Friday 28 June 2013

Microwave Cookie

The moment I made the emergency brownie so well in the microwave, I was curious to see if I can do anything else the same way. I googled and found that there were plenty of recipes. So what see here today is the cookie (single portion) made in my Samsung microwave.

I've always loved cookies and when Cookieman opened a store in Madras, I used to buy them by the tins (not to mention the tins were keepers :D)

Of course the microwave cookie is not going to be as crusty as the oven baked cookie, but this will do. To make just one piece, to satisfy my temporary craving, this one minute cookie is just about enough.

Ingredients:

Butter - 1 tbsp
Sugar - 2.5 tsp (The original recipe used 1 tsp brown sugar + 1.5 tsp regular sugar)
All purpose flour - 2 tbsp
Salt - 1 pinch
Baking powder - 1 pinch
Choc chips
Egg - 1 tsp
Vanilla essence - just a drop

Recipe:

Soften the butter and mix the sugar in the cup, until light & fluffy. Add the drop of vanilla essence and mix well. Next add the egg. Add the flour, salt, baking powder and mix well. Finally add the chocolate chips. Dollop this to the center of the plate and microwave on high for 40 seconds. Increase by 5 secs if you feel it's not done. :-)

Recipe adapted from prudentbaby.com


And with the remaining egg, I added salt, some herbs and pepper, poured it into a microwave dish and made a quick omelette :-)


Coming up... more microwave recipes



Friday 21 June 2013

Toss up - Ramapuram, Chennai

For those of us having our workplaces / residences on the Bangalore highway, er.. almost, Toss up is definitely a decent place to spend those afternoons when you want decent meal outside of the crappy cafeterias and overcrowded food courts.

The place is neatly done and boasts of a turquoise / teal (my favorite color) atmosphere. It can seat about 20 pax and when we entered at 1245 this hot June afternoon, the place was crowded with a team celebrating a birthday. The waiters were bustling around and we were directed to our seats.

We immediately decided on the combo meals - 2 non veg and 1 veg (yes that's me). They are priced at INR 199 for the non veg and INR 169 for the veg (taxes extra). The choice is plenty.

My veg combo today had a rich creamy tomato soup, 2 pieces of taro nest, a medium sized bowl of Singapore noodles and a triple chocolate mousse. The non veg combo had chicken soup, one spring roll, a portion of phuket fish, pasta alfredo, aachi kari stroganoff, vanilla ice cream dipped in chocolate and the triple chocolate mousse.

The soup was rich and creamy; I'd have preferred it slightly spicy but that was just a preference. The soup was hot and tasted delicious. The taro nest was nothing like a nest, instead was fried completely and topped with mayo. The Singapore noodles had plenty vegetables and was filling. The only downside was that it was terribly oily. I wish they'd go a little easy on the oil. The desserts weren't anything to rave about. They were okayish.

My non vegetarian friends' feedback - The pasta alfredo was great, says B; the aachi kari stroganoff didn't make G happy; The soup was super spicy and the phuket fish was good too says G.

We went there not expecting much and were reasonably happy with our meal.

Price: Reasonable
Service: Prompt
Will I go there again: Yes (especially to try Chennai Chillin' which is their beverages and cold stone ice cream joint right next to Toss up)

Toss up is on Mount Poonamallee Road, Opp DLF IT Park, Ramapuram. 

*All pics shot with B's new HTC One HTC One X

Tomato Soup

Chicken soup

Singapore Noodles - Veg

Taro Nest - Veg

Pasta Alfredo and Spring roll

Phuket Fish and Aachi kari Stroganoff

Triple chocolate mousse

Vanilla ice-cream


Tuesday 18 June 2013

Brownie in a cup - Microwaved

I realized I've not been fully utilizing the microwave. I've so far used it for just re-heating dishes and steaming vegetables and at times, making pulao. I always thought I needed an OTG to make / bake certain dishes. I am not a pro baker and my portions are going to be mostly for two. There are fundamental differences in the way a microwave and an OTG operates. If we understand this, then perhaps we can work wonders (on a smaller scale, of courseAnd I will also refrain from the heated debate - is the microwave good or bad)

I've been trying to lose weight and have been moderately successful. To celebrate a milestone I made this microwave brownie (recipe adapted from Cheryl Rajkumar's Kitchen Kemistry).

