Recipe Time : Baked Chocolate Ganache Tart

It’s a lovely Sunday afternoon and I wanted  to be nice to you guys. If you have read my last blog then I am sure you will remember the Baked Chocolate Ganache that Chef Nitash had made for me. He was kind enough to share the recipe with me and as promised I am sharing the recipe with you guys.

Pic: Baked Chocolate Ganache Tart

Recipe:

Pastry shell

50 butter

25 powder sugar

Vanilla

Half an egg beaten

100 grams flour

Mix all the above to make a pliable dough .. Don’t over knead else it will be tough ..

Line. 6 inch flan case. Chill

Filling

70 gms melted dark chocolate

1 egg

20 gms sugar

Vanilla

1 tsp flour

Whip eggs and sugar till fluffy. Fold in the  melted chocolate and flour. Fill in the empty pastry case and bake for 20 mins approx at 170 degrees. Cool and remove from the flan case. Dust with cocoa powder  and serve warm.

Now come on, go ahead and make this amazing dessert for your loved ones and do share the pic with me. Happy Sunday xx

 

Say Hello to Chef Nitash Lalkaka of Patisserie Nitash

Last week I watched a fantastic movie – Chef and that movie inspired me to start a new feature on chefs in the city. Here, I intend to bring forth a slice of their lives by sharing my experiences on spending some time in their kitchen, having a fun interview and giving them a fun assignment. Sounds good, right? After a quick thought I zeroed in on Chef Nitash. I have had memorable experiences with his patisserie and wanted to have a peek at the person that had made it happen.

I wasn’t really sure how the interview would turn out to be as I had not planned it and had decided to be spontaneous.  I  met Chef Nitash at his kitchen in Hutchins Road and after exchanging pleasantries we dived into our  love of cakes, cake shops in Bangalore and Mumbai and all there is to talk about cakes.

I allowed Chef Nitash to do most of the talking. He told me all about his love for food, how he moved to Bangalore  to America to Maldives and London and how he finally settled back to Bangalore to start his own patisserie. He was born in Kolkata but travelled  to Assam as his father who worked for the Williomson Magor Group, one of the largest tea plantation group in india,  was transferred . At an early age of twelve, he discovered his love for cooking and knew that he wanted to be in this field. Thank God, his mum, dad and aunt were very supportive about it. After completing his under graduation from St. Xaviers Kolkata,  he packed his bags and moved to USA where he enrolled himself for a two year course at New England Culinary Institute and here he is with his very own patisserie

I made chef do a typical Karan Johar style rapid fire and it was amazing. I had soo much fun asking him these question.

First Dish- He made a Cake when he was 12. It was an utter disaster and his father named the cake ” Hammer and Chisel Cake”

Cooking shows which he used to religiously watch – Khana Khazana, Yan Can Cook

The biggest disaster that happened after he moved to USA- He got Malaria and the doctors there had no clue what it was.

Places he worked at – Nadell Patisserie at London. He made desserts for Marks and Spencers, Oxford Street, Grovner House, London, Royal Opera House, London.

Favourite Dessert- Pear and Caramel Galett

Best Chef – Jaques Torres

Best Patisserie/Cake Shop/Café  in India- Theobroma, Le 15 and  Indigo, Mumbai

If not a chef , then what?- Definitely a painter

First Assignment in Bangalore- Supplying desserts to Desmonds, Lavelle Road and The Only Place

 After the interview, I gave him a fun task. I chose 5-10 random ingredients from his kitchen and asked him to make me a yummy dessert. He put on his Chefs coat and made a yummy Baked Chocolate Ganache Tart.  It’s soo easy and anyone can make it and he was kind enough to share the recipe with me . I will share the recipe in my next blog. He also made an amazing mango gateux for me. The dessert was to die for. The quality of the cake and icing was really good. I mean no offence to anyone but there are some really rubbish cake shops in Bangalore minting money by selling sub-standard products. I see no reason why Chef Nitash shouldn’t start a full fledged cake shop. I really hope that Chef Nitash builds  a swanky café soon.  He also runs weekend baking workshop, it’s really reasonable and definitely worth the money.

