Beautiful Weekend!!!!!!

Beautiful Weekend

If anyone is looking for vacation destination with natural, exotic and magical beauty, New Zealand is the place for you. Each town or city in NZ has its own special enigmatic charm that mesmerizes all those who have been here. The town folk are kind and loving and hospitality is incomparable. The culture of adventure sports, bush walks, small streams, parks, beautiful sanctuaries, awesome beaches, friendly people, luxurious spas, geysers, hot water beaches, strong wines and the fish and chips will make you fall in love.

Last year we had been to Rotorua, Coromandel and Wellington. This year for the long weekend we decided to travel up to the Northern most tip of NZ. And I must say, when it comes natural beauty the Cape Reinga took the cake. The site was stupendous. The vast stretch of 90 mile beach leading you to the cape is mind blowing and then the view from the top of the hill is next to heaven, I guess. Beautiful deep blue sun-kissed Tasman water made the whole trip memorable. I stood there speechlessly looking at the horizon – the sky and the waters of the two seas with their distinct shades of blue took away all the ‘blues’ for the moment or maybe forever.

It was nice drive back home to Auckland. The weather had been kind to us. But after the tiring drive, I was definitely in no mood to cook. I had tortured my digestive system with lots of burgers and pizzas over the weekend and decided to have Vegetarian food. We therefore decided to go to Jai Jalaram (Jai as in ‘Jai Ho’ of the Slumdog Millionaire fame and second word is pronounced as ‘ja-laa-raam’) in Sandringham for dinner.

Jai Jalaram, the restaurant and Mr. Hitesh Thakkar, it’s proprietor hold a lot of importance to my husband and me. Our relation with Jai Jalaram goes back 2007 when we first came to NZ as Master of Business students. Back then life was throwing all possible weird surprises at us. Having completed Masters in India and worked with one of the Big Four Audit firms, I thought getting a part time job while I complete my second Masters in NZ would be cakewalk. But there we were jobless and dejected for nearly three months with a troublesome roommate and a finicky landlord who would come for inspection without notice and who refused to return the bond money when I left the apartment. But on positive note life was not all that bad. I made some new friends at University who were going through similar issues and were ready to bitch about it on Friday nights after classes with food and drinks, courtesy a friend who was a full time student at my University and a part time waiter at a famous Indian restaurant in Auckland. Then one day one of our friends who then had a ‘CAR’ – a privilege that very few international students could afford with the part time jobs and cost of living being very high in Auckland; took us to the suburb Blockhouse Bay, to the original Jai Jalaram on Boundary Road.

He introduced us to Hitesh bhai (bhai; pronounced “bhaai”, meaning brother). I was so happy to meet an established person to whom I could tell the whole sob story of my student life. In minutes we had him sitting at our table with lots of scrumptious food and listening to all that we had to cry about. With a degree in Bachelor of Law up his sleeves and so much experience about life and world, he just told us three simple things. 1. To be patient. 2. Everything will fall in place and 3. To take good care of our health so that we can face any situation. All that he said lovingly while serving his famous Pav Bhaji (bread and spicy curry of mixed veg curry), Sev Khamani (West Indian Snack), Sev Puri (Indian Teens favourite snack) and Dabeli (one of the indian versions of burgers). He also went out of his way to offer me a part time job in a friend’s business. However, I didn’t take it up at that time as it was away from the Uni and student accommodation and I had no mode of transport.

I was overwhelmed with the optimism he showed and the hope he gave us. After all the negative information I had received like – you have made a wrong choice or things will not be easy or you will take years to settle in, it was a pleasure to meet Hitesh bhai. He induced some much-needed optimism in us with his delicious food and kind words. And he didn’t stop at that - he did not bill us for all that we ate that evening. He said we were like his kids who had come to him for advice and that food was just secondary to keep the conversation going.

Two years since then things are different - we finished our Masters, got good jobs, our Residency and got married. Things have fallen in place – just like Hitesh bhai said.

Till date I savour the Sev Khamani, I first had, at Jai Jalaram. In a way, it reminds me of all those days of struggle, agony and pain. However, each morsel of Sev Khamani I take sitting at table at Jai Jalaram today takes away the bitterness out of those memories and I silently smile.

For all the Sev Khamani lovers, here is the recipe of the favourite Western Indian snack.
For the un-initiated, Sev means those addictive thin, short, yellow fried noodles. Enjoy this snack on cold winter evenings with cup of ‘masala chai’ (Tea).

Ingredients:

2 Cups of Chana dal (Split yellow dhal readily available in Indian Stores)
10 Garlic Cloves
1 Small piece of ginger
2 Teaspoon of Mustard seeds
1 Teaspoon of Turmeric Powder
1 Teaspoon of Coriander-Cumin powder
Pinch of Asafoedita
4 - 7 Finely green chillies
2 -3 Curry leaves
2 Teaspoon of sugar
2 Tablespoon of Lime juice
1 Cup of Milk
Salt to season
Chopped coriander for garnishing

1 Cup of Sev (Crispy Thin fried Indian noodles made from chick pea flour)
5 teaspoon oil

Method:
1. Soak Chana dal for 5 hours. Drain the chana dal and grind it coarsely.
2. Blend ginger, garlic and chillies together. Alternatively could use readymade ginger , garlic and chilly paste available in the Indian Grocery stores.
3. Heat oil in a deep pan, add mustard seeds and asafoedita. Once the seeds starts sputtering add curry leaves and garlic, ginger and green chilli paste. Saute for a minute.
4. Add coarsely ground chana dal, turmeric powder and coriander powder and cumin seeds powder, cook on a low flame. Add milk if the chana dal is too dry.
5. Add salt, lime juice and sugar. Mix it properly, cook the chana dal till oil separates.
6. Garnish it with chopped coriander leaves and liberally sprinkle sev.