The recipe itself is fairly simple and calls for ingredients that we can normally find in our kitchen - Flour, Butter, Sugar, Cocoa Powder, Chocolate syrup. What I didn't have was chocolate chips. Instead, I used about 2 squares of grated Bourneville (dark). I also reduced the amount of sugar(and hoped it'd alleviate some of the sin.). The original recipe called for 11/2 minutes but mine cooked in a minute. The cooking time varies with each microwave, so it's recommended to start with a minute and increase as required.

I brought the cup and fork to my bed, sat down to message Cheryl and even before I could hit Send, I'd finished eating the brownie. It was delicious and a perfect dessert for that late night craving without having to spend too much time cleaning up.

The experiments with the microwave have begun!









Sunday 16 June 2013

The Baker Showcase - League of the Legends - Anniversary Special

A year since the Home Bakers Guild started; A year since my knowledge in cakes, cookies, frosting, fondants and all those terminologies expanded; A year since I made some good friends and a year since I started experimenting with small bakes.

Most of all, a year that saw oodles of talent, tremendous perseverance, some great knowledge sharing, instant brownies to elaborate wedding cakes, bouquets to theme cakes, appreciation, encouragement, record breaking likes and comments - the Guild saw it all. It's now that time of the year, the Anniversary Showcase special - The League of the Legends.

10 talented and experienced bakers come together for the largest bake sale ever. For those of you who have already been part of these events, I need say no more. For the rest, don't fret that you've missed the earlier editions. Be there on the 22nd, at Sandy's, Ganapathy Colony, Off Cenotaph Road, Chennai at 4 pm. The venue is one of my favorite places in the city - great food and a fantastic property.

I'm super proud to have been associated with this event as a blogger and volunteer ever since it all began. KP Balakumar - Thank you for the opportunity and here's wishing you the best! You've been doing a grand job and we know the amount of crazy background work it takes to set up the event and run the guild. You deserve all the success.

Here's a quick look at some of the bakers that are going to whip up a storm



Maaria Kulsum Tanveer - Adoniya

Does this lady need an introduction! An expert in theme cakes, Maaria is mighty thrilled to be part of this showcase. She has been part of many other bake sales but this is her first time with HBG and she claims she's in jitters (like we all believe that). 

Cup cakes, Ferrero Rocher cake and my favorite Espresso Cheesecake brownies and Red "Velvet" cakes are also part of this showcase. 









Karthika Shravanthi - Bakeman Begins 

The IT Pro turned future Le Cordon Bleu Pastry Chef is all set to wow us at this showcase before she heads off to learn the nuances of pastry making. 

Her last showcase was a sell out. And she plans to add healthy and gluten free bakes to her menu this time. Says Karthika "I've worked on all the feedback from the last showcase; so hopefully this one is going to be much better. I'm keeping my fingers crossed". 

Well, so are we. Good luck for the showcase and we hope to see you soon in a different avtar.







Rose Anne George - Oven 180 degrees 

The ever-smiling soft spoken Rose is famous for her French macarons. I've had the chance (the advantages of living close by) to taste her Dulce de leche cheese cake and May I say I was hooked. 

She's bringing some summer fruit flavors this time, eggless and otherwise, cheese cake platters, tarts and a lavender cake among others.

All the best Rose. I look forward to grabbing those blue macarons :-)






Divya Ninan-Eapen - Tangerine's Kitchen 

This gorgeous baker is bringing a whole load of twisted / braided / stuffed breads, not to mention the hot favorites - the choco chip cake and cream cheese cake. The vanilla bean pound cake, which I am eagerly looking forward to, is going to be on the menu. 

Mini quiches, mini cheesecakes and a little kiddie counter are going to be her specialties this time. 

Divya has her home-studio where she paints on sarees, stoles, tee shirts and the likes. You can check it out here - https://www.facebook.com/Rachel.HandpaintedFibreArt


Can't wait, Divya. All the best and see you soon



















Neha and Sapna - The sweetest thing

Sisters in arms, Neha and Sapna are participating in their first showcase. This maiden venture is going to see them bring an assortment of "sweetest" things, with the specialties being chai cup cakes and bread and butter pudding. 

They say that "the sweetest thing" is to make their customers happy! :-)

All the best girls. Bring it on.








Watch this space for the post event pictures and articles on the 22nd of this month. If you don't make it to the venue, all you can do is drool at the pictures :-)







Saturday 15 June 2013

Home Delivered - SarvSri

A few days ago I was scouting for home cooks / home delivery for my friend's parents. It was then that I stumbled upon SarvSri. I was impressed by what they were doing as also by the fact that they were close by. And this morning, I was too exhausted to cook. I'd just gotten back from Tirupathi at midnight and had no energy whatsoever. And, I made a call to SarvSri at 10 am.

