(This article first appeared online on 21st February 2024 on Live Mint, India https://lifestyle.livemint.com/food/discover/goa-street-food-guide-111708479964448.html)
Showing posts with label STREET FOOD. Show all posts
Showing posts with label STREET FOOD. Show all posts
Thursday, February 22, 2024
Wednesday, January 3, 2024
When Coffee Needs Buttering Up: Singapore's Kopi Gu You
(This article first appeared online on 3rd January 2024 on Live Mint, India https://lifestyle.livemint.com/food/drink/butter-coffee-kopi-gu-you-singapore-111704274390701.html)
Thursday, May 19, 2022
12 Iconic Dishes You Must Eat On Hanoi's Streets
Wednesday, March 10, 2021
Amdavadi Khatta Meetha Bhaat Recipe - A Sweet-N-Sour Rice Preparation From Gujarat (with recipe)
This article was published on 9th March 2021 online on NDTV Food https://food.ndtv.com/food-drinks/amdavadi-khatta-meetha-bhaat-recipe-how-to-make-amdavadi-khatta-meetha-bhaat-2386288
Saturday, February 27, 2021
Healthy Chinese bhel (with recipe)
This article was published on 26th February 2021 online on NDTV Foodt //food.ndtv.com/how-to/this-healthy-chinese-bhel-makes-for-a-yummy-high-protein-snack-recipe-inside-2379422Saturday, July 6, 2019
Starry, Starry Bites!
A food safari taking in Bangkok’s ultra-humble and low-key Michelin starred eateries is the perfect way to get a taste of the Thai capital.
By Raul Dias
‘Sister Mole’ seems a lot grumpier since the last time I saw her which was almost a year ago. Her trademark ski goggles—that have earned her the aforementioned moniker—shield 73-year-old Supinya Junsuta’s eyes that blaze with the same intensity as the flames that emanate from the propane-fueled stove she commands. Over this, she deftly coaxes together the egg and crab meat slurry in a huge wok filled with smoking oil. Legendary for its deep-fried crab omelet, her tiny street side, dinner-only stall Raan Jay Fai that’s located at Mahachai Road in the Phra Nakhon area of Bangkok is the only Thai street food eatery awarded 1-Michelin star. A feat that it accomplished in late 2017.
It was last year in August while tucking into a plate of the fluffy, generously ‘crabby’ omelet (800 Baht) and a side of her equally scrumptious jumbo prawn-redolent drunken noodles (400 Baht), that I got my very first taste of her edible brilliance. And that’s also perhaps why Junsuta—who’s known by all simply as ‘Jai Fai’—finds herself toplining the new Netflix show Street Food which is a spin off of the popular Chef’s Table series. This time too I find myself in culinary ecstasy as I wolf down my omelet, spiced with Jai Fai’s acerbic sarcasm as she smirks at my non-existent chopstick skills.
Mission Michelin
I’m on a mission on my current trip as I try to navigate my way through a handful of Bangkok’s 217 Michelin starred eateries that have more than a few things in common—from easy, no-reservations-needed access to that all-important factor being affordability. Speaking of which, the next day I find myself standing in line with my Thai friend Patchanee waiting for a table (that we end up sharing with a Taiwanese couple) at the iconic Go Ang Pratunam Chicken Rice on the busy Phetchaburi Road in Pratunam where a plate of khao man gai will set you back by a mere Rs 90 (40 Baht).
This signature chicken rice dish is a simple preparation of quivering, almost gelatinous slices of chicken breast meat set atop a bed of moist, garlic-flavoured rice and served with rounds of cucumber and a bowl of thin chicken broth. Started in 1960 as a nameless pushcart stall manned by a Hainanese immigrant to Bangkok, the brick and mortar eatery has today earned its first Michelin star. But that seems to have made scarce difference to the infamous brusque service. Though the serpentine lines for a table seem to say otherwise.
Meat Jaccuzi!
It’s very hard to miss the 1-Michelin starred Wattana Panich, which is where I find myself seated—amidst assorted restaurant detritus like sacks of onions and crates of beer—for an early dinner. And I’m not just alluding to the sweet Chinese spice mixture aroma that permeates almost the entire Ekkamai Soi 18 neighbourhood in Sukhumvit where this modest sized, old-school Chinese shophouse can be found. It is the sight of the almost pool sized, Jacuzzi-like cauldron of its famous kuay teow neua Thai beef noodle stew (100 Baht a bowl) that will serve as a shock to your senses.
