Of Gourmet Meals and Dinner Parties -Pre Packaged Food with a Heritage

Dinner Parties for friends or for family...
Any excuse to get together and celebrate each other's company...
Laughter and Memories and Gossip ...
Best of all FOOD!

Nothing makes for better memories than good food...
All your table decor and artefact's and votives will be forgotten, but the finger licking food will stay in your guest's memories forever...
A spread...
A day may be more spent slaving in the kitchen...
Happy faces and filled bellies...
That's what you are aiming for...
A Gourmet Party of your own...

A Gourmet Party with your finest silverware and the choicest of foods...Indian and Comfortable...always because wherever you go,whatever you like..phir bhi dil hai hindustani.
The beat way to begin is with the planning...
The first and most important rule in party planning...

• The Guest List.

Some thing to be extremely careful about-invite those who will gel with each other and those who are sure to enjoy your hospitality.Never invite two people who do not get along and if you are of the single variety still-never invite your exes and your present love interest together...they just might compare notes...

• The Ambiance.

Make sure your entire house is clean and your loos are super,super clean.With clean towels and soap in the dispenser,try to place a small green plant in the loo.And for best measure,get nice candles and keep them burning somewhere safe in the bath room. Really handy in taking away bad odours...

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Like wise in your entire house.Just make sure the candles don't create a fire hazard.

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Flowers always set the mood...

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If you want to be different ,try leaves...green is uber cool today...

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They don't have to be super expensive...random leaves plucked from the neighbours garden will do too.

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Use them as place mats...

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I use them as the base...as white finger food-baby Idli's here get lost on my white serving platters...

• Seating Plan.

Unless you have a caterer ,avoid a sit down formal dinner. Lets face it ,it is difficult to plate and serve an Indian meal by your self...so a buffet is always easier...
Just make sure you have comfortable chairs or couches and an abundance of cushions...

• Music.

A great ice breaker-good music. Depending on the mood of your guests,change the tempo-maybe trance or dance music ,or some oldies or ghazals...better to stock up and sort through your music collection.
I love happy music-whether peppy numbers played low or just happy ghazals...

• The drinks.

The watering hole is always the most popular plce to be,jungle or corporate jungle or just your living room.Make sure you have plenty of booze even if you don't drink.B-O-R-I-N-G.
And glasses.

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Also,make sure you have the drinks that your guests love.

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Even if it means calling before hand or observing what your guests are drinking at someone Else's party. Courtesy,this is.Also keep plenty of lemons,soda,ice and juices handy.Don't forget the bacchhas(kids)stock plenty of tetra pack juices for them -and paper serviettes or napkins...saves you the bother of broken glasses and washing up later and stains on walls or upholstery...ewww.

• The Menu Planning or most importantly Food.

Plan an executable menu. Something that will not require your attention when your guests are around. Prepare food that can be heated and served, and if possible hire help to help you  heat the food and make the rotis.So if you cant really cook-get a restaurant to cater,or better still get the stuff from Kitchens of India.
My favourite -the Dal Bukhara

Served like ...

You can also buy Curry bases and add the main component  to get an incredible preparation at home.
For Paneer Makhani Masala-Use fresh cottage cheese and cook the mix to get your yummy dish.

With pre cut chicken making a chicken curry is so ,so easy...Use Chicken Curry Masala Mix to prepare a yummy curry.

And if you cant even stir fry a curry paste just open a pack of Chicken darbari...

Or just open a pack of Murg Methi-Methi chicken to wow your guests... 

Or maybe Mirch Ka Salan...

And if you cant find the time to make cottage cheese simply open up..

 That for you is a sample of the stuff available...

For the  accompaniments to the meal ,just twist open a lid and empty the contents to a pretty bowl...
The Freshness of Kerala in the pineapple and green pepper chutney- brilliant in its combination...

Or my favourite Strawberry and Mint-the kiss of summer...

A regular in most homes-Shredded Mango...

More flavours in their bouquet at Chutneys and Conserves...
And desserts...
Gift your self this pack of 4 -one for the party and 3 for the after conti party...

Then there is Petha Halwa and Moong Dal Halwa...

They are available a click away here.
Just make the rice and the rotis...
And serve with elegance.


