my love's birthday dinner

First, we made a culinary stop-off in India for some chicken tikka masala, spiced pulao (rice), potato and pea vadi (vegetable patties), cucumber raita, and naan bread.
My love does not enjoy Indian desserts as I do, so we made a quick detour to France for a crepe cake - 20 crepes layered with vanilla pastry cream and fresh raspberry sauce.

Indian-spiced chicken pitas

My boyfriend and I made these delicious chicken pitas a while back... We found a recipe for Indian-spiced chicken burgers in Martha Stewart Living's Everyday Food - Great Food Fast cookbook, and made slider-sized patties. We topped the patties with a savory yogurt sauce and tossed in some cucumber slices. We served each pita with spicy potato wedges and an orzo salad with asparagus and feta cheese. We will definitely be repeating this!

You can find a similar recipe at Bakin' and Eggs, a fantastic food blog.

lightly-curried potatoes and spinach

When I want a quick go-to warm dish, I often turn to a plate of lightly-curried potatoes and spinach. It's not too spicy, but has a hint of Indian flair, and costs much less than heading to the nearest Indian restaurant for take-out.

I start by sauteing cubed potatoes in a little butter, a little oil, a liberal sprinkling of curry powder, and salt.

Once the potatoes are fork-tender and getting crispy, I add a few turns around the pan of cream, and toss a handful of fresh spinach on top.

The spinach wilts quite quickly, so be ready to eat!

Once the spinach is wilted, I check for seasonings and add salt (or pepper) if necessary.

Mughul (Madrid)

After discovering that Siam (c/ San Bernadino, 6 -- Metro: Plaza de España) had the same menu as Bangkok (c/ Bordadores, 15 -- Metro: Sol or Ópera‎), we set out to look for some different flavors. We decided on Mughul, an Indian restaurant only a few doors down (c/ San Bernadino, 10).









I ordered shrimp korma, and the combination of sweet and savory was perfect! Nat got chicken vindaloo curry (spicy!), and of course, we ordered rice and a selection of breads. We washed it all down with slightly sweet mango lassis.

Restaurante Taj

In my recent post about Pep Restaurante (Barcelona), I expressed that my favorite part of Spanish cuisine is the menu-of-the-day. In addition to the places that serve traditional Spanish fare, those that serve international fare have jumped on the bandwagon.

For example, you can even find Asian restaurants that offer a menu-of-the-day.

Restaurante Taj (C/ Cruz, 13 -- Metro Sol or Sevilla) offers more than 40 Indian delicacies, including a set menu-of-the-day for only 11,95€ (Monday-Friday). They also do "take-away" orders, which is Madrid-speak for "take-out".

Your menu of the day will include:

A first course (for example, a few bites of chicken tandoori and a spiced croquette-type patty)

--all the first courses arrive with a trinity of delicious sauces--














A main dish (for example, chicken tikka masala)














+ naan bread, a beverage, and coffee or dessert

leftovers : Shalimar of India

I've not met an Indian dish yet that I didn't like. I'm completely obsessed with Shalimar of India's food, especially their brunch buffet. It's a great way to experience a diverse smattering of Indian food without emptying your wallet. Pictured here are my leftovers from my last dinner at Shalimar -- palak aloo (spinach and potatoes cooked with cream, tomatoes, and spices) over pullao (basmati rice), served with 3 sauces (tamarind sauce, mint chutney and onion chutney). At a loss for paneer (homemade cheese), I panfried a slice of haloumi.

Tandoori's :: Take 2

Had lunch with my roomie the other day at Tandoori's (metro stop: Embajadores).

Just as before, we thoroughly enjoyed our food. We had papadam (came with two sauces, one yogurt with cumin and one sweet/tart fruit-based sauce), lamb curry (we reminded the waiter that we were Americans, not Spanish, so the guys made it so spicy that we cried a little bit...), chicken tikka masala (chicken cooked with yogurt and spices, also made us cry a little bit), pulao (rainbow rice again!), pratha (butter bread), and mango lassi (a yogurt drink made with fresh mangoes). Sooooo tasty!