Using a master stock that has been in the family for the last 70 years using unique Chinese ingredients like goji berries, and astragalus root along with the ubiquitous star anise and cinnamon, the dish can be customised to one’s taste. You could order a bowl of kuay teow neua stew with my favourite sen yai (thicker rice noodles) or sen mee (thin, almost vermicelli-like noodles), either with less broth or more for a soup-y consistency.
Hidden Gem
Ruean Panya is perhaps one of those few places that not many local Bangkok residents had ever heard of until a few months ago. It was only when the latest 2019 Michelin guide book to Bangkok bestowed upon it a single star did people sit up and notice this seafood haven. Located in the Bangkok suburb of Samut Sakhon, about an hour’s drive from the center of the city, this family run restaurant, expertly blends food and art—both of which will stun you silent.
Spread across a cluster of four quaint little cottages, the relaxed mood gives one the impression of dining at friends, while the painting-filled interiors add a gallery-like feel. Owner Pannee does all the cooking herself, which means that you can expect a hugely staggered meal service. But it is Pannee’s attention to detail and the complexity of flavours make her dishes like the sublime lhon pu mud crab dip (300 Baht) and the toasted giant prawns with salt (price varies as per catch) worth the wait and their weight in gold!
(A shorter, differently edited version of this article appeared in the 6th July 2019 issue of the Mint Lounge newspaper, India on page 16 https://www.livemint.com/mint-lounge/features/starry-starry-bites-1562408294747.html)
By Raul Dias
‘Sister Mole’ seems a lot grumpier since the last time I saw her which was almost a year ago. Her trademark ski goggles—that have earned her the aforementioned moniker—shield 73-year-old Supinya Junsuta’s eyes that blaze with the same intensity as the flames that emanate from the propane-fueled stove she commands. Over this, she deftly coaxes together the egg and crab meat slurry in a huge wok filled with smoking oil. Legendary for its deep-fried crab omelet, her tiny street side, dinner-only stall Raan Jay Fai that’s located at Mahachai Road in the Phra Nakhon area of Bangkok is the only Thai street food eatery awarded 1-Michelin star. A feat that it accomplished in late 2017.
It was last year in August while tucking into a plate of the fluffy, generously ‘crabby’ omelet (800 Baht) and a side of her equally scrumptious jumbo prawn-redolent drunken noodles (400 Baht), that I got my very first taste of her edible brilliance. And that’s also perhaps why Junsuta—who’s known by all simply as ‘Jai Fai’—finds herself toplining the new Netflix show Street Food which is a spin off of the popular Chef’s Table series. This time too I find myself in culinary ecstasy as I wolf down my omelet, spiced with Jai Fai’s acerbic sarcasm as she smirks at my non-existent chopstick skills.
Mission Michelin
I’m on a mission on my current trip as I try to navigate my way through a handful of Bangkok’s 217 Michelin starred eateries that have more than a few things in common—from easy, no-reservations-needed access to that all-important factor being affordability. Speaking of which, the next day I find myself standing in line with my Thai friend Patchanee waiting for a table (that we end up sharing with a Taiwanese couple) at the iconic Go Ang Pratunam Chicken Rice on the busy Phetchaburi Road in Pratunam where a plate of khao man gai will set you back by a mere Rs 90 (40 Baht).
This signature chicken rice dish is a simple preparation of quivering, almost gelatinous slices of chicken breast meat set atop a bed of moist, garlic-flavoured rice and served with rounds of cucumber and a bowl of thin chicken broth. Started in 1960 as a nameless pushcart stall manned by a Hainanese immigrant to Bangkok, the brick and mortar eatery has today earned its first Michelin star. But that seems to have made scarce difference to the infamous brusque service. Though the serpentine lines for a table seem to say otherwise.
Meat Jaccuzi!
It’s very hard to miss the 1-Michelin starred Wattana Panich, which is where I find myself seated—amidst assorted restaurant detritus like sacks of onions and crates of beer—for an early dinner. And I’m not just alluding to the sweet Chinese spice mixture aroma that permeates almost the entire Ekkamai Soi 18 neighbourhood in Sukhumvit where this modest sized, old-school Chinese shophouse can be found. It is the sight of the almost pool sized, Jacuzzi-like cauldron of its famous kuay teow neua Thai beef noodle stew (100 Baht a bowl) that will serve as a shock to your senses.
Using a master stock that has been in the family for the last 70 years using unique Chinese ingredients like goji berries, and astragalus root along with the ubiquitous star anise and cinnamon, the dish can be customised to one’s taste. You could order a bowl of kuay teow neua stew with my favourite sen yai (thicker rice noodles) or sen mee (thin, almost vermicelli-like noodles), either with less broth or more for a soup-y consistency.
