Rubi's Grill - A promising new menu

Rubi's Grill - A promising new menu

Here is good news for people. There was once a time when the area around Calcutta's Park Street was the hub of Western cuisine. Well things have changed and today no matter where you are in this City of Joy delightful Western cuisine is at your well not fingertips but menu.

I was invited to attend the relaunch of Rubi's Grill located at Dover Lane. Now its a tiny little place with a menu which looks good enough to woo you.

Amid the laughter, clicking etc I was delighted with their Mozzarella sticks which were cheesy inside with a delightful coating. The Buffalo wings are a perfect accompaniment to chit chatting and with an energetic chef an impressive menu this tiny little place does indeed seem very promising.

Please note that I have not tasted any other dish from this promising joint and so I cannot recommend the dishes  but your culinary journey is mostly all about exploring new places. Here is a look at their Impressive spread, courtesy Zomato 

Coffee Chocolate Chiffon Cake

Coffee Chocolate Chiffon Cake 

Sometimes one has crazy needs. Lets take my last 1 month. I was overworked and tired and somehow craved chocolates at all hours. So after a simple chocolate gateau I wanted to make a cake with whatever ingredients there was at home and as it turns out it meant, I had coffee, chocolate, refined oil and flour. And I challenged myself to make a cake where I do not go out to buy any new ingredient.

Now I did read about this one cake where you use oil instead of butter and it is neither a batter cake nor a foam cake but somewhere in-between. So with a holiday to enjoy, 10 hours of work this is what was in store.

Now to be honest after having made it I would not really recommend this with my whole heart because I would rather recommend a foam cake but then again this can be made as a good option for layered cakes.

So here is what I made , a coffee chiffon layered cake with ganache frosting

Recipe adapted from SmittenKitchen

Serves 6

1/4th cup oil
6 eggs separated
6 tbsp strongly brewed coffee
170gm all purpose flour sifted
200gm castor sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp Lemon juice

For the coffee syrup

1 cup of strongly brewed coffee
1 cup sugar

For the ganache

125gm chocolate
200ml cream

Prepare a 6 inch to 7 inch baking pan by buttering it and using flour all over the buttered pan.

Start by sifting the all purpose flour and baking powder together. Now separate the eggs and beat the egg whites after adding the lemon juice till it forms stiff peaks.

Preheat oven to 180 C. Now sift the flour and baking powder for a second time and whisk the egg yolks with sugar till you form a ribbon like consistency and add the coffee and beat well and then slowly add the oil and fold in the flour. lastly fold in the egg whites and bake at preheated oven at 180 C for 20 minutes to 30 minutes.

Once baked let the cakes cool down completely. While the cake is cooling down make your coffee syrup by boiling the coffee and sugar till it forms a thin syrup. Let it cool down completely. For the ganache simply chop the chocolate as finely as possible and then heat the cream on a double boiler and then add chopped chocolate and mix well till it forms a silky smooth consistency.

 Once the cake has cooled down completely cut them in half so that you have flour tyres. Now use a brush to soak each tyre of cake with coffee syrup and be generous with the syrup. Spread the ganache and then use it to cover the entire cake.

Enjoy it after chilling it well.

Tips

1. The Lemon juice added to egg whites makes sure that the stiff peaks do not collapse once you have whisked the egg whites to stiff peaks 
2. Once you have heated the cream on double boiler and added the chopped chocolates keep stirring and if you find a few lumps put the bowl on the double boiler and it will yield the smooth consistency you are looking for, 

Aloor Dom (bengali Dum Aloo)

Aloor Dom (Bengali Dum Aloo) 

The truth is the same dish is prepared in a number of ways across this vast country called. India. Take the simple Dum Aloo. A dry potato gravy which is served across North India. Now Bengal is in the East of India but when The Nawab of Awadh relocated to our lovely state he brought along with him the delightful cuisine that is Awadhi cuisine and so the influence of North India can be seen in many of the dishes from this Lush green state yet it has its own distinct taste. For one, our dishes are much more subtle . Now to be fair even among families in Bengal there are different recipes followed for a dish . So while my paternal Grandmother puts in curry leaves , my Mimi (the perfect culinary wizardess) from whom I learnt msot of my Bengali dishes keeps it rather traditional using her mother's recipe.