Bites in Lisbon/Sintra, Portugal

I just spent the weekend in Portugal, and I have to tell you... The rumors are true! The Portuguese sure know how to do pastries... Walk into any local pastelaría (pastry shop) in Lisbon and you will find yourself surrounded by a mountain of pastries. Sweet or savory, bite-sized or the size of your head, you are bound to find something that appetizes you. Just a few tasty suggestions:

• Pastéis de Nata or Pastéis de Belém (traditional pastry made with flaky crust, custard filling and bruléed top... click here for a pic... so popular that now Brazil's fast food chain Habib's actually has their own version on the menu)
  
• apple-stuffed pastry (not too sweet, just right)
• empanada-type pastry with shrimp & creamy filling
• puff pastry squares baked with ham (fiambre) and cheese (queijo) inside
• fish fritters (made with whitefish & herbs... hard to explain, but delicious)
• croquetes (made with seasoned ground beef and chouriço (chorizo in Esp)
• roll stuffed with sliced chouriço (delicious choice for breakfast)
• roll/bread with chunks of chouriço baked right in

On a completely unrelated note, Lisbon is also home to some amazing Asian food. Restaurant Ton Xin (Av. Brasilia - Edificio Espelho de Agua) is on the water, between Ponte 25 (bridge) and La Torre de Belém. They have three parts to the restaurant: 1. You can enjoy a sit-down meal of Chinese food. 2. Sit-down meal of Japanese food. 3. The WOK. I recommend the WOK. It's all-you-can-eat, and the food is fabulous. They have cooked-to-order wok food, a hot Chinese food bar, cold food bar, sushi bar, and dessert bar. For the wok food, you select your own ingredients from a buffet-style line-up, choose your sauce, and the wok chef cooks it for you in a number of minutes. They have seven sauces to choose from... Try the Gon Bao sauce if you enjoy make-you-cry spicyness or if you are congested, or try the Thailand sauce, which is fantastic. They have less-hot sauces, like sweet-and-sour or garlic, and they even have a curry sauce. All in all, it is inexpensive (13.90€) and worth the trip out to the shore. As it says in their brochure, "If you want to taste the really Chinese food, came and visit us."

If you are in the mood for food from the other side of Asia, check out Bengal Tandoori on Rua Pendôa 11 in Sintra. It's got a sort of bizarre combination of Indian and Italian food, but it works if you have friends with different tastes. As far as Italian goes, the spaghetti/rigatoni con carne is recommended. As far as Indian goes, check out the chicken tikka masala (very saucy, not like others that we've had, but very delicious), the malai kofta (specialty of the house -- veggie patties sort of like falafel with a creamy and spiced sauce), veg soup (that's really what it's called, and it's good), and the paneer naan (flatbread stuffed with homemade cheese and cilantro). Avoid the tap water.

Asian Food in Madrid

Ok, in general, my experience with Asian food in Madrid has not been good. If you are in the mood for Asian food, I recommend that you do some research first, and ask around to see what the opinions are of certain establishments. I have had some seriously bad food, but there are three places that I have visited that have had really great food. The first place, Rey de Tallarines, has excellent homemade noodles and tasty green curry (see entire blog entry here). The second place, Bangkok, has delicious pad thai and let me tell you, it is a HUGE portion of noodles. And thirdly, if you are looking for Indian cuisine, check out Tandoori's for delicious curries and vegetarian dishes (see entire blog entry here). I know it can get tough here if you are craving a little Asian flavor, but don't worry, good Asian food in Madrid DOES exist. =)

Tandoori's

Just finished having lunch @ Tandoori's (metro stop: Embajadores). We enjoyed quite the spread... Papadam, raita (yogurt sauce with mint and cucumber), onion bhajia (onion patties made with chickpea flour and deep fried, like pakoras), chicken madras curry (spicy, but not too spicy!), palak aloo (spinach cooked with potato chunks and spices... delicious!), pulao (not your ordinary basmati rice... this one was rainbow!), naan bread, and mango lassi (a yogurt drink made with fresh mangoes). It was really quite the find! =)

Tandoori Night!!!

My man and I had dinner with some great friends (and their very friendly dogs!) last night... Tandoori chicken (delicious!), fried mixed veggies, perfectly-cooked basmati rice, pappadums, salsas and raita. Everything was tasty, to say the least. To drink -- riesling for the girls and beer for the guys. And for the perfect ending -- Indian-style mango ice cream. The atmosphere was complete with Indian music -- Anoushka Shankar. The best part, though, was cooking the meal together. Good food & great friends... The perfect start to the holiday season.

Big thanks to our host & hostess. :)

Indian brunch!!

Earlier today, my boy and I enjoyed brunch at a local Indian place. Shalimar of India is a small family-run restaurant that serves delicious Indian dishes. The brunch is all-you-can-eat and happens every Sunday (11.30am-3pm). The buffet includes: both meat and vegetarian dishes (usually 6 dishes in all), pullao (basmati rice), bread, salad, little bites (like samosas or pakoras), all of the necessary sauces and chutneys, and a sweet rice dessert. For drinking, there is coffee (and maybe tea), and the never-ending glass of water. I also suggest the mango lassi, which is a fruity yogurt drink. It's creaminess helps to offset the spicyness of some of the dishes. I basically love this place.