A little bit of Cookery

For the first time when I arrived in Bangalore, I was so mesmerized with the typical kind of cool weather out here. Even though it’s been almost a decade, but I still remember how I felt about the weather that time and it almost felt as if I directly arrived into heaven, all the way from hell. Well, before coming to Bangalore I was in Delhi for quite a few months and I hope Delhiites wouldn't curse me for this, as I’m simply comparing the weather. For the first couple of months, I stayed at a hostel in J.P Nagar 6th Phase and it seemed, the place was mostly occupied with students and job seekers. Initially, I was so much amazed with some of the food items on the street. Well, the first one is Gobi(Cauliflower) Manchurian. To be honest, I never came across that food item earlier. I was so much confused, yet quite delighted to see those red color things every here and there, while they're being fried on those big utensils. Initially I assumed them to be pieces of chicken. As my pocket was at a very pathetic and miserable condition that time, so I didn't bother to explore much. But then one afternoon, I just wanted to taste those damn chicken pieces and approached a vendor and asked "Boss, chicken plate Kitna?" How much for a plate of chicken?

The guy simply smiled and said "Boss, chicken nahi, ye gobi hai, Gobi Manchurian" Dude! it's not chicken, it's Gobi Manchurian.

That was a huge KLPD for me and simply wondered "what kind of dish is that?" I wanted to try that out and the price was also quite reasonable. As soon as my tongue encountered the first piece of gobi, it created some kind on an ecstasy inside my mouth and also deep within my soul. It was crispy and slightly juicy. Oh! The taste was simply out of the world. It all started that time and even today, I’m a big fan of Gobi Manchurian. I’ve no idea about the origin of the dish, but one could find it in almost every nook and corner of Bangalore.

The another popular food item out here is Chicken Kabab. One of my initial observations in the city was "one would find a Bakery and a wine shop within every 50 meters on the streets of Bangalore." Also the wine shops are meant not only to buy liquors, but one could also gulp as much quantity as they can afford, out there as well. Outside every wine shop, one could find someone preparing yummy fried chicken kababs in the evening. Even though, quite often my pocket had to face some kind of an embarrassment those days, but somehow my loyalty and affection with Old Monk remained intact. That time the market was gradually recovering from the recession phase and I hoped that my dream to taste all sort of kababs in Bangalore would soon transform into reality. Once my pocket turned little better and that too with those chicken kababs all around, my relationship with the monk got stronger and stronger day by day. Also, I was getting kind of obsessed with those kababs and the obsession was somewhat similar to the kind, I had with Momos during my college days. 

After I tied the knot, the monk must have been quite disappointed with me, as I couldn’t able to worship him on a regular basis. But my devotion continued over the weekends with my close and nearby friends. One day, I applied for a Life Insurance policy and I had to undergo a thorough medical checkup for that. Everything was perfectly fine, but the insurance company increased the yearly premium by Rs 500 and the reason they gave was that my cholesterol level was somewhat higher. I assumed that to be a silly excuse and was very much irritated with their attitude. After some flow of emails, I actually cancelled that policy. But my wife repeatedly insisted for my master health checkup and she was quite shocked with my reports. That time I got quite serious and started to work out a bit. I even consulted with doctor and according to his consultation, my relationship with old monk and fried kababs was jeopardized. Those roadside kababs look, as well as tastes very yummy. But the guys repeatedly use the same oil again and again, not sure for how many days or months.  I completely stopped to consume them and unwilling though, I had to dump my good old monk as well. Later, I tried to get spiritual with some budget scotch brands and even though it took sometime, but ultimately I was able to gain spirituality with them. Sometimes, but very rarely though, when I get very nostalgic, I would spend some quality time with Old Monk, along with some of my good old, old monk fans. 

Last weekend, I was missing those fried kababs so much that ultimately I decided to prepare at home itself. The recipe is quite simple and would like to share out here.

1. Ask the guy to cut the chicken in smaller and medium pieces

2. Also buy a kabab powder along with the chicken

3. Marinate the chicken (1/2 KG for a small packet of kabab powder) with very small amount of water.

4. Also mix one egg with it and again marinate it for a while

5. Mix ginger/garlic paste to it (I prefer fresh one)

6. Put it inside the refrigerator for around 15 minutes.

7. Deep fry the chicken pieces in either olive or refined oil in low heat for around 15-20 minutes.

Oh! It tasted much better than the kababs from good restaurants. I think, along with other important factors, good cookwares are also very important to create such kind of a magic. If you haven’t visited magickart yet, you should definitely have a look at it. Well, magickart.in is the leading online shopping portal in India for Kitchen appliances and Cookware. With their exclusive collection of Cookware, Bakeware and Kitchen Appliances, now days one could quite easily be able to create a wide variety of magic inside their own kitchens.