CHAI PANI : Namaste Y'all

We drove down to Asheville to this highly reviewed Indian restaurant called "Chai Pani" this afternoon. The aroma of the food hit us hard as soon as we entered. That was the start to the wonderful food journey that lasted over two hours!!! The next thing that struck me was the ambiance of the place. It is really colorful and with photo frames of a lot of Indian stuff; a decorated elephant before a festival, some wada pav and chat stalls, of the colorful spices in India. It did get me a little nostalgic but I felt blessed to be able to get authentic Indian food so far away from home :)  The waitstaff were really friendly and make you feel comfortable. The menu looked interesting as well. They had a regular menu and a days special menu (this changed everyday and they come up with awesome stuff everyday !! ) So we ordered a bit out of both so that we get the best of both the worlds ;)  Sev Dahi Puri and Samosa Cholle Chat were the appetizers that we ordered. And ordered two non vegetarian thalis (one with Malabar Chicken and the other with Butter Chicken ) . N once we were waiting for the order, the wait staff came and started chatting with us. Once they got to know that we had come all the way from Charlotte especially to visit Chai Pani, they were overwhelmed and got us their appetizer of the day, sprouted moong special . It was an awesome salad :) And once we were just finishing with this, they got us our appetizers of samosa cholle chat and sev dahi puri . They were visual delights , the minutest of details done all beautifully.

                                          SAMOSA CHOLLE CHAT

                                           SEV DAHI PURI

 Once we started digging into the food, the first bite in the mouth was a medley of amazing flavors of sweet tangy and spicy chutneys , the crispiness of the puris and the chill of the yogurt :) The samosa cholle chat was perfect with the crispy samosa with the aloo filling and authentic taste of cholle.

While we finished with the appetizers, the main course of the thalis were served. Each item in the thali was perfect. The butter chicken was made to perfection (it wasnt too sweet like they make in many Indian restaurant out here) , Malabar chicken had a yummy flavored coconut gravy and the secret spice was the black tamarind ,the dal was typical authentic simple yet the most awesome dal , the sambar was just like my mother makes (though the chilly was toned down a bit), the sweet dish (chawal ki kheer) was thick and chilled and wonderful.



                                         BUTTER CHICKEN THALI

                                          MALABAR CHICKEN THALI

Now came the most royal part of the whole deal, the DESSERT!!! And we ordered Mango Kulfi and the taste of kulfi was fresh, perfectly sweetened with a lot of chopped pistachios and almonds on them.
                                          MANGO KULFI

                                   
                                          A CLOSE UP OF MY THE DELICIOUS DESSERT

It was our first time to Chai Pani, and I cant wait to get back again soon! The company as well as the food was just out of the world. :)  

Blueberry Cake - The perfect sweet nothings

Well, as they say that one must begin with sweet nothings, my first blog post would be a blueberry cake that I baked :)

In India, its very difficult to get fresh blueberries, so when my sister sent in some dried whole blueberries, the only thing in mind was to bake a cake !! :D

Here goes the recipe for it.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup refined flour(maida)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup refined vegetable oil (I used sunflower oil)

1.5 cup powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

2 large eggs (separate the yolk and the egg white)

2 cups dried blueberries(keep in water for 5 minutes and drain it )

Powdered sugar for dusting

METHOD

Mix 1 cup of flour with baking powder and salt and sift it. Keep this aside. --> Mix 1

Beat 1/4 cup sugar powder with egg whites and keep aside. --> Mix2

Beat in the egg yolks along with the blueberries n keep this aside --> Mix 3

Beat the oil, sugar and vanilla and beat this until light and fluffy.

Combine the remaining sifted dry ingredients alternately with the milk, mixing just until moistened. Fold in the Mix1, Mix2,Mix3 in and beat . .

In a butter greased vessel, add the above mixture and keep in the oven for around 45 minutes at full temperature of 350 degrees or till done ...