefish, Beans Casserole and Zarzuela, among others,“ he adds.
The festival features an extensive selection of Pinchos -a mouth-watering Valencian favourite and Fideuà -noodle specialty served with aioli sauce. “One of the highlights of the fest is the variety of dishes for vegetarians. People can choose from hot vegetarian Tapas, Spinach Balls and Dumplings,“ says Gimeno, adding that a live counter would serve Paella, the typical Spanish rice, at the fiesta.
Ask him about how different are the regional cuisines within Spain and he says, “Food is cooked differently in different part of the country.
While they indulge in fried food in the southern region, food is mainly roasted in the central region. And, the eastern and northern regions specialise in different sauces.“
He adds, “A secret ingredient called picada, is used to make sauces. We call it the magic powder. It is simple, yet changes the taste of every dish. Also, we cook a lot with wine.“

Now that it's time to tighten our belts a little, which luxuries are you willing to give up? RID YOURSELF OF THE MULTIPLEX HABIT. THE POPCORN AND SODA COMBO OFFERS TEND TO ADD UP
IT'S THAT time of the year again. When the office grapevine begins to buzz with how the raise scenario will play itself out this year. If you are one of God's chosen creatures, you will probably end up scoring a decent raise. But if you're not ­ and given the state of the economy, I'm guessing this is far more likely ­ you will be fobbed off by a token increase that is risible given the rate of inflation. And if the Fates truly have it in for you, then you will be sent a sad little form letter from the HR department telling you this is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of the company by sacrificing their salary hikes at the altar of corporate profitability.
In that case, like millions of other hapless souls, you will be forced to live on a wage that buys much less than it did and doesn't, in fact, go very far. And that means those dreaded words that strike terror in every middle-class heart: budget cuts.
Cuts. How cruel it sounds! Cuts: as in something that hurts, causes you pain, injures you and leaves you less than whole. But however traumatic we find it, cuts are something that all of us will have to make as our salaries fail to keep up with our expenses. And the first thing to go will be the little luxuries that make life a bit more fun.
But when it comes right down to it, what luxuries would you be willing to forgo? And which of them would you find impossible to live without? In other words, which of your luxuries do you need rather than just want? Which of them are just luxuries; and which of them have become that dangerous thing called Luxecessities ­ luxuries that have turned into necessities as you try to cope with your daily grind.
Speaking for myself, there are some things that I simply refuse to forgo, no matter how frivolous they may seem to the rest of the world.
And on top of that list is hair-styling: highlighting, trimming, conditioning, blow-drying. The rituals just add up every year ­ as indeed, does the expense. But I don't grudge a rupee that I drop at my friendly neighbourhood hair salon because it is simply the best pick-me-up in the world. Fine, go ahead and judge me (as I am sure are!) but I consider the money spent here the best inves ment ever. It makes me feel good about myself, and there' no substitute for that in an increasingly gloomy world.
To make up for this profligate spending, I have given u on my coffee habit ­ well, after a fashion anyway. I no longe drop by Barista for an early morning cappucciespresso shots in the late afternoon; I don't buy a tall glass of creamy cold coffee when I'm feeling a bit peckish. Instead, I've invested in a coffeemaker which is considerably less complicated to operate than it looks and spews forth coffee that would do any Italian restaurant proud.
It makes espresso, it serves Americanos and froths up a mean cappuccino. (Word to the wise: use south Indian roasted beans; they're a fraction of the price of Illy and Co and just as good.)
Another luxecessity I find hard to give up is boo buying. There is something so supremely addictive about the high that I get from browsing through book shops that I find it hard to go cold turkey. I love the smell of freshly-bound books, the clutter on the shelves, the colourful covers, the juxtaposition of the sublime with the ridiculous. I love the inevitable dithering between two equalling compelling volumes and then heading home, warm with the anticipation of spending the evening curled up with my latest purchase.
To fund this addiction, I've given up on magazines. I've always been a bit of a mag hag, devouring everything from shaming gossip rags to elevated publications that lecture me about the state of the world. But of late, I've begun to feel that the expense is simply not worth it. There's nothing here that I can't get for free on the Internet.
And if there's some really compelling content then it's easier and cheaper to download the app on my iPad anyway.
Don't ask me if any of my cuts have made the slightest difference to my household budget. I haven't the foggiest.
But just the thought that I'm trying to cut down on frivolous expenses does make me a little better.
If you're looking to make a few economies of your own, here are some ideas.
Cut down on eating out; restaurant bills have a way of piling up. And if you're paying by credit card you may not even notice until it's too late. Instead, tap into your inner Domestic Goddess (or whatever the male equivalent is) and turn cooking into a fun, family activity.
Rid yourself of the multiplex habit. The expensive tickets, the popcorn and soda combo offers begin to add up after a while. Discover the joys of ordering movies on Showcase or the delights of DVD box sets. Forget about exploring exotic, foreign locales on your vacations. Revive those oldstyle home-stays you enjoyed as a child when you spent holidays in the houses of family and friends. Who knows, you may just end up gaining much more than the money saved.

