KFE - New Address, First Look

M/s Kamath Caterers have been in hospitality industry since last 5 decades and are famous not only in Mangaluru but internationally. Their culinary expertise and consistency in quality quantity and capacity has been unparalleled by any caterer in Mangaluru.

Now they have ventured into a new enterprise called KFE(Not to be confused with KFC). Expansion of KFE is Kamath's Food Express.
KFE opened its new outlet today at New Chitra Junction this morning and started serving hungry Mangalureans who seek homely tasty affordable traditional South Indian a, North Indian and Chinese items.

First look says, it is well planned, clean and neat setup in an old house that was once residential home of a respectable GSB family. There was a shop on ground floor which they have converted into KFE billing and parcel counters. Inside they have the pantry kitchen where they pack food cooked at their factory in bulk and also prepare select a-la-carte items fresh and hot. They have enough chefs, helpers and family members who attend to the crowd that had started swarming well before 11:00am to fetch their parcel or to take items on the spot. 
"Some inconvenience may have caused especially to those who have booked parcel in advance over whatsapp, because we had the 'Gana Homa Ritual' this morning and after clearing everything we had to start packing food. Besides , lot of people swarmed suddenly to place spot order and that has also caused some hinderance to quick disposal of pre-booked parcel.

Though we have the capacity to prepare and provide food in bulk, for customers' convenience we are making small portions sufficient for two persons with moderate appetite, so that people don't waste food. We use food grade containers and silver pouches for hygiene. That consumes more time and resource but at the end of the day, a satisfied customer makes our efforts worthwhile, that has been the hallmark of Kamath Caterers since last five decades under the guidance of our founder Late Sri Ramanath Kamath", says Vinayak Kamath, brain behind the new venture.
  
"We had overwhelming response today and had to prepare some curries thrice to meet the demand. We have a large customer base and we did not want to disappoint anyone. So we tried our best to attend to all those who came for food parcel today. Our quality is assured, we plan to provide traditional GSB and South Indian style lunch time preparations and also other specialties without compromise on quality or quantity. I personally supervise preparation to packing." Sudhakar Kamath, Managing Partner of M's Kamath Caterers says with an ever friendly and humble smile in spite of looking tired running around, supervising, paying personal attention to known customers.

Their menu has select curries, side dishes,  chappati and one rice special dish, plus some snack delicacies, desserts and North Indian and Chinese special starters and main course dishes apart from some a-la-carte dishes. They also have counter sale of pickles, condiments and packed sweets and namkeens.

Further Update(August 16, 2020) :

Pricing for the quantity looks very reasonable. Packing is neat. I got some items home for our dinner and found them tasty, though some items need tweaking to suit daily consumer's palates by cutting down on oil, food colour and thickening agents. Being leading caterers since 5 decades, they need to understand the pulse of daily consumers and prepare items as we prepare them at home.

Oil used is good and I could smell pure coconut oil used for frying fritters. Pathrade podi, Valval and Paattholi were disappointing. Capsicum Rice Bhaat was tasty but oily and loaded with colour. Rice Bhaat quantity and flavour is very good and the container used for packing is sturdy and reusable as you can see in the picture.

Best items were Chana Suran Ghashi and Mango Pineapple Curry. Ace items were Holige, Jeevgujje Podi and Kashi Halwa, which are signature item of M/s Kamath Caterers. Holige is the best I have ever tasted in my life with perfect balance of sweetness, taste, flavour and texture. They can reduce added sugar in Kashi Halwa by 20% as per my view. They have ready made Podi Gooli(Fritters masala marinade) on sale, which one can try to get that authentic taste and flavour at home. 

Overall impression is good and I am sure, they will gradually change the style to suit daily consumers and senior citizens who need to watch their diet, than making every item 'special' as they serve for functions. 

