Summer Cooking in London

This is a collection of all the food I cooked while I was in London this summer:

The first ranna after ages!: Murgi'r jhol (chicken curry)


My cute guests for lunch of JhalMurgi (spicy chicken) and Khichudi:

Chicken in the making:


Light Khichudi:


Jhal Murgi done:


with my cutest Mehmaan:


Salmon and peas curry:


My mate helping me make salmon with beans:


and Done for our 2am meal:

















Chicken curry for my mates:


My mate's plate:


and finally:

Chicken with plum tomatos and beans (from my mom's recipe, which i messed up :P)

Chicken Curry with Onion&Tomato finish by Chef Samira

So you readers have seen Sami's kitchen before, while she was away, we used it for our midnight snacking, but the "malik" was back, and I had rushed over for her first home-cooked meal.

As you can tell, me and my friends, pretty much just cook chicken curry Bengali style over and over again. But everyones' is different as you'll see:

As the Pioneer Woman would say (oh how i love her!): The Usual Suspects




The start of most dishes in the world: Onions

The Chef and
   
The lovely kitchen, we've seen before:

My fav part of the kitchen:


Sami uses usual ingredients, but her take on it includes cutting up raw chillies instead of chilli powder, and that day randomly she added a special ingredient, a teaspoon of tetul! The flavour was Amazing. It was really Jhal (spicy) for the raw chillies but had a hint of sweetness in the curry. mmmmmmmm

Another fantastic edge to this chicken curry was the finishing. Just before turning the stove off, she added some cut up onions and tomatoes, which slightly melt but not too much, leaving a raw flavour in the cooking.



Et Voila: Chicken Curry with Tomato&Onion Finishing

Brown's @ Canary Wharf

               A coincidental summer weekday, when I was staying with Sami at and Uz and Pritha were staying with Prachi and Nabeel across the street, meant all of us hanging out till late night and then having lunch the next day!

We met up at this great place Brown's. Food was brilliant!



Some appetisers: Bread, salad and the BRILLIANT goatcheese eggplant bake.mmmm

Main Courses:
Beef pate and stuffed tomatoes:


                                                                                                Whole fish: (it was amazingly fresh)














Salmon Teriyaki Style:


                                                                     Crab cakes (Big disappointment. NEVER order this)

While you were fasting

Eid Mubarak Readers!!

My friends of high temptations requested me to not post on my facebook during Ramadan. So here is a listing of all the posts you missed while you were fasting:

1. My cooking- Tuna Steaks with Spinach and Potatoes

2. One of my fav Thai places in London: Busaba Ethai

3. Asian mix lunch- The Hare and Tortoise

4. Prawn Malai Curry by Sahana Bajpaie- Prawn Malai

5. Chef Piya's Delicacies - http://dhakadelicacy.blogspot.com/2010/08/dinner-by-chef-piya.html

6. Chicken Curry by Zerin- http://dhakadelicacy.blogspot.com/2010/08/zerin-chicken.html

7.  Pret-a-manger- http://dhakadelicacy.blogspot.com/2010/08/shrimp-avocado-sandwhich-pret.html

8. Bengali Dinner by Pro Chef Saima Akbar- http://dhakadelicacy.blogspot.com/2010/09/chef-saimas-kitchen-1-bengali-dinner.html

9. Snack at Charlotte street blues- popcorn shrimp, nachos and wings

Charlotte Street Blues

Me, Bun and Haseeb did a small open mic night thing at Charlotte Street Blues when we were in London:


We had a little snack there of chicken wings, popcorn shrimp and nachos. The shrimp was pretty good.

Chef Saima's Kitchen (1)- Bengali Dinner with guest appearance by Chef Azaan Akbar

Saima Akbar is one great chef. In fact, I'm hoping we'll all hear of her more soon, on a more public level. She's my khala (ie mom's friend) and ive been eating from her kitchen for years now, and in one word her food is always "Delicious!"

My month in London was spent very near her place so I would frequently end up there for dinner. This is occasion number 1.


The weirdo who came to pick me up :



                                                                                      The Chef in her spic and span kitchen:


And a vase i randomly found pretty :D


A beautiful moment before our yummy meal, when Esh was pouring the water:


The dishes we were about to devour:


                                                                                    Perfectly cooked Basmati...what a pleasure:














Rui Mach Jhol: (Curry)


Beef Curry (made by someone else)


The highlight of my night, the AMAZING mushroom bhaji, i could have eaten the whole thing but felt that i shouldn't deprive the others:


And of course, Some Daal:


Another special treat that night was Chef Azaan Akbars Belgian Waffle..mmmm

Melting of the chocolate:



Et Voila:


Waiting to see Both of these Akbars be famous for their amazing hands at cooking!

Shrimp Avocado Sandwhich @ Pret

The best sandwhich I ever had in my life is the Chicken Avocado by Pret a Manger. Sadly the day I went, they were out. But we had the shrimp avocado instead, and it was bare!!! :D

"Zerin" Chicken

My friend Zerin (featured before in the Birthday Lunch Post) was making iftaar for the first day of Ramadan. Of course being the Bangis we are, she was making rice and chicken, which we ended up eating at 3am Hehehehehee. (i'm a bad influence)

I call this dish "Zerin Chicken" 'cos I actually made it in the order she does another day (coming soon). Zerin Chicken is basically the usual Bengali chicken curry, but in Zerin's order of putting ingredients. In this case, she used the masala very lightly and covered the chicken allowing it to be a light gravy curry. Also she added Coriander towards the end:

My beloved coriander:

Shamwah's tiny helping:

Chef Zerin J: