FEBRUARY 2016: Arugula Salad and Jumbo Prawns

photoed by A. Rajan

Easy peasy afternoon fiesta with Arugula Salad and Indian-inspired Jumbo Prawns.

Sometimes, it's great to keep your meals simple yet keep them healthy and hearty. The salad...

• a handful of leafy rocket (or arugula) with 
• a quarter of one pear, diced
• few plump blackberries (packs a punch of different flavours), 

dressed with:

• 1 Tbsp (Tablespoon) lime juice, 
• 1/2 tsp (teaspoon) brown sugar, 
• 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil with
• little seasoning of a pinch of sea salt and 
• a pinch of black peppercorns, freshly ground.

For prawns...
(I like to keep the shell on as it takes its taste to another notch, helping it retain its juiciness.)

Make a mixture of: 

• 1/2 tsp red chilli powder or cayenne, 
• 1/4 tsp of turmeric, 
• 1/4 tsp of salt and 
• 1 Tbsp of lime juice. 

Mix and marinate the prawns in this, and then 
Shallow fry them in little oil, till they become deep amber in colour. 
Takes about two minutes each side. Serve these two, side-by-side restaurant style. It's my comfort food on a lazy day. 

Give it a go 

and let us know 

what you think-o. ;-)
--A.R.

JANUARY 2016: Querida Mia Verde

photoed by D. Liongson

Restos pose a challenge for tasty vegetarian food. Army Navy also offers such a dish.

One of them is Querida Mia Verde. 

It is based on an open faced quesadilla that is rolled and sliced into crosswise slices.

What is inside the tortilla? Mozzarella, cheddar cheese, onions, lettuce, jalapeño, tomatoes, green bell pepper, cilantro, guacamole, and sour cream.

Although it is eaten with bare hands in pick and eat style, I recommend you ask for a spoon. The filling tends to drip on the plate. It is worth scooping the bits with a spoon and eat it with gusto.

Explore the flavors and textures in this meal. Creamy, lightly salted, crisp tart veggies, a little heat, an herb-y touch, and all that rolled in a toasted chewy tortilla wrap.

This resto also serves burgers, burritos, sandwiches, soups, 
fried chicken, tacos, quesadillas, querida mia, freedom toasts, and more. 

Why not also have a go... to Army Navy resto?

--D.L.

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D'HAIKU 
A veggie delish 
Querida Mia Verde 
at Army Navy

--D.L.

DECEMBER 2015: Kadhai Paneer

Want an easy peasy but yet very delicious paneer dish? You will love every bite of this with Indian chapati or roti or naan!

photoed by A. Rajan

INGREDIENTS:
400 g. of store bought paneer (Indian cheese made without rennet --an animal derivative)
4 bell peppers green (or different colors if you wish for more colors in your dish)
4 ripe tomatoes
1 green chilli
An inch of ginger
1 tbsp of kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves - available at the Indian grocers) 
A tsp of cumin seeds
1 tsp of garam masala
cilantro for final garnish

PROCEDURE:
In a blender, add cut tomatoes, ginger, and chilli. Puree them all.
In a wok, add oil, now just shallow fry your diced bell peppers enough to get golden marks from frying; cooked a little yet having a bite. 
Set aside to use later. 
Now, do the same with diced paneer. Set aside. 
Add little more oil. Once hot enough, throw in cumin seeds. Let them crackle. 
Now add your tomato puree and saute it till oil separates. 
As you are doing it, add garam masala, kasoori methi,and salt. 
Now add diced bell peppers and paneer cubes in it. Sauté.
Now cover the pot with a lid on a medium flame to let vegetable and paneer get infused with flavors... for about 3 minutes. 
Plate it and garnish with fresh cilantro.

NOTE:
Eat with any roti of your choice. I prefer soft chapati (wheat roti) with ghee smeared all over it.

photoed by A. Rajan

It's a very easy yet tasty recipe. Try and let us know how much you liked it. :-)

Much love... :-)

--A.R.

smile emoti

NOVEMBER 2015: Roasted Vegetable Soup

photoed by D. Liongson

It isn't everyday I eat eggplants, tomatoes, and chickpeas cooked together in one dish.

After eating one helping of this Roasted Vegetable Soup, it became an experience I look forward to when I return to The Cafe Mediterranean.

It is not the usual chopped fresh eggplants-tomatoes-chickpeas-tossed-in-hot-water combo. These veggies are grilled, blended, and served piping hot. It may take a discriminating tongue to identify the herbs and spices.  

Would I recognize every flavor added to the soup? Beats me.  All I know is... IT'S DELISH!

Lightly spiced, roasted flavor, pleasant texture in the mouth, a hint of salt, and shifts from hot-to-warm on time.

This is available in cup order or bowl order. I haven't tried the bowl version. It would help to ask the waiter what the size differences are.

