Hilsa festival at The Gateway Hotel, Kolkata

Hilsa or Ilish is a fish that food connoisseurs esp in Bengal die for. Monsoon being the best time of the year to relish on the magic of a Hilsa, The Gateway Hotel, Kolkata have come up with the most awaited Hilsa Festival which is on from 10th July to 26th July, 2015. 

We were invited as part of Kolkata Food Bloggers to ride on this gastronomical ride and enjoy the delicate flavours of Ilish. Executive chef Asish Roy was very kind to guide us through the dishes on list for the festival and informed us of the carefully selected recipes that belong to West Bengal and Bangladesh. 

We were served with a Mango lassi kind of preparation which is from Bangladesh and is called Mango Labang. This was soon followed by a Thali of some carefully selected dishes showcasing the specialties of the ongoing festival. The starter called Ilish Pithe, another Bangladesh specialty, was an amazing way to get introduced to the wonders of the Hilsa. Thereon we savoured on many dishes like Doi Ilish, Ilish Tok-jhal, Ilish Mishtikumror jhol, Ilish Pulao etc. A special mention goes to the amazing dish called Smoked Hilsa where the chef has used western flavours by using fillet of boneless Hilsa smoked with jasmine rice, honey and a dash of pommery.

The festival is on for Lunch-12.30hrs-1500hrs and Dinner- 1930 hrs-2300hrs

Meal for two-INR 1500 aprox, inclusive of taxes(The price is based only on main course items)

Enjoy glimpses of the lip-smacking Hilsa delicacies

Mango Labang

Ilish Pithe

Smoked Hilsa

Ilish Mistikumror Jhol

Narkol diye Ilisher Paturi (Boneless)

Ilish Pulao

Doi Ilish

The review Thali

The entire spread

Amrita & Vishal

Paranthe wali Gali at Swissotel, Kolkata

Swissotel Kolkata at their Durbari Indian Restaurant innovated with yet another novel idea " Paranthe Wali Gali" where they take you through a gastronomical journey reminiscent of Old Delhi. Paranthe, for many homes in India, is  comfort food. It is so versatile that the combinations and articulation of them can be endless. The Durbari at Swissotel has gone a step further to bring the intricate techniques on the platter that truly represents the very comfort food of India in a way that becomes a celebration to enjoy.

  

The malabari paratha is a Kerala specialty of layered refined flour bread served with vegetable stew. With a subtle hint of the coconut fragrance, it was loved by all and was counted as the favourite. 

The Chicken tikka cheese parantha stands by its name with whole wheat flour bread filled with spicy chopped chicken tikka and cheese. 

The Warqi paratha mesmerized everyone with its softness yet crispy and flaky texture. This is a speciality of the city of Nawabs, Lucknow, and is considered as one of the difficult parathas to make in terms of the technicalities that is involved with it. It truly won hearts of many.

Soya paratha came in as a healthy choice with whole wheat flour bread filled with spicy soya bean. 

The Mughlai paratha is a Kolkata speciality of bread cooked with egg and was a meal in itself with its hearty filling.

The menu boasts of more ranges of parathas like the Gosht keema paratha, mixed veg paratha, palak paratha, paneer paratha, ajwain aloo paratha etc. All parathas are served with aloo bhaji, pickle, curd and laccha onion.

The parathas were surprisingly very less oily, soft and with amazing flavours. All of us at Kolkata Food Bloggers had a terrific time in enjoying the combination of the dramatic monsoon and the indulgence of warm parathas. 

The paratha mania is on at Swissotel till the 28th  June, 2015 at Durbari.

Happy Paratha-ing 

Vishal & Amrita

Tarte Tatin

Vacations in Allahabad are the best time to bake for me. I get all the time and luxury to dig out recipes that have been piling in my note books and try them out. 

Daring Bakers challenge for the month of March was suggested by a very dear member Korena who in the past has suggested some beautiful cakes. Tarte tatin as she describes is a classic French dessert which is a distant cousin of sorts to the famous Apple pie. Tarte Tatin is basically an upside down pastry where apples are first caramelized in sugar in a saucepan, covered with a rough puff pastry and then baked. Usually the same oven proof saucepan is used for both the times i.e. caramelizing and baking. 

Like almost all French pastries, this one has an interesting story too which says that tart gets its name after the Tatin sisters who used to run a hotel and who accidentally forgot to put the bottom crust of an apple pie. The guests loved it so much that it became the hotel's signature dish.

I, as usual, reduced the quantity for my experiment and came out with 2 mini pies. Try and use a firm apple for this recipe, preferably the green Granny Smith variety. 

Recipe adapted from : Korena in the kitchen

Ingredients : serves 2

Rough Puff Pastry 

• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 30 gms cold butter
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 tsp powdered sugar
• cold water for kneading

Combine flour, salt and sugar in a bowl.

Cut butter in small cubes and add to the flour.

Rub butter with flour till all is mixed.

Visible bits of butter is fine.

