Summer Indulgence-Mango Cheesecake and a fun competition between team KFB and Crossindia

Pic courtesy : Swarnendu De

KolkataFood Bloggers recently had a competition of its kind with Crossindia team which happens to be my husbands dream project. The idea was to get together and have fun over food which is a common passion of both the teams. Team Crossindia has developed this cooking challenges on a monthly basis as their team building and bonding exercise. 
On a scorching May afternoon we all met for a memorable day of fun, food and interaction. The competition had 3 segments of serving for about 20 people with a starter, a main dish and a dessert by both the teams. 
Loads of planning, hard work and dedication went into the competition and some fabulous dishes were churned out by both teams. 
For starters team KFB presented an innovative dish named Vodka Prawn Croquettes which had a unique filling and an outer covering. This was served with a tamarind based relish. 

And team Crossindia presented a classic dish with an amazing presentation called Devilled Crab where crab meat and mushrooms were mixed with a rich white sauce and cheese toppings and was served in crab shells itself. 

The main dish from KFB was a family recipe of Bangladeshi Roast Chicken adorned with boiled eggs and served with pulao which was devoured in no time. 

Team Crossindia served a classic Thai dish called Pla Manao where steamed Bhetki fish was served with a thai sauce flavoured with thai herbs, lemons and palm sugar.

Finally the dessert section had a Summer special in Mango Cheesecake presented by team KFB which had three layers of goodness-a biscuit layer, a mango flavoured cheesecake layer topped with a fresh mango jelly layer garnished with fresh fruits. 

Team Crossindia served and won all hearts with a Thai dessert called Tap Tim Samsee which is coconut cream flavoured with pandana leaves and served with chilled and coloured water chestnuts.  

For each course of meal, people were requested to vote for their favourite dish. Team Crossindia won hearts and votes with their splendid dishes. Team KFB lost by marginal votes but went back with a memorable day. 
Here are some pics of the fun we all had. 
Pic courtsey : Swarnendu De

Dart fun

Chit chats 

Team KFB

Team Crossindia

Hop on to the recipe of the dessert fit for these summers

Ingredients : Yields about 8 individual servings

Biscuit layer : 

• 6-8 digestive biscuits 
• 3-4 tbsp melted butter

Cheesecake : 

• 1 block of Philadelphia cream cheese, room temperature 
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup mango pulp, strained (requires about 2 mangoes)
• 1 tbsp gelatin
• 1/4 cup hot water
• 100 gms whipped cream

Mango jelly layer : 

• 1 cup mango pulp
• 1 tbsp gelatin
• 1/4 cup hot water

Procedure : 

Biscuit layer :

Crush biscuits fine. 

Add melted butter and mix well. 

If the mixture starts clumping together, it is ready to be pressed onto the base of the serving glass. If not, add more butter. 

Refrigerate.

Cheesecake layer :

In a bowl whip the cream cheese well. 

Add sugar and mix.

Add mango pulp.

Dissolve gelatin in hot water and allow it cool a little bit. 

Add to the cream cheese mixture and mix well.

Gently fold in whipped cream.

Spoon the mixture in the serving glasses and refrigerate for an hour.

Mango jelly layer : 

Dissolve gelatin in hot water and allow to cool little bit.

Mix with the mango pulp and pour on top of the serving glasses.

Serve chilled with some fruits as garnish.

Notes : 

• Replace cream cheese with equal quantity of paneer and hung curd. Blend well in a mixer to get a smooth consistency. 
• Experiment with other flavours like strawberry, blueberry or lemon.

Sending this recipe to KFB's ongoing event Summer related recipes :  

Happy Cheese-caking

Amrita

Whacky Waffles

I can resist anything but temptation-Oscar Wilde

The above quotation cannot be truer when it came to the wildest 'Wacky Waffles' combos of irresistible shades that cools you off even by the very looks of it amidst the scorching summer. For the first time in Kolkata, like a breadth of fresh air in the middle of a food storm, Wacky Waffles has geared up to offer the folks here a divine indulgence which is a completely new experience altogether. 

The journey of Wacky Waffles started at he Kolkata Christmas Carnival in 2014. The outrageous response from the food adorable people here in the Carnival made buddies Navleen Sawhney and Kashifa Asif turn an experiment into a full swing waffle dedicated joint.

