The Ant Blog

We had the perfect Sunday lunch here. As soon as we entered, we were greeted with smiling faces, and ushered to a table. We went around to check the buffet spread and were convinced about trying it out.  To begin with we went to the Sushi counter. The sushis on display looked very interesting and we tried all of them. Perfectly balanced flavors and the quality was superlative. I believe we must have tried at least a couple of rounds of Sushi of all kinds, to our hearts content.  Next we tried the South Asian counters, which had the Indonesian, Singaporean flavors. There was a lot of prawns and fresh ingredients in these counters. Also there was the live counter, from which we hardly opted for anything. We next walked to the Indian counter to find chaats, knick knacks, and some tandoor starters, fish cutlets. Main course had a mix of North and South Indian options. The  Indian food was the right amount of spicy. We enjoyed ...

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...

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...

These babies go as perfect accompaniments as party starters. They are light, crispy, delicious and hardly any sweat. As finger foods, they will taste great and the canapes look great don’t they. Ingredients for Canapes of Lemon Pickled Prawn Tortilla Prawns- med sized 250 g Sweet Lime pickle Ginger Yogurt Tortilla                                            Canapes of Lemon pickled Prawn Tortilla Blend this to get a smooth paste. Ensure that the lemon pickle is the sweet version. If it is the salt based pickle, then you would need to balance the taste of the blended mixture by adjusting the flavor as per taste. Marinate the prawns in this mixture for about 20 mins. Place these on the griddle with a dash of oil, for a couple of minutes. Do not overcook the prawns.  Place these on  tortillas over small cubes of cheddar ...

My effort over the previous Sunday was very rewarding. It is by far one of the simplest things to make, and yet has the flavor to blow one’s socket! The prawns need to be fresh. I had gone down to the local market and picked up some fresh sea food that day.  To start off, the prawns need to be de-shelled. It is ok to take some extra time, but ensure that these babies are de-veined properly, else they may give you some serious sort of food poisoning. Clean the prawns well. Next, marinate them with  Lemon juice of half a lemon ,Lemon zest of the same, Red chili powder, Salt, Ginger and Garlic paste and keep this aside for half hour.                                 Coconut-crusted Beer dipped Prawns In a mixing bowl, take 1/2 cup Flour, salt,egg, ground peppercorns, baking powder and mix this with a fork. To this pour beer and mix the batter till the consistency is semi-liquid. If...