Modern Japanese cuisine was more or less invented by chef Nobu Matsuhisa, and today you will find Nobu-style restaurants all over the world. In India, you already have Wasabi. Now Megu seeks to introduce its own brand of modern Japanese CHEF RAINER BECKER STARTED ZUMA WHICH WAS A FRESH TAKE ON MODERN JAPANESE BUT OWED ITS SUCCESS TO NOBU'S PIONEERING WORK
D O YOU think that Punjabi Chinese or Sino-Ludhianvi cuisine could spark an international trend? It's a serious question and I ask it because of the global success of modern Japanese food. Most of us know that modern Japanese cuisine was more or less invented by the chef Nobu Matsuhisa who now owns restaurants all over the world. Some of us may also know that Nobu developed his cooking style when he was in Peru working in a Japanese restaurant there. Initially, before the term `modern Japanese' came to be applied to his food, it was often described as Japanese-Peruvian.
What is less known is that Nobu had his Eureka moment in Peru because of the Chinese food he ate in that country. Because Peruvians like spicy food, local Chinese restaurants added chilli and other South American flavours to their cuisine.
Nobu ate Peruvian Chinese, recognised that it bore little resemblance to the Chinese food served in China and wondered if the same sort of variations could be introduced to Japanese food.
By the time he was through with South America (he cooked in Peru and Argentina) he had the germ of an idea in his mind. Why not take traditional Japanese dishes and spice them up? So he invented New Style Sashimi which is essentially raw fish which is cooked by the addition of citrus juices or warm oil and then spiced up with jalapeno peppers and the like.
So successful was this experiment that Matsuhisa, the restaurant he ran in a strip mall in Los Angeles, soon became one of that city's most popular places. The director Roland Joffe who was then filming The Mission with Robert De Niro took his star to Matsuhisa. De Niro loved the food so much that he begged Nobu to open a restaurant in New York in partnership with him. Matsuhisa took four years to agree but when he did, De Niro went the extra mile in promoting Nobu (a much easier name for restaurant goers to pronounce than Matsuhisa) and turned Nobu Matsuhisa into the world's most famous chef. (How many other chefs can you think of who are known only by their first names?)
Nobu has opened many branches (most in partnership with De Niro who probably makes more money from restaurants than he does from acting, these days) all over the world but what's more important is that he has created a cuisine: modern Japanese.
If you've never been to a Nobu, then here's what the food is like: it has Japanese roots but it uses ingredients that are not part of the Japanese tradition ­ olive oil, cheese, cream, chilli, peppers etc ­ to create flavours that are fuller than the customary starkness of real Japanese food. Plus, there are concessions to popular taste. Most Japanese people eat nigiri sushi (the kind where they put a piece of raw fish on a pellet of cooked rice) but Nobu specialises in rolls (where cooked rice encases a variety of ingredients which are usu






