Restaurant Review: +94 Bombay

 

This review was first published online on 26th January 2021 in Luxury Lifestyle Magazine, UK https://www.luxurylifestylemag.co.uk/food-and-drink/restaurant-review-94-bombay-mumbai-in-india/

Umbadiyu - Gujarat's Original Winter Barbeque | How To Make Umbadiyu (Recipe Inside)

 

This article was published on 25th January 2021 online on NDTV Food

https://food.ndtv.com/food-drinks/how-to-make-umbadiyu-step-by-step-recipe-of-umbadiyu-2357988

Ale Pak: The Spicy Maharashtrian Sweet That Fights Cold And Cough (Recipe Inside)

This article was published on 22nd January 2021 online on NDTV Food

https://food.ndtv.com/food-drinks/ale-pak-the-spicy-maharashtrian-sweet-that-fights-cold-and-cough-recipe-inside-2356583

Central Europe via North Mumbai

With a menu full of interesting Hungarian street food, this tiny Juhu eatery takes you on a vicarious culinary holiday straight to the food markets of Central Europe.

By Raul Dias

One of the last places we flew to just before the pandemic clipped out travel-happy wings was to the Hungarian capital of Budapest. And while this beautiful Central European city may be better known for its grand architecture and for the serpentine Danube that bisects it into the Buda and Pest sides, there is something to be said about the city’s food as well. 

Redolent with copious amounts of the de facto national spice of smoky paprika, the goulashes that we indulged in were just as memorable as the spit-roasted kurtoshes and deep fried langos. Perfect snacks to munch on on a chilly winter's day. So, imagine our delight when we chanced upon Kurtosshhh, a tiny (and dare-we-say numerologically-savvy!) eatery in Juhu that claims to serve Hungarian street food. Albeit with a twist.

With barely enough room for a couple of people to sit at its wooden tables and chairs, with a cosy mezzanine level housing a single table, we realised that dining in at Kurtosshhh in these days may not be such a great idea. And so, we picked up a couple of dishes that came packed in regular aluminium foil containers and paper boxes.

The eponymous kurtosh that is the eatery’s flag bearing dish is a conical spit cake that’s also known multifariously as a chimney cake, a baumstriezl in Germany and a trdelnik in the Czech Republic. Generally served in its sweet avatar, all dusted with sugar and cinnamon, at Kurtosshhh you can also try a number of savoury iterations; ranging from grilled vegetables to cottage cheese filled ones. Out eight-inch tall chipotle chicken kurtosh (Rs.189) was composed of a buttery, blistered dough that we were told was made with a mixture of 18 secret flours. It held forth creamy, well-seasoned succulent bits of chicken with diced onions and peppers.

Served in individual rings and piping hot, the sweet cinnamon trdelnik (Rs.189) was decadently more-ish, all doused in chocolate and caramel sauce. We also tried the open-faced grilled cottage cheese kartoos kurtosh (Rs.229) that was quite different in taste and texture from its conical cousin. And while it may seem similar to a flatbread, the deep fried langos topped with molten cheese and olives, all dusted with smoky paprika (Rs.199) took us straight back to Budapest’s Central Food Market Hall where we had tried langos for the first time. 

We decided to wash all this down with the thick and creamy safrany kulfi shake (Rs.169), served in the now-ubiquitous mini milk bottle. As a parting shot, we decided to succumb to a cliché and called for the chicken goulash rice bowl (Rs.249) which, though quite tasty and satisfying, fell a tad short in the authenticity department, missing that all-important paprika hit.

Well, I guess we'll just have to go back for a more genuine one—both to Kurtosshhh and yes, Hungary too!           

AT: Kurtosshhh, Shop 12, Juhu Ruturaj CHS, Juhu Tara Road, Santacruz West.

DELIVERY: Swiggy and Zomato

TIME: 11 am to 11 pm

CALL: 9321055321

(An edited version of this review appeared in the 13th January 2021 issue of the Mid-Day newspaper, India on page 16 https://www.mid-day.com/mumbai-guide/mumbai-food/article/hungary-tide-23155492)

The Viral 'Spread'

Poised to be the 'New Nutella’ of this brand new year is a cookie butter spread that has social media all agog.

