The Ant Blog

The week gone by was one of the most hectic weeks for us in recent times. Needless to say that when Friday arrived, both my husband and I were breathing a sigh of relief so to say! But to add to this, I was pleasantly surprised to return home on Friday and find him busy in the kitchen making one of his favorite dishes. He is very comfortable around the kitchen and he enjoys cooking occasionally, unlike many Indian men.  So Mac and Cheese takes about half hour to bring together and can be a great comfort food for a Friday night.  Ingredients for Mac n Cheese: 2 cups of elbow Macaroni 3 Tbsp of Butter 1/4 cup of Flour 1/2 tsp Salt 1/2 tsp crushed black pepper 1/2 tsp dried Thyme 1/2 tsp dried Rosemary 1 and 1/2 cup Milk 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese Spring onion- 4 stems, chopped roughly Garlic- 4-5 cloves, roughly chopped Green Bell pepper or Capsicum- 1 chopped Hot dogs- 3, cut up  First boil the macaroni according to package instructions. In ...

Pumpkin Blossoms Fried or  Kumro  Ful Bhaja  is a very popular dish among Bengali s. My mum-in law made them at home one day, when we were visiting. It is a simple dish, but is crunchy and delicious! Serving Size: 3-4 Cooking Time: 20 mins Ingredients for  Pumpkin Blossoms Fried- Pumpkin flower 10-12 Bengal Gram Flour or Besan- 1 cup Nigella Seeds- 1 tsp Salt- as per palate Baking Powder- 1 Tbsp Red Chili Powder- 1 tsp Water- to make a thick batter Procedure for Pumpkin Blossoms Fried- Take the good pieces of flower. Remove the stigma, drain off the water. Make a paste of  Bengal gram flour, nigella seeds, salt, red chili powder, baking powder and water. Dip the flowers in the above paste and deep fry it in a skillet. Serving Suggestions: Serve it hot.

I was over the moon, during our last visit to Haagen Daz ’s. A new store has opened up close to where I stay. And it was like an impromptu plan to visit the store after dinner.     At Haagen Daz's True to all Haagen Daz’s outlet, it looked like a plush restaurant, but I was also pleasantly surprised with the polite staff. We seated ourselves and ordered what looked like a hell lot of desserts to be had after a good dinner. But, I wasn’t ready to give in to my capacity for food, when there was some awesome ice cream to be had! :) We ordered Passion Berry Moment, and Cookie crunch with Praline sundae. So, now the ‘over the moon’ moment arrived, when I had the Cookie Crunch, which I hadn’t tried before. My fave by far was the Passion Berry Moment, which is also a stunning treat…Then came our happy selfie moment, after downing our sundaes :) It was a great way to vent out some of our weekday blues..was totally worth it!           ...

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 ...

I am quite a regular at this place…erm by that I mean I visit them once in a few weeks to a month. Well, to be honest I am visiting this place so frequently as a common friend has been hosting some fun events at this joint. Every time I have been here, I have come across warm and pleasant staff always ready to help. I frequent both the Lower Parel and the Kurla Marketcity locations.  The drinks, especially the cocktails are very good. Also they have a good range in the beer section. The food menu quite nicely compliments the place. Most of everything that I have ever tried here has been prepared nicely according to me. The pics have been taken from my latest trip, which included Draught Beer. We had lots of it. Along with a Basket of Chicken Popcorn to begin with. For the mains we ordered Original Italian Spaghetti with Prawns, and The Great Irish Fish & Chips. The dips that came along with all the fried food were quite nice.  By the time they cleared our table...

I have baked this many a times, and it has been a family favorite. A luscious chocolate cake is a great holiday treat. The lovely baking aroma of the rich chocolate cake draws my loved ones into the kitchen and makes it truly special.   Ingredients for Traditional Chocolate Cake Flour- 1 and 1/2 cup Sugar- 1 cup Baking powder- 1 tsp Baking soda- 1/2 tsp Vanilla essence- 2 tsp Sour cream- 2/3 cup Butter- 3/4 cup Cocoa- 1/3 cup Eggs- 2 Transfer the entire contents in a food processor and blitz together. Alternatively, mix the dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately and then mix them together and mix them until they all blend together.  Pour the contents into a tin (buttered and floured beforehand) and bake for 35-40 mins at 350 deg F or 180 deg C. Check with a knife, if done it will be clean after dipping in the cake. *Pre-heat oven at 350 deg F or 180 deg C before baking. For the icing , I double heated the dark chocolate 175...

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...