Goa

This weekend, my family and I flew to Goa to celebrate my mother’s birthday. Goa is a coastal city in Maharashtra which is about an hour and a half away from Bangalore, by plane.
The food in Goa is always good especially the seafood because it is so fresh.
Here is a small documentation of the meals I particularly enjoyed.

Day 1: We flew into Goa before lunch and headed down south to Utorda for lunch. We went to a seaside restaurant called Zeebop. Zeebop is my favourite restaurant in Goa and we have been going there for years now. They are famous for their delicious crab.
I ate Stuffed Crab which is basically the crab cooked and shredded with vegetables. They serve it in the shell after baking it and add a square of cheese on top.
Next I ate an assortment of Butter-Garlic Calamari, Batter-Fried Calamari, Masala Rava Prawns, and Mild Rava Prawns. Rava is similar to semolina, and gives the prawns crunchiness and flavour.
Finally, I ate a typical Goan Prawn Curry and Rice. The Prawn Curry at Zeebop is the best I have ever tasted. It is packed with flavour from the crushed spices and coconut milk, and is creamy. They add something called Kokum which gives it a hint of acidity and sourness.
We then went into the water!

Day 2: We went to Pine Tree Shack- a shack that we have been going to for years as well. I ate Masala Rava Prawns here as well!
For dinner that evening, we ordered takeout from Bomras, a Burmese restaurant in Candolim (right next to our house). Although it was dark, it was extremely worth writing about!
I had a Rare Beef Salad for appetisers and a Slow Roast Crispy Pork Belly for mains. The pork was absolutely, indescribably, delicious. The meat was pale and tender, it fell off my fork as I cut through it, and the crackling on top was the crispiest I have ever eaten. The whole dish was flavourful and it was served with a Sweet Potato and Spice Mash, and a Mint and Spinach Puree, which just added and enhanced the flavour.

Day 3: It was my mother’s birthday, so we went to the Taj Holiday Village for the day as a treat. We ordered small plates like Fritto Misto which is Italian for Fried Seafood. It had prawns and calamari fried in a herb batter, and was served with a garlic tartar sauce.
For mains, I ate Penne Arrabiatta.

Crispy Pork (left), Penne (right)

We went back in the water, after which we took a shuttle to Fort Aguada, which is right next to the Holiday Village. At Fort Aguada, we went to the ‘Latitude’ Bar and Lounge to watch the sunset and have tea and cakes. I had a Baked Philadelphia Lemon Cheesecake with Berry Coulis and Coconut Ice Cream.

This was my last day in Goa, unfortunately, as I had to leave early the next morning. I watched the sunset with my family, and then we headed home. Although this trip was short it was a much needed break and completely enjoyable throughout.

Serafina

My uncle Raj took me out for lunch on Sunday with my aunt Mala and my cousin sister Keyaa.

We went to an Italian restaurant called Serafina. It is a quiet place, and is famous for its pizzas because there is a wood-fired oven.

To begin with, we ordered two pizzas. One Smoked Salmon Pizza with cream sauce, buffalo mozzarella and wasabi, and one Bianca Pizza (a Serafina classic!) with Fontina, buffalo mozzarella, arugala and Parmigiano.

I preferred the Smoked Salmon pizza to the latter because I liked the texture better and I am generally a fan of Salmon.

For mains, I ordered a plate of homemade spinach and ricotta Ravioli ‘Alla Salvia’ with butter and sage. I was really surprised by how filling such a small portion could be!

Raj has always been telling me about how delicious the chocolate mousse is, so finally for dessert, we ordered the Chocolate Mousse with a sesame praline, and chocolate crumble. It was divine.
The mousse was so dense and uniformly silky. It was placed over a more firm base of what seemed to me like a chocolate shortbread base. All the same, it really was as good as I had been told.

Smoked Salmon, Bianca, Ravioli, Mousse

My weekend was set!

Olive Internship - Day 12 (last!)

Today was my last day!

I went to the kitchen early in the morning because I wanted to take the earlier bread shift with Chef Sumanthu. We made a Whole-wheat Loaf, Mild Crackers, two batches of Caramelised Onion Buns, and of course the Tomato Pesto Rolls.