Pic:  Baked Chocolate Ganache Tart

Pic: Mango Gateux

Sometimes I feel the best things are unplanned and this was one unplanned interview. Chef Nitash is one of the nicest chef I have met so far. He came across as someone who is very sensitive, cares a lot for his clients,and goes out of his way to customize cakes  and desserts for his clients. He has been trained by some amazing masterchefs yet he is simple and humble.  My mum always says , ‘‘when you have a good heart, the food you make will always be good.’’ And Chef Nitash is someone with a very big heart, really humble and the cakes and desserts he makes speaks for itself. Thumbs up Chef Nitash!! I wish you nothing but the best and I really believe that your patisserie produces nothing but the best. I will come back soon and hopefully our next interview will be in a swanky café of yours. You must start a café soon!!

To order cakes, macaroons, breads, please get in touch with Chef Nitash on 9845427364

His facebook page-  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Patisserie-Nitash/141251419239757?ref=ts&fref=ts

Website- http://www.nitash.in/

He is conducting the next baking workshop on  20^th July.

He will be teaching Red Velvet Cupcakes and Baked Chocolate Souffle Tart

P.S : Please note that this isn’t a sponsored post. Just a fun interview with the Chef.

Fatty Bao – New Menu

This has been due for a long time I guess. I am a weird foodie, as much as I love food, I have a weird 5 km food radius. I don’t generally visit restaurants which are beyond my 5 km radius but Fatty Bao was one of the exceptions. I have been wanting to visit this place for the last 7 months but never had the time to do so. So finally last week I decided to visit Fatty Bao and boy that was the best food decision I had made last week.The new menu has more than 20 items on it, of course, I couldn’t taste all of them else I would have taken gluttony to the next level and would have been the new Homer Simpson.

We started with a lovely drink called the Green Kimono I guess. It’s a vodka based drink and has a hint of curry leaves in it. I know it sounds soo wrong right? But it was brilliant. The taste of curry leaves wasn’t over powering and you definitely get a lovely kick. It’s not too strong and was the right kind of drink to get started with.

We had lots of dim sums. I am not a big fan of vegetarian food and think vegetarians are mere grass eaters but the vegetarian dim sums and sushi were brilliant and were to die for.

Here are few of the dishes which I absolutely loved:

1. Asparagus Tempura And Cream Cheese Roll (V) – This was brilliant and I polished off one plate just by myself. The cream cheese and the crispy asparagus was really yummy and it was a marriage made in food heaven.
2. Curried Chicken and Shrimp dumpling – This has a very Indian taste to it and has a strong taste of curry but I loved it.
3. Spicy Pumpkin and Radish dumpling – This dumpling literally melted in my mouth and the wrapper was really thin and the dim sum was very soft.
4. Wild Mushroom and Spinach Gyozo – This was ok. I am not a big fan of spinach but absolutely love wild mushroom so I just had the wild mushroom and it was heaven.
5. Lamb With Oyster Sauce- I think the lamb bao at Yauatcha is amazing but that lamb bao at FB is way better and will definitely give Yauatcha a run for their money.
6. Chicken Katso Bao- This was the star dish for me and I can live on it. It’s taste is very close to KFC ZInger burger but it’s way better.  The mayonnaise is quite tasty.
7. Son in Law Eggs – The name sounds more like son in law’s eggs. Sound weird right? But it’s very good. It’s more like a  Scotch egg. The center is gooey and it tastes very good.

Desserts:

I tried

1. Green Tea Chiffon Cake,
2. Strawberry And Tofu Panna cotta, (V and Vegan)
3. Chocolate Torte
4. Lemon Grass Creme Brulee
5. Japanese Cheese Cake
6. Peanut Butter and Milk Chocolate Torte.

My favorites were the green tea chiffon cake and the chilly coconut ice cream. It had a lovely after taste of almond which was simply amazing. Peanut Butter and milk chocolate dessert comes with chilly coconut ice cream. The coconut ice cream was definitely a winner.

The food all in all was brilliant. The decor was good. It was minimal but had some really nice stuff like the cute chopsticks holder. I absolutely loved my food experience and would definitely come back hungry for more. And thank you Fatty Bao for widening my stupid food radius theory. Chef Manu and the team definitely deserves a pat on their back. Oh and did I also mention that the Chef is quite a looker. Go to Fatty Bao today, please your palate and feast your eyes.

Call them today and get a table booked. I didn’t regret it. I am sure you wouldn’t either.

