Phatbugger

Good Bye Paul Bocuse

Paul Bocuse passed away today the 20th Jan 2018. He was a Culinary Giant of France. He introduced the world to French “Nouvelle Cuisine”, which at the time was quite radical. It went from”Le Grande Cuisine Française” (The great french cuisine, which was RICH, butter cream truffles etc.) to using healthier and less fatty…

OpinionsandPontifications

My attitudes to wine are changing

While I have always loved the good wines and have lashed out occasionally to buy 50-80-100-120 $ bottles of wine and really savoured them, my attitudes towards them are changing recently. When I tasted a 100$ bottle of wine and it tasted great, my reactions and comments on the wine were just about the wine…

Original-2015

Our Everyday wine – Apothic Red

This has been our everyday wine in the house for the last three years or so. This is a luscious easy drinking wine. Fruit forward and does not need any work to quaff on a daily basis. Lots of Cheery Berry flavours in addition to soft but very noticeable vanilla from the oak. In addition…

Ethiopian

Injera, the Ethiopian answer to Bread – A quick version

Injera, it is more than just a flatbread to eat with Ethiopian stews. It doubles as the eating utensil/vehicle. You tear off chunks of this fluffy, pillowy flatbread/pancake and use it to scoop up the stew instead of a knife and a fork or a spoon. It is made from what some call one of…

MainDish

Doro Wat – Say what….

Doro Wat is a wonderfully spicy and I don’t mean “spicy hot”, but flavoursome chicken stew from Ethiopia. It uses the Berbere spice from the last post. Since the spices are robust, it is best to use chicken thighs rather than breast meat. This is a dish that needs time. The Ethiopian way of slow…

Condiment

Berbere – Ethiopian Spice Mix

There is nothing quite that says Ethiopian food than Berbere, the ubiquitous spice mix of this land. Of course, there isn’t one recipe for Berbere. Every household will have its own variation. This one started with a recipe I got from a colleague of a couple of jobs ago, Abe Woldeselassie. This was his…

MainDish

Pork Chile Verde

This is a classic Mexican dish with Pork and the bright acidity of the Tomatillos. This certainly calls for a good Beer to go with it and my personal favourite is, as always, Negra Modelo. Ingredients: 3/4 lbs Tomatillos 3-4 cloves of Garlic (unpeeled) for Roasting 2 Jalapenos (Seeded and de-veined for the…

Original-2016

Middle Eastern Style Salad

This is a little salad I put together to go with a Moroccan style chicken Breast cutlets. I have that separately posted. Here is the link to Chicken – Pseudo Moroccan. I started by seeding and chopping tomatoes into about half inch dice. Peel, Seed and chop English cucumber, about 1/2 of a large one. …

Original-2016

Chicken – Pseudo Moroccan

I needed a quick cooking chicken recipe for a summer day when most of it happened on the outside grill. I wanted something from the Middle East, may be Morocco or thereabouts. 1 teaspoon Cumin Seeds 1 teaspoon Coriander seeds 1 teaspoon Fennel Seeds Toast all of these over Medium heat till they are fragrant. …

Original-2016

An Experiment in Recreation – Bottarga

Bottarga – An Italian ingredient that I love but cannot really afford it as much as I want to. I was thinking about what Bottarga is; well it is smoked cakes of dried fish roe that you grate over some fresh Pasta or may be silky potato puree. But in a functional description, it adds…