Kasa Indian Eatery Home Catering and Private Vending Click Here or Call (415)944-ROLL

Tag Archive for 'achaar'

Vegan Punjabi Food at The Corner This Thursday

Published on March 1, 2011 in Events and Specials. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Join us this Thursday, March 3 for the first of a weekly Pop-Up dinner where I’ll be cooking sit-down style fare at The Corner at 18th and Mission. (Email popup@kasaindian.com for reservations.)
This Thursday’s $20 prix fixe menu kicks off with a bang with a ‘Vegan Punjabi Meal’ that even meat lovers will love:
  • Chote Baingan — from South India, this delicious rich baby eggplant dish is stuffed with spices and curry leaves.
  • Gobi Manchurian — a wildly popular concoction found all over India consisting of cauliflower fritters in a tangy, spicy Chinese-inspired sauce.
  • Toor Daal — a regular on the dinner table from the region of Gujurat, this is a light, sweet and savoury lentil dish delicately spiced.
  • Fresh Wholewheat Phulkas – light, wholewheat bread cooked on a tawa.
  • Peas Pillau –  fragrant steamed basmati rice with beautiful green peas.
  • Accompaniments for the table:
    • Karela Chips – sun-dried, fried bitter gourd chips.  An addictive bitter touch.
    • Cucumber/Red Onion Kachumbar – fresh cucumbers and onions for a fresh crunch.
    • Chilli Chutney – super sonically hot but flavorful sauce for those who always want it hotter.  This is Kasa’s “Hot Sauce” if you’ve tried it in the restaurant.
    • Cilantro Coconut Chutney – Kasa’s popular sweet and spicy chutney.
    • Achaar – traditional pickles that you are going to either love or hate!
Why am I so excited for this series?
  1. I am in love with the idea of Pop Ups.  It allows cooks like me to experiment with food without the risk of bankruptcy (particularly noteworthy since we just closed Kasa Marina…).
  2. I can focus on nothing but the food and test new dishes and flavors without committing to a full-on concept or expensive build out.
  3. Unlike our typical service at Kasa, we get to feed a small number of people in table service format.  This means I’ll be able to put out even more traditional homestyle food that I can personally cook!
  4. I can show my fellow Mission folk why they should leave our wonderful neighborhood and trek across Dolores Park to the edge of the Castro for a delicious Indian meal at Kasa!
Along with all this excitement comes nerves.   I don’t come from a classic chef background and haven’t cooked in a table service format.  But this is a wonderful opportunity for me to pursue my passion and expose more people to very authentic Indian homestyle dishes.
To make a reservation, please email popup@kasaindian.com before Thursday.  Walk-ins are of course welcome, the seating is very limited!
Let me know what you think after!
Anamika

Doing Justice to My Grandma’s Parathas This Saturday at Kasa

Published on May 27, 2009 in Indian Culture and Specials. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

bari-ma-21

This Saturday from 5pm onwards at Kasa, we’ll be offering a real Punjabi treat for the first time:  Aloo (potato), Keema (minced lamb) and Gobi (cauliflower) Parathas.  I’m dedicating this special to my grandma (Bari Ma), who is unfortunately suffering from the after-effects of a severe stroke.  This is the frailest I have ever seen her.
She spoiled me rotten, particularly by stuffing me with food.  She always thought I was too thin and needed to eat more. I miss those days.   :(
My absolute favourite dish she made for me from childhood through to adulthood was Aloo Paratha with a side of butter, achaar (Indian pickles) and yogurt.  On Sunday mornings when she made this at my cousin’s house, she would phone me up and tell me to hurry up and come over to eat.  I would be there in a flash, hoping to eat the first paratha off the tava, literally with a huge side of butter.  It was so damn good, I can still recall that feeling now.
Another vivid memory is going out clubbing one night and sneaking in at 4am.  Bari Ma was waiting up for me and I got caught and yelled at pretty badly, something about ruining my reputation, nobody wanting to marry a girl going out late and the psychos waiting to jump in my car and kill me.  Once she calmed down, I told her about the fun I’d had that night and that I was really hungry from all the dancing.   She had some boiled potatoes in the fridge and she made me a fresh paratha with melted butter.  I have NEVER felt more loved in my entire life than that night.
I claim that my grandma makes THE BEST parathas.  I’ve heard others make this claim but do not believe it.  The closest anyone ever came to my grandma’s was my great grandma in India.  The only reason she came close was because she made this homemade white butter that was truly fantastic.
So…this Saturday we’ll try to do justice to their parathas.  They’ll be served, of course, with a dollop of butter, achaar and yogurt.  If I can perfect the white butter between now and then, we will have white butter.  If anyone has tips on this, please let me know!
Being an only child raised a lot of the time by my Grandma, I have been heavily influenced by her.  Her quotes that she loved to use to get her point across to me will always be with me and help me remember her at her finest:  strong, cynical, practical, yet extremely loving to those she chose to love.
Bari Ma’s favourite quotes:
On sex before marriage: ‘Who needs the cow when they can have the milk for free?’
On friendship: ‘Familiarity breeds contempt.’
On clinching a marriage deal: ‘Many a slip between the cup and the lip.’
On being too fussy for marriage: ‘When she’s 20, she says Who is He? When she’s 30, she says What is He? When she’s 40, she says WHERE is he?’
On love:  ’Where did all the love go when there is no money to pay the rent?’
Anamika