MORE ON KOUFU

@ Beverage: Indian Tea

Fresh Salad: Only Veggies

MIX VEG RICE: Ahh a healthy alternative for spicy Indian food

Nasi Padang.

Fruits and Juices: Any Day

These pics were a long due. Got busy with work , lots of work. But kept my eyes open. After all good food means good life. Food has always been central to judge a place, its beauty of its ugliness.

There was a time when I had almost given up on Koufu and Singapore for vegetarians. Today, its so much better becoz of there are places and one only needs to find them. And Koufu has stood the test.

Its raining outside today....

its time for lunch.

OLIVE COVE @ E2, FoE

Salad Bar

Veggies

Apple salad and pasta @ 2.80 sgd

After a cold and boring workshop in FoE, that too in on a rainy morning, it looked all dim and lazy until I came across this cozy place on level seven of FoE. It said, E2 Cafetaria.

Its name is Olive cove and seems to be a Thai restaurant.

A smiling lady welcomed me in and I went on to survey the place.

They have vegetarian food and a Plate of Rice and three veggies cost u 3.50 SGD.

What caught my mind was their salads.

they have three types: Apple salad, potato salad and pasta....all vegetarian and you can pick a combination of two for SGD 2.80.

The ambience is cosy and the salad (i picked apple and pasta) was quiet good.

I spent some 45 minutes there eating and studying the place.....and returned with a bright mood...good bye lazy morning.

Thanks Olive Cove, you made my day.

Boiling Daal in Microwave

The latest experiment in my kitchen was preparing dal. Having got bored with eating rice and sabzi, I needed to expand my menu for dinner. Given that Dal can be a pain to boil especially without the pressure cooker and having never tried it boiling in the microwave, I thought it was high time I proceed with this one.

So having picked this one Kilo packet of arhar dal and taking the risk of wasting it if my visualised process did not bear fruit (can always take it back to India, I thought, if things didn't work), One evening I proceeded with it.

Just do it I said to myself. And Lo, here it was my first dal in singapore. Successful, aromatic and ofcourse right for my taste bud.

Boiling dal:

Soak Dal in water for atleast half an hour till the dal becomes soft and breaks into two.

Take a microwave- safe vessel with a lid, preferably if its a rice cooker whose lid can be sealed.

add dal and water (1:3 cups)

boil it for 15 minutes on high.

One needs to check in between if additional water is needed. use your own measurements looking at the depth of the vessel used so that the water doesnt spill out much.

Once the dal is cooked, its ready for further treatment.

temper it oil, zeera/ mustard , crushed garlic, turmeric powder, tomatoes, onions....curry leaves etc etc etc...all in different ways we know and cook in India.

(while you heat oil, be very careful and it should be under extreme supervision. Over heating may catch fire....just warm it, dont make it very hot. 30sec -45 sec is enough for a TB spoon of oil in MW.)

garnish with finely cut corriander. Dont forget to add salt.

serve hot with rice and ghee. Or roti. or just the way you like it.

INDIAN @ THE DECK, FASS

Now this one, I am sure, would not have escaped your eyes.

One of the most popular counters in The Deck @ FASS plus very much popular among all Indian food outlets in NUS.

The Food is good in taste and texture (though you get almost the same dishes in all indian counters across NUS, this has something that they dont have. You should discover what it is.)

The People at the counter are nice.

The Openness of the Deck itself adds to the experience.

The Afternoons are pretty crowded and the Indian store usually has a long line.

The Deck it seems was chosen the best canteen in NUS last year.

So go ahead and relish Indian Vegetarian food @the Deck.

NAMASTE INDIA @ Little India

Having tried much of south Indian food @ Little India and not very much happy with the same, We decided to try on some north Indian. We went to this place called Namaste India. Two men called us in, probably they owned/ managed the place.

We ordered Tawa Roti and Veg- Kolhapuri (sounds very deccani) and mix veg raita. Thought we could order the rest later after tasting the food.

The roti was hard.

The sabzi had no fresh vegetables. The beans looked dead which was just immersed in the spicy gravy and served.

The raita was not that bad.

It reminded me of those many restaurants in and around delhi which weigh on the gravy to get their profits....the bad southindian food I have been having in Little India now seemed much more better than this.

We paid the bill and got out after the first of our rotis were over.

Bad day.

As we walked on the road, we found many small hotels , very much like in small south Indian towns, crowded, platefull and brimming with aroma. The next visit would be to these inexpensive places which remind me of those days where food was displayed in wooden-glass counters and served in banana leaf....probably these could be the earlier ones, much before brands like Saravana Bhavan and Sagar ratna came in...

DIM SUM @ Koufu, U Town

And  like many, I too waited for the Indian food outlet to open at U Town Koufu and almost never ventured into the already happening place. My discovery of the food court only began after the official inauguration of the Indian stall. And lately I found many many things better here than the only thing I was waiting for.

Most recently, my favourite snack stall is Dim Sum. Began with a question, do u have anything vegetarian here a few days ago....and today went on to discover a range of things in their window apart from my favourite Curry Puff ( stuffed with potato) and veg Spring Roll: Peanut Sesame Ball, Mushroom Pie, Cheeze bo lo Bun, Vegetarian Char Xiu bo lo Bun, Green Bean Sesame Ball,  and Carrot Cake.

What adds to DIM SUM's image and food is the friendly staff. Very friendly and hospitable.

You might disagree with this fact as to how does staff matter and how does it anyway influence the food. I strongly believe and would love to argue that the aspect of emotion and attitude in work and especially in food, matters a lot and influences how our mind/ body takes in and reacts to it. Bad emotions create bad food. Good emotions  produce good food. No wonder even after eating in the best of places we may develop bad stomach, food poisoning. At times becoz of bad staff we may decide never to go there. At times good looking food might taste bad.  Might as well sit in our body like a heavy something for hours because of mysterious reasons.

Am I speaking in air? try out yourself....

till then, let me discover more things for you....

29th August 2011.

a surprise

Vegetarian snacks in City Square Mall, Farrer's Park MRT.

Dough Culture located in Basement level of City Square Mall provides vegetarian snacks like spring rolls and samosas and many other things.

what makes it special is unlike many other restaurants that have indian vegetarian (they have non-veg items as well) , this one has only vegetarian eatables. something very rare in the city's landscape. secondly, I doubt if its an Indian outlet. If my doubts are true, it shows a fine example of cultural synthesis.

Thanks Dough Culture.

27th Aug 2011