Fat to Fit- Take a Break with Frappe!

Break is as important for me, as is work. And I guess we creative people understand the value of these 2 things together. Routine can never lead up to outstanding results in life. Its what we learn from these breaks, that provides the fuel to the feed. And I make it a habit to take a break in everything I do. Today I am writing about how to incorporate break in a rigorous calorie counted diet, and why it works well.

So, we started with a fairly balanced diet, wherein now everyone of you know my aim, and the health goal I need to achieve. I don’t have a strict timeline. But before the summer hits us hard, I need to lose a couple of kgs, and inches too. But for all of the last week and this, I am on a break. I don’t have a set meal plan for this break. I am eating regular meals, which is high on protein, but less on carbohydrates. But I ate 2 gujiyas last week, along with 3 glasses of wine. But of course, within a span of a whole week. So see, I want my body to not feel restricted. In fact, the restrictions play on the mind more than the body and trust me it never leads to good. Instead I want to lose weight while keeping my body and mind completely satisfied. That is holistic weight loss, and that will make sure I keep the weight lost for years to come.

Confused, I don’t blame you. It is a bit confusing when you let go. It is a natural process that you and I can’t change. But I would try simplifying a bit further through these easy to read pointers-

First step is always to initiate our body into the weight loss journey. We start slowly, taking care that we don’t suddenly remove a major nutrient from our diet. That’s why my first meal plan was perfect. It had everything, but in the right form and quantity. See, I am a working mom who doesn’t have the luxury of fussing about myself all day long. So, I need to keep myself hydrated and well fed, in order to make sure a good environment in my restaurant and home is maintained. The very first problem serial dieters face is irritability and temper tantrums. And mind you, these tantrums are never normal or forgivable. The first meal plan is right here.

Second step was to initiate the body on burning some insane fat deposited in some invisible corner of my body, and hence; a slightly more calorie reduced meal plan. Now this well-structured meal plan was great for me as in a week, with right amount of exercise and activity, I shed 1.5 kg with this. The second meal plan, if you haven’t already seen it, is right here.

Third step was to be comfortable in the 3 kg loss that I did within these 3 weeks, right after I was back from Goa. And that’s why, I rested all of last week, where in I indulged in my favourite treats, still managing to keep the weight to constant till today. Today grudgingly, I will stop my break time and get to a meal plan. But for you my readers, you break has just started. Enjoy to the fullest, but just keep following the golden rules of the game.

• 1.       3 drinks of alcohol only in a day, that too just once a week.
• 2.       6 glasses of water need to go in along with it.
• 3.       No carbohydrates after 7 pm.
• 4.       Sweets in moderation only, properly portioned.

If you can go without any wine, then my blessings are with you. However, I couldn’t even stop at 2 so I mentioned 3 here. I drank 3 glasses, while watching Baywatch on amazon prime. And frankly, it was a good Saturday spent, so no complaints. The day you drink, steer clear of sweets. Also, try to drink or eat irresponsibly only for lunch. Evenings need to be boring.

So going with the theme of cheating, here is my recipe for the day. I created a fat free frappe, with real sugar and cream, but took the fat out with the help of science, not chemicals. It is one of my video productions, and the measurement of any ingredients mentioned here doesn’t matter. With the summer approaching, this along with a shot of Kahlua could very well be a killer treat for a person like me. Cheers!

Ingredients

Whipping cream- 200 ml

Sugar powder to taste

Ice cubes to taste

500 ml of Recently boiled water

Instant espresso powder – 2 tbsp or to taste

Cheers!

