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.  

Our food tour of Puerto Rico

We spent a week in Puerto Rico and ate to our heart's content. We spent the first few days in the coastal town of Fajardo, close to the El Yunque rainforest and the remaining time in the capital city of San Juan. 

Whole fried red snapper

For those who are not aware of the United States geography, Puerto Rico is an island in the Carribean sea and a territory of the US. Like many other islands in the Carribean, it has a culinary comparative advantage in seafood. Consequently, if you are a lover of fresh fish, like me, a trip to P.R. will be worthwhile. 

Octopus stuffed empanadas

In addition, Puerto Ricans, like most of us, enjoy their fried foods. We recommend the arepas (stuffed with seafood or otherwise) and fried whole fish.

Shrimp mofongo

One of my personal favorites that we had at Fajardo's Sal and Pimienta by the Sea was the fried whole red snapper with sides of your choice (salad or lightly flavored rice). Most places gave the option of having the fish stuffed with shellfish and we tried that version with conch in a creamy and flavorful sauce. The portion sizes were decent and priced at approximately $50-$60 a plate. One thing to be mindful of Fajardo is that some of their gourmet restaurants are open only on weekends, so you want to plan accordingly if you are there for its food. We wanted to visit the highly-recommended La Estacion for its barbecue fish but unfortunately it was closed on the days we were there. 

Most of the places we visited in San Juan were in the old town and a couple in the business district. One dish native to PR and ubiquitous in menus was the mofongo, a dish made from smashed green plantains lightly flavored with herbs and perhaps a sauce and usually served a choice of protein. While it was certainly edible and worth trying at least once, I would be lying if I said that I found the mildly spiced shrimp version we tried it at El Cayo appealing. While the rest of the food we tried there was just OK, the view of marina was a real gift and ideal for an evening to watch the sunset.  

 

Tuna tartare tacos with seaweed

 I would describe the food scene in the capital city of San Juan as more eclectic with a wider choice of cuisines, with easily accessible establishments ranging from short-order cafes to fine dining restaurants. We tried Spanish style tapas, Peruvian ceviche, Asian-Latin fusion, Mediterranean breakfast cafe (though Cafe Istanbul was rather disappointing and I would refrain from ordering their lamb omelet). 

 

One of my favorite dishes I tried in San Juan, and one that I thought was unique to the island were their fried arepas or empanadas, stuffed with a bean/veggie mix, chicken or seafood. It is hard to go wrong with food that is deep fried, but thankfully the quantities were not humongous like you tend to find in the mainland. 

Another unique experience can be found at Azalea, a Latin-Asian fusion restaurant where we tried tacos with fresh tuna tartare along with a coconut-based chicken curry served with sautéed veggies. While the curry wasn't exactly what I was craving after a week of non-Indian food, I still enjoyed the subtle flavors. 

Breakfast at choco-bar

We also visited the heavily hyped Lote 23, a food truck park that had a variety of choices and that I would recommend for a quick lunch if you happened to be in the city. We tried eggplant and chicken arepas and an impossible vegan burger. While certainly not cheap, they were OK. 

Finally, I wouldn't be doing justice to the city's food scene if I did not mention the Chocobar cafe, a brunch spot in the old town where every meal, savory or sweet, integrated chocolate in its flavor profile. We had an avocado toast with eggs, bacon and chocolate, along with my all-time favorite churros served with a decadent chocolate dipping sauce. 

All in all, the food was great, definitely pricier than the mainland but also scored higher in terms of taste and freshness. I especially recommend the seafood. Culturally, the experience felt like we were in another country, more so than one would feel in Canada. While the food we had was probably richer in calories than what we are used to, we were thankful for the abundant sunshine and walkable streets which allowed us to burn off some of the calories (or at least that's what we told ourselves while eating .... ha...ha.) . 

Himalayan Wild Yak - a newly opened Nepali restaurant in Northern Virginia

Rating: 4/5 

Wild boar appetizer

Price for two: $60-$100.  

On a crisp fall afternoon, we planned a visit to this newly opened Nepali restaurant in one of Northern Virginia's suburbs in Loudoun county, VA. 

Partially due to the preceding hike in the town of Middleburg, Virginia and it being the only big meal of the day, I think we did justice to the pretty diverse menu of the Himalayan Wild Yak. I have had Nepali food in the past, and it has always seemed to be a simpler version of Indian cuisine- lighter on spice and simpler preparations.

For appetizers, we had a spicy wild boar cooked perfectly well with spice and mustard oil and served with sauces on the side. They also had a variety of momos and we chose chicken momos that were steamed, stuffed with a moderately spicy chicken mix and served with a delicious dipping sauce. The generous portion was made up of 8 large dumplings at $11 a plate. 

Crispy yak with chilli sauce

Chicken momos

Goat curry thali

As the name of the restaurant suggests, its yak (a mountain cow native to the Himalayan mountains, similar to bison or buffalo meat) dishes make its menu quite unique when compared to most desi or South Asian restaurants in the region. It offers a few yak appetizers (including momos and yak korma), along with main course dishes. Of which, we tried their yak chili served with fried rice. It was our first time trying yak. Gamey like the bison meat, it was cooked in an Indo-Chinese style with copious amounts of chili sauce and went well with the fried rice. Also, as one of our main course meals, we tried a Nepali set meal, or what we call a "thali" in India - an assortment of several dishes. I chose a goat curry set meal that came with lentils or dal, cauliflower, blanched spinach with a lovely flavor of whole spices (tadka) and goat curry cooked with a strong cardamon flavor.

All in all, a good dining experience. The restaurant is spacious and open all day with a single menu. I would recommend going at least once if you are a lover of meat and South Asian spices used in moderation.