indiancuisine | nameplaceanimalthang

4 countries 1 city- my FOODfilled weekend!

Posted on June 8, 2015 by MGK

*STRETTTTCHHH* ah my legs are so achey after the fun weekend I had in London! But my fingers are ready to tip tap away and share what I ~~got up to~~ ate!

London in the summer = HOLIDAY MODE ON.

I love how it gets super hot, you’re there with your shades on looking cool/drooling over fineeeeeee londoners on the tube ANDD overhearing conversations in French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Swahili. Pretty much every language under the sun.

No wonder its known as THE cosmopolitan city- with a great selection of places to eat.

We stayed at a serviced apartment down the road from Holborn and Covent Garden. It was so convenient, though the apartment got quite hot at night, the location was the best.

I prefer a serviced apartment to a hotel, especially in London, it’s more value for money, gives you that extra bit of space to put your feet up after a long day and you get to make a cup of tea just the way you like it.

The living, dining, kitchen area!

In the evening we were craving some good desi/ pakistani food, so we decided to go to Lahore Kebab House in Whitechapel, we actually wanted to go to Tayyabs but it was fully booked.

Oh my god, it was AWFUL.

We ordered lamb nihari, daal and chicken karahi. The daal was so salty, I really couldn’t go for a second helping, it dried my mouth out! The chicken karahi, don’t even know what that was, it was bits of rubber smothered in some tomato sauce, ugh what a nightmare. The lamb nihari was OKAY, just a weird selection of bones in the dish. hmmm :-\ .

The waiters were running around like headless chickens and it was SO loud. No sound proofing done at all so we had to shout across the table to be able to hear each other!!! zero. ambience. We’d been before and it wasn’t this bad but now we’ve established desi food is so much better up North than in London.

looks good on the surface, but really a salty slush garnished with coriander

In contrast to yesterdays food flop, today was a food fab day

(how are my alliteration skillz?!).

For lunch we had FatBurger, an American burger chain here in Camden, London!

I had a beef burger with all the essentials (gherkins, lettuce and cheeeeese) and onion rings 😛 it was great but the highlight was when the whole FatBurger team repeat your order! (easily amused, can you guess?).

After a spot of shopping at Westfields Shepherds Bush we had dinner at Penang!, at the Southern Terrace for some delightful Malaysian food!

The chicken skewers (Ayam Satay) went down a treat. One thing I love about Malaysian food is the peanut sauce, that nutty flavour with charcoal chicken was such a good combination!!!

We also tried the Mango salad (I used to have this for my dinner when I lived in Singapore)! Its soooo good! The mangos are slightly raw and sour so go really well with the lime dressing and of course…roasted PEANUTS!

The food at Penang! had that authentic taste we wanted so if you love to experiment or like me, you love Malaysian food, Penang! is the place to go.

Food at Penang! (yikes not the best pic!)

I was clearly loving life a bit tooooo much so I didn’t take many photos! (surprising for me!!).

After a wander around Knightsbridge and Sloane Square the following day (Sunday was the hottest day of the year so far apparently!), I was desperate for a cold drink and a light snack!

So much for a light snack we went to Comptoir Lebanais (sounds so posh) OOO LAAA DEE DAAAA.

How funky are the menus?! (and slightly greasy, yikes :/)

Brow game strong

Fattet Lamb Kibbeh

Sirine Salad

I had the ‘Sirine Salad’ a glorified Caesar salad but with an Arab twist of spiced chicken, feta cheese, walnuts and pomegranate seeds…yeah so not anything like a Caesar salad (bad comparison, oops). But it wassss exactly what I needed on this hot hot day.

We also tried the ‘Fattet Lamb Kibbeh’; minced lamb parcels with pine nuts, warm tahini yoghurt, garnished with crispy pita & fried onions. Warm yoghurt?! I hear you say?….i know i was a bit unsure about ‘warm yoghurt’ too but it turned out to be really tasty and went well with the soft lamb and sweet fried onions.

So thats my FOOD-filled weekend in London and that’s how I experienced four countries in one city!

I’ll definitely be back in London again to try more international delights!!!! (and better Pakistani food!)

More to come,

M. x

@supermisha651

Tarka Dal- quick, easy and super yummy recipe in 6 simple steps!

Posted on April 29, 2015 by MGK

Tarka Daal Red Lentils are the quickest type of lentils to cook, so if you’re short of time or want something quick to eat this is the dal you need!

If you’ve got a handful of red lentils, an onion, a tomato and a few spices you’re pretty much ready to go!

This recipe serves 2 super hungry individuals (i.e. me and my dad) so maybe 4 semi-hungry people. If you need to serve a little more than that just double up the ingredients.

Ingredients

For the Dal:

100g Red Lentils

1/2 tsp Tumeric

For the Tarka:

1tbsp Olive oil

1 tbsp Butter (butter and dal make a fab combination, but its not essential)

1/2 tsp Cumin seeds

1/2 tsp Chilli powder

1/2-1 tsp Salt (to taste, remember add less to begin with, you can always add more later)

1 Onion, diced

2 Tomatos, chopped

2-3 Garlic Cloves (you can add more or less to taste, my dad hates garlic so I had to compromise 😦 )

1 Green Chilli, chopped (optional i.e. if you’re feeling hot hot hot 😎 )

To garnish:

Handful of chopped coriander

1-2 tbsp of fried onions (I bought mine from the shops!)

Method

1. Put the lentils into a medium- sized pan and add water (just enough to cover the lentils), bring the lentils to boil on a medium-high heat. You’ll notice some ‘froth’/gross bubbles of stuff creating a layer at the top, just skim that off and add the turmeric. Then leave to simmer whilst you make the tarka.

2. In a frying pan or small saucepan heat the oil, butter and then add the cumin seeds. Once the cumin seeds darken add the onion. The onion will go soft and brown on the edges, thats when you can add the garlic. Cook for 1 minute or until the garlic cloves soften. Add the tomatoes, chilli powder and salt.

3. Let the tarka cook for another 10-15 minutes until the tomatoes soften and the contents form a paste/ masala. You’ll notice that the oil separates from the rest of the ingredients within the pan.

4. Now back to the lentils. If you find the lentils have formed a thick mush, just add more water and keep simmering until the lentils are thick or as watery as you like. Tarka dal should generally be in between.

5. Add the tarka to the lentils and cook for another 5-10 minutes, until the tarka and lentils have mixed well together. Here you can add the green chilli as well.

6. Adjust the seasoning to your taste. Once you’ve put the tarka dal into your serving dish, garnish with fried onions and coriander.

DONE!

You can eat tarka dal with naan, roti, pitta bread, basmati rice or on its own!

Cucumber raita is also a good accompaniment: 5-6 tbsp yoghurt, splash of milk, 1/4-1/2 tsp salt, 1/4-1/2 tsp chilli powder mix together and then add diced or grated cucumber, give it a good mix and serve!