3 Cocktails that Made me Dizzy!!!

Finally the rains have set in today, on the great northern parched lands of India. The capital was simmering hot and just these 2 days of drizzle is all we get before another bout of simmering heat takes up its place. It’s the time to live, sprout and give fragrance to all dryness around. I am new to this climate. In fact in Mumbai the stretch of monsoon sometimes took devilish look with flooding, water logging and what not. Here it’s not the same. Day long showers are a distant day dream. Yet the nightmare of water logging and flooding continues. The roads are like a battleground- a driver here screaming her lungs out because her car’s tyre got stuck into a flooded man hole, or another honking to glory as he is stuck in a big jam behind her. An elderly auto driver trying to help, but the lady feels unsure of his intentions. Basically it’s a typical day of the capital. And rain definitely brings out the worse in everyone here on a busy weekday. I wish the rainy season continues till the weekend for the simmering Delhites to enjoy the weather better.

To continue with my traditional Mumbai rainy marvels, I plan to set up a barbecue this weekend. I know, Delhi has its own barbecue season during the cold winters. But there is something really grand about a barbecue during the rains. The wind, the wet smell, and the hot soft morsels of flavourful meat- a match made in heaven. And to cool it all down, I need to make 3 of my most favourite drinks in the world. 3 Mexican inspired cocktails which will blow anybody’s mind away. These are customised drinks which were created for me by a very talented mixologist, Peter Sethi. I loved his imagination. All I had told him was to give me something that would surprise my taste-buds in directions impossible. And he very well managed to do that. My interaction with him occurred during my visit to Sofitel Mumbai; he was their star mixologist at that point of time. And he with the sommelier really kept me in a good company filled with knowledge throughout the evening. We ate and drank and had a wonderful time in the state of art wine cellar of Sofitel hotel. So without any further ado, here are the 3 amazingly delicious yet so unique cocktails for you to enjoy all year long, and for me to have this weekend!!

Wasabitini

This one was my favourite. Being bred as the quintessential mustard loving bong, I adore the taste of wasabi much more than anyone I have ever seen (throw in a couple of japs too). Wasabi with tequila is a beautiful mix, and the pungent flavour just blows your mind off!!

Ingredients

60 ml tequila

½ tbsp. wasabi paste

15 ml of lime juice

10 ml simple sugar syrup

2 stick cucumbers juiced

Method

Mix everything together with a lot of ice in a shaker. Shake well

Strain and serve in a chilled glass.

Curried Coffilla

If you think the name got your attention, then you can’t even imagine how much the ingredients are going to boggle your mind. Imagine curry leaves with coffee. The confusion that it would create on your palate would be very much worth all the efforts put in making it.

Ingredients

45ml tequila

15 ml Kahlua

15 ml lime juice

10 ml sugar syrup

5 pieces of curry leaves

6 pcs of coffee beans

Method

Pound the Curry leaves and Coffee separately till it’s mushy and powdered respectively.

Transfer it onto a shaker filled with ice, and add all the rest of the ingredients.

Shake well and strain it on to a chilled glass.

Serve it cold.

Li diavola

This one was named by Peter himself, and he insisted that I keep it at that only. I played along, partly because I found the name quite cute sounding and, partly because I have no clue what it means in Mexican!

La Divola on the right with traditional Margarita  

Ingredients

6 chunks of preserved jalapeno

60 ml tequila

15 ml lime juice

10 ml sugar syrup

Pinch of salt

100 ml pineapple juice

Method

Mix everything together with a lot of ice in a shaker. Shake well

Strain and serve in a chilled glass.

Cheers!! Hic hic!!

Literally chilling in the wine Cellar of Sofitel Mumbai BKC

Peter with all three of the drinks! 

Paired- Cocktails & Malvani Food Festival

Husband has been out travelling weeks long at a stretch. Complaining about the rich hotel food. At least quality was a check in the 5 star property, but even the diet food would contain huge amounts of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. How much can a 30 something take in on a daily basis?

I start this article with a lot of personal rant. It’s no fun keeping away from home and home cooked fresh simple food. We realised it the hard way! And then, Sofitel decided to do something about it. It created a menu for the very first time that was curated by 2 homemakers, to be served in the Pondicherry café. I figured, it couldn’t have come in a better time as this. Being one of the two luxury hotels situated in a busy business park; it was a great initiative. It made perfect sense in my head as this would mean 2 things- foreign guests would be fortunate enough to taste authentic Indian food, while the Indian guests missing ghar ka khana would be able to taste that as well. I am all in for this concept by a business hotel of this virtue. And I hope many more such hotels; especially the one my husband has perched himself in, should as well.