The waffles comes in many delicious and scrumptious assortments and combination that promises to bring the authentic taste of Brussles to the streets of Kolkata. 

Located beside the Brand Factory Mall on Lee Road Wacky Waffles offers fourteen varieties of waffles including 17 sweet and 3 savories options and is one of its kind in he cities. 

Beside amazing range of waffles Wacky Waffles also provides delicious shakes and drinks to go along and light bite options like French Fries, Chilli Garlic Potatoes, steamed corn etc.

"Waffles are the street food of Belgium and hence we thought it would be apt for us to start a waffle place with this kind of setup as this will allow us easy expansion and help us to build a franchisee network without much complications. We do plan to come up with more flavours comprising of seasonal fresh fruits and exotic toppings. The people of Kolkata have been very supportive and we do hope to continue serving fresh and delicious waffles to the food lovers" said Kashifa Asif and Navleen Shawney, Partners, Wacky Waffles. 

The kiosk also provides convenient in car service as you would pull along the easily available parking slots beside it, specially at night, for an easy drive in, refresh and drive out experience. 

I for sure would be making a bee line much often to relish the delights that Wacky Waffle has to offer.

Happy Waffling

Vishal & Amrita Tupper

Groupon Dining Vouchers and the Buffet at the Waterside Cafe Hyatt, Kolkata

Section of the Dessert Spread at the Waterside Cafe Hyatt, Kolkata

Choics from the Continental Section at The Waterside Cafe, Hyatt Kolkata

Our ability to choose is one significant characteristics that separates us Humans from other species. Choosing the irresistible offer for a meal at Rs 999/- from Groupon, as against Rs. 1971/- otherwise, for a fabulous buffet at the Waterside Cafe, Hyatt Regency Kolkata was easy. However, choosing from the widest array of cuisines and dishes on their buffet spread was harder than I imagined. In fact, after surveying the spread that had the range of dishes from cuisines like Continental, Middle eastern, Indian, Chinese coupled with two live kitchens for Indian and Italian and a mesmerizing range of desserts which were as comprehensive as the rest of the spreads, I had to take a strategic time out in order to choose even before the start of the very first helping.

Indian Selection at the Waterside Cafe, Hyatt Kolkata

Beside co blogging with my wonderful wife, Amrita, I also have the added benefit of having her by my side to simplify matters that look too complicated, specially when it comes to food. So we decided to start from the range of salads and then move on to Middle Eastern Cuisine and then sign off from a selection of desserts. 

Section of Salad Spread at the Waterside Cafe Hyatt, Kolkata

Part of the Mediterranean Spread at the Waterside Cafe Hyatt, Kolkata

Much appreciation to Groupon for this opportunity. 

Groupon India

Groupon is a global leader of local commerce and it’s the right place for you to buy just about anything, anytime, anywhere. By leveraging the company’s global relationships and scale, Groupon offers consumers a vast marketplace of unbeatable deals all over the world. Groupon makes the whole online experience irresistible for its consumers by offering the best deals on local services, travel, and products. In domestic services, F&B and Wellness are the main categories and they form the biggest category on the site. The local services include: F&B, Wellness, Spa, Salon etc. out of these F&B coupons dominate, but the split varies from city to city.

Quality is a key focus for Groupon and merchants are the most crucial part of their business. The daily deals site, believes that it is the quality of deals that can make or break business, and ensure repeat purchase. Despite there being a huge demand for services in Tier 2 and 3 cities, Groupon is currently present in only 12 and not 50 cities due to the lack of quality merchants.

Groupon works with top brands, such as Hyatt, Taj, Hilton, & Radisson to name a few across the industry to offer great deals to customers. They also ensure that the merchants get benefitted with the promotions, by helping them gain prospective customers. Also, by bringing quality merchants on board, the aim is to give customers a guaranteed quality in the services that they avail.

Groupon is redefining how traditional small businesses attract, retain, and interact with customers by providing merchants with a suite of products and services, including customizable deal campaigns, credit card payment processing capabilities, and point-of-sale solutions that help businesses grow and operate more effectively.

Check out the deals here : www.groupon.co.in

Happy Groupon-ing
Vishal & Amrita