Sunday Sparkling Lunch, Aromas,Kenilworth Hotel and their Hilsa Festival "Oh d-ilish-ous"

Kolkata Food Blogger had the opportunity to be invited for the Sunday Sparkling Lunch which co incided with the ongoing Hilsa Festival at the Kenilworth Hotel. Going through their in-house promotions called as Sunday Sparkling Lunch. Listing below are some of the highlights.

 Tantalizing lunch every Sunday from 12:30 – 3:30pm.

Buffet lunch in a medley of World Cuisine from Continental / Oriental and Classic Indian Spreads

Menu Matrix that contain an elaborate spreads of Cold Cuts, Salads , Healthy Counter, Gourmet selection of French & Italian Cheese, Home – made bread creation, Lebanese displays of dips, scrumptious spreads of 15 delicacies, Ethnic Indian Sweet tooths and Enticing home made bakery items.

As much as the Durga Pujas the whole of Bengal every year eagerly looks forward to the Hilsa Festival. The Hilsa Fish is a delicacy and is harvested during monsoon when they come on the deltas to breed.

Beside other dishes smoked Hilsa and Hilsa Biryani seemed to win people's heart. Chef Khemraj Bhatt and Sombit Ghoshal also led me through the brunch programme that Kenilworth Hotel has where they have tried to craft a fusion to blend the major cuisines.

Happy Sparkling Lunch-ing

Vishal Tupper

 Sparkled Menu is priced at Rs 849 plus taxes (Lavish Buffet along with one glass of Sparkling Wine / Beers/ Soft Beverage/ Mocktails)

Unlimited offer is priced at Rs 1250 plus taxes ( Lavish Buffet along with unlimited Sparkling Wine / Beers/ Soft Beverage / Mocktails)

Kids Buffet is priced at Rs 499 plus taxes ( Lavish buffet along with unlimited soft beverages /mocktail) (offer applied to kids age from 6 year-12 year old)

Vishal with chef  Khemraj Bhatt and Sombit Ghoshal

Orange Juice

Fish in yellow Thai Curry

Pad Thai Noodles and Five spiced vegetables with fried cashew nuts and tofu

Charoli Murg Tikka

Dahi ke Kebab and Sabz Jhal frezi

Vegetable biryani

Walnut feta filled chicken parcels

Smoked Hilsa

Sorse Ilish

Ilish Biryani

Tiranga Bread Roll

My daughter, Vaanya, had Independence day celebrations at her Montessori today. All parents were informed a couple of days back to dress up their child in colours that represent the National flag. I must confess that I have been the laziest Mom around in terms of showing enthusiasm for such events by running around arranging dresses. This time I wanted to be different and decided to charge up my lazy self and go the market to buy a piece of cloth for her dress. Thankfully my Mom is an expert in stitching and happily agreed (with much more enthusiasm than mine) to stitch a frock for Vaanya. With one day left for the celebrations at school, me and my mom were discussing the buttons and ribbons to be added and so finally the frock was ready. A beautiful dress with the colours of the flag for my most beautiful daughter who was equally happy to wear it to school and participate in singing 'Nanha Munha Raahi hoon'. 

  This year while scratching my head on a recipe for Independence day celebration, I strictly avoided going the sweet way. I was reminded of these bread rolls that my mom made often. Grated cucumber, carrots and crumbled paneer with crushed peanuts make way into these crisp bread rolls. The combination is amazing and I can eat 2-3 of them in one go. Since the filling has all the colours of the flag, I nudged my Mom to help me make this recipe for the blog. 

 Ingredients : Makes 12 bread rolls

• 12 slices of white sandwich bread, edges trimmed
• 2 medium sized carrots
• 2 medium sized cucumbers
• 100 gms paneer
• 50 gms roasted peanuts
• salt and black pepper powder to taste
• Vegetable oil for deep frying

Procedure : 

Peel and grate carrots and cucumbers. 

Take a little butter in a pan and saute the carrots and cucumbers till the water from the cucumber dries up. 

Crumble the paneer and add. Mix well.

Add salt and black pepper to taste and mix well.

Remove from heat and allow to cool. 

Crush the roasted peanuts and add to the mixture. 

Heat oil in a deep pan for frying. 

Take a bowl with water wide enough to dip the bread slice.

Take one bread slice at a time, dip it for a brief second and squeeze out the water by pressing between your palms. 

Take a portion of the carrot-cucumber-paneer mixture and put in the middle of the bread slice.

