Sanjeev Kapoor is one of the top chefs in India. He has authored many books and is the host of Khana Khazana a popular cookery program shown on Zee TV. Besides being one of the most recognized faces on TV, Sanjeev Kapoor has been the author of many books covering Vegetarian, Microwave, No-Oil, Indian-Chinese and other topics. Some of his books can be purchased online on sites like Amazon.com
Whats the largest Indian restaurant you have been to? 100 seats, 200 seats...maybe 300. Well, the largest Indian restaurant seats over 800. Aakash Restaurant in Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire seats about 860 guets at a time and is housed in a 19th century chapel. Apparently, the chapel was rundown and in derelict state until one of the original restaurant owners decide to take it over and renovate in 2001.
Today the restaurant offers a 5 course Indian buffet prepared by 5 Star Chefs. They have over 30 dishes in the buffet. The buffet costs 9.95 on Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday and 13.95 on Thu, Fri and Saturday. They have a good Ala-carte menu with items like Coconut Mint grilled Pomfret, Fish Tikka, Lamb chops, a host of Biryani's and a good selection of vegetarian dishes as well.
They have various events during the year covering popular events such as Valentine's day, New Years, Christmas etc and have special evenings such as Bollywood night.
The economy in this country is going through tough times with business shutting down every day, but it seems that Indian restaurants in Irving are bucking the trend. In the past 3-4 months, the Irving area has had 5 new restaurants open up in an already competitive Indian restaurant landscape. Each restaurant is trying to offer something different.
Samosa Hut and Grill - offers a very different menu mainly made up of 10 varities of Samosas along with some quick items like Kebabs etc. You will not find Chicken Tikka or Biryani here.
Paradise Biryani Pointe - brings the taste of Hyderabadi cuisine with another branch of the Hyberabad restaurant of the same name.
The last few months have drawn a lot of attention to attacks on Indians in Australia whicjh appear to be racially driven. Many students have been badly hurt and a few have even died. Mia Northrop, a resident of Melbourne has initiated an idea to stop the spreading of the violence through the promotion of great Indian food. Her idea is to get the people of Melbourne to dine at local Indian restaurants to show their solidarity to the local Indian community.
The event is being scheduled for Wednesday February 24, 2010.
Below is her idea.
Vindaloo Against Violence gives ordinary Melburnians a peaceful, easy way to:
express their anger and disappointment that racially motivated violence is occurring in their city
embrace and show solidarity with the local Indian community
mount a show of force against the perpetrators of violence.
She initiated this event because she wanted her voice to be heard on this issue but didn’t know how.
Let’s signal to the Indian media and other international observers that everyday Australians do not accept racially motivated violence and racism.
Let’s also shift the local media, government and law enforcement focus from preventative measures Indians should take to protect themselves to:
identifying the root causes and typical perpetrators of racially motivated violence
finding ways to diffuse the criminal behaviour.
The event is not supporting any particular business interests and this initiative receives no government, commercial, organisation, union, community, religious or political party funding.
The idea is simply for everyday people to come together to support their immigrant communities in a very Melbourne way: through great food.
Ethnic food has been identified as an important and emerging sector in UK and is one of the fastest growing areas within the retail market.
The World Food Awards 2009 is a new, national awards ceremony to recognise the best operators in the world food sector in the United Kingdom and Europe. This event will provide an annual focal point for the ethnic food industry - highlighting the valuable contribution of this rapidly growing sector. The World Food Awards is supported by the World Foods Association which represents the interests of UK companies operating in the ethnic foodservice markets, which covers; Asian, Oriental, Afro-Caribbean, East-European, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean products.
The World Foods Association’s mission is to bring together the world food market and become the leading voice of the UK ethnic food industry for the mutual benefit of all members - from food manufacturers to importers alike. he World Food Awards were held at the Hilton Hotel, Park Lane, London, on Saturday 31st October, 2009 with performances by leading artists and a host of celebrities, sports personalities and acclaimed chefs to present the awards.
