Awesome food joints in Chennai

'Been in this city for ten odd years now!! Seems a very long time, indeed:-). Being a strict vegetarian I will give my two bit on some vegetarian restaurants in town that I've been to. For the best South Indian food, one can safely head to Saravana Bhavan or Dakshin at Park Sheraton, depending on budget:-). Really delicious stuff there. For good North Indian /South Indian combo options, Copper Point at GRT Grand Days, T. Nagar is lovely. For an amazing dining experience with outstanding food, head to Annalakshmi, Mount Road. They have some of the most common dishes cooked and served exquisitely. For some good tasty North Indian food, my favourite is Copper Chimney.

For a healthy, yet tasty food, head to Sanjeevani in Adyar or Anna Nagar. I enjoy their Rajakeeyam thali at lunch - so elaborate and grand but so easy on the stomach.

For some nice Chinese food, Wang's kitchen will not disappoint. I particularly like their dessert - fried ice cream:-). And a fine vegetarian restaurant very near home is Cream Centre. Its got quite a huge spread from Indian to Continental to Mexican and Lebanese... and their thali is elaborate too!! Available only on weekdays one should ideally skip breakfast to do justice to the food. For a regular, standard buffet spread, I find the spread at The Park & the Raintree very good and yummy.

For great sandwiches, Coffee World and Subway are good. And the best pizzas are from Smokin' Joes. For chaats, its Shree Mithai or Gangotree.

For the best desserts, head to Mocha and chocoholics have plenty to choose from. I guess I have covered most categories of veggie food. Go ahead and indulge and do add to the list!

Bon Apetit!

There are few restaurants that I enjoy dining at - the food and the ambiance play a big role in my selection. Some of the best places in Chennai are Annalakshmi, Cream Centre, Sanjeevini, Copper Point and Copper Chimney. You guessed it, most of them are exclusive vegetarian joints. Annalakshmi is very different in that the profits go for charity and the people who serve you are volunteers! A very novel concept and the food is delightful, very elaborate, yet mildly spiced and cooked to perfection! Cream Centre is a nice place for Bombay style food. I love it and its down my road, so convenient:-). Copper Point and Copper Chimney have dishes that taste yum and served in right portions. For the best desserts, I would head out to Mocha

In Delhi, my favourites are Neivedyam and Bukhara. Its more than a decade since I lived there, so there maybe nicer places now. Neivedyam had the best South Indian dishes in town and Bukhara serves the best Makhni Dal in country, so much so that its called Dal Bukhara all over India:-). In Kolkata, I used to like Zaranj and Maple, both serve excellent food.

Health drink: Ginger Beer!

This is one of my favourite drinks:) and very simple to prepare and extremely healthy.. Usually, anything tasty is not healthy and vice versa, isn't it? Here goes the recipe.. take ginger, say about 200 gms, crush with a pestle or a heavy stone (always kept handy in an Indian kitchen), put in a mixie and blend with about half a glass of water. When smooth, filter out the fibres and heat the juice from the ginger for 2 minutes in a pan. Add about 200 gms jaggery (more if you want it sweeter), squeeze 2 ripe lemons and voila, your drink is ready. Its an excellent drink to rid your stomach with unwanted stuff and also removes flatulence.

Chocolate Nut Brownies

I must introduce you readers to the concept of raw food. I happened to attend a raw food class conducted by Mr. Philip Clegg who works in British Council but pursues cooking as a hobby and he is extremely knowledgeable in the subject. He eats only only raw food and I was amazed to find out that there is more to raw food than mere salads... he taught us starters, soups, main courses, and yum desserts.. I will share some of the recipes with you all. Chocolate nut brownies is an amazingly simple and quick and yummy dessert to dish out... Ah yes, all his recipes have no sugar, no milk and requires no cooking... Surprised! Well read on and try them out..

