Simon Food Favourites: Galub Jamun

Showing posts with label Galub Jamun. Show all posts

20 November 2010

Coffee Garam: Indian Chai Making Class Tweetup, Surry Hills (20 Nov 2010)

29-37 Bellevue Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010

Brewing up a Chai

The preparation of Chai takes about 5-10 minutes. The water is boiled and the black tea leaves are added. Once the tea infuses into the water giving it a brown-black colour, the spices are added. Sugar and milk to taste. The mixture is allowed to boil until it rises. In India, the chai is filtered and served in special cups.

Thanks to Denea from Gourmet Rabbit for organising this free Chai Making Class aka #chaitweetup with owner Harvey Parekh and Chef Raj Mehta from Coffee Garam. The small cafe has only been opened for about 5 months and Raj joined in the last month to help try and achieve their clear passion to introduce authentic Indian snack food to Sydney including homemade Chai tea. Today's tweetup was mainly to demonstrate the process of making Chai tea and introducing a few tasty snacks. The homemade Chai spice mix including cinnamon, cardamon, cloves and ginger was very aromatic and reminded me of a wonderful aromatherapy oil blend — my mind starting thinking of a meditation room for some reason. Once prepared with black tea and milk the taste was flavoursome although it wasn't until the sugar was added that the taste of the chai was much better appreciated.

We also tried a sample of their homemade lemonade with spices which was refreshingly different. Tasty slices of Green mango, banana and sultana bread were also on offer which were moist and very nice — I wondered how it would go toasted with butter for breakfast. Apparently green mango is used commonly in India — you learn something new everyday. We tried a small sample of freshly made Bhel puri which was full of different flavours which worked well together. I was thinking the mixture would work really well served in a crispy pastry cup as a cocktail canape too. I'm not an espresso drinker so the Monsoon Malabar Blend was too strong for my innocent coffee palate but having it with a piece of caramel slice added the much needed sugar on my taste buds to make it more enjoyable. To finish off on a sweet note we tried their homemade Galub Jamun which to date is the best I've enjoyed in Sydney. Being freshly made the day before it had the right amount of sweetness and was very soft and moist — not like other places which might freeze them and become a bit firm and way too sweet, and sometimes sickly.

I'm looking forward to seeing their plans to expand the Indian snack menu next year and to try dishes that aren't your typical heavy Indian curries around town and are more sophisticated and different like you might find at Zaaffran to challenge the taste buds and share the diversity of true Indian cuisine.

Other blog reviews of Coffee Garam:

• Gosstronomy

• Cafe Dave

• Serendipity

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Friendly staff, Reasonable prices, Passionate Chai tea makers

CONS: Their menu is currently trying to please Aussie tastes

MUST TRY: Galub Jamun, Chai Latte and Indian Masala Chai, Other Bombay snacks

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Harvey Parekh (owner) and Chef Raj Mehta welcome the Chai Tweetup class

Homemade spiced lemonade to start

Black tea and Chai spices

Green mango, banana and sultana bread - it works!

Stirring in the milk

Sifting the chai

Pouring the chai into special glasses

Holding the chai so as to not burn your fingers

Indian snack time — Bhel puri

Indian snack food menu descriptions

Monsoon Malabar Blend espresso

Caramel slice adds sugar to your palate to help smooth out the coffee

Galub jamun — freshly made the day before

SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

Menu choices

Chai making class in action

Live Tweetup — real people talking to real people

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23 September 2010

Zaaffran: Indian, Food Bloggers Evening, Darling Harbour (22 Sept 2010)

Level 2, 345 Harbourside Centre, Darling Harbour NSW 2000

http://www.zaaffran.com

Challenging stereotypical Indian

Thanks to Rush Dossa, part-owner of Zaaffran, for inviting me to their Food Bloggers Evening as a guest to sample a selection of interesting dishes that challenge the common stereotypical belief that Indian may just be Butter Chicken, Lamb Korma and Beef Vindaloo. Apparently there's 22 official languages of India due to the 22 States, and with such diversity the dishes available throughout India are very extensive and varied. With business partner and head chef Vikrant Kapoor at the kitchen helm, Zaaffran aims to tantalise its customers with unique and different dishes and educate them about the misconceptions that Indian food is the same everywhere and mostly spicy. Before dinner guests were invited to the balcony area for pre drinks and appetisers. The 2007 Blickling Estate Riesling 'Methode Champenoise' was a notch up from most general sparklings and the 2009 Blickling Estate Sauvignon Blanc reminded me of a decent Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough NZ. Three canapes were served and the lovely flavoured Prawns in coconut broth was my favourite of the night.