Add water little by little and knead to a dough.

Lightly flour your work surface and roll the dough into a rough rectangle.

Fold bottom third up into the middle and fold the top third down, like folding a letter. This is one fold.

Turn the dough a quarter so that open edge faces you and roll again to a rough rectangle.

Fold again. This is second fold.

Repeat 3 more times making it 5 folds in total.

After the last fold, roll dough into a square and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight.

Filling : 

• 1 apple (I used a green apple)
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice 
• 20 gms butter
• 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• pinch of salt

Peel apple, remove core and cut in slices. 

Place apple slices in a bowl and add lemon juice and 2 tbsp sugar. 

Mix well and set aside for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 190 degree Celsius. 

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat and sprinkle 1/4 cup sugar. 

Stir until sugar melts and becomes pale smooth caramel.

Remove from heat.

Add the apple slices to the caramel taking care to discard the juice that come out from apples. 

Cook for few minutes till the apple slices get covered in the caramel.

Place the apple slices in a 3" round tart shell.

Roll out the pastry into a rough circle 4" round and lay it over the filling, tucking in the edges at the sides of the tart shell. 

Bake for 20-25 minutes or till the pastry is golden brown.

Serve with a dollop of ice cream or whipped cream and with a drizzle of some caramel sauce.

Happy rich caramel and puff pastry Indulging

Amrita

Shuktara Cakes

The boys(image taken from http://shuktara.org)

An invite to attend new launch of products in French Patisserie was enough to make me jump on the opportunity and reach Park mansions where the occasion was held last Friday. Intrigued by the name and the mission, I read up on their website and was amazed at the story. 

Shuktara is a charity that provides care in a home environment to children and adults with disabilities who have been orphaned or abandoned. 

Shuktara Cakes is the brainchild of Alain Cojean, who runs a chain of restaurants in Paris called Cojean and a Foundation called Nourrir, Aimer, Donner (Eat, Love, Give). Alain was so deeply touched that he decided to give vocational training by starting a French Patisserie training centre. A team of boys were taught the intricacies of French Patisserie by Fabien Rouillard, former Head Executive Pastry Chef at Fauchon, a gourmet food company in Paris and Shuktara Cakes was officially launched on 10th March, 2013. 

Shuktara cakes serve you with the best quality of French products like Madelienes, Financiers and cakes.Their range of fresh baked cakes include Chocolate cake, Marble cake, Fruit cake, Orange  & poppyseed cake and Cinnamon & Walnut cake. 

Financiers, as Lora Chantebel, business consultant, told us uses traditional French recipe made of almond powder, flour, eggs and sugar, shaped like a ingot, and are perfect for tea time or breakfast. She also enlightened us on the history which says that a French pastry chef called Lasne invented them to delight financials without getting their hands dirty. 

Madeleines, a small cake with shell shape is created in assortment of colours by team Shuktara Cakes. 

Friday saw the launch of new flavours in Madeleines - Chocochip, Chocolate and Orange.

With their bright packaging and amazing aunthentic flavours, Shuktara Cakes are really a treat. Shuktara cakes take orders and deliver high quality products and can be contacted here : http://shuktara.org

Enjoy the glimpses of the evening that was enriched with the lovely smell of French Patisserie. 

Chocolate cake

Orange and Poppyseed cake

The attractive packaging of Madeleines

Financiers-my personal favourite and their best seller

The new flavours in Madeleines

Amrita

Mango Marvels-a workshop at Afraa Deli, Kolkata

Mango is truly the king of fruits. This gorgeous golden full-of-nectar fruit is awaited every Summer with baited breaths by most of us. I am no exception and so the mere name of Mango and a workshop with it made me jump on my feet and nag the not-such-a-mango loving husband to drive us to Afraa Deli, Salt lake on 12th of this month. The fact that I was just back from a horridly late train journey did not deter my love for the fruit.

Mango Marvels-the workshop was further special to us as it was the first of its kind in association with Kolkata Food Bloggers. A simple quiz was held on KFB page and the winners were invited to attend the workshop and get other goodies. 

We had the privilege to have Afraa Deli's Bakery and pastry chef Debopom Sinha guide us through the intricacies of some amazing and exotic desserts like Chocolate Mango Lava Cake, Red velvety Mango Mousse cake, Mango Pannacota with coconut jelly. His easy instructions and live demonstrations of minute details enriched us with recipes of some yummy mango delights. Their executive chef Dibyendu Ghosh was kind enough to sit through the entire session and help us learn from the one of its kind workshop.

The happy participants got to taste the unique Mango desserts in the end which are available at Afraa Deli's outlet for their ongoing Mango festival. Do make the most of them while the season lasts. 

Till then enjoy some glimpses of the fun we had:

Pastry chef Debopom Sinha

KFBian Urmi Ghosh

Hands on workshop

Mango Planter's Punch

Chocolate Mango Lava cake

Red Velvety Mango Mousse Cake and Mango Pannacota with Coconut jelly