ally cooked and spiced), many of which are unheard of in Japan. You will now find a Nobu-style restaurant in nearly every major city in the world. Even if it is not owned by Nobu it is probably run by a former collaborator or by an imitator. For instance, Masaharu Morimoto was the first executive chef of the New York Nobu. He has now gone on to open many successful restaurants of his own (including branches in Delhi and Bombay) where he serves a modern Japanese cuisine based on Nobu's principles. In London, the German chef Rainer Becker started Zuma which was a fresh take on modern Japanese but owed its success to Nobu's pioneering work. There are now Zumas in many major cities (the Bangkok branch opened a few months ago) and most of the guests treat them as alternatives to Nobu.
Efforts to get Nobu to open in India have always failed. The Taj approached him before it spoke to Morimoto but could not strike a deal. The Leela signed him up for four restaurants but at the last moment, Nobu backed out claiming that after 26/11 he feared that India would be hit by a recession and arguing that he had suffered in Dubai because of a downturn in the economy.
No matter. There are other restaurateurs serving modern Japanese. The Taj went to Morimoto. And the Leela went to Megu, a chain of flashy, upmarket restaurants that have received mixed responses from food critics but appeal neverthesless, to an audience of global travellers. Apart from the two original New York Megus, there are now branches in Doha and Moscow.
I wondered what the Delhi Megu would be like. I thought the Leela had a problem in deciding how to pitch the cuisine. If you get Nobu then you trump Morimoto's Wasabi by saying that you're offering people the original. But how do you introduce people in Delhi and Bombay (a new Megu will open in the space where the Great Wall restaurant now stands at the Bombay Leela) to modern Japanese when they are already familiar with Morimoto's take on Nobu's food? Do you not run the risk of seeming me-too?
In the event, I think the Leela has solved the problem brilliantly.
There is, first of all, a differentiator when it comes to the food. Though Morimoto's own restaurant in New York has many innovative dishes that he has created himself, his Indian restaurants rely on menus stolen from Nobu. (When I had dinner with Nobu in Dubai some years ago he told me that Morimoto confessed to him: `Ninety per cent of my Indian menu, Nobu-san, is completely your food.' When I asked Morimoto about this, he was ambivalent.)
It's difficult to do modern Japanese by using only traditional Japanese ingredients but Megu tries to avoid Nobu's over-use of European flavours. Instead, it relies on the complexity of Japanese cuisine (the quality of the miso, the lightness of the fresh wasabi etc) to give the food an oomph. So, you will get Nobu-style dishes (New Style Sashimi, rock shrimp tempura etc) but they will usually have a twist. For instance, their fried shrimp does not rely on a sauce (as Nobu's does) but introduces a depth of flavour to the shrimp itself.
Another example: Nobu's most famous dish is black cod in miso.
Though this has now become a menu staple and the most ordered dish at nearly every modern Japanese restaurant, Megu does a variation with silver cod and without the crispiness at the base of the Nobu version.
Some of it works. Some of it is less successful ­ I'll take Nobu's black cod over the Megu dish any day. But the food is certainly distinctive. Plus there are other dishes that do not have their origin in Nobu's work.
The real difference between Megu and the NobuWasabi kind of restaurant however, is in the experience. Nobu's restaurants are large, cheerful places.
The two Indian Wasabis are small, clubby enclaves where everybody knows everybody. Megu, on the other hand, is very much a special occasion restaurant (like, say, The Orient Express or the old Zodiac Grill in Bombay) where every guest feels pampered and the staff strive to provide a sense of occasion. You go to Wasabi for the food. But at the Delhi Megu, even if you don't like the food (which, by the way, was excellent the night I went) there is still a sense of partaking of a dining experience in a spectacular-looking restaurant. In that sense, Megu is not unlike the Leela's great success story, Le Cirque, which manages to appeal to diners who can't tell their Florentine steak from Eggs Florentine.
It helps, I think, that the service at Megu is outstanding and well informed. The delays in the opening have allowed the staff to become familiar with the cuisine and its complexities. Plus there are innumerable serving rituals ­ steak flambéed at the table, carpaccio seared at 1,000 degrees Centigrade by smokeless charcoal on your plate, fresh wasabi grated into your sake etc ­ that make the experience seem more special and luxurious.
So my guess is that the restaurant will do well. It's not aiming for he Wasabi clientele (though prices are on par and you can eat more cheaply at Megu than you can at Le Cirque plus the wine pricing is not as ridicuous as the Leela's reputation suggests) and will hit special occasion places much more than it will affect the Wasabi-Sakura kind of place. With Hakkasan looking for a location in Delhi after its success in Bombay, Megu could well be the pioneer of a new trend of glamorous Asian places.
But that brings us back to where we started. If Sino-Peruvian cuisine could inspire Nobu to tinker with centuries of Japanese culinary tradition and to invent a globally famous cuisine, then why has Sino-Ludhianvi been able to inspire nobody except for your local thelawallah?
It's a good question. And I don't have an answer.

