Mexico, mi amor

One way to fall in love with a new city is through its food, which is how it worked in our case with Mexico City when we visited it last Spring. We especially enjoyed the street food, specifically the tacos and chilaquiles, which excelled both in terms of flavor and price. 

Chicken in Mole sauce at Villa Maria

The most memorable fine-dining experience was at Villa Maria, which is where I tried mole chicken (chocolate-based sauce) for the first time while watching a Mariachi band. While somewhat touristy for my taste, it was worth it, for mostly the live music. The food wasn't terrible.   

Enchiladas in verde salsa

Flan

Some of the fancier neighborhoods like Polanco or La Condesa boast high-end, yuppie restaurants that you might want to treat yourself to at some point during your trip. We tried multiple such places for brunch and dinner, including Madre Cafe and a Latin-Asian fusion restaurant whose name escapes me, where I had a delicious baos with crunchy crab, along with dumplings with mole sauce, and a whole crispy red snapper in a sweet and sour sauce. All dishes were well executed, and we loved the flavors. 

Another of my favorite meals in the city were the enchiladas. Enchiladas, a traditional dish, are stuffed corn tortillas, mostly with a protein and served in copious amount of a savory sauce of your choice (red/roja or green/verde) with grated cheese on top. To my palate, this dish resembled an Indian curry due to the salsa. We had it several times during our short visit.   

Finally, owing to not having a much of a sweet tooth, I am usually not very curious about desserts. But I did try Mexican flan, mostly because it resembled caramel pudding, one of my favorite Indian dishes along with guava pastries. The flan didn't disappoint me with respect to taste (well sugar never does!) although I preferred it in street shops more than dine-in restaurants. 

All in all, this trip was worth it for the food alone. 

Southeast Impressions - A Southeast Asian restaurant in Fairfax, Virginia

Red snapper curry with Chicken Mi goreng

Southeast Impressions
9530 Fairfax Blvd, Fairfax, VA 22031 ·
Rating: 2/5.

Southeast Impressions, a newly opened restaurant in Fairfax, Virginia, specializes in cuisines from Southeast Asia (mostly Chinese, Malaysian and Singaporean). Unlike Chinese or Vietnamese restaurants, Malaysian restaurants are rare in the NOVA region. Although I was delighted to discover this place and visited it twice so that I could try more dishes, it did not meet my expectations and the experience wasn't a memorable one. 

 The roti canai (fried bread) generally served with a chicken curry from what I have seen in other Malaysian restaurants, was served with lentils cooked with vegetables, similar to the South Indian-style sambar curry. It wasn't particularly flavorful and personally I did not feel it was even worth it's price.  

Laksa curry

Of the two curries we tried, the laksa curry was with noodles at the bottom was served with a decent helping of protein in the form of scallop, shrimp, egg and chicken. But the flavors were mediocre, and the seafood did not taste very fresh. The duck curry was very disappointing in terms of the portion of protein especially when I compare it to other Asian restaurants. The red snapper cooked with gravy and basil was one of the most expensive dishes on the menu. Although the portions were generous, it neither tasted fresh nor was seasoned sufficiently. 

We also tried their Mie Goreng, Malaysia style fried rice with egg, veggies, chicken and shrimp. This rice dish was by far the best of the dishes we tried. 

All in all, this restaurant offered a great ambience for dining and the service was decent, but I thought it fell short in terms of flavor and the quality of the food, especially for the price. With these issues, I have to give this place a score of 2 out of 5, and I do not want to visit it again.   

Exploring the ethnic food scene during my visit to Europe

Crispy duck in a red curry at Aurora

We spent a week in rural Austria and a weekend in Paris and had had the opportunity to experience the local Asian food scenes. In both cases, we left very pleased. 

We visited two Asian places in and around Salzburg in Austria: one was Japanese and another Chinese-run establishment. China restaurant Aurora in Kirchberg surpassed any expectations I had of this sparsely populated Alpian region. It was a family-run restaurant offering a diverse menu of which my personal favorite was the crispy duck in a red Thai curry. We also tried their Mie Goreng, the Malaysian specialty with fried crispy noodles and veggies and a side of sauce. Dishes seemed like were made to order, as the ingredients were fresh. The portions were decent. 

Mi Goreng at Aurora

In comparison to the US dining experiences, dishes we tried during our trip to Europe, especially in Paris were significantly smaller and perhaps double in price. However, the experience generally was much more satisfying, we were never disappointed with how the dishes tasted. Consequently, we were more than willing to pay the price. 

Paris, like most would expect of a big metropolis, offered an eclectic mix of cuisines to choose from. I got to try Senegalese cuisine for the first time and loved it the most amongst all the dishes we tried. I was even more pleasantly surprised when we found two Bengali sweet shops which allowed me to partake in some desi sweets that I hadn't eaten in over two decades. 

Senagelese chicken stew

The Senegalese flavors Les Marmitas de Fa had to offer were leaning spicy and gave you a feeling of homemade dishes. We tried a peanut based chicken stew with fish croquettes and came out wanting more. The server even brought me a spicy sauce to try with the croquettes on request.  Likewise, the Sichan style Chuan Wei Yuan , a small, cozy restaurant nestled in the cobbled-street neighborhood of downtown Paris made chicken with cumin taste and look so special - fried chicken cooked with copious amounts of onion and peppers, in a sizzling pan and bowl of hot sticky rice made the whole experience so delightful and memorable. 

