Flavours of Kerala

Our next supperclub event is on 21st January 2012, we can book tickets online. Please email chailounge77@gmail.com if you have any dietary requirements.


Visit the booking and menu link for more details and on how to purchase tickets.

first supper club

After months of planning and even more months of thinking about running a supper club, it finally happened. We had our first supper club last Saturday. I would have not had the courage to start the supper club without guidance and encouragement from Aoife who runs my home supper. I've helped Aoife on two occassions but nothing could prepare me for Saturday's meal. I had sleepless nights building up to the event, constantly waking from my sleep thinking about every element of the supper club. Luckily on the night everything went according to plan.

I'd like to thank Amy for her great front of house hospitality, Naseem for helping me plate up the food and taking photos and Parvez for running around for last minute ingredients and continuously washing up cups, plates and dishes that were brought through to the kitchen. Maybe one day I will get to buy a dishwasher, but first another supper club menu planning. Hopefully a date will be published soon. 

One of my guest, Jessica Adair was kind enough to write a review of the night....Thanks Jessica

Variety is the spice of life at Edinburgh’s first Indian supper club

By Jessica Adair

Is it a dinner party? Is it a restaurant? No it’s a supper club! After months of reading about the latest craze to hit the foodie world Mr A and I finally decided to find out what all the fuss is about. And what better way to start our journey than at a supper club making its own debut on the Edinburgh circuit? Chai Lounge, run by the lovely Meena, opened its doors for the first time on Saturday 29^th October, promising a feast of Gujarati and South African fare. Our taste buds were tingling in anticipation!

By their very nature, supper clubs are slightly unpredictable and no two events are the same, so we weren’t quite sure what to expect when we walked into Meena’s flat on Saturday night. However, we were soon made to feel right at home by front-of-house hostess Amy, who ushered us into Meena’s delightful dining room with the promise of a welcome drink and canapés. The other guests were quick to introduce themselves and it became clear that we all shared a love of food, new experiences and meeting other Edinburghers.

Amy soon reappeared with our welcome drink, ‘Gin Jinn’, a refreshing blend of gin (obviously), lemonade and a magic ingredient, curry leaves! This gave the cocktail a subtle but distinctive spicy kick and made it a perfect partner for Meena’s canapés of pauthudi (beautiful little rolls of gram flour and curd studded with spices) and potato bonda (deep fried spiced potato balls). Taste buds tantalised, we took our seats for dinner.

Meena’s starter dish of chicken muthia, a delicately spiced chicken patty, and vetkoek (a South African take on a puri) was a great introduction to the winning combination of Gujarati and South African flavours. The main meal was served in traditional Indian ‘family style’ (where everyone has a bit of everything), and bowl after bowl of aromatic food soon arrived at our table. The central dish was the classic South African stew, ‘bunny chow’, made with locally sourced lamb, accompanied by a sambhar salad. Meena’s side dishes were tangy daal, cinnamon pumpkin, spiced aloo, cumin rice and a boondi and cucumber raita. Needless to say, we couldn’t wait to get stuck in!

The meal went down an absolute storm, and in between periods of satisfied munching, we all raved about the variety of the food, the fantastic flavours and the sociable nature of family style dining. I particularly enjoyed Meena’s pumpkin and potato dishes; they were subtly flavoured but still packed a punch, and the whole meal delivered a pleasant heat without being ‘hot’. When it comes to spicing and seasoning, Meena clearly has the magic touch.

After a much-needed pause (and the chance to compare our favourite main course dishes!), pudding arrived. Cooling and delicately flavoured with cardamom, the yoghurt-based ‘shrikhand’ was the perfect way to round off the meal. Cups of hot sweet chai followed, along with home-made ‘nankhatai’, a kind of Indian shortbread that was sweet and crumbly and better than anything I’ve ever had from a tartan tin.

At the end of the meal, Meena and her trusty crew came out of the kitchen to say hello, and we all enjoyed the opportunity to linger over our cups of chai a little longer (it was so delicious, I ordered seconds!). Finally, in a flurried exchange of contact details and Twitter IDs, we headed out into the night, full and very happy. Mr A and I chose to sit at separate tables to get the full Chai Lounge experience between us, and we both agreed the night had been a big success. Thanks to Meena’s beautiful food, fantastic hospitality and wonderful guests, we have both been well and truly bitten by the supper club bug!

South African Gujarati Feast Menu - 29 October

gin jinn 

pathudi

potato bonda

chicken muthia with vetkoek

lamb bunny chow with sambhar salad

gujarati tangy dal

cinnamon pumpkin

spiced aloo

cumin rice

boondi and cucumber raita

shrikhand

sweet cardamom chai with nankhatai

This is the menu for our first supper club. Things may vary depending on availability of ingredients.Please email me if you have any dietary requirements. Our meals are mainly served family style so you'll get to taste as little or as much of every dish. Don't forget to bring along your favorite tipple.

Pathudi (also known as Khandvi)

A simple gujarati snack that I clearly remember making with my mum when I was young. We had several trays ready to spread the mixture because if its not spread while the mixture is hot it becomes hard. I for one, was not so keen on pathudi, it was clearly a dish loved by my siblings, but it seems that my taste buds have changed and I cant understand why I never liked. Its great with a few drops of lemon and a nice cup of tea.