I went on a busy Saturday of the Malvani Food Festival, and saw a jam packed café. The ladies who curated the menu were sweet, polite and quite proud of their achievement. The smiling chef who got this idea and helped them with this rather impressive feat was beside himself with joy. The food was done exactly as the ladies liked; and after tasting, I knew they liked their vegetables more than the meats. It was simple yet hot and rather tasty. All in all a great evening spent.

But I went there with an agenda. To find the perfect pairing cocktail to the awesome malvani spread that we ate. The newly appointed star sommelier, Sagar Nath; took it as a challenge, and devised three perfect cocktails for the evening which went awesome with the spicy fare as the malvani food boasts of. He kept the flavours clean, sweet and spicy together. These drinks will go very well with any of our Indian cuisines, especially the dishes with heavy amounts of coconut and spices.

Pineapple-Velchi Martini

45 ml ketel one (vodka)

3 pcs of cardamom crushed

10 to 12 fresh pineapple pieces

Muddle the crushed cardamom and pineapple well. Top it with ice and shake well.

Pour the vodka in a chilled rimmed martini glass. Double strain the muddled mix in the glass.

Stir and serve!

Was perfectly paired with the spicy vegetarian food that was served. The cardamom (velchi) was a wonderful addition and complimented the flavours of the food well. And the addition of sweet pineapple cut down on the hot quotient of the food pretty well. This cocktail would pair well with Punjabi hot tandoori kababs or spicy goan sausages as well.

Rum Zuniper

45 ml Dark Rum

15 ml Amaretto

10 ml Simple Syrup

15 ml fresh lime

1 hot green chilly slit, depending on the hotness-the seeds could be removed.

Muddle half the chilly in a shaker and add all the rest of the ingredients in.

Shake well and serve on the rocks, decorated with the other half of the chilly.

This goes well with Puri/Wade/Luchi and red meat curry; a combination that Indians love from the bottom of their hearts. It’s a warm hearty drink on ice, served to chill your palettes. The sweetness can be adjusted according to taste.

Espresso shots

1 shot of espresso coffee

45 ml Gin

15 ml chocolate syrup

Put all things in a shaker full of ice, and shake it well.  

Serve in a chilled sherry glass.

What a perfect way to end your rather heavy and spicy Indian dinner. Who could have thought gin could be transformed into a liqueur so well.

All these cocktails would be a great addition to your Indian themed Christmas parties. Cheers!!

All that Jazz and Spirit!!

Those were the days when you would go to an uncle’s house and have uncle chips and cold drinks while the adults chill with a cup of tea. Parties meant something easy, an easy not bothered atmosphere was created without much of a problem. The ladies were busy in kitchen, men in the drawing room and kids chilling in the bedroom watching TV, looking at western parties with flowing bars and awesome music. Cut to this generation, and we have successfully got all of those enactments to life, in an Indian setting. Today every house I get invited to has an impressive bar, and alcohol flows freely and heartily. After all, in this day and age, alcohol is the spirit of a rolling party.

When

Kiwi Mania with Rum!!!

We are quite a metropolitan world right now, where country and colour lines are bridged every day for good! Food-wise India has always been very experimental. And we have embraced a new vegetable or fruit pretty whole heartedly! A bit of this has to be attributed to the fact that India has such a fertile soil and varied seasons all around the country that makes it easier for it to grow any vilayti stuff. While some of it has to be attributed to the fact that Indians just love to travel around the world, trying to maintain a bit of each country in our lives. We are a nation of foodies that leads a warm and beautiful welcome to everything from any land under the sun. 

Paper Boat- A review in the Nostalgic lanes of Childhood Favorites!!

‘Paper Boat’- what an awesome name...  and the young vibe behind the company is very visible! They are striving to get some nostalgic memories out, but for me, it made some new memories, that were sweet, sour and spicy!

