A Holiday post- Panchgani and Mahabaleshwar

Sunset- View from Table Land Panchgani

I visited Panchgani with my husband few weeks back, after google searching and more google searching we decided to visit Panchgani for a short break. The view of sunset from the famous Table land and the really awesome weather makes Panchgani my current fav. holiday place in India. I used to think that I like sea and beaches more than mountains but off late I have realized that for the kind of person that I am I prefer mountains than sea. Growing up in Imphal and seeing the Mountains almost every day of my life for 17 years, mountains never fascinated me now but for a holiday destination I will choose Mountains over any other destinations because its peaceful

Panchgani and Mahabaleshwar are two  very popular holiday destination for people from Gujarat and Maharashtra but I think more popular among the Gujarati's, my husband said he has never seen so many Gujarati's at one place  in any other popular tourist places in India, which was true because almost every car and Bus had a Gujarat number. As Panchgani offers great weather, affordable accommodation and also the proximity to many district in Gujarat I guess that makes Panchgani attractive. But the reason we were attracted to Panchgani was  because it's close to Pune and I just didn't wanted to go to Lonavala or the over hyped Khandala.

Panchgani is a just a little over 100 Kms from Pune, if you travel in your own vehicle it wll take about 2.30 hrs but if you travel by one of those commercial private bus service it will easily take 4-5 hours because they will stop for lunch which will easily take 30-40 mins and also they will stop at so many places that you will easily end up travelling for at least 4 to 5 hrs. If you plan to travel by Public transport the best way is to take the MSRTC buses which is cheap and may even take lesser time. (http://www.msrtc.gov.in/msrtc_live/index-eng.html). We stayed at this really nice place which was 5 mins walk from the main market and the main Bus and Taxi stand,  Hotel Mount View Heritage ( http://www.hotelmountview.co.in/heritage.html) located on the main road and owned by a Parsi family, the property is well maintain and the owners very, very hospitable . The food was really good and the best part was almost all the tourist places were located within walking distance, including the Table Land, if you are in a mood to walk and explore the town I suggest you avoid taking taxi in Panchgani. My husband and I walked till Sidney Point and also till Table Land, which I thought was just a flat mountain top till I saw the Sun set, the view of Sun set is breath taking and I have never seen such a beautiful sunset in my life. What was really amazing was that as I was admiring and watching the sun set I realized that it sun sets very quickly but yes we did managed to take some really amazing shots.  We also visited Mahabaleshwar but it was so crowded that we happily came back to the hotel as soon as possible, the Venna Lake and even the garden next to it was beautiful but it was so crowded that I didn't had the patience to go on one of the boat rides. The Mapro garden was a total disappointment, I thought that garden will have some Strawberry garden but it was just one big overcrowded restaurant which had an empty so callled 'Chocolate Factory' on display. I advice is skip the MAPRO garden and spend some time at the Venna Lake instead.
 
Panchgani is in my list of 'Must visit' places and I plan to make that happen soon :)

Venna Lake

Stir Fried Vegetable in Black Bean sauce

Stir Fried Vegetable in Black Bean sauce

Ingredients:

1.       Cauliflower florets

2.       Cabbage ( 2-3 leaves)

3.       French beans (100/150 gms)

4.       Mushroom

5.       1 medium size onion

6.       5-6 garlic cloves

7.       1 inch ginger

8.       2-3 green chili

9.       Soya sauce (Kikkoman)

10.   Black bean paste (1 tbsp- Available in INA market in Delhi)

11.   Salt to taste

12.   2 tbsp corn flour

13.   1/2 tbsp vegetable oil

Steps:

1.       Boil water in a pan and once it comes to a boil  add the chopped french beans, cabbage leaves  and cauliflower ( DO not add the Mushroom). Cover the pan and keep it for about 5 mins.

2.       Drain the hot water and immediately run cold water  over the veggies for  2-3 mins.

3.       Take a Wok/Kadhai and add oil, once it’s hot add the chopped garlic followed by slit green chili and onion. Fry for 4-5  mins.

