Malgudi’s – Delhi Dabha

Malgudi's- A prelude

In our (mine to be more precise) earlier days in Chennai we used to go to a Sai Baba temple for worshiping almost every Saturday. The temple was close to our place of stay back then. Now, we live quite far away  but we still try going to that temple whenever we can. Last Sunday was one of such days when we planned to visit this beautiful, peaceful and serene temple. By the time we would return it would be quite late in the evening hence we decided to eat out. So, I suggested to have at a simple eatery like Hot Chips (wasn’t hungry after a heavy Sunday brunch) located at Kotivakkam. Earlier we used to stay in Palavakkam, which is close by that is when we frequented this place as it had good food at a very reasonable price with a decent ambiance. This particular Hot Chips outlet is absolutely different from all other Hot Chips outlets in Chennai. It pulls equal crowd but is more spacious than other outlets and has a much better furnishing, has valet parking etc. Anyway, we did not go to Hot Chips as my 'hujjband' said lets go somewhere else. Now, on OMR there are many options for eat-outs and restaurants. I thought of Malgudi. Malgudi is actually one of the restaurants in the same premises & management which have three restaurants namely Malgudi which offers South Indian food, China Terrace-Chinese cuisine and Delhi Dabha which serves North Indian items. This place in general is called Malgudi’s may be because that was the first one to open up or maybe because Malgudi is more popular than the other two. Although I don’t think so, as I always see more crowd at China Terrace. China Terrace brings a smile on my face because I came here on the first day of my life at Chennai. Malgudi’s China Terrace is THE FIRST place where I have eaten in Chennai. We had just got back from our Honeymoon, I waited the whole day for my husband to get back home from work, by then I had changed the bachelor pad into a nice cozy home. When he was back he was delighted. There was no dinner because there were no provisions at all at home, my afternoon lunch was chocolates and energy bars (no complaints on that although) so after a quick grocery shopping we headed to China Terrace, which gave me my comfort food. Although it is in the expensive range, China Terrace has beautiful ambience and its quite a lovely place for almost anything from family outings, to dates to general eat out. 

This time around when we reached Malgudi as I climbed up the wooden stairs and which leads you to China Terrace, I turned back and thought of trying out Delhi Dabha which is on the ground floor. For me, it was a bad decision. And yes this post is on Delhi Dabha of Malgudi’s, I apologise for such a lengthy prelude.  

Delhi Dabha

The seating arrangement at Delhi Dabha offers two options sitting in the open where they have put a large screen on which they play songs or being seated in the AC hall. We chose the AC hall as Chennai is famous for its teeming mosquitoes.  The AC hall has the ambiance of a decent eat out; they have confused it between a ‘dhaba’ look or a restaurant look. It’s good, it’s decent but not great not like China Terrace. They Menu according to me is quite sparse and the items seem similar. They have a lot of kebab varities though and I think they should have called themselves Kebab kings or something not Delhi Dabha. Yes, you guessed it right I am not kebab fan. If  you are a kebab fan this is the place for you Kebab dishes range from Rs.170/- to Rs.220/- I never ordered any so can’t talk about the quantity but I have heard they are lip smacking. For starters, apart from kebabs the only option available is ‘Murgh Kalimirchi’ ‘Lasani Jhinga’ and one more type of prawns and one fish fry. That’s it. Of course, there are vegetarian kebabs and Gobhi Tikki and Aloo tikkis which are exorbitantly priced. Many types of Indian breads are offered ranging from Rs.18/- to Rs. 50/-. Kulchas are Rs.35/- The Rice items are pulao and biryanis which are of different types like vegetable, chicken or mutton.Main course has few chicken items, some mutton and some vegetarian items. We ordered Kashmiri Roganjosh priced at Rs. 170/-, Mutton biryani Rs.220/- and ‘Lasuni Jhinga’ for Rs. 250/-.