Finally, for the South Asian/Indian food, our favorite was the meal we ate at a restaurant called Best of India and were so satisfied with their choices. They had a wide variety of South Asian/Indian dishes like the Sri-Lankan specialty kothu paratha (a paratha shredded to pieces and cooked with spices, eggs, veggies and chicken), Chettinad and Andhra chicken, known for its extra spicy flavor profile. To my hearts delight it was served with a freshly made Kerala paratha that I had eaten last at the "Mallu dhaba" in Pune a couple of decades ago. The experience stood out when I compare them to the Indian/desi restaurants in the US - my guess is the use of fresh spices, fresh vegetable as opposed to canned foods, is what makes these dishes so special making you always want more.  

All in all, if you have a palette for spicy Asian food like mine, experiencing the ethnic food scene in Paris will be completely worth your while. 

British sausage rolls

1-pound minced lamb

British sausage rolls with onion relish

1/2 red onion 

2 teaspoons sea salt

2 eggs for the mix, and 1 egg for egg wash. 

2 Pastry sheets

1/2 teaspoon chilli, turmeric, cumin and coriander powders [optional]

Step 1: Dice onion and sauté it until golden brown. 

Step 2: Mix lamb with eggs, salt, Indian spices if you prefer. Add the cooked onion to the mix. 

Step 3: Unfold the pastry sheet and cut each into half, place the prepared sausage mix into a log, about 1-inch wide in the middle of the rectangle. 

Step 4: Apply the edges of the pastry with egg wash and roll it over and seal the ends on either side. Brush the tops with egg wash. 

Step 5: Cut into 6-8 pieces and place them on a baking sheet. 

Step 6: Bake for 25 minutes at 400F. 

Step 7: Serve hot with a relish of your choice. 

Butter chicken - an instapot recipe

 Ingredients

1 whole chicken (cut into small pieces) or boneless chicken

1 large red onion
4 medium tomatoes

12 cashews

1 teaspoon turmeric powder

1 teaspoon chilli powder

1 teaspoon garam masala 

1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste

1 cup yoghurt

1/2 cup butter

Kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves) leaves

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup cream [optional]

1 cup readymade chicken stock [optional]

Step 1: Marinate the chicken pieces with ginger-garlic paste, 1 cup yoghurt and chilli/turmeric powder and set it aside for 4-5 hours. 

Step 2: In a pan, sauté sliced onion, tomatoes, cashews, chilli and garam masala powder. Let it cool and grind it into a thin paste. 

Step 3: Lightly fry (or deep fry if you prefer) the marinated chicken in the insta pot for 4-5 minutes. 

Step 4: Pour the paste into the chicken, add chicken stock, along with some butter and let it slow cook in the pot for approximately 30-40 minutes. 

Step 5: Once cooked, sprinkle some kasuri methi and cream [optional] on it. Serve hot with bread, naan or steamed rice. 

Indian style dry potato sabji

Poori bhaji

Ingredients 

5 medium potatoes 

1 teaspoon jeera seeds 

1/4 teaspoon asafoetida or hing

1 teaspoon turmeric powder 

8 green chilies

handful of coriander leaves

1 teaspoon lime 

handful curry leaves 

Salt to taste

1/2 teaspoon sugar (optional)

Dry potato sabji or bhaji

Step 1: Boil potatoes in an Insta-Pot (2 minutes on High) or a regular pressure cooker (4 whistles). After releasing the pressure, peel and cut into small pieces and apply turmeric powder, salt, lime and little sugar. Keep aside. 

Step 2: In a separate pan, heat oil and add jeera seeds and let them cook until they splutter. Add curry leaves, asafoetida powder, and finely chopped chilies into the oil. Add some water and let it cook on a low flame for 5-7 minutes. 

Step 3: Add the potato (from step 1) and let it cook on a low flame for 5-10 minutes. Add finely chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with chapatis or pooris. 

Sesame Prawn Toast

Sesame prawn toast 

Ingredients

White bread slices (as needed)
12-15 prawns/shrimps
2 tablespoons soya sauce

1 medium sized red onion

1 teaspoon tomato ketchup

5 green chilies

1 tablespoon chilli sauce or chilli powder

2 tablespoons corn flour

White sesame seeds (as needed)

2 eggs 

Salt to taste

2 teaspoon vinegar (optional)

Oil to fry

Step 1: Mince the shrimp and marinate with salt. 

Step 2: Dice and sauté the onion, finely chopped chilies, tomato ketchup, soya sauce, vinegar, sugar and salt for around 5 minutes on low flame until it is cooked. 

Step 3: In a separate bowl, stir corn flour in cold water and mix well. 

Step 4: Add the corn flour mixture to the onion paste (from Step 2) and let it cool. 

Step 5: After it has completed cooled, add the minced shrimp. 

Step 6: Apply the paste to slices of bread (I used white bread), sprinkle sesame seeds as needed. 

Step 7: Beat the eggs in a separate bowl. 

Step 8: Dip only the top of the bread slice (I usually cut the slices into triangular pieces) into the egg mix, and deep fry it.  

Step 9: Serve hot.