Holige

Capsicum Rice

Paattholi, Pathrade Podi, Jeevgujje Podi, Capsicum Rice with Raita

Capsicum Rice with Raita, Mango Pineapple Curry, Chana Suran Ghashi, Valval, Kashi Halwa

For a start they have parcel service from 11:00am to 2:30pm, and no home delivery. They have started Seasonal Specialty Sunday from August 16th. They have plans to start evening counter, in house dining and home delivery too. Let us wait and watch.
Kudpiraj's Garam Tawa wishes every success to Sudhakar Kamath, Vinayak Kamath and Team KFE.
Their contact details:
Whatsapp: 7022637777
Call: 7022867777
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KamathsFoodExpress/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kfe_kamathsfoodexpress/?hl=en
Disclaimer: This is not a business promotion but just a friendly gesture for wishing my freinds Sudhakar Kamath and Vinayak Kamath success in their new venture.

Seafood Soup(Chinese Continental Fusion)

Seafood Soup was not my favourite anytime, for I had tried tasting Crab Sweetcorn soup at Hao Hao Chinese restaurant long ago and didn't like it much then. However, one try with Seafood Soup at Sanjay P Mallya's Coastal Mama Restaurant in Bengaluru on January 17 this year made me a fan of seafood soup instantly. Both the Mallya brothers, Sanjay and Sunil recommended me Seafood Soup and they were not wrong. Chef Madhav's cookery skills amazed me, when I tasted the soup made by him, which was sweet, tangy and hot, with a peppery tinge. Occasional appearance of seafood tit bits made it a wonderful starter!

What made me fall for seafood soup in spite of being a non liker of Chinese Seafood Soup? Well, there was some whiteness and smoothness within the seafood soup which Chef Madhav made that day at Coastal Mama, which added to taste and flavour, camouflaging the strong scent of seafood, making it more delectable. That white stuff is nothing but whole cream!

So without asking the chef or discussing anything about the ingredients that go into the seafood soup, I decided to try my luck with my own formula. Like I mentioned in earlier articles, once we get a hang of cooking, we can formulate our own dishes sensing the taste and flavour and by experience. I was lucky enough to achieve success at my very first attempt, and the soup turned out just fantastic! Our friend Uma Shenoi and my wife Meena gave a high five for the wonderful taste that lingered on, after they tasted the soup last evening.

Try and make this on a cold or warm day. It is equally refreshing round the year, but make sure that you get fresh prawns and squid before trying to make this. You can also add crab meat, but the total quantity of seafood should be well within 20% of the stock that you add, that is 200 Gms of cleaned seafood for 1 liter stock. You can also make chicken stock by boiling bony chicken pieces in water with pepper and ginger, and vegetable stock by boiling marrow vegetable peel and cabbage/cauliflower stalk. Also make it a point to buy tender squid, and shrimp instead of prawn. Tender seafood cooks faster and easy to bite on, while relishing the soup. That makes all the difference in consistency, taste and flavour.

Ingredients:
Prawns - 125 Gms shelled and deveined
Squid - 125 Gms cleaned
White Pepper Powder - 2 Tsp
Diluted White Vinegar - 2 Tsp
Soy Sauce - 1 Tsp
Butter - 2 Tsp
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 Tsp
Salt - 1/2 Tsp(or to taste)
Sugar - 2 Tsp
vegetable or chicken stock - Approx 1 Liter(2 Maggi soup cubes boiled in 1 liter water)
Corn Flour - 1 Tbsp mixed in 1/4 cup water to make a paste
Cream - 100 Ml
Spring Onion Shoot - 4 stalks finely chopped

Method:
Wash prawns and squid, pat dry and chop into tiny bits.
Marinate the chopped seafood with 1 Tsp vinegar, little salt and 1 tsp white pepper powder for 30 mins.
Melt butter in a saucepan and fry ginger garlic paste for 1 min.
Add marinated seafood, sugar and stir fry for 2-3 mins.
Now add the stock, bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 5-7 mins or until the seafood has cooked.
Add corn starch paste, stir well, add remaining white pepper powder, vinegar, adjust salt and simmer for 1 min.
Now beat the cream and pour it into the soup in a thin stream as you keep stirring the soup vigorously.
Don't boil the soup, but simmer for another 2-3 mins.
Switch off the flame, sprinkle spring onion shoot and serve hot.

