Wide-Light eating…

Its been a while since I have ranted endlessly about food.. Not that it implies the death of my hunger or my love for food or anything. it just implies lack of leisure time to sit and write about food or to analyze it, although my craving for good food (strictly non-vegggetarrian) is by no means dead.

But the festive season aroused in me once again the urge to eat and eat more the delectable food, the auras of which float all around, during this time of the year. The results of this are multiple- this post is one, the 2kg (assumed) increase in my weight might be the second…

Im generally going to focus on two main things here. These are- my recent running after a particular dish stint, and the second one is a little unusual, since  it involves no eating-OUT joints. It is rather the eat-IN place. if you havent guessed it till now, im going to talk about home cooked food. Lets say festival special, and amazingly delicious, and unhealthy and fattening Punjabi Ghar KA khana.

Not unusually, I have been yearning for Chinese food since the last couple of weeks. This time for a specific dish- the “Moon faa rice”. I first partook of this wonderful bowl of long, fine grain rice at Lotus Pond (NFC), and fell in love with it right after my first spoonful. The dish is a bowl of brown colored, tangy rice, tossed lightly in oyster sauce and mixed with shredded pieces of chicken or sea food. Needless to mention, the dish is absolutely delightful.

And this thing I had been obsessed with of late. I would think about it sitting in office, want it everyday, dream about it, and taste it in the most unlikely situations. So much so that I almost started hoping that the next Diwali mela I go to will have a huge and sophisticated spread of Chinese food with an enormous pot of Moon faa rice. (also known as Moon- Fun rice at some places).

The craving took me to various places- Zen, ITC Maurya, Intercontinental Eros, and finally to our staple Chinese restaurant- Bercos. Disappointingly, Zen had nothing like moon faa rice on their menu, although the visit introduced me to the best “five-spice chicken” ever tasted. Its a must try. Soft, just the right gravy and beautifully made. ITC too didnt have “that” on its list (again the fish shrimps in sesame sauce were oh my god!, and the lamb strips were nice and crispy). Same with Intercontinental Eros. (I have to review the Empress of China, the Chinese eatery of these people, it will come up next).

Finally, to Bercos i headed, where i knew the dish to be listed. We sat, we looked and ordered. It came and we ate. I was glad to fill my fork with my topmost desire of the moment, but it still didn’t completely satiate me. I still remembered Lotus Pond and wondered how they managed such a wonder. However, the quota was fulfilled, and i had to be content with that…The conclusion however is,that Moon Fun rice is a great dish, and Lotus Pond serves it best. (they no longer have it in print on their menu, but they still serve it on demand, and there is no compromise on quality, whatsoever)

Coming to the second section- The Diwali Home food special. Diwali- Lights and holidays and rangolies and food. Lights in the skies, lights in the eyes, lights in homes…and the smell of food. Deep fried pakoras and samosas, barfies and lavish dinners. whoa! i have eaten so much in these four days. Im going to list out my favorites.

Lets start with the sweets. My masi, made some excellent coconut barfi this time. It was grinded coconut, rolled in sugar syrup and coated with Gurr. Not to forget the dry fruits embedded in the surface. It was somewhat similar to the traditional hindu sweet on the Janamashtmi Day. But it was different in the sense, that it was deliberately made not so dry and hard. Also masi mixed some two three kinds of coconuts together and only half grinded them. They were sort of shredded coconuts, if Im allowed to say that. For all those, who have heard of this thing for the first time, im also one of you guys. You can only hope for such experimentalist’s in your families, or coax your mums to try this out. It was just delicious. My only regret is that we wiped it off way too soon.

Now, i will come to the lavish dinner spreads at the various places that the festive season made me visit. (and there were quite a lot). No festival is complete unless you have had some servings of Chhole-Chawal, Rajma-Chawal, shahi paneer, and dal makhani. Well, then I guess my festival was more than complete, because i had all of them. For all the ladies cooking Rajma Chawal, esp to the three, all of those served me my favorite Indian dish this weekend, i have an advice (actually I have more than one)- For heavens sake, add more curry to your Rajma. And for heavens sake, boil them properly, and please, DO NOT try to make Rajma without the aid of Onions. They so lose their taste. And please dont put solid chunks of tomatoes, ginger etc in your rajma. Kindly use a mixer/grinder. Now you see, how sensitive im regarding rajma Chawal.

Coming to shahi-paneer. the gravy

Ricey Options!

the Punjabi Platter!

has to be red and thick. Otherwise it just wont appeal to the Punjabi taste buds. And a tinge of sweetness is important. Very much so. I wont comment on Dal-makhani, everyone can do a different and a decent job with it. (me included). Those who make it a point to make samosas for Diwali, I suggest them to abstain, for the sake of their fat husbands and obese children’s health.

And final accolades for my neighborhood aunty. Who actually made jalebis herself for the Diwali Pooja Prasaad. And whats more, she made “low fat jalebis”.(seriously!). Although im yet to ascertain how, Im glad that she is extremely concerned about her husband’s rising blood sugar levels. And amidst all the binging drive, she perhaps saved me from a couple of extra kilos, by sending to my place, a plate full of “low-sugar jalebis”.

P.S- im hungry and wish for Diwali to return!