Now Mimi herself is a young 65 year old and this recipe handed down from her mother would definitely make it a heritage one. Taste as we all know is subjective. So for some this might seem too subtle while some would find it delightful. I myself quite obviously love it enough to make it my one and only Bengali Aloor Dom. What gives this its distinct taste is the absence of onions and garlic.

Serves 3 to 4

6 medium sized Potatoes halved

The wet spices

Ginger chili cumin paste (made with 5 green chilies , 1 inch ginger and 1/2 tsp cumin seeds)
5 tbsp Tomato paste (I required 1 large tomato)
1/4th cup whisked curd

The dry spices

Pinch of asafoetida aka hing
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 green cardamom given a light pounding
1 inch cinnamon stick
2 cloves
Salt as per taste
Pinch of turmeric
1 tsp red chili powder
1 cup water (200ml)

1/4th cup mustard oil for frying the potatoes
2 tbsp ghee

For garnishing

2 tbsp finely chopped fresh coriander
2 slit green chilies

Start by making the green chili ginger cumin paste, then make your tomato paste and parboil the potatoes with their skin on. Once cool enough to handle peel them and heat the mustard oil and fry the potatoes on medium heat till they turn a lovely golden colour but do not brown them. Drain them and keep aside. You will be left with the mustard oil which you can use for other dishes. Now heat the ghee and add the asafoetida and then add the cumin seeds and when they splutter immediately add the ginger green chili cumin paste and saute for 2 minutes and add the tomato paste and saute till the oil separates and add the whisked curd and keep stirring on high heat. This constant stirring prevents the curd from splitting. Now add the water and bring to a boil stirring constantly and then simmer on low heat for 5 minutes and add the potatoes and bring to a boil again and then simmer for another 10 minutes to 15 minutes till you get a thick gravy. Now many people like ti completely dry but since we usually pair Aloor Dom with Luchi ( a special fried puffed up flatbread from Bengal)  , it helps to have a bit of gravy to dip the puffed up fried poori in. And then again taste is subjective. So do what would best suit you. Garnish and serve

Enjoy

Dum Biryani

Dum Biryani 

 Biryani is a cousin of the middle eastern Pilaf and the variety of Biryani which is available across South Asia (India , Pakistan and Bangladesh) is sure to amaze any culinary enthusiast. If you have grown up with a particular type of Biryani you will always have that funny little story when you tasted the other variety. So I grew up in Calcutta, the City of Joy, the City of Culture but also the city where the Nawab of Awadh had settled at one point of time bringing with him the glorious cuisine of Awadh. While there had to be certain economic changes made in the kitchen with the Nawab's glorious days behind him the basic of the recipe remains the same and so I grew up knowing the Calcuttan Biryani which is very similar to the Awadhi Biryani except that it has the additional potatoes and in some cases you can even add eggs but then again I was never really that fond of Biryani from the eateries in Calcutta because of the high amount of ittar and kewra water and oil . Well originally it is supposed to be ghee all the way but one of the reasons why Biryani is very famous in Calcutta is its affordable price and as we all know 'you can't eat your cake and have it too'. Nevertheless it was not until I had the tasted the Lucknowi Biryani available in only one eatery of Calcutta that I fell in love with Biryani all over again. Well I say all over again because while I was growing up I might not have liked the Biryani from eateries but that was only because come every Sunday and my father would make Biryani at home. It was of course not oily and had the balanced proportion of flavoured water which suited my taste buds and this Lucknowi Biryani brought back strong memories.

Now I am particularly fond of Awadhi cuisine but getting hold of recipes from Awadhi cuisine can prove to be quite difficult. While a few are found all over the place one should understand that more that the ingredients its the numerous methods of cooking that makes this cuisine so exquisite.

Well anyway going back to that time when I had Biryani from Bombay I was well completely taken aback and to be fair very disappointed . You see Biryani from Bombay has its own distinct taste which is completely different from your Awadhi Biryani with a curry like taste and it took me a while to appreciate it.

Anyway one fine day I decided to make Dum Pakki Biryani. Dum is a method of cooking on slow fire and the method I used for cooking was Dum Pukht where a curtain of dough seals the container and the food gets cooked in the steam. Now Biryani can not only be distinguished on the basis of the region it is from but also on whether it is made in the Pakki style or Kachchi style. While for the Kachchi style the meat is marinated and cooked together with the rice . The Pakki style Biryani cooks the rice and meat to an almost done state and then cooks them together.