You can't go wrong with fresh Pappadums and mint dip as we sit down for a 5 course menu which is based on their new BBQ Banquet 'F' ($54.50 per person). Potato-corn mini patties pictured above being photographed by Anna from Morsel & Musings were tasty with a bit of a heat kick — I'd gladly have again. The delightful looking Gol guppas was a little messy to fill with the ingredients but fun. It's considered a street snack and even though it wasn't the most flavoursome item on the menu it was very interesting to try. Throughout the night we sampled Garlic, Mushroom, Plain and Buttered Naan — the garlic was my favourite but the mushroom version was a close second although I couldn't really taste the truffle butter in it. Out of all the menu dishes served the western style Salad looked out of place to me and didn't seem to be of Indian origin. 4 choices of Dips were on hand, Prune which was like a BBQ marinate, Beetroot, Chilli tomato which was very tasty and a classic mint.

Decent sized Tandoori king prawns were thankfully deveined and served alongside the Chicken seekh kebab. Both benefitted from a good squeeze of lemon. Seasonal fried fish was barramundi tonight with a slightly crispy coating and was followed by a well presented Baked salmon with fairly bold flavours. Before the 4th course a delicious Mango kulfi palate cleanser was served. Lightly battered Eggplant was topped with interesting flavours followed by small tender Lamb ribs which weren't particularly lean yet tasty. Finely minced Lamb seekh kebab was perhaps my least favourite of the night and would have preferred a bit more smokey flavour. The crunchy side salad of celery, apple, carrot, iceberg lettuce and kaffir lime was lovely. Strawberry lassi comes with rose kulfi giving it a nice refreshing taste. For dessert everyone gets their own well presented plate of Spire of saffron, Cardamom and roasted almonds kulfi, Dome of gulab jamun, Rose kulfi, Brandy glaze. I really enjoyed the rose kulfi, gulab jamun and the piece of layered style cake although I thought the kiwifruit wasn't particularly sweet enough for the dish for my taste buds. The dining area is simple, clean and functional and the service was knowledgeable and attentive. For the best views of the city and water grab a table on the balcony if the weather is nice.

Other blog reviews:

• Chocolatesuze

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Knowledgeable and attentive service, Interesting dishes, Nice presentation, Water and city views available

CONS: Watch out for the sliding door bump, More expensive than your 'average' Indian takeaway

MUST TRY: Prawn curry appetiser, Pappadums, Garlic naan, Eggplant, Rose kulfi, Mango kulfi palate cleanser, Other dishes on the menu

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Table setting

Food Bloggers Evening menu based on BBQ Banquet 'F' 5 courses ($54.50 per person)

Canape: Prawns in a fragrant coconut broth with saffron, lemon and lime

SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

Canape: Potato Dumplings with carrot, peas, ginger, cashews, mustard and chilli

Canape: Mushrooms in a whole-wheat wrap with mint, coriander and cheese

Pappadums and mint dip
SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

Potato-corn mini patties

Gol guppas

Garlic naan

SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

Salad

Dips: Prune, beetroot, chilli tomato, mint

Tandoori king prawns and chicken seekh kebab

Mushroom naan with truffle butter

Seasonal fried fish (barramundi)

Baked salmon

Plain naan

Mango kulfi palate cleanser

SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

Eggplant

Lamb ribs, Lamb seekh kebab

Buttered naan

Spire of saffron, Cardamom and roasted almonds kulfi, Dome of gulab jamun, Rose kulfi, Brandy glaze

Pre dinner drink: Blickling Estate Riesling 'Methode Champenoise' 2007 New England Tablelands NSW

Pre dinner drink: Blickling Estate Sauvignon Blanc 2009

Dinner drinks: Blickling Estate Riesling 'Methode Champenoise' 2007 New England Tablelands NSW, AJA sauvignon blanc-semillon-verdelho 2008 Polkobin NSW, Kalleske Clarry's Grenache-shiraz 2008 Barossa Valley SA