The Ant Blog

I have grown up in a family which loves seafood, and more so I have grown up in Goa. So the smell of the sea calls out to me. However, growing up I do not remember seeing my mother cook crabs at home. So I  thought of breaking the tradition by cooking some at home and sharing it with mom. I live in Mumbai now, for over a decade, but this is also the coastal belt and the produce are a lot similar. So I borrowed this recipe from a dear friend, a few weeks back and tried my hands on it.                                                    Crab Masala cooked Maharashtrian style It looks gorgeous, but is quite a simple recipe. Ingredients for Crab Masala: Crabs- Cleaned, 4-5 medium sized Garlic- 10 cloves, crushed and chopped roughly Bay leaf- 2 Asefoetida- 1/4 teaspoon Onions- 2 large Tomato- 1 large Chili Powder- 3 teaspoons Turmeric Powde...

  It had been a while since we had visited TGIfridays .   What with all the new eateries in the city, there is always a new destination to experiment food in. And even the thought of doing so is exciting. However, we have had many a happy memories associated with this place. We reached here  quite late, by when most of the restaurants were closing for lunch. It was relatively empty as the peak hours were over. I ordered a November Seabreeze. For starters we ordered Loaded Potato skins topped with bacon. The dish was at it’s greasy best (but of course it was all fried!) but I let myself enjoy this rude boy lunch. The bacon gave the potatoes a nice salty aftertaste.                                          Loaded Potato Skins topped with Bacon at TGiFridays Although we wanted to try a few more with a side orders, I knew I wouldn’t have space for my m...

For a weeknight, which was bordering on boring, I found a very simple and inspiring recipe to perk my mood up. I rummaged my freezer, and found legs of Chicken. The dish comes out really well with breasts though, but I gave it a shot with what I had. This dish is inspired by a recipe of the very famous and one of my fav Chefs, Jamie Oliver! So, I slit the flesh, and rubbed the chicken with cloves of garlic, sea salt, black pepper, and thyme. Also squeezed a lemon and rubbed everything together. After heating the griddle, added butter and placed the legs to cook on grill. After a good 15 -20 mins, turn it over. Note here, that since this chicken has bones in it, it will take a longer time to cook. However, chicken breasts would cook faster.                                                                  Chicken legs ...

This dish happened to us, on a weekday night! I say so because we were very happily surprised with the outcome of my little experiment on that evening. With some left over minced Chicken and about 200 g of Prawns in my freezer, I could make nothing out of them. Then I thought of blending the two together and balancing the flavors, and it did turn out to be quite palatable.  So to begin with, I threw in the Chicken and Prawns in the blender, with 1 chili, 1/2 inch of ginger, 1 teaspoon of garlic, for the binding 1 slice of bread (cut into pieces) and some salt. For some added color and heat one can also add some Red chili powder (optional). Within seconds, this blitz was ready. I removed the contents in a mixing bowl and added 1 egg, and mixed the ingredients together. This mixture needs to be slightly firm and form lumps, in the form of balls or mini cakes. The Minced Chicken n Prawn mini cakes in all their glory! Ingredients for  Minced Chicken n Prawn mini...

We headed to a nearby Chinese eatery over a weekday, because we were too tired with the day and just needed to unwind somewhere. We headed to this age old restaurant, which I have seen perpetually standing at one corner of the Powai plaza area in Mumbai. We braved in to find out what it had to offer. The menu card has the regular Chinese fare that most Indian-Chinese places have to offer. I wanted to have a light dinner, so we ordered a Crab meat soup. To our surprise, the soup was very palatable, and flavorful. In fact, the soup gave me confidence to order for the rest of the food here. Crab meat Soup at China House Next we ordered the Crispy Spinach and Chicken, which was also quite good. They are priced very competitively to the quantity they serve here. Crispy Spinach n Chicken   I wanted a light dinner and I had it. However, my husband wanted to experiment further with main course. So he also ordered the China House King prawns. Unfortunately, we w...

Japanese cuisine is slowly turning into a rage in Mumbai.. what with the Summers swinging in and the ‘living healthy’ statement being thrown at us from every possible direction one has turned to Japanese cuisine which is known for its delectable, and yet very healthy eating options.The new place to be in town is Aoi..which has the complete Japanese fare (minus the Sake ). Yes loyalists, we need that to be added to the menu here to complete our experience. The food however scores a full marks, I am stating right at the start, that is how nice and fresh the food is here..the staff are very pleasing and hospitable, so once you enter this place you are bound to feel that you are in good hands. To begin with, we ordered a Urumaki Lox smoked salmon, cream cheese and cucumber (8 pc in a plate) along with the accompaniments of Wasabi and Soy, which completed the experience.  Urumaki Lox smoked salmon with cream cheese and cucumber at Aoi To go with this, we ordered a ...