So a mailman came with an orange pack of 8 paper boat drinks at my doorstep, for me to taste and review. Not a paid review, but something that I call a freebie review. So here tumbles down my take on these drinks, from the bottom of my heart...

Jamun Kala khatta- one of the loved, classic flavours of gola! For people who are new to India, gola is a blob of snow, which is flavoured and coloured fresh to make us swoon and suck on a stick! (uhhh.. this is a food blog, and I am serious about it.. no wayward thinking allowed!!) A kind of desi sorbet on a stick; available in every nook and corner of India. So... this flavour is very close to my heart. And paper-boat has exploited this nostalgic memory of mine well. I loved this flavour. It was just the right amount of sweet, spicy and fruity. Beautiful, and definitely my favourite flavour of it all!

Not a fan of jal-jeera, (a spicy cooler made with cumin) and; this one didn’t make me fall in love with it as well. A bit too spicy, it definitely needs a tone down in the spicy levels. The burning sensation that it left me in my throat, umm.. wasn’t pleasant at all.

Aam Panna- Loved it! Perfectly refreshing, spicy and sour at the same time! But Aamras- well, quite sweet and pulpy, but not too sure if I want to shell out 30 bucks to buy a pulpy Frooti.

Over all, the products were very appealing. The packaging was one of my favourite features of this drink. It was perfect to sip and play. Really innovative, I had never seen something like this. The natural ingredients in the drinks really shone through. But I am not too sure about this that I read on the label- ‘nature-identical flavouring substances’. It mischievously sounds a bit like chemicals disguised naturally, but again chemicals are derived naturally too! Can u imagine onions without H2So4??

I do hope they look at their price a bit. 30 INR for 250 ml of a nostalgic drink, seemed a bit too steep. I do know, the nostalgia of paying 50 paisa for a kala khatta gola would not be possible anymore, thanks to the rapidly rising inflation. But if something could be done; the A team should look at it soon!

Cheers!!

Ahoy Nimbu-Colada Pops!!!

Eons just slipped by since I wrote something here. And I missed it dearly..

It is one time that is destined for me; the romance of sitting with a hot cuppa, penning down the exploits of my findings in the kitchen. But the busy me, just had no time to do so... Hoping against hope that it is the last time I go on such a long hiatus! Thanks a ton for the continued support, couldn’t have done without this encouragement...

Now to the delish Nimbu-colada pops!!! Yes, I am aware that the summer has passed. But another rather hot season is right around the corner. And I just want to imagine myself, sitting prettily in a new silk saree, amidst a hot smoky Durga Puja Pandal, dreaming about having these... 

I gave the classic pinna-colada cocktail a much needed Indian twist by substituting pineapple juice with homemade ‘nimbu-paani (hence the name!!! @#%$@)’ Not only did this save me the hassle of juicing this difficult fruit, but also kept me away from its synthetic/canned versions. This refresher is a perfect appetizer to be served to guests who walk in for a lazy Sunday brunch.

Now to the simple recipe:

Ingredients:

200ml Fresh Nimbu Paani

80 ml Coconut cream

80ml Malibu Rum 

½ fresh Lemon zested and squeezed

Method:

Whisk all the ingredients together, adding the alcohol the last.

Pour into moulds and freeze overnight.

Unmould carefully, without letting them wait around for too long. The alcohol content will make the pops melt quite fast. Enjoy these with some crispy masala nuts on the side!!

Cheers!!

Absinthe- The Tale of a Green Fairy!!

Recently I got exposed to many theories regarding the green fairy. And that led me to write this, about arguably the most delusional drinking spirit; the Absinthe. First, please do not treat absinthe as a shot of tequila. Because of the simple reason, that it isn’t tequila. It is not a drink for a round of “bottoms-up” in a party!! Moreover it should never be consumed like that. Take your time to make it right. It’s an expensive bottle with a delicate flavour which has to be savoured, rather than gulping it down the throat with a timer on! In this post, I have tried to portray the green magic in a way that is appealing to our Indian taste. And what more, it will never leave you with a hangover to deal with later!