4.       Add the vegetables and fry it for another 5 mins, add the soya sauce* , also add the black bean paste and mix it well with the vegetables.

5.       In a bowl add the corn flour and ½ cup of water. Add this paste and mix it well with the vegetables.

6.       Add salt to taste and if you feel you need to add more soya sauce add ½ tbsp.*

7.       Cook for another 10 mins on medium flame and enjoy with fried rice.

*Always add 2 tbsp of water to 1 tbsp to soya sauce and mix it well.

Baked fish wrapped in Turmeric leaves - My version of 'Nga-nam'

Last week was lot of fun, the extended Durga Puja holidays were fully utilised by cooking, eating and shopping. The other day on my way back from work, I dropped by INA market and bought my weekly quota of fish, what I absolutely love about INA is that the market never disappoints me and what is even more interesting is that INA market works like a mood elevator for me. I may sound a bit crazy but I'll choose to spend time at INA market over any of the swanky shopping mall in Delhi. 

To make my weekend interesting and food filled I decided to make baked fish and stir fried mixed veggies, so I bought 1 Kg of Red Snapper fish, Rohu, chives, Pui saag also known as Malabar Spinach, Black beans paste, Kikomon soya sauce and few other things. The final result of my exotic buy was very satisfying...baked fish is not a new recipe, Manipuri's love the 'Nga-nam' made mostly with smaller fish or 'Nga-kha' as we call it and never made with fish bigger than the little finger. But once I tried it with medium size fish and it was quite good. The recipe of the baked fish is below:

'Baked Fish wrapped in Turmeric leaves'

Ingredients:

1. 2 medium or small size Red snapper fish ( One can also use Pomfret, Tilapia or any other medium size fish)

2. Ginger Garlic paste- 3 spoons

3.Turmeric power- 1 tbsp.

4.Onion- 2 

5. Garlic- I whole pod 

6.Chilli powder - 1 tbsp (opitional)

7. 15-20 leaves of Awa Phadigom ( also know as Culantro/Mexican Coriander)

8. Mustard oil.

9. 4-5 Turmeric leaves (In case you don't have turmeric leaves use Banana leaves)

10. Aluminium foil

11. Salt to taste.

Steps:

1. Wash the fish properly, make small slits and pat dry using kitchen paper towel.

2.Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl ( Ginger garlic paste, Turmeric power, Chopped onion, Crushed garlic, chilli power, chopped awa phadigom, 1 tbsp mustard oil and salt). 

3. Smear some turmeric powder and mustard oil on the fish and also sprinkle some salt.

4. Cover the fish properly with the mixed ingredients and also put some inside the fish. Once done leave it for about 30 mins.

5. Pull out some aluminium foil and on it put a single Turmeric leave, now put the fish on it and put another turmeric leave on the fish, to save turmeric leave as it's always on short supply I had cut it neatly and covered the fish well with the leaves. Now wrap the fish with the aluminum foil, I used another layer of aluminum foil to fully wrap the fish. (Traditionally we use only the turmeric leaves to bake it but due to limited supply/availability of the turmeric leaves I used the aluminium foil to cover it fully and maintain the aroma)

6. Take a Tava and pre heat for 2-3 mins on high flame, add 1/2 tbsp of oil  and  put the foil wrapped fish on the tava, cover it fully with a plate or another container to maintain the heat. Turn the fish every 7-8 mins and cook on medium flame. It will take about 40-45 mins for the fish to get cooked. 

( One can also use an Oven to bake the fish but I prefer using the Tava, I find it more convenient )

Unwrap the fish after about 15-20 mins and serve hot with some simply yummy stir fried veggies and rice. Enjoy....