Adopt an easy life. Do up your self.Look pretty and be an amazing hostess...
Welcome your guests to your pretty nest...

Let Kitchens of India do all your hard work and rake in the complements...
And enjoy the fruits of your labours.(who is to know that you only opened the packets)
Psst...ensure that you dish out the food before your guests arrive and enthrall them with your Awadhi and Hydrabadi cooking skills.
After a wonderful evening of good company,booze and better food...you'll sleep well tonight!


 This post is an entry to the Indiblogger Contest -Kitchens of India -a feast for the senses .All products available at Kitchens of India home delivered to your dinner table ... to ensure memories are drenched in tradition...

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Mutton Masala Restaurant Style Loaded with Mum's Love

Vacations...

And Happiness...

And Books...

On my bedside at the moment is a big pile...the pile of books is my new bed side table...

I have Inferno-Dan Brown's newest offering of the same old,same old but adorable Harris Tweed and Cordovan Loafers sporting Mickey Mouse watch wearing professor of iconology and symbology-Robert Langdon...

Yes...the persona is as cool as the story...

And then I have Baldacci...

Clice Cussler...

Ernest Hemingway...

Mark Mills...

Cecelia Ahern...

A library at my disposal,and what daddy always said...in not so colourful a way though...

So the at onset of the vacations,I wanted to nothing except read and lie in bed...

So I read and lay in bed...

Dinner time and an almost Yakhni later...

Mutton masala that tasted better than any restaurant special...

Almost YAkhni?North India has been reeling under a heat wave-44C to 46C just passing by.The heat you can stand,its the humididity that saps your energy.

So we have to contend with air getting frizzier and sweat trickling down from everywhere along with the heat.

From the air conditioned comforts of the TV room, I was beseiged with requests for Mutton Masala-Restaurant Style...

So here it is...

Greasy,with oil floating over well cooked pieces of mutton...

Served with hand closed ghee laden chappatis and mum's love...

Mutton Curry served in restaurants generally tastes similar.Just a few shades of difference -a bit spicier or a bit oilier.

But across the board they are all tasty...

And taste best piping hot with chappatis fresh from the tandoor-or in our case -at home fresh off the tawa or fresh off the gridle...

It’s all about chance...

All about watching a TV show-where the hosts waited for the mutton which was pre boiled...

So that is what I have started to do...

And ended up with mutton that tastes amazing!

Just pressure cook the mutton with a little bit of water up to one pressure, make the base of the curry and then add the al dente  mutton and stock to the cooking base...

Hey presto! You have restaurant style mutton at your table.

To start with

For the

Mutton Curry Restaurant Style –served with Mum’s love...

You need

500 gms assorted cuts of mutton-ribs, shoulder and marrow bones

200 gms sliced onion

2 tsp ginger garlic paste

½ cup freshly grated tomatoes/2-3 tbsp packaged tomato puree

Salt, red chilli powder to taste

½ tsp turmeric powder

2-3 tbsp Meat Masala Powder (basic garam Masala to which a few extra spices are added-I used Catch Meat Masala)

3 tbsp Mustard Oil/Ghee

You need a pressure cooker for the mutton, and if you don’t have one...simple-just use a heavy bottomed pan.

Place the mutton in the pressure cooker and add 2 cups of water along with ½ tsp salt and ¼ tsp turmeric powder.

Open once the pressusre drops. If you do not have a pressure cooker, add 1 cup water extra. Bring to the boil and reduce to a simmer, cooking for about 15 minutes. Just one whistle/pressure will do otherwise.

In a wok/kadai/flat bottomed pan, heat the mustard oil or the clarified butter to smoking point. Clarified butter or ghee tastes best but the cholesterol haunts!

Once the fat smokes, add the onions and fry till they are translucent.

So what are you baking today???

Now add in the ginger garlic paste. Either ginger or garlic will be fine too.

Now fry till the onions get a nice caramelised hue, adding the salt, turmeric and 1 tsp red chilli powder.

Add in the Meat Masala and add in some of the stock to deglaze the pan...

Place the pieces of cooked mutton in next and sauté...

Keep adding the stock at regular intervals...

Add in the tomatoes and stir...

If you run out of stock, add water.