Savita Gupta picked my call and I explained what I needed and if it would be possible for them to delivery a single meal for lunch. She said she'd have to check and shortly, a gentleman named Yogesh Gupta called me. I told him I needed just 1 lunch and inquired the delivery charges. He said I do not come under the delivery area and I had to explain I live right about 3 km from where they are and only my area name is different. (This conversation, incidentally, reminded me of what I was told yesterday - there's this 100 m stretch near Kanakkama Chathram, enroute Tirupathi. The left hand side of this stretch is Andhra and the right hand side is TN. You can see all wine shops on the left hand side of the road and are open past 11 pm. Weird but true). Yogesh promised he'd do his best. 

At 1230 I received a text saying the food has been dispatched. At 1245, I received the neatly packed food with a bill for 112.50. (The cost of the meal is INR 100, plus 12.5% VAT and there were no delivery charges)

The menu today was sambar, rasam, potato fry, kurma, rice, pickle, fryums, payasam, and curd rice. There was even a pack of pass pass mouth freshener. 

The sambar was good, and the extra pack of sambar is unused, sitting in the fridge. The rasam was super spicy (with lots of pepper and a bit of garlic) - totally loved it. The potato was well cooked, seasoned and spiced well. I just wondered what a kurma was doing in place of kootu (perhaps a mix up or perhaps that's how it was meant to be?) - was tasty nonetheless. I was totally bowled over by the well-seasoned smooth thachi mummu (curd rice). The payasam was a little too sweet for my liking but was good. Overall a very good Saturday meal and I am happy.

I'd just finished the hearty meal & burped when Yogesh called to check if the food was delivered on time and inquired on the taste.

Price point: Reasonable
Service: Prompt
Taste: Very good
Packing: Neat (the carton can be re-used for something else later on)
Will I order again: Most Definitely.

Sarvsri is on OMR, opp Lifeline hospital. You can call them on +919840014449 or also order via gograb.in. Their menu card is available on their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/sarvsri/




Saturday 8 June 2013

Maami's Mess - Mylapore

I've been a big fan of this place ever since my dad introduced this to me way back when. I love the kozhakattais on Fridays and Sundal on Sundays.

I was in no mood to cook today; I'd opted to eat out yet didn't want to blow a bomb.

(This was drafted last Friday)

Within 5 minutes of making the decision, I reached this small place situated in the corner of Pitchu Pillai Street, Off East Mada Street, Mylapore - Mami Tiffin Stall. The place is not so crowded, it being quite hot at 12 pm. The boys are busy making the outer shells for the kozhakattais, while some others are manning the counter for take-aways. There are a few who are hogging on the delicious food, standing at the self service counters.

My order for a full meals is priced at INR 45 (for takeaway; If you eat there, it is INR 40). The meals are already packed and ready. All you need to do is pick up a bag, pay and walk out. I was in and out of the place in under a minute.

The menu today was rice, sambar, rasam, vethakozhambu, kootu, brinjal poriyal, buttermilk, peanut coconut chutney & citron pickle. At today's vegetable prices, I assume tomato was the cheapest, because it was tomato all the way. Tomato sambar, Tomato rasam, Tomato kootu and tomato vethakozhambu (And I dislike tomatoes :-( ). With that being the only drawback, the food was tasty, simple and just enough for 1.

Value for money - Check
Delicious - Check
Quick Service - Check
Clean - Check
Repeat audience - Absolutely

And again, yesterday, I opted to eat from here. The prices have gone up - it is now INR 50 for a take away. Food delicious as usual. Less tomatoes and missing buttermilk. But hey, who's complaining! The quantity of rice was huge today and I had to save a big cup for later use.

Watch out for a contrasting post - Taj Clubhouse - coming soon!


Monday 29 April 2013

Southern Spice - Taj Coromandel

When you are invited by the Taj for a hosted dinner (as part of CFG Bloggers Showcase), there's this feeling of exhilaration, a feeling of royalty. True to that, we were treated to the maharaja virundhu. (or maharani in my case ;-) ) As we waited in the lobby for someone to escort us to the private dining area of Southern Spice, we observed that security had been beefed up. As we wondered which VIP was staying there, we saw a line of Sun Risers Hyderabad players walking across the lobby towards the elevators. Waqar Younis, Ishanth Sharma and Dale Steyn (<3) were those that I could see :-)

As we all seated around the table and made ourselves comfortable, fresh wet turkish towels placed in front of us to freshen up. This was followed by a little explanation of what was special about this meal. A glass of ginger punch marked the beginning of this elaborate dinner. A plate of munchies with 4 types of chutneys were available.

