Life In 24 Mar to 31 Aug'24

 

No time to waste, so lets get down to the deets. In no particular order. 

Thindi Walk in Rajajinagar with Aarti. 

Thindi Walk

1. We started at a Chiblu idli van that is yet to be found on Google maps. Mandya Halaguru Chiblu Idli, Rajajinagara. -pillowy, fresh chiblu idlis, love rice bath items (pudina, puliyogare and chitranna), masal vadE. All good!
2. THE Ajji hotel with the sakkath khara kanninda neeru baruthe chutney, fantastic chitranna, idli and bondas.
3. Sri Guru raghavendra dosa and veg corner. Shavige bath, Kesari Bhat and vade
4. Siri coffee Mane for some fresh coffee
5. Manjunatha fast foods - Puri with Sunday special tarkari sagu (brilliant!), garlic chutney smeared masal dosE, soft thatte idlis with a dash of ghee
6. Davangere benne dosE angadi, open dosE, benne Khali, benne masalE
7. Lastly, we went to O.G. Varier bakery - a very famous one 

Restaurants explored - 

• Kampot Bellandur - Went with office colleagues for Kajal's farewell. Good Asian food. Not much crowded and no music.
• Biergarten Bellandur - Went with Rick and team. Good beer and near to office. It is a huge place inside. 
• Street 1522, Sarjarpur road with Masi - Good variety of food. Nice combination of food court and restaurant. 
• Multiple visits to Deck of brews from office
• Hotel Annapurna Tiffin Center - Nearby office. Took a cab once and had breakfast before going to office. 
• The Filter Coffee - Tried both Indiranagar (with Manas) and the Brookfiled one (with Rick)

Movies / TV Series

• Kill  - John Wick equivalent from India. Loved it. 3.5/5
• Amar Singh Chamkila - Biopic done well. I liked it a lot. 3.5/5 
• Barbie - 3/5
• Watched Oppenheimer again. I think it is just brilliant. 4.5/5
• Broadchurch - Season 1 & 2. 4/5 . Both David Tennant and Olivia Coleman are awesome! 
• The Bear season 3 - 3.5/5 Still has a lot of heart but story does not move that much forward. 
• Masala series - Tracker (2.5/5), Poker Face (3/5) 
• Masala movies - The Union, Twisters (2024), Twister(1996), Anyone but you. 
• Rewatched Ted Lasso during my Dengue time. 

Travels

1. Trip to Mussourie
2. Surya Top Trek with IndiaHikes
3. US trip - LA, Vegas and Grand Canyon. Details to come
4. Kathmandu + Vipassana  - Details to come. 

Books

Started a book club in office to read management books. 

• On Leadership - HBR's 10 best reads 
• No Rule Rules - Netflix and the culture of Reinvention by Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer
• The Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
• Siddartha by Herman Hesse
• The Art of Living - Vipassana meditation as taught by S.N. Goenka
• The devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino 

What Else

• Got Dengue - Was out for 2 weeks. Kanishka and mummy fed me lot of juices which helped me recover soon. 
• Did a fruit only detox diet from Team Sharan for a week.

Thindi Walk - Malleshwaram

Inspired by the N.R. Colony's Thindi walk, Kanishka decided to plan her own walk - this time in Malleshwaram. But with two people, it was a challenge since sharing is limited. So, we decided to cover only three places and also focus on the walk. Places were identified from  Thindi Capital - a Whatsapp group of Thindi lovers. 

Car park point - Near C.T.R Malleshwaram

By design this place was skipped since it was tried and tested. Also, limited apetite:)

Stop 1 - Shri Raghvendra Stores, Malleshwaram

Located right outside the Malleshwaram train station, this was decently crowded. Its a small hole in the wall setup but amazingly soft Idlis. Chutney was not too chlli but had a nice thick consistency to it. Dosa and vada were ok. Its Idlis are worth to get down at Malleshwaram train station, have breakfast and then take auto/cab to home.

Stop 2 - Malleshwaram Dose corner

Known for its Davangere style Benne (butter) dose, this was a decent walk from first stop. This walk gave us good opportunity to digest the food. The Davangere style dosa was crispy.  Chutney was watery,  less chilli than the benne dose at NR colony. We decided to Skip the palya (potato) and savored the dosa. Dosa was good. 

Not very crowded though. It had a nice token system. The place is also very prescriptive though - they had a poster saying - "Dear Citizen, If you are living here and do not know Kannada, please learn and be one among us. Do not be a stranger."  

This was amusing :) 

Stop 3 - Veena Stores, Malleshwaram

No Thindi walk is possible in Malleshwaram without a stop at Veena stores. Having been there, we decided to only do parcel from this place. Not just for us but for family as well. Even when we had the food at home, it was very tasty. 