What you need:
250ml gram flour
250ml plain yoghurt
5ml salt
250ml water
5ml crushed green chillies
3ml crushed ginger
3ml crushed garlic
2.5ml sugar
5ml lemon juice

What to do:
Mix all ingredients together and beat with an egg beater. Pour into a pot and continue to mix well till it boils. The mixture will need constant mixing so that no lumps are formed. Lower heat and continue stirring for 5-6minutes. Spread on surface or trays,like the picture below.

Vagaar
Heat 40ml oil in a small pan. Add 5ml mustard seeds,15ml sesame seeds. When it starts to splutter remove from the heat. Pour half of the mixture over spreaded patudi and sprinkle with coconut. Cut about 50mm strips. Roll the strips like swiss rolls,picture shown below. Arrange on a platter. Garnish with the leftover mustard and sesame seeds and finely chopped coriander.

First supperclub date - 29 October

Chai lounge first supper club date goes on sale. You can book tickets online . Email chailounge77@gmail.com if you would like to be added to the reserve list.

The menu will showcase a mix of South African and Gujararti dishes. Dhokla, spinach cake, potato bonda, chicken muthia with vetkoek, samp and beans, bunny chow and maybe koeksisters are just a few of the things that will appear on the menu. But first today, I'm off to local traders to see how I can source my local produce of mutton and chicken.

Check out the booking and menu link for more details on how to purchase tickets.

Bunny Chow on the South African / Gujarati feast menu

The term bunny chow is derived from two words, bunny(Bhanya relating to the bunny chow inventor) and chow(South African slang word for food). Legend has it that it was first served in Durban restaurants, owned by South African Indians known as Bhanyas. In apartheid years many restaurants were not allowed to seat black patrons. Take away food could be sold to anyone but this was well before disposable plates were available.


A restaurateur came up with the perfect solution, placing the curry inside the bread. This bread bowl became known as the bunny chow. Its usually served with a spicy salad. Bunny chows are a strictly messy finger affair, utensils are never used. The concept of bunny chow is not unlike India's own pav bhaji, bread eaten with curry. 


I've been thinking about serving either mutton/bean bunny chow at my supperclub but presentation serves a bit of a mystery. I don't want to place a quarter loaf of bread on a plate. I'm sure there is another way of presenting this great dish or do I stick to basics?

Spicy breakfast

Craving something spicy for breakfast might seem odd but growing up in South Africa,spicy breakfast was common in many Indian homes. My mum would make dishes like spicy spinach cake, grated corn tempered with green chillies,served with thin sev, dholka and many more dishes. When I woke up this morning, and looked out at the grey sky and wet ground I thought of making something that would tantalize the taste buds, something with chillie, lemon and sugar. Making the grated corn dish is a huge task in the morning so I opted for something simple, I've recently learnt to make a south Indian pancake called utthapum. It can be eaten with chutney but this morning I felt like eating it with something sweet so opened a can of corn and tempered it with mustard seeds, green chillies and a touch of salt. The recipe for the utthapum is as follows:


1 cup coarse semolina
1 small onion finely chopped
1 small tomato cubed
finely chopped green chillie (optional and to taste)
1 tablespoon grated coconut (optional)
1 tablespoon finely chopped corriander (optional)
1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
1/2 cup yoghurt
1 tablespoon lime (no need for lime if you using yoghurt from indian shops as I find yoghurt in indian shops very sour)
1/4 cup water (to make the batter thin if its too thick)


Method:
Mix all ingredients together to form a thick batter consistency. Add some water if its needs to be thinned out. Heat a frying pan, spread a small amount on a hot pan, spray some oil on the top or sprinkle a few drops of oil. Cook until the top looks dry and turn over to cook for a few minutes. Serve hot with chutney.

The sun is shining in Edinburgh

Nothing beats the hot sun than a glass of ice cold falooda. Made from rose syrup,ice cream,tukmaria(basil seeds) and crushed almonds, this is a great thirst quencher

I prepared this drink at Aoife's vegetarian feast supperclub, read all about it and other dishes that we prepared here, http://myhomesupperclub.squarespace.com/journal/?currentPage=2

Breakfast

Having harvested a small potatoe bag, I was running out of ideas on what else to make with potatoes. It dawned on me when we were young that my mum use to make potato powa for Sunday breakfast. The dish was spicy,sweet and sour, a perfect combination to get you going on a Sunday morning. And off course no breakfast is complete without a cup of masala tea. 

Another dish I prepared in the week was potato bonda, cubed potatoes,onions,corriander,coconut rolled in a ball, dipped in gram flour batter fried till brown. This usually goes well with tamarind chutney.

A taste of supperclubs

I was lucky to be a guest 'chef' at Aoife's supperclub http://myhomesupperclub.squarespace.com/ and learn how supperclubs work. Before I knew it Aoife got me convinced that I can open one myself. So here goes......look out for dates in early Autumn 2011.....