For the past 5 years, the British Curry Industry has been hosting the Annual British Curry Awards to honour the best restaurants in Britain. Indian Food is extremely popular in the UK and the awards were only a natural next step. If you are a restaurant owner, then being a winner or a nominee helps to separate you from the rest of the pack. Thiis year is a very special one for the British Curry Awards 2009. Not only have they reached their 5th year, but they will be commemorating another landmark occasion and celebrating the fact that the spice industry has received official recognition from Her Majesty The Queen. As a result, they promise that these awards will be bigger and better than ever before.
The 2009 Awards will culminate in the glittering ceremony and dinner, a major event in the spice business calendar, attended by numerous industry figures and well known celebrities. It will be held on Tuesday, 3rd November, for the first time at Battersea Evolution, London's most dynamic dining and events space. As always, a panel of judges, hand-picked for their expertise, impartiality and respect within the industry, will deliberate all categories, paying particular attention to entries that highlight how they surpassed objectives set out in the judging brief, while also providing concise testimonials and strong supporting material.
Backed by the Spice Business magazine, firmly established as the industry’s leading publication, the Awards reach out to a worldwide audience of millions through TV, radio, newspaper and magazine coverage. With a new venue, and 'royal' approval, this is the year to enter the Event Awards.
Ashton’s Indian Ocean restaurant beat another world record this week as part of this year’s Tameside Food Festival.
The Indian Ocean team cooked 640 naan breads in one hour, obliterating the target number of 400, set by the Guinness Book of Records. The feat was achieved by a team of five chefs using traditional tandoor ovens under the watchful eye of specialist chef, Akram Jat. The temperature inside a tandoor reaches up to 400C meaning the team really had to keep their cool.
The two official judges were John Fellows from the Willow Wood Hospice and Mark Garner, Managing Director of the Planet Confidential Group which publishes Manchester Confidential online magazine. Harry Kelly, a veteran athletics coach from local club East Cheshire Harriers was the official time keeper and made sure everyone knew how much time was left. The evening was held to raise money for the Willow Wood Hospice, and the naan breads were donated to the Salvation Army Hostel in Manchester along with curry for 300 people. Guests were treated to the latest Punjabi and Kashmiri dishes prepared by their award winning chefs.
Nahim Aslam, owner of the Indian Ocean, said "I knew as Harry began the
last minute countdown we had not just broken the record, we had smashed
it. I am absolutely delighted that we have broken another record and
raised money for Willow Wood at the same time. Special thanks go to the
judges; John Fellows from Willow Wood, and Mark Garner from Manchester
Confidential. They really got into the spirit and helped us get the
record. It is becoming quite a tradition here!”
Ends."
*Images and Press release from Indian Ocean Restaurant
Last week, we had published an article about Anaarkali Butter Chicken which at Rs 6000 for a portion for two is probably the most expensive butter chicken in the world. One of our readers was fortunate enough to get to eat this preparation and has been kind enough to share his opinion of this marvelous creation. Enjoy!!
The world's classiest butter chicken and other gastronomic adventures- by Narendra Shenoy
On Sunday, I had The World's Classiest Butter Chicken.
This was courtesy my brother in law Ajay Sharma, who serendipitously discovered it on Facebook and was intrigued by its price. For the site says, in the most apologetic manner, that it costs Rs. 6000 per portion and very sorry but that's what it costs. They don't offer much of an explanation other than that they use fine ingredients including Evian mineral water (which tastes terrible on its own, if you ask me) and Hunt's tomato paste (which I have never heard about).
There were a few who, very rightly, ranted on the Facebook page, that they must be out of their mind to price, at Rs. 6000, something like a butter chicken, excellent specimens of which are available for Rs. 200 or less a portion.