The first dish on the plate was a mini idli, an idli so adorably tiny. This was followed by a banana dosa of sorts, slightly sweet and tasted excellent with the chutneys smeared on top. For the salad, the kosmalli (Injipuli koshambri), a mixture of grated carrot, coriander and urad dal wrapped in lettuce leaves made a lovely crunch.

A tiny shot glass in white was placed to the right side of the plate and was filled with the most aromatic and tangy mysore rasam. The teeny bit of jaggery in this rasam tasted well on the palate and was not overpowering at all. The final dish of the starter course was the molagu adai.

It's now time for the main course. The group indulged in a friendly banter and conversation ranged from various types of fish and from where each fish is imported to retaining the freshness of the gravies. Chef Anand stopped by to find out if we were happy.

The gold plated plate was set with little bowls decorating the top portion of the plate. Edomame Kurma (Pookose urlai kurma), Asparagus Paruppu usili, Zucchini thenga curry (Zucchini kaara poriyal), vegetable stew (Pachakari ishtew) and Channa gravy (Kadala gassi) constituted the vegetarian sides of this menu. A south Indian touch to international vegetables - the Japanese Edomame, the Mediterranean Asparagus and the Italian Zucchini truly makes one wonder if this is how food can unite the world! The mains included a parotta, idiyappam (string hoppers) and the fluffy aappam.

In between all this, my concentration was on the brilliant yet unobtrusive veena instrumental music curated specially for Southern Spice. I was lost in some of the brilliant renditions, especially Chinnan Chiru Kiliye. The ambiance calls for a special mention - compelling paintings of the kings whose kingdoms' kitchens  were instrumental in what is part of the maharaja virundhu this evening. 

We were beginning to get stuffed. And then they announce that there's going to be more. Rice with the quintessential paruppu podi with gheeeee (er..), small onion sambar (Arachivitta Sambhar - a recipe from Chef Anand's home) and more of the mysore rasam - were delightful. And no meal is complete without the thachi mummu (the one and only curd rice). This was served with a little manathakkali vethakozhambu - totally droolworthy and if you were like me, you wouldn't mind licking your fingers even at the Taj. This food is meant to be eaten with the hands and was sure finger lickin' good.

How can I forget the curry leaf juice spiked with vodka - ha! *sheepish grin* This was one of the best desi cocktail concoctions I've ever had.

Now for the dessert - the elaneer payasam - a hand-me-down recipe from the Mammens of the MRF family was absolutely a perfect way to end the meal. Also were served a Godhi-bella ice cream (banana jaggery ice cream) and belgian chocolate mousse cake filled with lentil, jaggery and coconut (Chocolate purnam mousse). Yum's the word for the chocolate mousse cake.

At the end of it all, if you want me to summarize this dinner, I can only say - Wah Taj boliye! 

* This meal is priced INR 5000 + tax. If you'd like to pair this with an Indian wine, it's priced at 8000 + tax and upwards for international wines. If you want a simple thali, it's priced at 2000 + tax.

* This was a hosted dinner. This is part of the CFG Showcase

* Southern Spice is part of Taj Coromandel, Nungambakkam High Road, Chennai. 













Thursday 28 March 2013

Spoonbill - Exotic Street Food

2 months later, after having managed to inch closer to my weight loss target, I decided to go ahead with one of the CFG Showcases at Spoonbill, Alwarpet.

It was great to meet the bunch of naughty fellows from CFG and that was something I truly missed.

Without further ado, let me present to you Spoonbill.

Charlie owns and runs Spoonbill. It's a resto-cafe and is open from 11 am - 11 pm. A few more branches will be opened in Chennai, before Charlie ventures into other cities.

As Charlie explained the menu, the gang was super hungry and waited impatiently for the food to arrive. Afterwards, it was literally "digging in". The crepes were torn apart, the burritos butchered and the desserts were squeezed within an inch of their lives.

I cover the veg menu here. Overall I loved all the dishes (or items as Faz called them), except that it was a general opinion that the fillings were a tad salty. Perhaps we are used to less salt in our household?

