Lichi Icecream

Ingredients:

Lychee : 1.5kg
Milk : 1kg
Condensed milk: 1/2 tin
Corn flour: 2T


Procedure:

1. Peel all the lychees.
2. Remove all stones, carefully securing all juice that drips.


3 Puree half the lychees and tear the rest.
4 In a heavy bottomed pan, boil milk and reduce to half
5 Add condensed milk  and cook for 5 minutes.
6 Dissolve cornflour in cold milk and slowly add to above mixture.
7 Cook till you achieve, 'coat a spoon' consistency.
8 Pour in aluminium vessel, cover with foil and freeze.
9 Churn the mixture with a whipper when the freezing sets in.

10 Repeat above step 2-3 times.
11. Add the pureed lychee and the lychee chunks.
12 Let it freeze.
13. Serve chilled

PS:: Instead of 1.5kg buy 2kg lychees, you will end up eating half a kilo while peeling!
Now this is sheer experience.

La Tagliatella

We

We wanted to have Italian during our visit to the Ambience mall in vasant kunj. We were heading towards Amici ( you cant go wrong with their Al funghi ) when we stumbled upon this gem at the mall’s entrance.

It was a weekday and the restaurant was relatively vacant. Impressed by the very European interiors, we couldn’t afford to give this place a miss.
This restaurant is spread over two floors with huge seating options.. 

At the ground floor, the seating is planned in a way that you feel a part of the buzz in the mall. We were however recommended seat on the first level..
The first level had a nice view of the mall and you could watch people through the glass while indulging in food.

The ambience was nice, the AC- super cool and music comfortably soft.

What caught my attention were the knives placed on the table. The restaurant was considerate enough to place real knives instead of the blunt knives found in almost all Italian restaurants. It is really an ordeal to cut apart the pizza slices with the blunt knife and in the process the pizza goes cold! This was an A+ from my side.

Coming to the food!

A plate of olives was placed on our table which was a total let down, considering the size and quality of olives. It could have been much better for the place we were dining at. 

We did not get the draught beer when we visited and were told they were out of stock. There was no good mocktail on the menu too.

We were hungry so we quickly ordered for a salad so that we can take time to decide for the main course.We ordered for  ‘Insalata di mozzarella gratinata’. This consisted of mixed salad leaves, mozarella, sweet corn, pine nuts, tomatoes and olives.

The portion size was very liberal and enough to stuff two of us.

The most striking part of the salad was caramel coated tomatoes. The tomatoes were ripe, juicy and firm and cut into two halves. Each half was covered with caramel which I discovered only when the caramel fell apart while cutting through the tomato.

 I was wowed by the innovation. The next good thing about the salad was the four thick slices of herb clad mozzarella. They were well seasoned and very filly.

In the mean time, we had ordered for focaccia too, which we later realized was our mistake.

We were served four pieces of the bread, two each of olive and onion garlic. They were nice but we were already full.

Damn! We had shortlisted a pizza to be ordered but we were stuffed! We changed our mind and settled for the dessert instead.

They have a very extensive dessert menu. I was happy because there were quite a number of eggless variants. We opted for coconut ice cream in pineapple soup.

We didn’t have to wait for the dessert to arrive. The presentation was sad and dull, the soup spilled over the fringe of the plate, however all this can be easily forgotten once you dunk your spoon into the dessert. 

coconut icecream in Bangkok

Heaven! The flavours were so nicely balanced and the combination was superb! This is the second best coconut ice cream I have had so far.

(PS: The best coconut ice cream was at a roadside stall in Chatuchak market in Bangkok.)

Overall the experience was good, the dessert and the candied tomatoes made my day and I would go again with a bigger group of people so that we can do justice to the food.

Firni

INGREDIENTS

Full Cream Milk : 1.5litres
Rice: 1/2 cup
Green cardamom powder: 1t
Jaggery (Grated) : 1/4 cup
Sugar : 1/2 cup
Almonds( Blanched, peeled & cut) : 1/2cup
Pistachios (Chopped): 1/2 cup
Raisins : 2-3T
Saffron: 8-10 strands
Rose Essence:  few drops (I used a capful of Roohafza)

Directions:

Now to make this, you need to start working a day before! Don't worry, just soaking the rice.
Soak the rice overnight. Grind them the next morning. They have to be a lil coarse and not a fine paste.
Soak saffron strands in cold milk before you start.
Take a heavy bottom pan. Heavy, because the rice now since ground, have a larger surface area and will release starch very quickly. This starch will start thickening the milk and may start burning at the base.
Bring milk to boil.Add cardamom powder. Slowly add the rice paste while constantly stirring. Stirring has to be very carefully and constantly done so as to avoid scorching especially at the base. In around 7-10 minutes, the mixture will thicken to 'coat a spoon' consistency. You will be able to make out the difference.  Quickly add jagggery and sugar, little at a time. You will need to taste it several times before you are able to decide the right sweetness.Remember, since the dessert is served chilled, the sweetness will decrease by almost 5-7%.
Remove from flame and add those few drops of rose essence (or roohafza) and saffron. Add the dried fruits, saving half the amount of pistachios for garnishing.
Pour into a traditional earthen pot and garnish with pistachios and refrigerate for a couple of hours.
Serve chilled!