"Santhai"~ Local farmer's market in Rural India

“Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independent, the most virtuous, and they are tied to their country and wedded to it’s liberty and interests by the most lasting bands”

~ Thomas Jefferson

Sunday was one of my favorite cousin's wedding,  it was a traditional Tamil Wedding which was scheduled from 5a.m. to 7a.m. followed by a delightful breakfast !

Breakfast was served on a banana leaf ~ It consisted of appam, chutneys, sambhar, pooris, potato sabzi, upma, vada, a sweet and a fruit.

After which it was 4hr drive back to Chennai, somewhere in between the otherwise dry high way we spotted a collage of bright colors and lots of buzz, it was Sunday so needless to say it was a local Santhai- a weekly market where farmers from nearby hamlets come and sell their produce. With no second thoughts we pulled over in the middle of the highway and I disappeared into the market  with my camera :)

A tomato farmer looking at his produce

A women, a mother, a farmer, and a bread winner

Local nuts and seeds

Women dominated the farmer's market

Brinjals were the local heroes :)

Selling her stuff

Fresh veggies

Waiting for buyers

Terrible midday heat

So after a  welcome break we were back on the road.

Evening @ Azzuri

A few friends and I have been planning for dinner treat and an evening out for the past 6 months !! and finally we made it :) so after discussing a lot we decided to go some place we haven't been before. We chose Azzuri bay! 

A quite evening on a roof top restuarant over looking the Adyar river~ Azzuri Bay

View of the river from Azzuri Bay

"Buddha is my homeboy"~ Shabana :)

Interesting lampshade

Phuket fish

A fish fillet marinated and baked with herbs and spices, i loved every bite of it that i forgot to click a proper pic :)

Dessert!

A shaky -blurry view of the adyar river from Azzuri

P.S. In case you guys are wondering what happened to the food pics- here is a confession the food was soo good that Quintessential foodie forgot to click pictures of the food! 

So cheesy @ Bella Ciao!

Prologue 

From the day I decided to start blogging about food, my cooking sprees have drastically gone down and I' am suffering from loss of appetite and haven't been eating out much either :P . My Dr Amma and I have been trying to figure out whether I'm suffering from the any of the following Chikungunya-Muttongunya, Malaria-Loveria or Typhoid-Scarfoid :P However I dint want to go on without posting anything so I dug up some pics and some really fond memories for this post.

Disclaimer: Guys I  don't have anything new -hot from the oven ,instead I am gonna serve you all food from my fridge- lil old memories :)  Please bear with me!

Bella Ciao 

"The trouble with eating Italian food is that five or six days later, you are hungry again"

~ George Miller

Starters

Few months back few of us from work went to Bella Ciao, for dinner, it was a lovely evening, perfect weather,  moon rise over the sea and lots of laughter. Hmmm I remember laughing a lot but I don't remember  the jokes :P  Bella ciao has two branches one at Nungambakkam and another at Thiruvanmiyur (Bang opp a quiet beach) 

"When the waitress asked if I wanted my pizza cut into four or eight slices, I said, 'Four. I don’t think I can eat eight." ~ Yogi Berra

Thin crust pizza

 I am not a pizza person at all but I ate the thin crust pizza @ Bella Ciao with no complains and yes I think it cos I enjoyed it :)

Grilled Shrimp, roasted potatoes and salad

 For my main course I had grilled shrimp with salad and side serving of roasted potatoes, I love potatoes I think its one veggie that at least 3 out of 5 individuals consider their favorite :) and I m nuts about Shrimp I know it can be quite a task to shell it but who care its sooo YUM!
 

Merlot

You can order Merlot or Chardonnay along with your meal as for me I am teetotaler so I had a glass of cool water in which someone accidentally dropped a piece of Fusilli :D

Moon light

The view from my outdoor table, the moon shinning through the Casuarina trees gently swaying in the sea breeze. It was a day before full moon nevertheless the moon was at her best. I haven't gone to Bella Ciao since then but I will soon :)


P.S "Never eat more than you can lift. "~Miss Piggy

Vazhaikaai Kofta~Green Banana Koftas Delicacy

So today everyone in our family woke up at 7:30! or should i say slept till 7:30 !
We were out of fresh veggies and after my mum saw me sleep walking and my dad reading the THE HINDU as if he is preparing for bank entrance exam - Dear appa u passed ur bank exam 30 years ago and you are gonna retire in 3 years :)):D  so anyways back to the story , my Maa decided to make something with a plantain & an onion and two tomatoes. She worked her magic to make this awesome VAZHAIKAAI KOFTHA- Green Banana Kofta!
 