The first to arrive on the table was the Piadina (OTC & Cheese), followed by mushroom crepes, corn and spinach crepes. We then moved on to the Indian menu - hara bhara kebab and palak paneer kebab. The mexican burritos had a lot of beans and not enough salsa to compensate, so the flavor was lacking. The mozarella + jalapeno empanada from the Portuguese menu was piping hot but again a tad salty.

We then dug into the Turkish falafel salad. The bread (Brötchen) that was served with the non vegetarian dishes was to die for. Slightly hard on the outside but super soft on the inside, it was THE accompaniment.

The nutella and ice cream crepes made the perfect end to the meal.

The dishes are priced Rs 110 upwards on the vegetarian front. The desserts are priced at Rs 180 upwards.

*This post is part of the CFG Showcase. 

** Spoonbill is located in TTK Road, Alwarpet, opp Samsung Showroom.














Wednesday 20 March 2013

Wordless Wednesday - Aam Sutra

This post is part of The Chennai Bloggers Club's Thirsty Thursday series initiated to keep the spirit of blogging alive and challenging.




Thursday 14 March 2013

Karadayan Nombu

A celebration of a wife's devotion and love, a remembrance of times when the husband-wife relationship was beyond sacred - the Karadayan nombu is celebrated when the masi masam ends and panguni begins (typically Mid-March). This nombu remembers the day when Savitri fought with Lord Yama to win her husband's life. As he blessed her with "dheerga sumangali bhava", he was trapped by his own words!

The married women fast on this day, and make a delicacy of black eyed peas, rice flour and jaggery (the ingredients that one would normally get when living an ascetic life). They pray to the Almighty to bless their husbands with a good life. The unmarried women undertake this fast so they are blessed with good husbands.

For those who believe in it, you fast the whole day and break the fast at the time the panguni month begins. For those who don't, enjoy the adai!

Ingredients:

Black eyed peas (karamani) - soaked overnight and boiled.
Rice flour - 1 cup + 1 cup
Jaggery - 1 cup
Salt - To taste

To season:
Mustard seeds
Oil
Channa dal
Urad dal
Curry Leaves
Green chilli - sliced finely
Asafoetida (hing / perungayam)

Recipe:

Roast the rice flour until the aroma is released. Make sure it doesn't turn black. Set aside.

Heat oil, add mustard seeds. Once it splutters, add hing, channa dal, urad dal and saute until a nice golden brown. Add chilli, curry leaves. Add 1.5 cups of water, salt and let it come to a boil. To that add 1 cup rice flour and let it cook, until it makes a nice ball and doesn't stick to the utensil. Add the black eyed pea and mix well.



Make patties out of this dough, steam in a idli cooker for 7 - 10 minutes (or more if your patty is a little thick). 



Sweet adai:

Clean the jaggery in hot water and bring it to a boil. Add the roasted rice flour and black eyed peas. Mix well and bring it to a dough like consistency (like the one for the salted variety). Make patties and steam in idli cooker for 7 - 10 minutes. 

Serve with butter! 








Thursday 7 March 2013

Tea or Coffee - Thirsty Thursday

This post is part of The Chennai Bloggers Club's Thirsty Thursday series initiated to keep the spirit of blogging alive and challenging.

Filter kaapi is of paramount importance in any tambrahm family. Even mentioning the word tea is sacrilege. Until my early teens, my fluid intake was Maltova and on rare occasions the quintessential filter kaapi. The rich aroma of fresh brew would always make me beg my mom for at least 1 sip of the kaapi served in a tumbler and dabara.

And then, a family vacation to Cunnoor happened. And that's where tea happened. What better place to taste tea than a tea estate itself! We'd been to my aunt's friend's house - I still remember her name - Padma.  It was a mini bungalow of sorts and she had us seated near the dining table and served tea in cups. Perhaps my first experience with cups as well as tea. I gingerly sipped the tea, for I knew not what tea would taste like, until then. I can still taste that tea after all these years, as if it was a few hours ago. I do not know what brand it was or how she made it. But all I know is I liked tea. And, I have never been able to reproduce that flavor till date.

From then on, it's been a journey to unravel quite a few mysteries of the humble tea. I even attended a workshop on tea tasting a few months ago. I prefer the kadak chai made with milk and I do not like the chai masala.