Squid/Kalamari/Bondaas Butter Garlic(Chinese)

Kalamari or Squid in India used to be a seafood item, mostly thrown as manure in estates and gardens until the late Eighties, when Chinese restaurants started making delicacies with it. At least in Mangaluru cuiity, I have never come across squid preparations at local restaurants until 1989. We friends used to go for fishing at the breakwaters near New Mangalore Port in the mid Eighties, when the fishing boat guys used to give us squid and some small fish free which we used as bait to catch fish. Locally they call it 'Bondaas'.

After 1989, I came across Bondaas Chilli and Manchurian at local restaurants, but I didn't like it much because it tasted rubbery and insipid. Then in 1991, as I was sitting at the counter of Knight Rider Pub talking to Alan the manager cum kitchen in charge about innovative snacks that he can introduce in the pub, Alan asked me if I'd like to taste Bondaas. I thought he was talking about Bonda, the deep fried snack like batata vada, and asked him if he makes vegetable bondas or potato bondas! He smiled aloud and said, he meant Squid! I ordered one plate of Bondaas Chilli and he prepared it himself, it turned out fantatic, and I fell for it immediately!

Then I started tasting squid at various restaurants, Chinese as well as local ones making Bondaas Sukkha, Masala Fried and Ghee Roast. Squid became a favourite with myself, as well as Meena. yet, we were choosy about the way they cooked, because over cooking or under cooking spoils the taste and texture of squid. Also, over grown squid needs some pressure cookign before using in dishes due to the thick coconut kernel like consistency. I think the name Bondaas was derived from Bonda(tender Coconut), because tender coconut malai or kernel resembles squid to a great extent.

Squid butter garlic is one Chinese dish that is very delicious and has lovely aroma that makes you eat more and more. It is rather bland, but you can make it spicy by adding some green chillies and an extra dash of pepper while making it. Most of the restaurants cut squid into rings but I like them in rectangular strips, scored on one side, which when fried, curl up and form a nice checkered pattern. Scoring also helps in marinating them properly. 

Scoring means making fine streaks or gashes on the inside portion of squid in a crisscross pattern. You can design checks or diamonds as you wish. It takes very little knack to score them properly, if you have a sharp knife, as shown in the pictures. if you are not confident or patient enough, just slice them into 1/4 inch thick rings.

Make this lovely dish and serve it as a starter, or as side dish with noodles or fried rice. I am sure, everyone at home will like this. Kids will jump with joy, for there are no spicy sauces, no extra pungent agents to cause heartburn or acidity. Most of the ingredients in this are natural, pure and healthy.

Ingredients:
Squid(Kalamari/Bondaas) - 500 Gms
Garlic Cloves - 8-10 chopped
Green Chillies(Optional) - 2 finely Chopped
Spring onion bulbs - 4-6 chopped
Salt - 1/2 Tsp or to taste
White Pepper Powder - 2 Tsp(Add little more if you are not adding green chilli)
Sugar - 1/2 Tsp
Corn Flour - 2 Tbsp
Refined Flour - 1 Tbsp
Chicken/Vegetable Stock - 250 Ml(1 Maggi cube boiled in 250 ml water for 2-3 minutes)
Dark Soy Sauce - 1 Tsp
Diluted White Vinegar - 2 Tsp(Add 1/2 Tsp vinegar to sauce if you are not using lemon juice)
Lemon Juice(Optional) - 1 Tsp
Refined Oil - 2 Tsp + for deep frying
Butter - 2 Tbsp
Spring Onion Shoot - 2 Sprigs chopped