Stop 4 - Shri Krishna Sweets Malleshwaram

Kanishka decided to satisfy her Mysore Pak carving here. Shri Krishna sweets perhaps makes the best Mysore Pak. It is dipped in Ghee and sweet, but not very sweet. The Mysore Pak melts in mouth and it is irresistible to have just one. 

Stop 5 - Hotel Janatha

By this time, our stomachs were full. But hotel Janatha is an iconic shop, having been around for more than 50 years. It has that old place feeling - high walls airy, wooden tables. This is also not a self-serve place, someone comes to take your order. Dosa and Idli were decent. Either we were full or tired, it did not gave us the Aha moment but still pretty decent.  Like most of the yesteryear place, it can be made into much better space. 

Our intention behind this walk was to try out new places. That is why CTR and Veena were skipped. CTR had a long queue outside it. Walking in Malleshwaram is comfy - enough bylanes to avoid traffic, nice trees to have shade. Overall, a delightful breakfast Thindi walk. Took us three hours in total. 

Thindi Walk - N.R. Colony, Beganluru

 

Kanishka and I did a Thindi walk in N.R. Colony. This walk was organized by Ajit Bhaskar along with Enthu Cutlet (what a cool name!) and Edible Issues.  Icame to know about these walks organized by Ajit on Twitter, started following him and landed on the first one that was organized. 

As a Thindi lover, this walk was delightful, informative,  with a gang of people who are serious about their breakfasts. It was super fun. Plus, the new places were super cool. In this blog, I will cover the restaurants but this is just information and the walk is an experience. It is a must! 

Meeting Point - South Kitchen, NR colony

 

Stop 1 - Hotel Dwarka

No walk in N.R. colony will be respectable if it does not include the Khali Dosa of NR colony. This is the only place that I had been before out of the below list. Khali Dosa is amazing, fluffy, no oil (yes, it is dosa without oil) along with a liquidy chutney. You dip your dosa in the chutney to just soak it in and then have a bite. It is legendary. 

We also tried the Vada Sambhar here which was also good

Stop 2 - Trupthi Aahar

We largely stopped here to get a taste of Mangalore Buns. Again, how can you have a Thindi walk without Mangalore buns. Buns were decent. Not the best :) But still Mangalore Buns plus coffee is a combination that is difficult to beat. We also had  a Pudina Masala dosa here, I just had a bite and it was good. This place also deserves respect for its audacity to open right opposite Hotel Dwarka :)

Stop 2.5: Mookambika sweets

Just ahead of Trupthi Aahar on the way to South Kitchen is this small chat shop called Mookambika. It was not a planned stop but the Rawa Wada (Suji Pakoda) made us stop. Apparently, Hotel Dwarka also has it but only in the 2nd half.  Suji Pakoda are anyways my favorite. So good to see it here. 

Stop 3 - Namma SLN, Gandhi Bazaar

It was fair bit of walk from NR colony to Gandhi bazaar but it was worth it to get time to digest the food. Along the way, we crossed Vidyarthi Bhawan and saw huge lines there. Some part of me likes to believe that Ajit planned this intentionally :)

Namma SLN is a Darshini in they style of Cubbonpet Muddanna - a variation of breakfast where dosa has a filling of rice bhat inside it. Done so that the breakfast is a meal higher in calories, meant for folks who work in factories, high laborious kind of work, it is a twist to the standard Darshini fair.  Served with a delicious chutney, in an open dosa style, it was very delicious. 

Another tid bit here is that you do not pay before your meal. You come, order from this hole in the wall outlet, eat food outside and then inform the owner what you ate so that he give you the amount to pay. talk about integrity, heh. 

Plus Ajit's tweet sums up my feelings here - 

Stop 4 - Hotel Srinivasa, NR Colony 

Now, this was a total surprise. Just wow. A hidden gem in between some residential quarters. You know this place is good just by looking at the queue outside.  It is known for its chutney dosa, but we could not have it because it had a massive waiting time. We settled for its Podi Thatte idli and it was awesome. Look at the pic below, it is mouth watering just to look at it. This place needs a second visit :) 

Stop 5 - Sri Gurukottureshwara Davangere benne dosE, NR Colony

In this carefully curated itinerary, Ajit ensured that we do not try the standard dosa (masala dosa) faire. It is available everywhere. The idea is to check out different variations, preparations. and understand the history behind it. One such is the Davangere benne dose (benne=butter). This one was crispy, I had never had a crispy davangere benne dosa before. Chutney had too much chillies and with bland mashed potatoes, this combination, though got sweat to foreheads, but definitely a unique culinary delight to taste. 