A few years ago, I discovered green tea and its benefits. And a few weeks ago, I discovered fruit infused tea. I was at a friend's place for lunch and she served mango cinnamon orange flavored tea. I was hooked and smitten. Twinings and Typhoo have such varied flavors but I couldn't find the aforementioned one anywhere here in Chennai.

The last couple of weeks, my mornings and evenings are spent with green tea (with orange infusion) and a cranberry orange infused fruit tea!

Bottomline: I love my tea but my loyalties always lie with the filter kaapi! (in fact my ring tone is the famous leo kaapi tune composed by ARR and the advert starring Arvind Swamy *drool*)




Tuesday 5 March 2013

A culinary journey - Shazia Khan

I am a big fan of Masterchef (particularly the Australian edition), as I am sure most of you are. My ex-boss knew better than to call me between 9 and 10 pm when Masterchef Australia used to be aired on Star world. I love George, Gary, Matt (Moran and Preston). I've enjoyed the show and more importantly, the masterclasses. I have a dream - to some day be on the sets of this epic show, in Australia, and cover it on this blog.

But the closest I'll come to all of this, will be this weekend - to interact with and learn from the Masterchef India Season 2 Finalist and Runner up - Shazia Khan. I've been part of various culinary workshops and have learnt from every one of them - be it a recipe from scratch or some new tip; so I definitely look forward to this one.

This event - Make me a Masterchef - is conceptualized by my baker friend Maaria Kulsum Tanveer of Adoniya and managed and executed by one of my dearest friends Tasneem Akbari of Konceptz Galore.

A young homemaker and mother of two dreamed a dream. And that dream morphed into a beautiful reality. Shazia Khan is now a known face in Indian households, thanks to Masterchef India. Cooking is the biggest stress buster, says Shazia. I concur. Her greatest inspiration is her late father, her biggest motivation are her two sons and her strength is her husband. Shazia learnt cooking from her mother-in-law who was more than a mentor and guide to her.

Shazia is a member of the board of management, at Delhi Public School Bangalore North. She is part of the family business that runs many educational institutes in Bangalore. Her school also has a wing called ‘Anubhava Shiksha Kendra’ for underprivileged students where Shazia spends valuable time teaching the kids.

One day, she says, she wants to produce a travel + cookery show that'd enable her travel to the ends of the world.

And if you are in Chennai, you sure don't want to miss this workshop, on the 9th of March 2013, at the Radisson Blu, Egmore. It is a day long event, split into 3 parts - Veg - Lunch - Non Veg. For more details check the event page - https://www.facebook.com/events/608229172526020/




Saturday 23 February 2013

Bellaria Ice creams

When you have an insanely stressful week and more so because of some phone calls and 3 hours at the bank, what you need are some great stress busters in the form of ice creams or cakes. Both my girls - Yalini and Avanthi offered to help beat my stress. Avanthi runs a cute little ice cream store called Bellaria and Yalini runs The Sweet' 'Art.

I was in the vicinity of Bellaria and made a spur of the moment decision to take up Avanthi on her offer. Avanthi is certified in ice-cream making. Bellaria's menu is highly customizable, right from the milk and sugar to the flavors and toppings and are made right in front of your eyes. The ice cream machines are imported and you can see how a simple blended liquid transforms into lip-smacking scoops.

As I waited for her to arrive, a family of 4 including a little girl were ordering their ice creams. And she was so enthralled that she carried the bowl with her to the car and was licking away to glory. It was a cute sight to see her face smeared with chocolate. (It was funny when one member of this family ordered a sugar free gulab jamun ice cream! :P )

I ordered a regular white chocolate ice-cream and Avanthi suggested a small modification. She added 2 spoons of orange juice while making the white chocolate to tone down the milky flavor of white chocolate. I asked for chocolate sauce over it but then she suggested I try it first before the topping. Boy, how right she was. The ice-cream had a mild undertone of orange and left me wanting for more. I just topped it with some dark choc chips and almond slivers. I paid INR 136 for this bowl of 3 scoops + toppings




Avanthi is also introducing some vegetable flavored ice-creams and I had the privilege of trying one. Carrots cooked in orange juice and then made into ice-creams. Loved the texture and the taste. It almost felt like gajar halwa except this is much more healthier. Avanthi is toying with various other vegetables and if you have suggestions, do post it as a comment here or on Bellaria's page.


It's no coincidence that stressed spelt backwards leads to desserts and that's the tag line of Bellaria.





Next stop - The Sweet' 'Art