Absinthe is one of the most alcoholic distilled spirit found in the world, with a total alcoholic volume of 65 to 75%. It has a strong flavour of fennel (saunf), something that we Indians don’t consider a cocktail flavour. Our tastes compel us to associate fennel with mouth fresheners. After a hearty Indian meal, that paan walla’s paan (betel leaf laden with a sweet cocktail of fennel seeds, betel nuts and sweetened dry fruits) is what we look out for. So for me, my first thought while having absinthe was, Paan!! And so I introduced my friends to an after meal liqueur, which is just about right for our matured, yet a hearty Indian Taste!!!

So if you are having a cocktail party, indulge your guests to a small helping of absinthe to end the party. Making the perfect glass of the green fairy is laborious, never-the-less very satisfying. One helping is good enough for 6 shot glasses. Perfect end to a perfectly beautiful meal, the Indian way!!

Ingredients:

30 ml absinthe

Cold water

1 sugar cube

Absinthe strainer, comes with the bottle

6 chilled shot glasses

1 tall water tumbler

Ice (optional)

Method:

The first step is to make the apparatus required. Assemble the absinthe strainer and the sugar cube on a tall water tumbler as shown here.

Now pour in 30 ml of absinthe, passing it through the sugar cube.

Slowly drip in cold water (drop-by-drop), and let it dissolve the sugar cube into the absinthe below.

Once the sugar dissolves in, adjust water to suit your taste. Remember, it is at least 60% alcohol, so filling up the glass with a bit more water will be a good idea.

Divide it equally between half a dozen shot glasses and enjoy!!

 For any further clarifications, feel free to write in. Cheers!!

Jaggered Milk!!

During a friendly conversation over coffee, my long lost school friend mentioned something about an expensive brand of milk she tried once. She claimed it was better than any tetra pack that we drink from everyday. For a while now, it’s been a bit of worrying snag for me that we drink milk straight out of a cardboard pack, which doesn't even stay refrigerated. I keep wondering how many temperature differences it endures and still claim to be healthy. In our textbooks, we have always read how milk, or for that matter any dairy product, is very reactive which leads to it being spoiled easily. Then how do we ignore that and yet get ourselves these cartons every day??

So with such doubts in my mind, I went forth to try this milk that she so very praised. In came the milk man with two litres of milk, packed and sealed; along with a beautiful book explaining what happens behind the farm door.

‘Pride of Cows’ the name really befits them as they really take a lot of pride in their cows. Believe it or not, cows are kept in barns with instrumental music to hear and are given a buffet to decide on what they want to eat. These cows are given the five star spa treatments while the milking process is all mechanical with no human touch involved. Ah! I read in amazement...

The cynical I, was not convinced. After all it’s the taste test that the milk had to endure. So I broke the seal and boiled the milk vigorously for 2 minutes and let it cool. The much elusive thin layer of white cream-film formed within minutes of cooling down. So far so good! The thin white layer ensured that it was 100% cow’s milk, no adulterations done by mixing in other stuff, including preservatives.

I made a simple recipe which was devoured by my very finicky hubby, within minutes of making. It’s my favourite healthy way to drink milk that requires:

Ingredients:

1/3 cup dates/sugarcane jaggery

2 cups milk

Method:

You cannot get simpler than this, can you? Melt the jaggery in a microwave or on the stove, and then slowly add in the warm milk. Mix it vigorously so that no lumps remain. Serve it hot or refrigerate it for a couple of hours, to be had cold.

This is one of the healthiest, yet the tastiest way to drink milk. No added refined product like sugar takes the health quotient of this recipe to the max. Nice, odour-free milk like that of ‘Pride of cows’ is perfect for this recipe. It can be easily poured in a mug and enjoyed or made into a beautiful dessert (coming up next!!). 

Whichever way, it still remains very healthy and amazingly yummy!!

Cheers!!