Let’s swirl!

The start of 2012 is expected to see Mumbaikars indulge in wine drinking, as a host of wine fests storm the city...



Escaping from the confines of high-end restaurants and hotels, wine culture has rapidly spread across Mumbai and has almost become a regular drink of celebration. From being a symbol of sophistication and affluence it has now become the staple drink of the rich and the famous. And to enjoy the taste of this, Mumbai city is offering a variety of wine festivals in the coming few weeks.
York Live, a two day-long celebration of wine, music, food at the winery itself, kick starts the wine festivals of this year in the wine capital of India — Nasik, from today. This festival will encompass a variety of boutique wines, astounding performances by leading bands and a la carte menu to boast of, in an attempt to promote wine culture in India. The festival starts at 12.30 pm from today and will include activities like grape stomping, carnival games and wine tours and tasting sessions. Commenting on the festival, Ravi Gurnani, owner of York Winery, says, “This fest is an attempt to celebrate the good things in life and will showcase an interesting and award winning melange of wines, coupled with amazing performances by Shrilektric with Nasik Dhol, Something Relevant and the headlining act by Karsh Kale.”
Sula Fest will closely follow on February 4 and 5. The festival is a gourmet live fest with terrific food, wine and tons of other fun activities including performances by Nitin Sawhney, Reggae Rajah’s, Ankur and the Ghalat family and Dualist Inquiry at the picturesque Sula Vineyards in Nashik.
Lastly, it will be the Kala Ghoda wine festival on February 11 and 12. It offers wine and cheese tasting, grape stomping, wine accessories and gourmet food with music and live entertainment. With wine culture permeating the society, these wine festivals promise to please connoisseurs and wine enthusiasts alike, and will appeal to anyone who appreciates good food and music.

A healthy TADKA
For a healthy take on Indian cuisine, get a table at this restaurant in the ’burbs



I’m a true-blue foodie at heart, but am equally diet conscious too. Not an easy balance to maintain, considering that one of my favourite cuisines — Indian — is high on exactly the rich ingredients that would guarantee, you’d have to spend several extra hours working out to burn up all the extra kilos that come with the delectable taste. So, reviewing the very first restaurant came in as a very pleasant surprise. For Masala Bay not only offered authentic Indian platter, but was also extremely healthy in the way the dishes were prepared. And that’s the biggest plus point of the place as we discovered in due course.

We started off with a non-veg platter of Galouti Kebab, Doodhiya Murg Tikka and Bhatti Ka Jheenga along with parathas. Of these, the kebabs especially were extremely succulent and soft, that just melted in the mouth. Perfectly done and not spicy at all, it was difficult to resist ordering for another round of the same platter, but we were equally keen to try out the main course as well, so that worked as a check. For drinks we opted for a healthy glass of sugarcane juice, and it was really fresh!
Next came the main course. For this we tried out Murgh Sagwala. This was again not too spicy, but the masala flavour was not compromised at all. I also insisted on having a paneer speciality, Paneer Khatta Payaz and didn’t regret it one bit. Then we had Dal Makhani, which trust me, was one of the best I’ve ever had. The naans and kulchas tasted good, but not heavy like they mostly do, which is a plus. The Baingan Ka Bharta was equally delectable. It had a rich buttery flavour, but not a drop of excess oil in any of the preparations at all, and that goaded the fitness freak in me to indulge in my taste buds without a worry. Also I think olive oil was used in several dishes that made them very healthy. Being a Punjabi, I’m very particular about my chicken and dal and both were up to the mark. And if the food makes me break my diet, I’d say it’s saying a lot. For dessert we had Moong Ka Halwa. Though the chef would recommend having it with kulfi, we chose to have it without it and in itself the halwa tasted quite good.

Food apart, I think the ambience and presentation is quite impressive too. The tables are well-spaced and do not give that feeling of over-crowding. Also the staff, though hospitable, give you enough berth to not feel like they are invading privacy. The pricing would be considered a bit on the upper side, but totally worth the experience. I would recommend the Dal Makhani, the Galouti Kebabs and the kulchas for sure.