With your hands shape the bread in a roll and keep aside. Repeat the same with all bread slices.

Once all are ready, deep fry them till golden brown.

Enjoy them with your cup of tea or relish with some tamarind chutney or ketchup. 

Happy Independence day

Amrita

Kheer Poode(पूड़े) -celebrating Teeyan(तीयां)

Saawan is the month of rains and like all other months in the Indian calendar, we have festivities attached to this month too. In Punjab this month is celebrated with 'Teeyan (तीयां) da Mela' which means fair of daughters. It is a festival where daughters go back to their maternal house and celebrate the festivity. In the olden days when women when not allowed to visit their parents house often, the women would spend this entire month with their parents and get pampered. 

Women get together and participate in the traditional dance called 'Gidda' with lots of 'Boliyans' or traditional Punjabi songs. Another mainstay of Teeyan are the swings which in earlier days used to be usually around a water body. In olden days it was a way out for women from their normal routine life and indulge in some fun and frolic.

And as far as festivity is concerned how can food be left behind. Teeyan is associated with Kheer Poode (पूड़े) , halwa, malpua and gulguley. In olden days, sugar was used scarcely and instead Gur (Jaggery) was used in everything. Traditionally the Poode are made with gur and the kheer is kept bland i.e. sans sugar which justifies the otherwise weird combination. However nowadays, poode are relished with some kind of Achaar esp Raw mango(Kaccha aam) achaar. The poode are actually crepe like and are made with whole wheat flour or Atta. The sugar or gur is dissolved in the batter and then these are spread thin on a tava with some oil to make them crisp. 

These recipes though extremely simple and humble are getting lost because the festivities are getting lost. Thankfully some families are keeping the festival of Teeyan alive so that the coming generations get a glimpse of the way things were back then. 

Ingredients for Poode : makes 7-8

• 1 cup whole wheat flour/atta
• 1/4 cup sugar (powdered)
• 1/4 tsp saunf powder
• water as required to make the batter

Procedure : 

Take atta in a bowl and mix sugar in it. Add the saunf powder and make a crepe or dosa like batter with water. 

Allow it to rest for 30-40 minutes.

Take a flat pan or tava and spread oil or ghee on it.

Pour little batter and spread it to a round.

Add more oil and crisp it from both sides.

Ingredients for kheer : 

• 1 1/2 litre milk, preferably full cream
• 1/4 cup rice, soaked in water
• chopped assorted nuts like cashews, almonds, pista and raisins
• elaichi powder

Procedure : 

Take milk in a heavy bottomed vessel and let it boil. Add the soaked and drained rice and let the milk reduce.

Keep stirring in between and let the rice cook in the milk. 

When the milk reduces to half the original quantity, take off from heat and cool it.

Add elaichi powder and assorted nuts(optional)

You may add sugar to your kheer if you do not want to pair it with the poode. 

Happy 'Teeyan da mela'

Amrita

6 Ballygunge Place Hilsa Festival

The rain of Hilsa continued in the city with the launch of the much awaited Hilsa Festival-Ilisher Swadkahon at 6 Ballygunge Place, Salt Lake, a very popular Bengali Restaurant in Kolkata that has made a reputation of winning many hearts, and as a member of team Kolkata Food Bloggers I was thrilled to have the opportunity to cover the same.

Apart from the signature regional dishes like Sarso Ilish, Doi Sorse Ilish, etc the restaurant has introduced some very innovative dishes like Ilish e pur bhara lonka bhaja, Smoked Ilish Cutlet, Tomato Posto Ilish, Anaras Hilsa, Begun Bharta Ilish, Chalkumro Ilish Bhaja, etc.

Chef Sushanta Sengupta of 6 Ballygunge Place said that they were happy to have the Hilsa Festival this time even though the harvest of Hilsa seems to be lesser this year. The people here look forward to the Hilsa Festival from the Restaurant.

The Hilsa Festival is on till 16th August, 2015.

Happy Hilsa-ing

Vishal Tupper

With Chef

Chef Sushanta Sengupta

Doi Sorse Ilish

Ilish Mache Pur diye lonka bhaja

Smoked Ilish Cutlet

Chalkumro Ilish Bhaja

Anaras Ilish

Tomato Posto Ilish

Begun Bharta Ilish

Ilish Dimer Dhoka

Ilish Thali

Swiss Day Celebration at Swissotel, Kolkata

Team KFB with the staff of Swissotel and GM Marco Saxer

The Swiss National Day, set on 1st August is dedicated to celebrate the Swiss Confederacy and like every year Swissotel Kolkata geared itself to celebrate their national day in a grand style.

