Chutneys Restaurant Review

While chatting at the dinner table, hubby wondered if we could add something about our favourite restaurants also. So I said “Sure!”, and here’s my first posting under this heading.

This has been a favourite of mine for a very long time, and also a special one too (first restaurant that hubby n I went to after marriage).  That of course was the Himayat Nagar one.

Recently we went out for lunch at Hyderabad to celebrate hubby’s promotion at office. The restaurant of choice was Chutneys at KPHB, Kukatpally, as it had recently opened.

The ambience was quite nice. The place was spacious. The only problem was getting a seat. The waiting time on a weekend/holiday is a minimum of 30 minutes. We were lucky to get a table within 15 mins. But that was also because our group size was large (8 people). The place we were given was a nice large round table, with sofas on 2 sides and chairs on the remaining 2. That was great, as it gave ample opportunity for my nephew to have fun! 😀

For starters we ordered masala papads and tomato soup. Both were nice. A place of masala papads has 2 large papads loaded with a mix of tomatoes, onions, salt, chilli powder and chopped coriander. The tomato soup was split up between hubby, my sis-in-law and her husband.

We ordered 2 South Indian thalis for my in-laws. They were not too happy with it, as the food was too bland. The only thing they liked in the entire meal was the nimmakaya uragaya among the pickles placed at the table.

The rest of us ordered 2 North Indian curries and butter nans. The curries were Green Peas Masala and Dum Aloo. Both were great to taste, but we definitely liked the Green Peas more! 🙂 We also had chinese Chop Suey as an added flavour to the lunch. Not something I would recommend here.

Finally we wound down to the desert menus. My sis-in-law and I wanted Kubani-ka-Meetha, which is a Hyderabadi speciality. Unfortunately that wasnt in stock. So we all had various flavours of ice-cream. The servings were nice, which basically means that the scoops were large in size, and there were 2 scoops in each serving!!!

After 2hrs of walking into the restaurant, we walked out with full stomachs and happy grins!

Mukkala Pulusu

I made this particular pulusu on Vijaya Dasami, and finally got around to posting it here. 🙂

Mukkala Pulusu is normally made as a combination with utti pappu, as this particular pulusu does not use any kind of dal.It is made as part of the special lunch for most Andhra festivals.

Ingredients:
Lime-sized ball of tamarind
Choice of vegetables: sorakaya (bottle-gourd), tomatoes, bendakaya (okra/bhindi), munakkaya (drumstick), or dosakaya (yellow cucumber)
3 green chillies, split lenght-wise
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar/jaggary
Curry leaves and coriander leaves to taste
2 tsp rice flour mixed in water

Tadka:
dry red chilli, menthulu (fenugreek seeds), aavalu (mustards seeds), jeera (cumin), inguva (hing/asafoetida)

Method:

• Soak the tamarind
• Boil all the vegetable pieces
• Squeeze tamarind juice into the boiled vegetables
• Add chilli powder, salt, turmeric, sugar, curry leaves and coriander to the vegetables.
• Add more water as required
• Mix a bit of rice flour in water and add to thicken
• In a small wok, add 1 tsp oil and add the tadka. Once the mustard seend pop, add to the pulusu.
• Set to cook till the pulusu becomes a little thick.

Serve hot with rice and utti pappu.

Sabudana Khichidi

As a kid growing up in Maharshtra, I always had sabudana khichidi.In Maharashtra, most hotels serve it only on thursdays, as that is the day for fasting. And during fasts in Maharashtra, sabudana khichidi is an acceptable breakfast. In Andhra, this is just a breakfast snack, and not restricted to fasts.

Sabudana is basically tapioca pearls used for cooking. These are about 2mm in diameter, or even somewhat larger. They are used for making khichidi or payasam.

I normally make sabudana khichidi as a breakfast item at least once a week. It is a quick and light snack, and quite filling too. The original snack is quite oily, so I make it with less oil. The same taste, without the oil. 🙂

Ingredients:
1 cup sabudana
3 green chillies
1 medium-sized potato
1/2 inch piece of ginger
coriander leaves, chopped
juice from 1 lemon
handful of groundnut, crushed to small peices
1 tsp jeera
Salt and sugar to taste

Method:

• Soak the sabudana in water, till the water level just covers the sabudana. Let it soak for about an hour.
• Peel and chop the potatoe into small-sized cubes
• In a wok, heat 1 tsp oil and add jeera
• Once the jeera starts popping and changing colour, add the potato peices and fry till lightly brown
• Add the groundnut and fry
• Once the groundbut started turning brown, and the potato is also done, add the chillies and ginger
• Fry for a a moment for that the flavours of the chillies and ginger are released.
• The sabudana which has soaked will be dry to touch and opaque to look at. Add the salt and suger and mix well.
• Add the sabudana and a bit of the coriander.
• Keep stirring till the sabudana turns transparent. You may add a bit of water to help with the stirring.
• You may also add a bit of dessicated coconut for added flavour.
• Once the sabudana is completely cooked, take off the flame and add the lemon juice.
• Mix thoroughly and garnish with the remaining coriander.
• Serve hot.

In Maharashtra, this is served with some sour curds mixed with a couple of spices, salt and sugar. The acidic tastes forms a nice backdrop of the slightly sweet taste of the khichidi.