The truth is that we all struggle with our weight, one time or another 

KALLI IS VERY MUCH A REGULAR WOMAN ­ A WIFE, A MOTHER, A PROFESSIONAL ­ WHO LOVES HER DARK CHOCOLATE AND HER RAJMA-CHAWAL

HOW DO you react when someone you meet after a long time tells you, “Wow, you've lost a lot of weight!“ Do you gobble up the compliment as if it were a piece of cake and respond with a graceful “Thank you“? Or do you stick on a fake smile as you wonder silently about just how fat you were to begin with? I have to confess that I find myself squarely in the second category.

The moment someone asks, “You've lost some weight, haven't you?“ I find myself cringing inwardly about just how overweight I must have looked before. And it doesn't help that the scales have told me that morning that I am exactly the same weight I was a month ago. The compliments are probably down to clever tailoring or the brilliant use of black as a camouflaging agent rather than any real loss of weight.

Ah, weight! It's been the bane of my existence for too long now.

Which is rather ironic considering that I was a wiry child, a thin teenager and a slim young adult ­ all of it managed without the slightest bit of effort. Growing up in a Punjabi household meant that my day began with paranthas soaked in ghee, the packed school lunch was whitebread sandwiches slathered with butter and jam, evening snacks were pakoras or samosas, and dinner meant copious quantities of rice and curry, with potato chips to provide texture.

The motto of our home kitchen was: when in doubt, deep-fry. And yet, despite a diet that seemed to consist entirely of trans-fats ­ and no exercise whatsoever ­ I never put on even a scintilla of weight.

And then, suddenly, it all changed. I turned 30 and it was as if the switch to my metabolism was turned metabolism was turned off as well. Now, every parantha found its way to the extra tyre rapidly building up around my waist, every samosa settled down comfortably on my hips, even as the white butter and cream went straight to my thickening upper arms.

Ever since then, it's been a slippery slope down the road to porkiness.
And it's not as if I haven't tried every trick in the book to get back the slim, lissom self of my twenties. I've pounded the treadmill, rocked the cross-trainer, signed up for Pilates, tried my hand at yoga, hired a personal trainer. I've joined slimming centres, gone to personal dieticians, tried every fad diet in the world in the world and then some.

Sure, the weight goes off ­ though, with every passing year, it takes longer and longer to melt away. And then, once I get off the diet or slack off on the exercise, it comes creeping back on until I'm right back where I started.

Given how the diet industry is flourishing and getting bigger every day (ironic or what?) I'm guessing that this is probably how it is for every woman ­ and most men ­ who are on the wrong side of 35. We go on a diet, we lose weight, we lose our minds, we go off the diets, we put on weight... and thus the vicious cycle goes on and on.
Sounds familiar? I bet it does. We've all been there, done that, and have the stretch marks to prove it. Kalli Purie, however, has done one better. She has written what she calls a `weight-loss memoir' to chronicle her path to skinniness. In her new book, Confessions Of A Serial Dieter, she recounts the 43 diets and workouts that took her from 100 kilos to 60.

I have to confess that I'm not really one for diet books. I invariably end up resenting the po-faced advice that dieticians keep dishing out in their best holier-than-thou manner. Especially since it's so clear that not one of them has had a decent meal in years ­ or even has the slightest interest in good food. Not to mention the fact that they've never been fat themselves ­ and so couldn't possibly know what it feels like.

Kalli is nothing like that. She is very much a regular woman ­ a wife, a mother, a professional ­ who loves her dark chocolate and her rajmachawal. She has struggled over the years to control her appetites just like you and me. She's failed sometimes. And sometimes she has succeeded. And she feels no shame in sharing both these narratives with her readers.

There is a certain searing honesty in Kalli's account of her journey to her fattest self and the struggle to find the skinny girl inside her. It takes courage to admit to your own vulnerability ­ and how heavy you really were. But Kalli has done just that, allowing us to accompany her on what is as much an emotional journey as it is a weight-loss plan. She comfort eats; she binges; she purges; she works out like a maniac; she fall off the exercise wagon. She is full of self-loathing one moment; and on an endorphin high the next.
Yes we've all been there; but some of us have come through on to the other side. And for that alone, the story is worth telling. Try chewing on it instead the next time you find yourself reaching for the jar of cookies.