Spicy Green Banana Koftas*

Another easy to prepare recipe KISS (Keep It Simple Silly) recipe

Ingredients

1 Raw green banana

1 Onion finely chopped

2 Tomatoes finely chopped

½ Spoon chilli powder

Garam masala powder

Salt as per requirement

Spices- 1 bay leaf, 3-4 cloves and a small piece of cinnamon

Optional – garlic and ginger minced

For the Kofta

1. Cut the green banana in half and pressure cook for 10 minutes
2. Peel the banana’s thick skin off (my inner voice says there goes all the fiber content *sigh* Oh well you can’t have it all)
3. Mash the boiled banana pulp with few sprinkling of salt, 
4. Optional: You can also add a pinch of Garam masala to the mashed banana pulp
5. Now make small to medium sized ball 
6. Shallow fry over low heat

Your koftas are ready.

For the gravy

1. Heat a thick pan
2. Add a spoon of oil
3. Add the spices and onion and fry till the onions turn golden brown
4. Add the mined ginger and garlic and sauté for 2 minutes in low flame
5. Add the finely chopped tomatoes and fry
6. Add ½ spoon of chilli powder, a pinch of garam masala and fry till the tomatoes are done  
7. Add the fried banana  koftas  and gently mix until the koftas are covered in gravy  
8. Let it simmer for about 2 minutes, remove from flame and serve with chapathi or rice 

Ensssssooi your Green Banana Kofta!

 

*P.S. Sorry about the poor quality photograph! I am still recovering and hence terribly disoriented

Happy weekend Everyone! :)

Kaapi & more..

For those of you who are far far away from Chennai..
Hear me, Hear me~ It rained today !!

Yes it did  :) finally Chennai received her summmer quota of rains after a dry spell which seemed to last forever ! It was wonderful, the smell of earth, the soft breeze, cool drizzle..However I was amused to see many bikers pull over and stand along the road, pavement, under the trees to keep off the rain!
How ungrateful ! This is so typical of the saying ~

"As a rule man is a fool , when its hot he likes it cool , when its is cool he likes it hot, always wanting what is not "

As for me needless to say I got drenched head  to toe (purposefully)  by the time  I reached home and had an amazing cup of Amma's KAPPI .

My Maa makes the world's best "Filter Kappi

So all the caffeine in my Kappi and rain in my city made me want to sit down and write something beautiful, however my bird brain did not cooperate with me to pen down an Odyssey, instead here is a slice of my life-love notes to my fellow passengers with whom I commute everyday in the ever-crowded electric train while I travel to & from work..


(Words in italics are my mind voice :P ensoiii)

Dear Fellow Passenger

To the girl with allergic sneeze ~Bless you !! & Thank you for sharing your germs with us, please remember to sneeze into your hankie next time! :)

To the lady selling roasted peanuts ~ Women! Seriously!  Do we look like we can eat, digest or even hold a pack of peanuts now?

To the Amway guy making random hits and misses at everyone (including the blind beggar and his Mrs.) No I don’t want to become Ambani over night if I change my mind I ll inform you or better still jump off LIC :))

To the blind beggar – Are those really Rayban glasses? Whoa! Your style quotient is better than me:P

To the iPod freak ~ He he I know you got it from Burma Bazaar, P.S. My maid servant has a better version than you! Hah!

To the teen girl reading M&B with a sly smile & dreamy eyes ~ Your prince is not coming on a white horse honey, for all I know he probably took the wrong turn, got lost and is too stubborn to ask for directions! Oh well! :D

To the Poo kaari (flower seller) who keeps looking at my hair while persuading everyone to buy POO ~ Well NO THANK YOU& No I m NOT wearing a Souri/Wig!

To the lady with the wailing baby – Errrrr so do babies come with 'sound-mute' buttons ?

To the uncle with dander on his head, shoulders and shoes~ Thank you uncle for spreading sunshine   oops! Sorry star dust & moonlight with all of us :D

To the ticket inspector who thinks he/she is Vijayshanthi/Vijaykanth ~ Ennna Maa kannu Sowkiyammaa? (Hey How you doing?) :P