As if in anticipation of these kind of responses, the site actually suggests two places which serve excellent butter chicken (Moti Mahal and Mughal Mahal) where the stuff is way cheaper. It's just that OUR butter chicken is Rs. 6000 per portion, they say. They don't say "period" after that sentence but you can just sense it.
Ajay, of course, gastronome that he is, promptly became their fan on Facebook and wrote them an appreciative comment. And lo, they decided to gift him a sample of their Butter Chicken - one portion flown in from Hyderabad (where it is made, and where it is sold) for his exclusive enjoyment.
I rushed to sample the stuff as soon as I heard about it, partly because of the fact that I was getting it free and partly because I was very hungry, the missus having decided basically to starve me, over the last few weeks, with egg whites, celery, iceberg lettuce and other things currently banned under the Geneva convention.
At Ajay's house, I ran into the founders of Anaarkali themselves. A youngish couple, one Mr. I. B. Saxena and Ms. Padma Prasad, they had personally carried their culinary masterpiece with them. I was touched.
They were extremely reticent and seemed embarassed at all the gushing appreciation about their business spirit that Ajay and I were heaping on them. Eventually, we got them to talk a bit about themselves and found out that they cooked it themselves. Personally. No cooks, lackeys, assistant vice-presidents, nothing! Moreover, they're pretty successful businesspeople in everyday life, worth many doubloons and in no n eed for the moolah they must be earning from this venture, if indeed they earn any. Amazing!
Anyway I'll cut a long story short and say that the butter chicken was awesome. Superb. Excellent. Definitely the best butter chicken in the world!
Ok, I'm probably not the world's leading authority on butter chicken, my earlier experience of it having been the "Lalit" butter chicken of Goregaon West. Lalit, a fine restaurant in my opinion, interprets "butter chicken" as "butter 50%, chicken 50%". This makes it yummy but unidimensional. Anarkali's version, on the other hand, is a lot more sophisticated. It has many nuances of flavour, with ingredients like saffron and olives finding their way into the plot.
Comparing "Anaarkali" to "Lalit" is not fair. It's a bit like comparing Laurence Olivier to Akshay Kumar. But like all bourgeois, I could not but ask myself the inevitable commercial question "Is it worth Rupees Six thousand"? The answer, dear reader, is a resounding "yes"! Provided, of course, that it is somebody else's Rupees Six Thousand.
No, I'm being mean there. I would pay 6000 for this butter chicken. It would have to be an occassion, though. The chairmanship of the Federal Reserve, perhaps. Or appointment to the casting department of some prominent bollywood production house.
Something befitting the Classiest Butter Chicken in the world.
Whats the most expensive Butter Chicken you have had? Well, we happened to stumble on the most expensive Butter Chicken-called Anaarkali. Anaarkali is currently available in Hyderabad, India. The makers of Anaarkali call it the classiest Butter Chicken on earth. Probably classiest and costliest would be more apt.
Well, how expensive is it? It costs Rs 6,000 (approx US$150) for a portion for two. What makes it so expensive, read more to find out.
The makers of Anaarkali say that it took them 8 years to perfect the recipe and the recipe uses only the finest ingredients available such as
Lurpak Unsalted Butter
Dabur Real Honey
Hunt's Tomato Paste
Taj Mahal Saffron and
Godrej's Real Chicken
They also use fresh hand picked vegetables for their recipe. They also employ a 40 point quality process to make sure that the Butter Chicken is of the highest quality. Butter Chicken is also viewed as being unhealthy and fattening but the makers of Anaarkali have taken added care to ensure that its healthy as well. 1 serving is about 420 calories. At these prices, its not like you are going to eat this every day so I probably would not worry if its not terribly unhealthy anyway.
How does one order Anaarkali Butter Chicken? Well, for starters, its available only in Hyderabad. You can go to their website http://www.anaarkali.in and order online. They need at least 24 hours advance notice.
Well, would you pay Rs 6,000 for some great Butter Chicken. We know someone who did taste it and we will have their review soon.