Hidden Gem
Ruean Panya is perhaps one of those few places that not many local Bangkok residents had ever heard of until a few months ago. It was only when the latest 2019 Michelin guide book to Bangkok bestowed upon it a single star did people sit up and notice this seafood haven. Located in the Bangkok suburb of Samut Sakhon, about an hour’s drive from the center of the city, this family run restaurant, expertly blends food and art—both of which will stun you silent.
Spread across a cluster of four quaint little cottages, the relaxed mood gives one the impression of dining at friends, while the painting-filled interiors add a gallery-like feel. Owner Pannee does all the cooking herself, which means that you can expect a hugely staggered meal service. But it is Pannee’s attention to detail and the complexity of flavours make her dishes like the sublime lhon pu mud crab dip (300 Baht) and the toasted giant prawns with salt (price varies as per catch) worth the wait and their weight in gold!
(A shorter, differently edited version of this article appeared in the 6th July 2019 issue of the Mint Lounge newspaper, India on page 16 https://www.livemint.com/mint-lounge/features/starry-starry-bites-1562408294747.html)
Saturday, June 29, 2019
Fork in the Road: Sarafa Bazaar—Indore’s Delectable Eat Street!
By Raul Dias
oversight (n)
an unintentional failure to notice or do something.
If there is one mantra that I’ve lived by all my life, then, that is, to come clean, admit one’s faults and be upfront. And now, more so than ever before, as I kick off something new and exciting such as this column that sees travel through that delicious prism called food! So, for me, its confession time.
While I may have eaten my way through everything from stewed silkworms in China to fried fruit bats in Mexico on my travels around the world, I’ve always given the cold shoulder to the street food of my home country—India. Blame it on an almost-zero spice tolerance level or on that old adage of the “grass is greener on the other side”, but I had never really tried to lose myself in the gullies and nukkads of India where an abundance of street-side treats can be found. Each more enticing than the other.
But all that changed a few months ago when I was literally dragooned by a group of friends into a night out of all things street food on a short trip to India’s cleanest city for a third year in a row, Indore in the wonderful state of Madhya Pradesh. And there is only one spot for such a feeding frenzy to take place at. By day, the 100-year-old Sarafa Bazaar is a busy market full of jewellery shops enticing patrons with gleaming necklaces and rows of stacked bangles. However, every night at around 11pm or so, it takes on another countenance. Yes, almost in a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde fashion Sarafa Bazaar transforms into an all-vegetarian street food haven like no other I’ve ever seen. Bangkok’s Khao San Road Market eat your heart out!
My very first stop is at the famous Joshi Dahi Vada whose proprietor Mr. Joshi is quite a food acrobat, I soon learn. Theatrically spinning a bowl of dahi vada in air and collecting it all back without spilling a drop, he makes sure you don’t leave without having a bite of his soft and tangy dahi vadas, sprinkled with lime, coriander and amchur. We next move on to try one of the bazaar’s signature foods—bhutte ka kees at a shop called Chhappan Dukan. Unique to this part of India, the divine bhutte ka kees is made from mashed corn smothered in ghee and spices and sprinkled with freshly grated coconut. On realising that I am a food writer, the shop’s owner insists that I try (for free!) another typically Induri dish called garaadu made up of deep-fried yam cubes anointed with a tangy chaat masala dusting.
Still on the savoury food trail, another dish I am literally forced to indulge in is the texturally brilliant dal bafna. Very similar to the Rajasthani dal baati, here the bafna ball is made with a mix of semolina and wheat flour and served with a dal that is spiked with mint chutney and mango pickle for a tangy hit. Served dipped in ghee, the bafna makes sweet love to the dal, resulting in a delicious coupling like no other.
Saving a little space for the sweet onslaught that is to come is a sensible move, as I find myself wolfing down a malpua-rabdi combination at the famous Jai Bhole Jalebi Bhandar that is soon chased by a mawa baati, which is a local take on a gulab jamun that sees this iteration stuffed with dried fruit and nuts.
It’s almost 1.30am as I waddle out of the still-bustling Sarafa Bazaar wishing and hoping that breakfast a few hours later at my five-star hotel could hold a candle to this kind of sheer street food brilliance…
(First published on 29th June 2019. Appearing every last Saturday of the month in The Free Press Journal newspaper, this column is all about viewing travel through the prism of food. https://www.freepressjournal.in/travel/sarafa-bazaar-indores-delectable-eat-street-2)
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