Now here is the problem with 'authentic style' and why I am not calling my Biryani the Awadhi Biryani. I have never been to Lucknow and as I have said before there are not too many sources which gives you the recipe for Awadhi food and so I consulted two articles from the Times of India, recipes from two blogs and as much information as I could gather to make it as close to the original one as I can and here is why. While blogs are a great source for recipes some blogs are misleading. So I liked this blog very much and the blog talked a lot about certain details of what makes Awadhi Biryani so special and all the points to be kept in mind and then there are certain ingredients used which I immediately know makes it not  quite Awadhi and so I consult another blog and the article from The Times of India  and this is what I gather.

1. The distinct flavour of the Biryani is imparted by cooking the rice in the 'Yakhni' or the meat stock
2. The spices used are always kept whole and not ground.
3. The rice grains are fluffy and the sign of a good Biryani is the grains remaining separate
4. No oil of any kind should be used. Its cooked all the way in the mutton fat and ghee.       
5. The quality of the Biryani will greatly depend on the quality of mutton. In India goat meat is also categorized under mutton and for this it is always goat meat that is used. 

Anyway  coming back to the recipe this one can easily feed 3 to 4

What you need :- 

500gm   of good quality meat with bones

2 cups of Basmati rice (cups which can hold 250ml of water) / Approximately 360gm of rice 

For the Yakhni 

7 cups of water (cups which hold 250ml of liquid)

1 black cardamom

5 green cardamom

5 cloves

1 inch cinnamon

4 blades of Mace

1 tbsp chopped ginger

1 tbsp chopped garlic
1 large bay leaf
1 tsp Shah Jeera
3/4th tsp black peppercorn
Salt as per taste (I required 1 heaped tsp)

To sear the meat

4 tbsp ghee
4 tbsp whisked curd
4 tbsp whole milk
1 black cardamom
3 green cardamom
4 to 5 cloves
1 inch cinnamon
2 blades of mace
1/4th tsp Nutmeg
Salt as per taste (I required 1/2 tsp)
Pinch of turmeric
20 black peppercorn
1 tsp chili powder

For layering

2 pinches of saffron soaked in 8 tbsp water
2 tsp rose water
7 tsp ghee

For the Birista (Optional) Usually not a part of the Awadhi Biryani
Birista means golden fried onions . If you desire to use it
Take 2 medium sized onions and chop them as finely as possible
50gm ghee for frying

For the seal to cover the mouth of your pot . Now this will largely depend on how big the mouth of the pot is :-

I needed 2 cups of flour
1 cup of water

Once the seal was opened 

Start by soaking the rice and then go no to make the Yakhni . Put all the spices for the yakhni in a muslin cloth and tie it up. Place everything together and bring to a boil and then simmer on low heat for 1.5 hours. Take out the pieces of meat after 20 minutes when its done to a 3/4th stage.

After 1.5 hours start by searing the mat. Heat the ghee and add the meat and saute on high heat for 1 minute and add the spices and reduce to low heat and add whisked curd and milk and keep stirring till you get a dry consistency.

Bring 4 cups of broth to a boil and gently add the rice. Be careful because Basmati rice is very delicate and the soaking will make it more vulnerable to breaking. Bring to a boil and then lower heat and cover and cook for 3 minutes to 5 minutes till its 70% done. It should be soft yet not soft enough to eat. Once done drain the rice and spread it out if possible and leave it under the fan for 5 minutes.

Now for the final Dum take your pot and grease it with ghee. I needed about 2 tsp and then add a layer of rice and some meat and 2 tsp ghee , 1/2 tsp rosewater and some soaked saffron. Add another layer of rice and meat and repeat it with the ghee , rosewater and soaked saffron. And a third layer of rice and meat and then roll out the dough and seal the pot and place it over the lowest possible flame with a lid on top of the rolled out dough and a heavy object on top. I used a stone mortar and pestle and leave it to get Dum Pukht for the next 20 minutes to 30 minutes and switch off the gas stove.

She or  he who shall peel off that layer of dough once done will be hot with a delicious aroma which is intoxicating indeed. Serve with raita.

P.S. In case you want to use the Birista fry the onions on low heat till its golden brown and use it for layering but traditional Awadhi Biryani does not use it.