Method:
Clean wash and pat dry the squid.
With a very sharp knife, cut them open and make crisscross scores(Parallel gashes) only on the inside surface, taking care not to cut through them.
After you complete scoring, cut them into 2" long and 1 " wide rectangular strips.
Marinate the squid pieces with salt, 1 Tsp white pepper powder and vinegar for 1 hour.
Mix in 1 tbsp corn flour and 1 tbsp refined flour to coat the squid pieces.
Heat sufficient oil in a deep frying pan until it starts fuming and then maintain medium or small flame.
Fry as many squid pieces as the oil can hold at a time, for 3-5 minutes or until they turn crisp and golden.
Drain and keep them in the serving bowl.
Heat 2 Tsp oil in a shallow pan.
Mix remaining 1 Tbsp corn flour in little water to make a thin paste.
Stir fry chopped green chillies along with chopped garlic and spring onion bulb on high flame.
Add a pinch of salt, 1 tsp white pepper, sugar, soy sauce, then pour in the stock.
Bring to a boil and simmer for 2 minutes.
Mix in the corn starch paste and allow the sauce to get thick and transparent.
Now add lemon juice(or vinegar), butter and if necessary little water, allow to sizzle for 1 minute.
The sauce should be as thick as sweet corn soup.
To serve with fried rice or noodles, pour the sauce over the fried squid.
To serve as a starter dish, drop the fried squid into the prepared sauce and allow the sauce to coat the pieces and make them semi dry. 
Garnish with chopped spring onion shoot and serve hot.

Hotel Casuarina - A Seafood Haven on NH66

We were on a road trip to Sirsi in May to attend a family function. Engaging Dolphy D'Souza's taxi cab, our plans were to start slightly late in the morning at about 10:00 and reach Honnavar by 1:00pm and have our lunch there. My classmate cum friend Manjeshwar Madhav Bhat is settled in Honnavar and he knew a place where we get fresh and hygienic seafood preparations. Some months earlier, my niece Seema D Shenoy from Puttur and her family had dined there and she being a foodie and a good cook herself, appreciated their food very much. Ever since, I always wanted to visit that restaurant and check out their preparations.

Entrance

It is just by the side of old Padukani causeway bridge

That's the garden ambiance

Deepak setting up the table for 5

Madhav Bhat inspects the table

Padukani bridge and the old causeway

So we were there little after 1:00pm and Madhava lead us there, a vast garden setup adjacent to Padukani(Badagani) bridge past Haldipur, about 10 Kms or almost half way between Honnavar and Kumta. It was near Kasarakod until some months ago, but has been recently shifted to the present place, said my friend. It was named 'Hotel Casuarina' by the owner ND Bhat, when it functioned at Kasarakod amidst casuarina trees. It was ND Bhat's ambition to serve the travellers with the goodies of Uttara Kannada at affordable prices. The location is exactly half way between Mangaluru and Panaji and also Managluru and Hubballi, making it a convenient place to dine at mid day or in the evening for those travelling between said places.

The place looked serene and cozy perched amidst giant acacia trees, with permanent and make shift canopies in the garden that provided shelter for diners. They have maintained it meticulously clean as well. There are wash rooms for ladies and gents to get refreshed after a long and tiring journey. We were greeted with a smile by two friendly hosts by name Sudanshu and Deepak, who attended to our table. Madhav knew them personally and had informed them over phone about our visit, so they readily understood what we want. 

Madhava Bhat ordered three starters, Prawn Sukkha, Belanji(Bollanjir in Tulu, Motiyale in Konkani) and Surmai Rava Fried along with regular fish thaali. Their menu had many items including chicken preparations. Shubha, Madhav's wife told us that their chicken items are lip smacking good! They also have bottled cold water and a wide range of cool drinks but we settled for cold and warm water.

Very soon, there were plates full of fresh seafood treat on our table, hot and inviting! We gorged into them one by one, while the boys brought the thaalis  shining like mirror, and we continued gobbling up the steaming white rice with the hot and tangy fish curry and the side dishes. Each item was fresh and clean, not as spicy as we get them in Mangaluru, but certainly tasty and aromatic.

Belanji Rava Fried

King Fish Rava Fried and Prawn Sukkha

Fish Thaali

That's a lovely King Fish Rava Fried

Bill itself is the proof for reasonable pricing!

Author with Deepak and Sudanshu

Prawn Sukkha is different than Tuluva style preparation. It is more sticky with lots of onions, garlic, chillies and turmeric but has less added coconut, rather just a garnish of freshly grated coconut. Belanji fried was crisp and hot, well marinated with a rather bland masala and it had right amount of salt in it. Surmai rava fried was the item of the day, fresh thick and big steaks of King Fish marinated with a spicy tangy masala,  rolled in rava and fried to perfection. Each bite tasted like a piece of savoury cake and literally melted in the mouth! 