Chocolate Nut Brownies
Serves 16; 32x20 cm dish
1.25 cup de- shelled walnuts
3 cups almonds
1.5 cup dates
1 vanilla pod
3 Tblspn coconut oil (cold pressed)
1 cup raisins
1 cup cocoa powder
1 pinch Himalayan crystal salt
1 pinch cayenne (chilli if not available) powder
1 pinch nutmeg

Put all into a food processor, use a S blade until it sticks together. Be careful not to overdo, as nuts in the oil will separate and make the mix too sticky and oily. Empty contents into baking dish and press down to form a compact even surface ( you must press well or they will crumble later at the time of making pieces). Put in fridge and keep for 2/3 hours for it to set. You can keep it overnight. No harm. Alternatively, you can make tight rounds of these and call them chocolate nut brownie candies. Alternatives: Try using other nuts.
Extremely yummie and healthy too!!!!!!!!

Peanut butter

This one amazing simple recipe that many don't seem to know.... Oh, its available in supermarkets but its not the same like it comes out fresh and yum at home.. take 200 gms of roasted peanuts (with or without the skin - I prefer with the skin), add 2 tsps of sugar, a pinch of salt in a mixie and grind. At first, you will get a fine powder and with more spins on the mixie, the oil from the peanuts break out and you will have a smooth paste of peanut butter!! Transfer to a container and store. Refrigeration is not required. Goes best with bread toast and spreads well.. Enjoy!

Improvised Dosa

Happened to share this recipe with a friend and thought it was a good idea to post it... Till I shared the recipe, I had no idea that it was a little known variety of dosa. So here it goes.... when the dosa batter goes sour, no sweat, that's when this improvised version tastes best:-) ( hey, that rhymes well). Deep fry moru mollaha ( green chillies soaked in butter milk and dried in sun) and add to sour dosa batter. Mix well and make these dosas in a kadai.. The downside is it consumes more oil than the regular dosas but its not every day that you're gonna have sour dosa batter at home.. so go ahead and indulge:)

To the uninitiated on kadai dosa, put a little oil in kadai, when ready, place a laddle full of batter, spread and leave the laddle over it to ensure the dosa spreads evenly. And in this case, ensure, there are enough moru mollahas in each dosa. Alternately, spread the dosa batter and insert the moru mollahas into the dosa in such a way that every piece you eat will get a bit of the chilli. Turn it over and ensure both sides are done well. And volia... tasty dosas ready to down, with no side dish required. Polish off with some buttermilk to have a complete fill.

Those of you planning smaller cocktail dosas can also try this one out! Do let me know how it turns out!

Sweet Dal

Well, there are everyday dishes that we tend to excel in, with time. Here's one of them. Boil channa dal with a dash of turmeric powder in a cooker. Allow to cook really well. Since each cooker is different, let me say keep it thrice as much longer as you would for rice. In a kadai, add a bit of ghee, 2/3 cloves, 2 tej patta, 2 big elaichis, 2/3 sticks of dalchini. Roast lightly, keep aside. Add a little ghee, add jeera, wait till it crackles, add diced tomataoes, 1 green chilli and wait till the tomatoes are cooked. Add the boiled channa, the roasted spices and bring to boil. Add water to the desired consistency. Add salt (75% of what you would usually add) and jaggery( maybe ~100 g for 1 cup of channa dal). Once it comes to a boil, remove from flame. Add freshly cut dhania leaves and roasted cashews, raisins and serve hot. Goes amazingly well with methi parathas.. (the mild bitterness of the methi gets balanced with the sweetness in the dal).

Shrikand

This is a very simple recipe, tastes delicious. Hang well-set curd ( not sour though), in a muslin cloth and allow to hang and drain the whey completely. This should take ~ 4 hours. Do this preferably during the cool hours of the day so the curd doesn't get too sour. If your ambient temperature is too hot, you could do this in the fridge too!! I've done this in Chennai, for obvious reasons:-). Transfer the curd minus the whey into a bowl, add flavoured, powdered sugar (either clove, cardamom). Mix well till creamy and smooth. Refrigerate and serve chilled with hot puris. Did this recently and had my family lapping it up clean.
Don't forget to leave your comments after trying this out!