Have you wondered, "Where does the word tandoori come from"? or have you tried making Tandoori chicken or Naan at ome and wondered, "Why does it not taste like it does in the restaurant?. The reason is because the restaurants would prepare the tandoori items and various breads in a tandoor. The tandoor is currently a very important fixture in many Indian restaurants around the world. The word tandoori is the adjective meaning "pertaining to the tandoor" and is used to describe a dish cooked in a tandoor.
A tandoor is a cylindrical clay oven used in cooking and baking. The
tandoor is used for cooking in Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the
Transcaucasus, the Balkans, the Middle East, Central Asia as well as
India and Bangladesh. The heat for a tandoor was traditionally
generated by a charcoal fire or wood fire, burning within the tandoor
itself, thus exposing the food to both live-fire, radiant heat cooking,
and hot-air, convection cooking. Temperatures in a tandoor can
approach 480°C (900°F), and it is common for tandoor ovens to remain
lit for long periods of time to maintain the high cooking temperature.
Some modern day tandoors use electricity or gas instead of charcoal.
The tandoor is used for cooking certain types of Afghan, Pakistani and Indian, foods such as tandoori chicken,chicken tikka and bread varieties like tandoori roti and naan. The tandoor is basically used to cook meat while Hindus and Sikhs of India are mostly vegeatarian so it was popularised during Muslim reign in South Asia. It is thought to have travelled to Central Asia and the Middle East along with the Roma people, who originated amongst the Thar Desert tribes.
The tandoor is also known by other names -
In India, the tandoor is also known by the name of bhatti. The Bhatti tribe of the Thar Desert of northwestern India and eastern Pakistan developed the Bhatti in their desert abode, and thus it gained the name.
In Armenia, It is known as a tonir which is a widely used method of cooking barbecue and lavash bread.
In Georgia it is called a tone and is used for bread and kebab.
In the images below, you can see the chef cooking some kababs in the tandoor and also you can see him bake the Naan bread in the oven. The dough is kneaded and then the dough is stuck to the walls of the Tandoor where it gets baked to for the Naan.
Sanjeev Kapoor is one of India's most popular chefs and author. This book is the first in the series called "Khana Khazana: Celebration
of Indian Cookery" which has been planned in order to familiarize food
lovers with long forgotten regional cuisines of India. These recipes
will open the doors to the unexplored range of recipes that had been
relegated to the archives.
A lot of painstaking research has gone into collecting these recipes.
Each state and region included in this book has its own cuisine and
local flavour. In this book the author introduces a variety of dishes that
have been perfected by our ancestors. At the same time care has been
taken to ensure that the ingredients used are easily available and if
not, a substitute has been suggested. Chettinad Fried Chicken, Kombdi
Wada, Chingri Malai Curry, Rayalseema Pesarettu, Kolhapuri Pandhra
Rassa, Kesari Rajbhog, Khajoori Shahi Tukra are just a glimpse of the
fabulous tongue tickling recipes you will find between the two covers
of this book. They will not only bring in India's diversity into your
home kitchens but also help you to satiate the best of gourmet palates.
If you are new to Indian Cooking then your journey to learning how to cook Indian food may be a little simpler if you could see it visually. This section of the website has a number of videos of some of the most popular Indian dishes like Chicken Makhni, Chiken Tikka, Alu Gobi. We will be constantly adding new videos to this site as we come across them. All of the videos are from partner sites that have approved these videos for use on this site.
If you own an Indian Restaurant, an Indian Grocery Store or a blog
related to Indian food, you are entitled to your own free listing on
this website. Think of this as a free ad for you. You have the
following options for registering your site
1. Registered Listing - If you register on this site, you can submit your entries, add images and make changes all on your own.
2. Unregistered Listing - You can submit your listing but you cannot edit it.
3.
Claim Your Site - If you site or business is already listed, you can
claim your site. Once you place a claim for your site, our
administrator will get back to you within 48 hours and you can then own
the listing.
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