This visit occurred about 2 weeks back, when i went out for dinner with my girlfriends. After dinner, we had strolled into this place. And seeing the display and choices, it was really a difficult task at hand. Yet in the end,   Bailey’s English cream  had won unanimously for us! So , I can tell you only about that flavor. It was  balanced and mild, I really loved it. I am quite sure that I would have loved some of the other  flavors too sadly there was no room for them, namely the  Chocolate To Die For  or the  Ginger Lemon with Apricot Topping. Not only did we not like the ice-cream, we also had a happy posing session for pics, and a very obliging staff helped us out there :) In short we had a good time! This places gets a go!                                 Bailey's English cream at Ice cream Works              ...

This is another one of those signature recipe dishes that my mother in law cooks, she had prepared this during my last visit to Kolkata. Over time as I have come to know her, did I understand her love for cooking. She would just about make any new dish in her kitchen if she found it interesting and she still does. She tells me that when she cooks, she forgets her worldly worries :) This particular dish looks vibrant and so like the Italian flag..that I included the word Tricolor in the name there. This kebab will suit the ‘Western’ palate as it goes slightly easy on the heat, but sure tastes brilliant nonetheless.  Chicken Makhmali Kebab ready to be eaten Ingredients ( Tricolor Chicken Makhmali Kebab) Chicken- medium sized, boneless 12-15 pieces Curd- 3 heaped Tbsp Salt- 1 tsp Roasted & Ground spices - 1 tsp (see below) Cashew paste- 4-5 tsp Ginger paste- 1/2 tsp Garlic paste- 1 tsp Onion paste- of 1 medium sized onion Lemon juice- of 1 lemon Vegetable oi...

Kebabs have always been one of my favorites..and Seekh kebab almost tops that list. Last month I got this special recipe passed down to me by my mum in law, well she is a great home cook to say the least :)  I must say that I was overwhelmed with the final product :D It’s a reasonably simple recipe for such a delicious kebab and the taste is absolutely restaurant quality, I thought that I must share it..and here is my take on it-                                  Chicken Seekh Kebab ready to be eaten! Ingredients for Chicken Seekh Kebab : Minced chicken- 250 g Salt- 1 and 1/2 tsp or as per palate Roasted ground spices- 3-4 tsp Ginger paste- 2 tsp Garlic paste- 3 and 1/2 tsp Curd- 5 Tbsp Lemon juice- Juice of 1/2 a lemon Red chili paste- 1/3 tsp Green chili- 1 and half, finely chopped Coriander leaves- finely chopped, few sprigs Cumin powder- 1/2 tsp Sattu or Roasted...

Most of the days I am really tired after a long day at work, so I just warm the left overs of the previous day and we have our dinner. But sometimes through the week, I feel the need to visit my kitchen and make something nice and kickback with a drink just to make the weekdays a little bearable. Well this one, I made on such a night. Ingredients for Grilled Chicken: Place these in a mortar and pestle/ grinder to make a fine powder Black pepper- 1Tbsp Paprika/ Red chili powder- 1Tbsp Chipotle pepper- 1/2 tsp Garam masala- 1Tbsp Cumin seeds- 2 tsp Oregano- 2 tsp Salt- 1 and 1/4 tsp Garlic cloves- 2 medium sized Transfer this in a zip-loc bag, add  2 Tbsp of Lemon juice, and 2 Tbsp of Sour cream or Yogurt.                                           Spicy Indian inspired Grilled chicken  Place the  Chicken breasts (450 g ) into this ba...

This is one of the most delightful easy cook dishes. Very simple yet really delicious. During my last visit home, I spent some time in the kitchen while my Mom quickly cooked these up.So thought of sharing it here!  To get the flavor of the fish, one should use really fresh fillets of fish. Marinate this in garlic, ginger paste, lemon juice and salt for about 3-4 hours. Take vegetable oil in a wok, and let it heat up to boil, then dip the fillets into a bowl of beaten eggs, and then dust on both sides with bread crumbs. Gently lower into hot oil. They will  turn brown, make sure they do not turn dark.  Ingredients for Fried fish fillet : For marinating Fish fillets- 15 pieces Lemon juice- of 1 lemon Garlic paste- 2 and 1/2 Tbsp Ginger paste- 1 Tbsp  Salt- as per palate For frying Egg- 2 beaten Bread crumbs Vegetable oil Fish fillets in marination                         ...