Fatty Bao phone no- 080 49652983

Address: 3rd floor off, 610, 12th A Main Road,

HAL 2nd Stage, Hal, Indira Nagar 2nd Stage,

Bengaluru, Karnataka 560008

Lovely Mediterranean Food at Fava

I must confess that I love shopping and yes, I know you have that look on your face and you  must be thinking-,”Well, she is a  girl and of course she will love shopping.” I am sure every girl who is as mental as me about shopping and loves eating at fancy places and having a fab time with their besties will love the movie or the sit com Sex and the City. I feel the things they do are soooo extreme that I can’t even imagine doing it. Ok, Confession Time. I would love to do those crazy things someday. Well, well. I feel the movie The Sex and the City 2 was way better than the first movie, may be because it was all about going to Abu Dhabi, staying at a lovely place, going bonkers over shopping and just letting your hair down. I reckon that’s my perfect recipe for a fun holiday and hence I love the movie.

I think I did most of it on Monday when I went to Fava to grab a drink. I love Mediterranean food. I really do and I have been to Fava six times in the last one and half month. That’s mental, right? Fava has a great ambiance and the food is killer stuff.  Kudos to Chef Abhijeet Saha. It has everything that you would want except one vital thing. More about that later.

We were served Lavaash and a tomato dip. This was on the house and is definitely the best Lavaash I have had soo far. Chef has definitely put a Bengali element in the Lavaash by adding Kala Jeera to the lavaash. It reminded me of Kata Nimki. My mum used to make it  for Bihu and Durga Puja and I am sure the lavaash at Fava is Chef’s take on this Bengali/Assamese snack.

We then ordered our drinks. I ordered an Innocent Passion for myself and my friend ordered a Ginger and Peach mocktail. Both the drinks were very refreshing with just the perfect amount of sugar and lime syrup.

We ordered Chicken Shawarma for starters. We weren’t in a mood to do mains and shawarma  is definitely my go-to dish. We were served quite a few dips (tomato sauce, hummus and garlic dip) along with the shawarma + generous amount of salad. The humous was to die for. It was really creamy and the texture was sooooooo good. I am ready to add hundred Os after S to let you guys know how good the hummus was 🙂  The portion was apt for two.

This was definitely my idea of a perfect meal but everything wasn’t as perfect as I would have wanted it to be. The service was extremely slow. I mean at one point I had even volunteered to go to the kitchen and get my meal. The waiters were really slow and the place wasn’t even crowded. I was gutted.

Mr Saha, your restaurant serves fantastic food but the service isn’t great to put it politely. I have seen soo many good restaurant come and go and I would definitely not want your restaurant to vanish from the food map of Bangalore. You really need to step up your game and your staff needs to be fast and not lazy and chit chatting when your guests are waiting to order. But apart from the service, I had a fantastic time at Fava. We laughed, gossiped, drank and had a lovely time. Well, Girls just wanna have fun!! Thank you Mr Saha, I had a lovely evening and the food was impeccable and the chocolate truffles were definitely to die for.

I think that evening was my take on Sex and the City 2. I had couple of drinks and the food was amazing. Ok, how many times have I said that the food was amazing!! How much is too much. LOL….

I will definitely come back. The ambiance is definitely the USP of the restaurant. Cheers Mr Saha!!

If you guys want to have a lovely evening, grab couple of drinks, chit-chat, unwind then you guys definitely need to head to Fava!

For reservations please call 080 22117444 / 9845177162

#203, 2nd Floor, The Collection, UB City, 24 Vittal Mallya Road, Bangalore 560001. India

 

Welcome to My Mad World!

Hi Guys! I am finally starting a blog . I have been wanting to do this for the longest time but never really had the time to do so . I guess today is THE DAY. Hurrah, Well done me !  I know it’s a horrid Monday  but I need to make it lovely for myself, so here I am saying hello to my lovely readers.

I am sure you are reading this and must be wondering what  this is  all about .Well my posts will be a mix of things  music, make up, plays, crazy people, food fanatics, life in Bangalore and things which I feel are just nice !

To kick start things, I will be taking you to some of the lovely restaurants, cafes, pâtisserie  and boulangeries in the city!  I will tell you more about myself  . Of course you guys need to know me! We are going to start an exciting affair to remember!

I will also introduce you guys to a lovely friend who is a fantastic cook  and  he definitely lives to eat. I have just been invited to spend an afternoon at his place and he has promised to cook some yummy food for me  and if I am nice and don’t bother him much then he will even serve me some Baileys or Rice Beer to wash off the lovely meal. I will also introduce you guys to  a fantastic Karaoke Jockey and a lot of other things that are just nice!

So put on your seat belt and sit back and enjoy the ride because this is going to be  one hell of a journey. I promise!

 

Cheers,

Pallavi xoxo