I was then given a lot of free time, where I silently watched how the kitchen worked.

When I went back into the bakery, I made Dark Chocolate Ganache.  Adding liquid glucose gives it a runnier texture as well as sheen when it is poured over the desserts.

Chef Girish then asked me to zest and juice several limes to make Lime Cupcakes.
If you have read my earlier posts you would see that I have mentioned the addition of yoghurt in the cupcakes at Olive.
This helps keep it moist and improve its shelf-life for longer. It also helps bind all the other ingredients together, to form a network frame the cupcake bakes into.

Once I was done with the Lime Cupcakes, I made Dark Chocolate Cupcakes as well.

Finally, before I could break for lunch, the last dessert I made in the kitchen was Tiramisu.

Tiramisu (top), Cupcakes (bottom)

My experience at Olive has been that of a positive one. I have really learnt an immense amount, and it has left me eager to absorb more. I was able to see my stable improvement throughout, and that for me is the most important thing.
Although the hours were long and the work hard, I truly loved every minute of it. The rush you get when you prepare all the components whether it be standing in the bakery and listening to ACDC or at the order rail plating up desserts brings an indescribable satisfaction once you are done, and that really confirmed that this is what I want to do.
I had such an amazing time, and I’d like to thank Chef Babul, Chef Sumanthu, and Chef Girish for mentoring me, and of course Chef Manu for putting me in touch with Chef Girish initially.

Keya, me and Chef Sumanthu (top), Chef Babul, Keya and I (bottom)

I then broke for lunch, down to Monkey Bar again but this time with two of my friends as a sort of celebration, to mark the end of my internship.

I ate a Mobar Burger (it is the best burger in Bangalore- with beef, bacon, and caramelised onions!), Devils Fries (how could I not?), we shared Baked Potato Skins with BBQ Chicken and Onions, and finally for dessert a Vanilla Bean Cheesecake with toasted marshmallow (Monkey Bar makes them) and Truffles.
I thought it was presented really casually but cute- in a mason jar.

And that’s a wrap.

Olive Internship - Day 11

Today was short but insanely busy. As soon as I entered the kitchen, Chef Girish got Keya and I started on Macarons.
We had to make four batches. When we were testing the castor sugar and water syrup to make sure it was ready to whip into the egg whites, we brought it to a ‘Soft Boil’ state (where the bubbles that form are relatively small), and kept a glass of iced water ready.
I took a spoonful of the sugar syrup, and after placing it in the iced water tried to roll a ball with it. If it held, it was ready and vice versa.

We mixed each batch with different colours, and Chef Girish piped them onto a large silicon mat placed over a baking sheet.

Next, I had to make four different types of ganache. I had to chop two portions of white chocolate, one of milk, and one of dark chocolate.

I started with a Vanilla Bean Ganache using the white chocolate. All I had to do was boil cream with glucose and the vanilla beans, pour it over the white chocolate, stir it until all had melted, strain it to make sure it has a silky texture, wrap it, and place it in the fridge.

I then went on to make an Olive Oil Ganache. I first boiled cream with glucose, and poured it over the second portion of chopped white chocolate. Once I had stirred and strained it, I mixed in 30g olive oil, wrapped it and left it to cool. The process was slightly different in this one in comparison to the vanilla bean ganache.

Next, I made a Mocha Ganache. I first boiled cream and glucose, then in the pan I added a double shot of espresso and let that boil. After that I poured it over the milk chocolate, stirred it, strained it, wrapped it, and left it to cool.

Finally, I made the Dark Chocolate and Sesame Ganache. I boiled the cream and glucose together as per usual, and poured it over the dark chocolate. This one was similar to the Olive Oil ganache, as once I had strained the dark chocolate, I added 30g sesame oil and stirred some more. Then I wrapped it, and set it aside with the three other bowls of ganache.

I was all done with my work, and could go for lunch. Keya and I walked down to Monkey Bar again, and I had sticky pork ribs with BBQ sauce and ‘Devils Fries’ (fries tossed in chilli, galangal, herbs, etc) with a peach iced tea.