If you order this soup and you have dietary restrictions, ask the waiter if this soup contains what you are forbidden to eat. On my end, the resto staff are friendly. If I received any rude dramas from them, it is certain I won't come back.  

Fortunately, I look forward to return.

The menu items they have are worth exploring. Preferences ranging from meat to veggies (or in between) can be found. If you try out all the items (agreeable to you) in the menu, you will discover what your favorite is.

The Cafe Mediterranean.  Try a branch nearest you!
--D.L.



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D' HAIKU

Slurping flavors of

eggplant, tomatoes, chickpeas;

Roasted Veggie Soup.

--D.L.

OCTOBER 2015: Southeast Asian Quinoa Bowl (with Thai and Chinese influence)

photoed by A. Rajan

This is inspired by Thai style cooking, and Hakka style Chinese cooking. I just did fusion to experiment, and now I make this once a week.

Ingredients

---------------

1 1/2 cup quinoa

water

a stalk of lemon grass

1 tbsp oil

1/4 cup raw peanuts

half an inch piece of ginger, shredded

2 cloves of garlic, minced

a bunch of spring onions (whites to cook; greens to garnish)

1/4 cup green beans, julienned

1 cup cabbage, shredded

1 carrot, shredded (or julienned) 

1 bell pepper, diced

2-3 Thai green chillies

1 tsp fish sauce
1 tbsp hoisin sauce or soya sauce

(If using hoisin, skip sugar. If not, add 1 tsp brown sugar)

salt (to taste)
black pepper, cracked (to taste)

Procedure

--------------

1) First, cook your quinoa in double quantity of water, with the lemon grass added to it. Cook for about 15-20 minutes. Once done, you can separate the grains gently with a fork. Set aside. (The lemon grass will add nice flavor and fragrance to the quinoa.)

photoed by A. Rajan

2) In a pan, add oil and fry the raw peanuts. 

3) Keep the peanuts for garnish later. 

4) (In the same oil) saute your ginger, garlic, (whites of) spring onions, green beans, cabbage, carrot, and bell pepper. 

photoed by A. Rajan

5) Cook only so much that there will be still a little bite to it. 

6) Now add green chillies. 

7) Stir in little fish sauce and hoisin sauce. (If using soya sauce, add brown sugar at this stage.) 

8) Add the salt and the black pepper

9) Stir and then add cooked quinoa to this. 

10) Mix (greens of) spring onions and the peanuts. 

Your quinoa is ready. It is drool worthy and delicious!

--A.R.

SEPTEMBER 2015: Fish and Chips ala Wamba's

photoed by D. Liongson

I usually eat fish and chips with tartare sauce. After the overwhelm of the sauce's creamy effect and its sweetness from the sugar or corn syrup, I learned to settle for a squeeze from a wedge of lemon.

Wamba's Bistro served fish and chips that I appreciated. The effect of beer in the batter gives the fried fish a pleasant flavor to the tastebuds. I suppose there is no harm with cooking food with beer. Perhaps the bubbles in the beer pushed the cooking oil at a certain distance leaving the coating to a crisp.

There were condiments such as a wedge of lemon and a little sauce dish of vinegar. I love the effect of the well-salted fish and the lemon. Perhaps fans of the salt and vinegar potato chips would have a go eating the fish and chips with vinegar. It seems to slip from my memory if I tried the vinegar. But then if I had a choice of vinegar or lemon, lemon is usually high on my list.

Although I may be biased with preferring lacto ovo pesco vegetarian food, this resto may have specials and best-sellers that may ring bells with your food preferences. 

Wamba's Bistro belongs to a genre of Spanish/Basque food for casual dining and take out. 

May you enjoy your meal. I did! :-)

--D.L.

AUGUST 2015: Sheera

photoed by A. Rajan

Desserts makes my heart sing. Especially, if it is an Indian dessert called Sheera... I guess I can call it Semolina fudge. I remember every Marathi family from Maharashtra, had this as a staple offering to god during praying rituals. 

Recipe is very simple for this holy fudge. I like it better this way as it has milk and bananas as special ingredients instead of plain sugar water combo.

You will need:

------------------

1 cup of fine semolina or sooji

1 cup of ghee

1 cup of sugar

a few cardamom seeds, finely ground

2 cups of milk

Golden raisins, slivered almonds as garnish (if you like)

1 banana

Procedure:

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1)You would heat the ghee first and roast the semolina until it becomes golden and specks of white dots disappear from semolina. 

2)Then, you can mash or cut the banana and add it into milk and sugar mixture. 

3)Add that mixture to the roasted semolina and keep stirring it till you see the ghee is separating on the edges. 

4)Add the cardamom powder at this stage along with slivered almonds and raisins. 

5)Keep stirring. It ensures that mixture won't burn or stick to the pot. 

Sheera is ready. Hope you will like it as much as I do.

Bon Appetit!

--A.R.