Stop 6 - South Kitchen, NR Colony

Back where it all started :) . Little did I know that this ordinary looking Darshini is a cult place. Its choice of offering were delightful. Even though we were stuffed, this place forces you to make room (overeat) and then some more. The Halabai (square kalakand made with rice though was amazing). Regular Idli, Shavige bhath were very well done. The chutney here is similar to Taaza Thindi style one. Overall, it is yet another new discovery place to not miss out. 

Lastly a group photo and an enthu cutlet badge because I am one :)

 

Cooking in 2020

We are in the third week of lockdown. Today, even our locality was sealed. Information is always sparse. But, one good thing of this lockdown has been that we have been forced to do our household chores, especially daily cooking. My cooking has always been an experimental one. Some of the experiments were tried earlier this year. So, I thought I would share some of these.


Pani Puri and Papdi chat

Toh hua yun, I signed up for a stall for Choti Holi celebration in the apartment. My stall was to be for Pani Puri and Papdi chaat. But, that did not materialize. Still, the plan went in full swing to make it at home. I made so much that I even carried some to Divya's wedding to Chennai.

Cleaning mint and corianter

Pani in preparation with Tamarind pulp

Me making Papdi Chaat

And if you have the raw materials, you get to make it multiple times.

The Pani puri pani was made in two flavors - one with raw mango pulp and another one using tamarind. Both were good. The shells were of market made atta shells. We also fried some at home from the shell chips that now come. I also wanted to make the Suji shells but that did not materialize.

Murugan style podi Uttapam

Kanishka has become our resident expert of dosas and Utthapam. In this one pic below, she made Podi Uttapam where we bought Podi from the Murugan Idli shop while coming back from Chennai. This was super delicious. 

French Toast with Fruits

I have always been a fan of a well made french toast. In BLR, Smoke House Deli ones are very well done. So, I thought to give it a try. Mine was ok, the trick is to get the right bread for it. The regular daily use bread do not is ok during lockdown times

 Wine sautéed veggies
I think usage of wine in Indian cooking is non-existent. It opens up a whole different range of flavors plus such a veggie is very easy to cook. I used Zucchini, Red bell peppers, Paneer for this.

Pav Bhaji

While going for bread shopping, Kanishka also got Pav and that triggered this. The Bhaji in Pav Bhaji is the main one to get right. Mine was ok. I did not have Pav Bhaji masala at home, so had to improvise. Plus, I am a big fan of street Pav Bhaji masala because they get the butter right. We do not have the heart to put that much butter in our cooking. 

Pasta with Orange Squash

Pasta was made by Kanishka. I hooked up the orange sauce. 

Banana Loaf bread

I heard that homemade recipes of Banana loaf bread is trending a lot since lockdown. Kanishka also put this in practice. I think bread is a misnomer here, it is actually a cake. THe whole thing was finished in less than 36 hrs.  Delightfully yummy!

Bajre ki roti with Rajma and cucumber lettuce salad

It is very difficult to get Rajma right. It has to have the right texture, right tanginess and right garam masala. Whenever I have made, it I would not rate my self beyond 3 out of 5. But with Bajre ki roti, this is a great one to have. 

 Maggi
No cooking at home list should be complete without a maggi photo

Chole Tikki Chaat

When you have made chole, do make chole tikki chat. Making Alu tikki is little bit extra effort but it is worth. Plus, there should be more than one ways to do carb loading in these times. 

This green chutney was done right, it had that khurdura texture and had raw mango. 

The chole were borderline disaster because of my usage of lemon salt. Lemon salt is not salt with slight tinge of lemon. Instead it is cryastallized lemon with slight salt. My usage of lemon salt as a substittute of salt back-fired immensely. But with curd, it was ok.

Also, as you can see the Kanishka's plate, it has no chole just so that tikki taste is not compromised. 

A normal lunch

Baigan ki sabji

Methi ka paratha

Dal palak 

All made at home both by Kanishka and myself.  I like my preparation of Dal Palak very much. 

Some experiments without photos - 

- Mint Hummus - Hummus with lots of mint, gets a nice green color to hummus. Ok taste. Also, I used less oil 

- Beans Thoran - This is a very normal dish in Kerala. For me, it was a first time to grate coconut at home. Freshly grated coconut makes all the difference. Some effort to make but very good ROI.

- Parippu Kaya Curry - Recipe from http://cookingwithlena.blogspot.com/2011/08/parippu-kaya-curry-raw-banana-dal-curry.html 

Mine did not look like this. Also, with lack of chillies, it was tasting little bland so I added slight mango and it made it very good. 

- Home made bloody mary drink - Bloody mary sachets are available now to be mixed with Vodka. It was a good attempt, especially when you are at home. 

- Dal fry - Made dhaba style Dal fry but without ghee. It is pretty good.