‘Lasuni Jhinga’ was good, had exactly 6 small pieces so I would say over priced for the quantity and the taste. They served the Mutton Biryani which was well just like any other Biryani nothing great there either and the quantity is not actually enough for two if you are hungry. Same goes for the Roganjosh which was spicy although it was Kashmiri Roganjosh that we ordered.

The service is fast. Malgudi also houses a small shop which sells apparels and accessories. It also has a portrait maker, a magician who comes o your table to show you magic if you are interested, a potter and I think I saw fortune teller also. I should have gone and asked him whether I should opt for China Terrace or Delhi Dabha to avoid the disappointment.

Please do not miss a visit to Malgudi owing to the dismal picture I painted of Delhi Dabha. If you love kababs maybe this place is for you. And a trip to China Terrace will surely amuse you , I haven’t tried Malgudi’s at Malgudi which could be great too. Malgudi has lot to offer but for a foodie like me Delhi Dabha is not the place to be!

Malgudi, Malgudy, Delhi dhaba, OMR, Eat out, Chennai eatouts

The Manchurian Candidate!

Okay there were candidates, pros-cons with each and then the quick election. It was saucy and spicy. And it was accepted by the audience (my dear husband) well. For all those who are wondering that when did the classic movie Manchurian Candidate become saucy, I’ll explain- It didn’t.

I was just trying to come up with an interesting title for the post other than the typical -Soya Chunk Manchurian. This post is about Soya Manchurian and how soya got elected over the other more popular candidates like chicken, paneer (cheese cottage) and gobi (cauliflower) in my kitchen district.

Well, I had just reached home after a relaxing day at office and I wanted to cook something nice yet easy. Considering I had an exceptionally relaxing day at office, I didn’t really want to spoil the day by getting busy and sweaty in kitchen-why break the monotone. There was rice in the fridge which I knew I have to use coz I really don’t like stuff lying in the fridge for more than a day. Even this rice got into the fridge coz the husband announced after I put the rice on stove that he had a lunch appointment. Obviously then there’s no question of me coming home alone for lunch. So, in (fridge) went the rice and out came the mayonnaise and tomatoes. I quickly made a sandwich & packed it for lunch. That’s how I had a pot of rice leftover which I wanted to use the same day itself.

Rice was on the list for dinner’s menu tonight. And a quick peep into the fridge and I knew it was going to be Chinese fried rice. The spring onions had to be used. Chinese fried rice & Chicken Manchurian –lovely combination but there was no chicken at home. No time to sit and make paneer and no patience to cut the cauliflower heads, dip it in the corn flour mix and then fry that separately etc etc. Suddenly it struck me, how about Soya chunk Manchurian! Believe me, I thought I am the first one to get this ingenious idea until I googled just before writing this post. Anyways, I quickly took out the soya chunk and dipped it in boiling water and it puffed up in two minutes. Drained the soya and kept it aside. This is something my husband (let’s call him ‘S’, his name is real long to keep typing) taught me. Oh yes! I had never had soya chunks until I got married, the general curries made with soya chunk is still not in my list of things I like. So I used to make it really differently, generally substitute it for Chana in chana masala recipe only then I started liking it. Okay so going back to Soya Manchurian, this is what I did with it.

1. Soak soya chunk in boiling water for 2 minutes. Drain. Keep aside.
2. Heat oil in wok, add some finely chopped garlic, spring onion and ajinomoto & about 1tsp of ginger garlic paste.
3. Throw in a dash of soya sauce, tomato sauce (I used tom-chi), and Schezwan sauce. A little bit of vinegar and pinch (just  a pinch) of sugar.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. In the end add the drained soya chunks and mix it well with the sauce.

And tada- Soya chunk Manchurian is ready. This is how mine looked.

It definitely doesn’t taste as good as chicken or gobi but it’s a close contender for paneer. The soya chunks have no taste of their own so the more you let it fry in the sauce or simmer in the sauce the better. Even if my soya chunks won the election by default, this Manchurian Candidate delivered more than what it seemed to be promising when I started!