With the Kolkata Food Bloggers we had the pleasure to be invited by Swissotel Kolkata  to be a part of the celebration which inspires blend of passion and perfectionism.

Looming over an attention grabbing design of one of the Swissotel catalog, which had various characters signifying Indian art, like the old hieroglyphs in a circular pattern, had the Swiss cross at the epicenter of it all. The Executive Chef of Swissotel, Chef Pranay Singh, explained it all so beautifully that though the people at Swissotel are mostly Indian but at heart they they are very much Swiss, representing the character,warmth, love and passion for perfection; and that is exactly what the Swissotel in Kolkata, in my opinion, truly represents. 

Having the privilege of the General Manager of Swissotel, Mr Marco Saxer, joining us over the spread, featuring the popular dishes from seven Cantons of Switzerland like Fribourg, Bern, Valais, Basel, Appenzell, Ticino and Zurich, thereby launching the new Swiss menu at Cafe Swiss, the conversation soon moved from the latest European & English football transfer news to the Swiss flag itself. The history, significance and meaning of the very simple but attractive white cross and red background flag.

The history says that the Federal Charter between three Alpine Cantons, Schwyz, Uri & Nidwalden, was signed in 1291 where they swore an oath of confederation, which today is much referred as the foundation of Switzerland. Slowly other cantons also joined in and Switzerland was formed. However each cantons still had their own flags to represent their region as the actual reason of the confederation was not to build a nation but to defend itself against the Habsburg Count. 

The larger the old confederacy became, the more they had a problem with inconsistently clothed troops that were hardly able to recognize their allies on the battlefield. In descriptions of the battle of Laupen (1339), white stripes forming crosses are mentioned for the first time as a joint recognition sign of confederate troops. In the middle of the 15th century, the white cross was integrated into the flags of the member states of the confederacy. Originally, the cross reached to the edge of the banner also in Switzerland, like in the Scandinavian flags.  (Source : http://history-switzerland.geschichte-schweiz.ch).

The story over the dinner table moved from the flag to the legendary Peter and Heidi, who were there to serve us so courteously. 

To honour the foundation of the Swiss Confederacy a number of Swiss dishes have been set in the menu which includes some of the old favourites and as well as some new ones. Saffron Risotto with Swiss cheese and asparagus, Gamberi All'Aglio, Zuri Geschnetzeltes, Swiss Cheese Fondue, Ticino Melting Bites, Doppia Raviolo riempito con mozzarella di bufala e parmigiano salsa, etc are on the offering.

The dessert ranges from the traditional Schoggi Berg,Fonduta Di Cioccolato (Swiss chocolate fondue), Aargau Carrot Cake and much more. 

What swept us away was a simple dessert called Apple Roesti which was served with vanilla ice cream. Crispy chunks of bread with apple pieces sauteed in French butter with a beautiful hint of cinnamon was truly a winner dessert for all of us.  

Mr Marco Saxer, General Manager, Swissotel Kolkata Neotia Vista said, " Swiss cuIsine is a mixture of many regional influences and the chefs will be giving a true taste of tradition. Each canton features a unique cuisine which is seamlessly blended into Swissness. It is a great opportunity for the guests to feast on an impressive array of truly authentic Swiss delicacies created by the hotel's culinary team. Whichever delicacies the guests chooses is guaranteed to be one to remember."

For Amrita and me it truly was a treat to remember, filled with tales, stories, history amazing food and amazing team at the Swissotel.

Swiss cheese and bread soup

Swiss sensation

Chicken cordon bleu

Melted  Margarita

Mushroom vol au vent

Roesti

Garlic seared prawns

Saffron Rissotto

Swiss cheese Fondue

Apple Roesti

Nut tart

Happy Swiss Day!

Vishal & Amrita Tupper

PS :

The buffet dinner will be available only at Cafe Swiss Swissotel Kolkata Neotia Vista from 1900 hrs to 2300 hrs from 1st to 3rd August 2015 priced at 1800 plus taxes per person.

Special Swiss Sunday Brunch will be held on 2nd August 2015 priced at 1800 plus taxes per person.

There will also be special Swiss Buffet every Wednesday for the entire month of August 2015.

There is also a special kids cooking class on 2nd August, 2015

One can place reservations through email to kolkata.cafeswiss@swissotel.com or by phone at (+91) 9007020144