Chicken Rice and Raita for lunch

No excuses for not updating my blog again but here I am, trying to revive the blog again with a very simple and yummy recipe for a lazy weekend lunch. Easy to cook and yummy to eat is what I can guarantee from this recipe, the recipe was shared by one of my colleague 'SG' and I made it for lunch yesterday 'Chicken Rice, cooked with curd and kashmiri mirch powder'. This is quite similar to biryani but compared to biryani it's much easier to cook and as tasty as biryani.

Ingredients:

1. 500 gms chicken
2. 500 gm curd
3. 3 tbsp Kashmiri chilli powder
4. Few strands of safrron
5. Green Cardamom- 5-6
6. 1 stick dalchini (Cinnamon)
7. 2 big onion
8. 1 Tomato (Optional)
9. Bay leaves
10. 1 tbsp garam masala
11. 2.5 cups of good quality basmati  rice
12. Salt to taste

Steps:

• Marinate the chicken with the curd, chilli powder and salt. Cover the marinated chicken and leave it for at least 1 hr.
• Wash the rice and keep it aside for about 15-20 mins.
• Heat a Kadhai and add 2 tbsp of vegetable oil, once it's smoking hot add the bay leaves and sliced onion, fry it it turns golden brown. 
• Add the marinated chicken and cook it on medium flame. Also add the cardamom, dalchini , garam masala and the chopped tomato.
• Stir the chicken every 5 mins and cook for about 25 mins. ( Chicken will get tender since it's marinated in curd)
• Since cooking rice on a Kadhai is not advisable, put the rice in a Rice cooker or a flat bottom pan,   add the saffron strands,  cooked chicken and add 5 cups of water (double the quantity of rice).
• Cook till the rice is done and serve hot with raita.

While it may not taste exactly like Biryani but this is easier to cook and as yummy as biryani. Pictures will follow soon.

Before the month ends

Weekend lunch- Pasta in green pesto sauce and Stir fried chicken

My plan to write at least 3 blog post has gone haywire...thanks to me getting super lazy and the crazy work schedule. Between shifting house, cities, travelling and juggling work I find almost no time for myself, it's sad that m not even able to write even1 blog post a month but before this month ends I had to write this post. I hate this when I find no time to update my blog. 

Couple of weeks back I was bored of eating the same food, so decided to cook something different and the result was Pasta cooked with green pesto sauce and Stir fried chicken cooked with bell peppers and Balsamic sauce. Making pasta was super easy but the chicken was not, I did googled for the recipe and thankfully had all the ingredients. The end result was satisfying but not as good as I had expected it to be, the chicken was not so tender mainly because it was overcooked but next time I will improve on the chicken and make it taste better. 

Europe on a budget

For the longest time I have been thinking to write this post, how to travel to Europe on a budget and by budget, let me make it very clear that I do not mean shoe string budget I mean a little over shoe string and not staying in hostels but hotels in good and accessible locations with breakfast, where to eat (cheap), tips to save money, what to buy as souvenirs and how to stay safe and out of trouble . 

Since I have traveled to many European cities alone,with friends and also with my husband I plan to cover these aspect of travel as well. Like if you are traveling with your friends, you may not mind staying in a hostel, in fact few of the hostels I have stayed were really good but having said that hostels have their own issues like the shared toilet being one of them which will be a BIG NO if you are travelling with you family, moving on as part of the Europe on a budget series I plan to cover  cities I have traveled  and enjoyed every moment of it. I will also be writing about day trips that can be done if you happen to live in a neighboring country. The following popular cities will be covered 

a) Paris

b)Barcelona

c)Lisbon & Porto

d)Belgium- Brussels, Antwerp & Brugge

e)Prague

f) Rome

g) Florence & Pisa

h) Venice

i) Netherlands- Amsterdam, Delft, Texel,Rotterdam & Den Haag ( Hague) of course

j) Geneva- Mt. Titlis, Interlaken

k) Germany- Cologne

l) Krakow & Warsaw

m) Luxembourg 

Keeping my target of writing 3 blog post a month I guess for the next 4 months this blog will be lively and I hope to write some interesting and informative post.