If Monsoon comes can soup be far behind?

Rain pittered and the some drops pattered on the iron staircase outside the kitchen window. My stomach demanded victual succour while the cranium tempted the eyes into succumbing to a rather tempting slumber.

A cauldron of stock from gleaned from the remains of the last potluck at my place was almost a divine suggestion at this point.

Pork Bone Soup Stock

A quick look at the crisper reminded me of a weekend cleaning fervour. Drat! No vegetables. 
Oh look! A neglected onion, a nub of ginger, and a handful of garlic. My heroes!

Rough chopped, the garlic browned and wafted an aroma that waited to sizzle with the onion slivers in the sauce pan.

Garlic getting browned

The onions join the garlic

Decisions! Decisions! Clear soup or thick? Nah! Neither. Something umami and rich. And it'd better be quick!

Soy sauce and oyster sauce

A quick dash of soya sauce (to reinforce the umami) and a gob oyster sauce later, the mix was getting ready to embrace the broth. 

Ah! The meat... I quickly got out the shredded pork pulled from the stock pot along with the shoulder bones and magically the hungry kittens appeared, howling for their share. 
(You cannot fool the feline nose!)

Shredded Pork from the Soup Bones

Add the shredded pork

Dora Dora Kitten is eyeing the meat!

Boiled Pork Skin bits

While the pork soaked up the goodness of the soy, I remembered the pork skin from the stock. So, I quickly chopped some and threw in the bits to add a bit of a bite and texture. The pork skin bits begged to bind things a bit, so they joined the mix and sputtered a bit.  

Getting ready for the broth...

Noodles! Ah dang! Of course... A wee bit of rummage in the larder revealed some dandy tea powder and buckwheat soba noodles.

Japanese Buckwheat Soba Noodles

Add the noodles

The broth went in little at a time, deglazing the saucepan and then, in went the noodles...

The Pork Broth

A splash of Chinese rice wine

... and then I ladled in lot of broth from the stock pot. Everything cosied up to each other and soon was bubbling contentedly in the sauce pan. So I splashed in a wee bit of Chinese Rice Wine for luck and turned the heat to a gentle simmer for a while.

Ladled into a bowl, bits of rescued cilantro and drop of toasted sesame oil now crowned my midnight saviour.

Slurp! 

Day 06 - Christmas and Food Chronicles in Kolkata - Cheese on Toast, DI and Oly Pub

After days of decadence I decided to go for a jog in the morning. Maidan and Victoria Memorial is still fresh and clean. In retrospect the 6.9 km distance from home and back seemed quite small compared to the aeons spent around these places. 

Melting Cheese on hot toast with nice light tea was a nice breakfast since I was anticipating a busy day of eating ahead.

In the afternoon Kaushik invited us to DI for lunch. We did not anticipate that DI was focussed on preparing for the Christmas bash coming up. So, it was like eating in the midst of a shadi wala mandap being made. A very mediocre lunch...

Chilly Fish fingers

Inside the chilly fish finger...

Fish fry

Kebab

Wazifdar

Mutton Kasha

Chicken Roast

Peas Pulao

Boiled vegetables

And... The bill...

Once that was done, Andy called and announced he was in Kolkata. What a coincidence! So we met at Camac street. It was interesting to see that Ketan had not changed a bit in 17 years!

Meeting Andy and Ketan...

Then it was time to relive the good old days at Oly Pub. The long pour at Oly is still good.

The long pour at Oly

Oly it seems cleaned up after a fire upstairs. So we took in the festive and cleaner and brighter new Oly.  

Cheers!

Day 05 - Christmas and Food Chronicles in Kolkata - Nihari, Istu, Halwa Puri, Cantonese Noodles, Roast Pork, Kati Rolls, Beef Biriyani, Bhuna Gosht

The day started early. Baba and uncle Raymond went for mass to St Anthony's and on the way back stopped at Azizia/Beeru's Hotel for breakfast. Of course I found my self before a steaming soup plate full of nihari and crunchy dal puris. 
Uncle Raymond had beef istu (stew), from which I grabbed a bit.

Beef NIhari with 'sita boti'

Istu (as Stew is called) 

Halwa Puri

Halwa Puri bite...

Dal Puri

Of course meals like this are never done without a palate cleansing cuppa of excellent muslim restaurant tea.

On the way back home I spied the jalebi, halwa and puri wala who still  has a stall at the same spot near my home. He serves the softest halwa I have had.

The neighbourhood halwa, puri and jalebi wala...

Once the day starts good --- lunch, can only be nicer. A series of calls from Carol and a trip to Mocambo (1 hr wait) pushed Neil and the rest of the Sinha clan (and me) into Golden Dragon. Now, this place is like a time machine. It transports me back to when I ate here all those years back. The taste and presentation has never changed in all the years that I have kept gravitating back to this place. 

The Cantonese Noodle is pan seared to perfection and has oodles of fish, prawn, chicken and pork thrown in with the wok tossed vegetables. 

The Golden Dragon Cantonese Pan Seared Noodles 

Alas, this is one of the only places that still serves pork in a Chinese restaurants in Kolkata that I know of. Hence roast pork was definitely on the menu 

The Golden Dragon pan tossed roast pork

...as was pan tossed chicken for ...

The Golden Dragon pan tossed chilly chicken

After the meal we went and spent some time with Neil's family. After that it was time was time for dinner

So it was time for some Ripon Street beef kati rolls, nan roti and sukha bhuna and beef biriyani. After being restricted everywhere to mutton and chicken biriyani this seemed like a whiff of fresh and familiar air!

Beef Kati Rolls

 The parathas and the kababs both differ from the Nizam-esque kati rolls here. The paranthas are thicker lachcha paranthas (लच्छा परांठाs ). Visibly smaller. While the kebabs are long strips of muscle on the skewer with different spices and condiment ratios.

Naan Roti

Sukha Bhuna 

Sukha Bhuna

Beef Biriyani

Beef biriyani has jumped from  Rs 20 to Rs55 from my last visit. However, the two succulent boneless pieces and the divine aloo along with the rice has not been compromised with.

Beef Biriyani

Dinner done... Another day beckons :)