By Raul Dias

On my last attempt at a tally, there were at least a hundred accounts and millions of hashtags on Instagram solely dedicated to Biscoff. Almost every second YouTube video tutorial these days seems to be showing me myriad ways to use the product. Cashing in on the new 'plant-based' foods craze, the vegan cookie butter spread has amassed a cult-like following.

From Kenya to Melaka in Malaysia, the spread has well and truly spread far and wide in the lockdown-paused world. A time when the home baking frenzy is at its peak, with trends of all kinds jostling for table-top space.

And social media trend-savvy India is no exception. Nipping close at the heels of dalgona coffee, focaccia art and the perennial favourite aka. sourdough bread baking, the spread that many are calling the 'New Nutella' is finding a firm-footing in India and all set to be the buzzword of 2021!

Past Perfect

So, what exactly is Biscoff? Interestingly, the spread is far from being the nubile 2021 debutante it seems to be. A portmanteau of the words 'biscuit' and 'coffee', the original caramelised Lotus Biscoff cookie was first produced in 1932 by a Belgian baker named Jan Boone Sr. Also known as 'speculoos' (which is what all thin, spiced biscuits in Belgium and the neighbouring Netherlands are called), the biscuit found itself crushed up into an all new product—the spreadable cookie butter decades later. 

It would be in 2007, when inventor Els Scheppers took part in a Belgian TV inventor show, called De Bedenkers ("The Inventors"), that she would come up with a spreadable product made out of the original speculoos cookies. It was then that Lotus bought her idea and produced it under the original brand. 

Soon the US got in on the action and co-opted the idea. With several brands like Trader Joe's coming out with their own versions of what they call ‘speculoos cookie butter'. All deceptively similar in both taste and texture to the original Belgian one.

Desi does it too!

Right now, it would be hard to scroll through the social media feeds of any confectioner or home baker in India and not find a dessert that highlights cookie butter in some iteration or the other. Be they cakes, pies, brownies or anything else one can think of using the caramel-tinged spread. A few months ago, during the pujo festivities, I even encountered a Biscoff sandesh of all things.

Swheta Mutreja Aggarwal, who owns Kookie Cake Crumble, a confectionery business, first came across Biscoff-based desserts a few years ago on a family vacation to Europe. “The slightly spicy, cinnamon flavour appealed to me and that's when I decided I could incorporate it into my desserts too,” says Agarwal who came out with her version of a spiced pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving late last year using the spread.

Speaking of pies, the newly launched Pie & co in Mumbai too has a Biscoff pie on their festive menu. “We added Biscoff to our baked cheesecake and it soon became one of our top selling items for the festive season,” says Chef Aditi Goel, the brand’s founder. However, she does warn of its potential drawbacks. “When baked for too long, the spread losses its flavour, and we did have a few rounds of errors before we could come to our final Biscoff pie recipe.”

 

Cookie Vs Nut Butter

Putting it down to the ingredient's versatility, home baker Anjali Mirchandani of online baking company Brownie by the Bay feels confident in incorporating it in several of her recipes be they cheesecakes, dessert jars or her specialty—brownies. All three that would earlier have had Nutella in them. “Take a cheesecake for instance. Biscoff and cream cheese work superbly together given their similar creamy profile. It most definitely is the new Nutella and has taken everyone's taste buds by storm,” believes Mirchandani.

Despite the fact that the brand new Silver Beach Café in Mumbai has a Biscoff milkshake on their menu, its executive VP, Twinkle Keswani still believes in the unshakable popularity of Nutella in India. “While Biscoff is definitely popular, Nutella, according to me, is iconic with its bottle and taste of course. It is much ahead of Biscoff in the race of sweet spreads”.

Almost gives the phrase “war against the spread” a whole other meaning!

RECIPE

Biscofff Milkshake

Ingredients:

1/2 cup cold milk

2 tsp Biscoff spread

2 scoops vanilla ice cream

2 Biscoff cookies

Method:

• Blend milk, Biscoff spread, vanilla ice cream and one cookie in a mixer. 

• Drizzle a little melted spread into a tall milkshake glass, swirling it around to coat the sides.

• Pour blended milkshake into the glass and garnish with a whole cookie.

(An edited version of this article first appeared online in The Hindu Business Line newspaper's BLink section on 2nd January 2021 https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/takeaway/belgian-biscoff-is-the-new-nutella/article33479939.ece)