The Devils Fries were particularly good; they were not greasy at all, and were packed full of flavour especially from the galangal which is a type of ginger root. They were so crisp on the outside and so soft within; I was really, pleasantly, surprised!

After lunch I headed home.

Recipe: Chocolate Sauce

Ingredients:

400g cream
250g dark chocolate (chopped)
350g water
250g castor sugar
75g glucose
180g cocoa powder

Method:

Boil the cream and pour over the chocolate to melt it.
Set aside.

Put the water, sugar and glucose in a saucepan, bring to the boil.
Add the cocoa powder and simmer for 5 minutes, whisking constantly.

Pour the cocoa mixture over the cream and chocolate and whisk (off the heat) till everything is combined.
Strain the sauce, and let it cool.

Olive Internship - Day 10

This morning, Chef Babul handed me a huge tub of Maltodextrin powder, and asked me to make Olive Oil Powder, and Nutella Powder. Olive Oil and Nutella both have one thing in common- they contain fat. Maltodextrin acts in such a way that it can develop anything with a fat content into a powder, all you have to do is mix it together.

Next, I made a sheet of brownie again (the dense and thin kind). This went by super quickly, and I found that using icing sugar can actually improve the taste and the texture of the brownie as opposed to castor sugar.

After that, we made Florentine Tartlets. We started by heating the butter, honey, etc and mixed in the nuts (pistachios, chopped pecans, and flaked almonds). Then, we poured them into tartlet shells that Chef Sumanthu had prepared right before.

Florentines are also called ‘Dolce Firenze’ which is Italian for Florence Dessert, as that is where it originates from.

Then, Chef Sumanthu showed me how to make Bacon and Egg Quiches. First he baked the bacon in its own fat, and let it sit to truly absorb all the flavour. He said that it really helps bring out the smokiness of the bacon when eating the quiche.

Finally, I made Lemon Sorbet. As usual, this too had CMC Powder and Milk Powder to help gelatinise, cream, and hold the mixture together (CMC acts as a stabiliser).

My shift was done and I could go home for lunch.

Olive Internship - Day 9

This morning the kitchen was the most hectic. We started off by making a simple Chocolate Sauce; I will post the recipe soon.

Then, we made Brownies but the thin, dense ones that they use as bases in their desserts (they bake them in large sheets). I learnt that once you add the flour, you should beat it (by hand) until it has JUST been incorporated, else the texture of the brownie may feel quite hard if overworked.

Third, I made warm Dark Chocolate Fondants. At Olive, they pipe the batter into each cylindrical mould that they first line with a Chocolate Crumble, which, when it comes out of the oven, is a fragile shell, that once you crack into you find warm, gooey fondant.

There is a party that is happening at Olive tomorrow night, and one of the requests was to make Coffee Cupcakes, but place a chocolate in the shape of lips over each one. So that was what we made next, Lip shaped Chocolates for the cupcakes (that we would be making tomorrow). 

These were very simple, all I did was melt white chocolate, mix in different tints of food colouring to create a ‘lip’ shade, pour it into the moulds, level it with a palette knife, and place it in the deep freeze for about 30 minutes for it to set, in order for it to pop out with ease (and of course stability).

Later, when the chocolates were cooled and set, we dusted them with Copper coloured luster dust which gave them a distinct sheen and looked almost like lip gloss over the lips!

 

Next, we made a Honeycomb Toffee. The same one I made on my first day! The trick is to obviously whisk in as much air as possible after the addition of the baking soda, as that is how the bubbles are formed within the toffee. We left that aside to set on a silicon mat in a mould.

Chef Babul made me puree bananas and make another banana cake because he was going to make Banana Puddings later on at night (the same ones I made a couple of days ago).

Finally, I went to the main order rail to assist Chef Babul in the immediate preparation of the components for some desserts. We glazed the Snicker Bars (logs of peanut butter mousse) with the Chocolate Sauce made earlier today over a wire rack, and placed it in the deep freeze. Working with the mousse was so fragile and you could not touch it with your hands and your body heat would begin to melt it, and cause it to lose its shape.

It was late and there was no more work to be completed.