Serve Hot
Yummy !!!!!!!!

I hope I can get Hitesh bhai to share some recipes on my blog…

April Full ! Burp...

April 1

It’s a special day. It’s my Birthday!!! I woke up with a beautiful smile hoping to do something exciting during the day and probably go out for a romantic dinner with my Hubby dear. It was a weekday and all my friends were going to be at work. My husband wished me a beautiful day and left for work. I got back to my laptop to complete my assignments and prepare for a client meeting in the afternoon. I was excited and eagerly awaited all the text messages, cards, emails, phone calls, and scraps to flow in. But much to my despair, nothing happened. There I was fretting and fuming, working on my assignments and wondering if everyone had forgotten about my birthday.

 

The day went by and I came back from the client meeting, hoping that hubby dear would be home already and almost certainly we would go out for dinner. When I got back, the apartment was dead silent and there was a message on the answering machine. It was my husband. He was going to be late at work. I felt so miserable. And I got my tub of New Zealand Natural Chocolate Ecstasy Ice cream to console myself.

 

Then suddenly there was someone at the door. It was my darling holding my favourite chocolate cake with all my friends. They had fooled me. Of course it was April 1^st. But, I was not supposed to be fooled! After all, it was my Birthday. But then who does not love surprises. The lounge turned into a party hall with party poppers flying, bottles popping and me cutting and devouring the cake. We then decided to make our way to Zap2 on Dominion Road.

 

Zap2

It has been one of my favourite Thai restaurants since I first came to NZ.  The place is small place and can comfortably accommodate 40-50 people. The ambience may not be flash but the food and service is excellent and its complete value for money. The dishes we tried that night were Tom Yum Soup, Tom Yum Kha Soup and Gayaeng Ped Gae with Rice. By far my favourite was Gayaeng Ped Gae or the Chicken in red thai curry. The spice was just right. The coconut cream was not overpowering nor was the red chilli paste. Just right and the generous use of sweet basil made the experience delightful. I couldn’t resist and I tried making the curry myself on the very next Friday. It was easy. Here’s the recipe for all of you to try. It promises to be awesome!!!!! 

 

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cooking Time: 1 hour approx

Ingredients:

PASTE:

1 small cooking onion, diced

1 stalk lemongrass (cut it into small piece about 3” in size)

1-2 red chillies (depending on desired spiciness) OR substitute 1-2 tsp. dried chilli flakes (omit for mild curry)

5 cloves of garlic

1 thumb-size piece galangal, thinly sliced. (I used ginger instead)

1 Tbsp. brown sugar

3 Tbsp. fish sauce

1 Tbsp. coriander seeds, freshly ground

1^1/2 Tbsp. chilli powder

1 kaffir lime leaf

2 tsp. shrimp paste (Available in places like Tai Ping, Lim Chour market etc.)

^1/2 tsp. turmeric

^1/2 cup fresh coriander leaves

 

OTHER:

400 gms chicken breast, chopped into pieces (or ½ large chicken)

1 ^1/2 cans coconut milk

3-4 kaffir lime leaves

1 cup fresh Thai holy basil leaves or sweet basil (easily available in Food town)

10 - 15 cherry tomatoes or 3 regular tomatoes, sliced

1 red bell pepper chopped into bite-size pieces

1 yellow pepper, chopped into bite-size pieces

1 cup of baby corn

1 cup of asparagus (optional)

5-6 florets of broccoli (optional)

 

Preparation:

To make the paste, place all ingredients in a food processor (or blender).

Add ½ can of the coconut milk and process into a paste.

Pour paste into a large casserole dish. Add the other ^1/2 can of coconut milk plus the chicken pieces and kaffir lime leaves. Also add the leftover upper stalks of lemongrass.

Stir well, until paste is thoroughly mixed with the coconut milk and chicken.

 

Bake at 200 degrees for 40 minutes, remove from oven, stir, and add the vegetables.

Place the dish back into the oven for another 30 minutes. Remove from oven. Stir well, checking to make sure the chicken has cooked (if not, return to oven for 10 more minutes).

Check for salt. Add salt to taste as Fish Sauce is salty. You could also add additional teaspoon of chilli paste / flakes / powder to make your curry more spicy. Discard the lemongrass stalks.

Place in a large serving bowl and sprinkle with freshly chopped basil leaves.

 

For people who prefer cooking on the stove to baking, stir fry the chicken pieces and keep it aside. Use the aforesaid ingredients for making the gravy. Should take 25 minutes on low flame for the curry to cook. Ensure that the vegetables are not overcooked by adding them bit later. This will maintain the freshness in the curry and leave the crunch in the vegetables. Last, add the stir-fried chicken.

  

For vegetarians, you can make the same recipe with vegetables of your choice and of course skip the fish sauce. You could use just salt for seasoning instead. This dish normally serves 5.

 

Garnish it with basil leaves, pieces of lime and pineapple rings. Serve hot with bowl full of jasmine or basmati rice. Enjoy!!!!!!!!

 

As thai food could be rich in carbs, fats and saturated fats, you might want to run that extra mile on the tread mill the next day……………..