The mutton needs to be cooked on a medium to low flame till the sauce is thick and is napping and wrapping the pieces of mutton, coating it silkily and lovingly

By this time, the mutton will be cooked and the grave thick, with the oil/fat separated and floating on the surface...

You can add a little water for runny gravy, if you want to eat this with boiled rice...

Me?

I prefer the gravy, wrapped around my ribs...

Accompanied by hot, hot chapattis, straight off the griddle.

For this, sweet child and hubby dear, sit at the table. I make the chapattis, slather them with a wee bit of homemade clarified butter or ghee and close them in my fist and serve...

They say that when the woman does this for her family...she is enclosing her love in the fisted chapatti. The wee bit of ghee, helps the spices go down easy, as they coat the lips and prevent you from feeling the heat of the chili laden super spicy gravy.

The Meat Masala is just a spicier garam Masala that helps to thicken the gravy and bring the right combination of spices to the curry.

Simple meal, served with sliced onions, liberally splashed with lemon juice and loads of love.

Ps raw onions help cool the heat in the body and reduce cholesterol. So you balance meats with a salad/salsa of raw onions...

Try the fisted chapatti/chopri roti (as it is known in Punjab)...you may hurt your hands, but the chapatti is always tastier...

Coming up...

A green chocolate cake, that brings back memories of After Eights...

So what are you baking today???

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Of Chocolate Stains on Pillow Cases,Dentists and Memories of The X Files- A not so boring moral Story

“A little magic can take you a long way.” 

― Roald Dahl

The truth has an uncomfortable way of always revealing itself...
Especially in the dead of  the night.
Sleep ...
Sleep,my love...
The night will cushion your pain...
I dream of the decadence...
Of melting chocolate on my fingers...
Of the scent of the chocolate liqueur...
Of the taste on my tongue...
The richness and the hint of the bittersweet ...
And then the lusciousness of it all on my lips...
@#$%^&&*()!!!!!!!!!
What was that again?
Chocolate stains on my pillow covers...arghhhh!
They are murder to remove.
But then ,I don't even have chocolate in my house...So where are these wrappers coming from?

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Always rumpled by my bedside...
Got to admit it...my nocturnal visitor sure has style!
But...
My doors are locked and my feet and slippers are clean...
So I could not be sleep walking ?
Or could I ?
What worries me the most is this consistent pain...
Pain!
Tooth Ache??
Well yes...
A sign...
A sign that something is not quite right...
Maybe its time to bring out the magic from the box that I have hidden...My tarot cards...
I feel the cards in my hands and deal out my first cards in years...
I need the benevolence of the cards...

I draw Ten of Discs-reassurance needed-I know...
Then -The wheel of fortune-new hopes and efforts for my achievements...

Ten of wands-delays in success and more hard work needed.
Something I already knew...
Nothing really solves my dilemma.
I head to the bathroom to brush my teeth with my new electronic toothbrush...
AAgrh!!!!!
The pain...was that The Hermit card that I thought I avoided-the tarot card indicating death-severe pain in the least???
Thank God the friendly neighbourhood dentist works till late...its only 9 30 pm...
Never though I'd visit the dentist in my jammies...
Hello...after a look the toothie declared that I may have needed an RCT or a Root Canal Treatment on one of my Pre Molars had I delayed just a few more days...
But the magic of pain saved me...
The pain I understand...but the chocolate I don't...
Maybe there's paranormal activity in my house...
Sleep evades me for a while...and then suddenly I feel the presence of someone at my bedside...
Almost like Lady Godiva...or is she?

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Ethereal...
She whispers in my ear...
Listen to your dreams baby...and check your hubby's pockets!
OMG!
I discounted hubby dear and his love for all things dark and chocolate...
One smooch on my lips before bed time...
And some chocolate stains on the pillow cases...
All that worrying was for nothing...
Argh!
Well at least I visited the dentist...
His laughter booming, punctuated with the words ghosts and aliens and Fox Mulder and Dana scully and X files and choclate loving alien visitors and ghosts...
According to him the moral of the story would be..."Brush your teeth twice a day and when in pain-tooth ache go to the dentist ....and always ask around before you doubt and call on the aliens!"

This post is an entry for Colgate Total Pro Gum Health Contest "The Moral Of the Story Is..." for Indiblogger. More details on Oral health care can be found at My Healthy Speak.


So what are you baking today???

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