Itihaas

Although the main reason I started a food blog was to build up a family recipe book, another significant reason was that I wanted to keep a record of some of the restaurants we eat at and the experiences we have there.  In reality, I have a bit of a repressed ambition to be a restaurant critic, so I suppose this is a manifestation of that ambition! 

When my mother and father-in-law came to stay over the half term break, we had decided to go out for dinner with them, partially as a belated birthday celebration for them both.  We ultimately settled on going to go to a place called Itihaas, which is an Indian restaurant (not a balti house!) in the centre of Birmingham (http://www.itihaas.co.uk/) which I had been to a couple of times before on work functions; however, this was the first time that I had been with family.

I really love the decor of Itihaas; it's got a colonial theme which makes it feel really warm and snug and is a million miles from the cheap and cheerful Birmingham balti house.  The other thing that I really rate the restaurant on is the attentive service; the waiters were always on hand when needed and were always happy to help.  I've been to restaurants that are far more expensive than Itihaas that have had much worse service.

 

Our food was really fantastic, and the portion sizes were crazy; the starters in particular could have been half the size and would stil have been big!  The stand out dishes of the night were Chilli Paneer (Indian cheese, stir fried with onion, chilli and garlic) and Paapri Chaat (crispy discs of pastry topped with chick peas and potatoes accompanied by yoghurt and tamarind chutney) for starter and Koila Murgh (tandoori chicken) for main.  The presentation of the Koila Murgh was really eye catching:



In reality though, everything we ordered was tasty and well cooked.  I think we could have chosen anything off the menu and had a great meal.

 

 

For dessert, we ordered chilli chocolate indulgence, sweet ginger cheesecake and mango cheesecake.  Unfortunatley, it was all so good that we forgot to take a picture until we had nearly finished!  A real favourite of mine was the kulfi (indian ice cream) that came with each dessert, particularly the pistachio flavoured one.

 

 

So overall, a really enjoyable night out with really good service and great food.  I have a feeling that this is going to become a family favourite of ours for years to come.

Chilli Sauce

Yesterday we had planned to have homemade burgers for dinner, but as I started to cook, I had a brainwave to make Kofte kebabs.  We had all of the ingredients to make the Kofte, wraps to put them in and salad to go with it, but were missing a vital component - chilli sauce; an absolute must for kebabs!  As a result, I decided to find a recipe and have a go at making a batch. 

The recipe (courtesy of bbc.co.uk) is as follows:

50g sugar
150ml water
2cm piece of fresh giner, peeled and finely grated
1/2 red chilli, sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Splash rice wine vinegar
Splash fish sauce

1. Heat the sugar and water in a pan until it becomes a light syrupy consistency
2. Add the other ingredients and stir well
3. Heat and simmer gently for 4-5 minutes
4. Blend using a hand blender or food processer
5. Tweak the consistency by adding small amounts of water or reducing further

We were amazed by the results; it tasted fantastic and was really quick and easy to make and worked perfectly with the Kofte.  I just wish I'd made more......

Poppy's Cookies

Even at the tender age of 7, Poppy already loves cooking.  Up until recently, she was always content to be my little sous chef, but a few weeks ago she asked if she could cook something entirely by herself. At this point, I have to confess to being a bit of a busybody in the kitchen; I find it really hard to not interfere and offer hints and tips!  Most of the time this does not go down too well, so I had been given strict instructions to let Poppy get on with it all by herself even if it ended up being a total disaster!  Poppy chose a cookie recipe that she wanted to cook and after getting all of the ingredients and equipment out for her, I sat back and let her get on........

Recipe for Poppy's cookies:

150g plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
25g ground almonds
150g light muscavado sugar
50g porridge oats
50g raisins
40g chocolate chips
150g melted butter
1 large egg yolk

1. Mix the dry ingredients together
2. Add the wet ingredients
3. Mix well with hands
4. Form into small walnut sized shapes, place onto a lined baking tray and flatten out slightly
5. Heat oven to gas mark 5
6. Cook for 10-12 minutes

Poppy proceeded to measure, weigh, melt and mix her way through the instructions.......

 

 

Then after 10-12 minutes of cooking, we got to see (and taste) the results:

 

The cookies were truly excellent and I honestly don't think I've ever tasted a better homemade cookie.

 

Even more important was the fact that Poppy had a fantastic time making them and loved being the queen bee in the kitchen for once.

 

A few weeks after this, I read a really interesting article in the Times about the attitude that the French have towards food with their children.  The whole point of the article was that there are far fewer problems with French children and food compared to Britain.  The article made at a number of points, but the two that really stood out to me were firstly about how the French allow their children to get really involved in cooking and secondly the fact that treats are not treated as evil, rather as treats. 

 

I feel really strongly about both of these points. 

 

If our children are not taught how to cook and not allowed to experiment, how will they ever be able to be self reliant and not just rely on ready meals?

 

and if crisps, biscuits, chocolates etc are treated as evil (as many schools treat them - might need to do another post on this!), how can we expect children to take a balanced and sensible view to consuming them when they get their own independence?  In my view a balanced diet should be just that - balanced.  There is room for treats, as long as they are enjoyed sensibly.

 

Anyway, I was so happy with how much fun we all had, either making, watching or eating, that I think this will be a regular occurrence as Poppy continues to grow.  I'm not sure if I have the courage to let George loose yet though........