Their fish thaali contains a bowl of white rice, a bowl with full mackerel curry, a small bowl full of vegetable fry and that day it was cabbage pallya. A fried fish such as Mackerel or Sardine and a pickle is also served along with the thaali. The fish curry rice was good, but fish curry was slightly bland and the gravy was too thin. That's how a Uttara Kannada fish curry(Meen Saaru) is normally prepared, for I have dined at some sea food restaurants in Bengaluru, Karwar and Honavar in the past run by Uttara Kannadigas and found similar preparations. 

Fried fish and other special seafood preparations are priced seasonally as per prevailing rates. With two bottles of water, two plates each of starter dishes and four fish thaalis, our bill summed up to Rs.1270/- for 5 persons and it was worth every rupee, I must confess.

Try this place, if you are on a road trip to Goa or Mumbai. Family will love the surrounds with Badagani(Padukani) River flowing by the side, kids will love playing in the garden and men can just laze around watching the bustling highway traffic crossing the Padukani bridge, or even enjoying the whiff of fresh wind in the shade of mammoth acacia trees.

Address:
Hotel Casuarina
Near Go Green Homestay
Padukani(Badagani) Bridge
NH66
Haldipur - 581327
Uttara Kannada District

Contact No: 
ND Bhat - 9449441990

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Authentic Chinese cuisine is mostly bland, but we Indians especially living in the South make it more spicy and call that Indo-Chinese cuisine. Among the authentic Chinese delicacies, there are a few surprises, some dishes that are abundantly based on fruits. Pineapple, the tropical wonder fruit has the qualities of both vegetable and fruit because it is mostly fibrous and juicy, at the same time sweet and sour in taste. It is widely used in global cuisine. Chinese also have found a prime place for pineapple in one of the most wonderful dishes I have ever tasted, 'Sweet and Sour Chicken'.

I first tasted this dish in Mysore way back in 1979 when I was a regular at Shang-Hai restaurant in Shivarampet. The lady and her son who managed the restaurant found out that I am a Chinese cuisine buff and they recommended me many of the authentic dishes including Chicken with Cashewnuts and Veg, Hunan Chicken and this Sweet and Sour Chicken. I also started ordering that dish occasionally when I relocated to Bangalore, where I was mostly visiting Rice Bowl, Continental and Ginza around Brigade Road and Church Street. This is one dish that can be relished as it is or as main course dish with fried rice or noodles.

I first prepared this dish in 2009 but the recipe I followed was not authentic and I had not added pineapple juice then. I found a good recipe by Chef Sanjeev Kapoor recently but he recommended the baking method for chicken pieces, whereas I followed the deep frying method. I also made little changes in the ingredients and arrived at a fantastic recipe of my own eventually!

Then again, the lonely pineapple from our garden was employed in this preparation. That one was sufficient to make a summer cooler mocktail and a sweet dish as well. This easy to make dish requires some preparation like extracting pineapple juice, preparing chicken stock, marinating chicken and cutting pineapple fruit as well as handful of vegetables. Marinating chicken is not suggested in most of the recipes you find online or on books but I recommend this step for two reasons. One is, chicken pieces get tender and at the same time when you coat them in flour and deep fry them, they become evenly cooked and become crispy on the outside, soft and spongy inside. Even after you cook them with sauces and keep the leftover dish inside a fridge for a couple of days, the chicken pieces remain as succulent and tasty as freshly cooked!

Our friend Uma Shenoi is basically a lover of spicy and hot preparations but she authenticated this dish as too good. Even my choice is spicy food but I didn't add chilli sauce or other additives to make this spicy while consuming it. I just mix fried rice or noodle with this and enjoy my dinner. Hope you will also enjoy yours.

Ingredients:

For the Fried Chicken: 
Boneless Chicken - 500Gms(One inch pieces)
White Vinegar - 2 Tsp
White Pepper powder - 1/2 Tsp
Salt - 1/4 Tsp
Corn Flour - 4-5 Tbsp(Reserve left over corn flour for making paste later) 
Refined Vegetable Oil - Sufficient for deep frying 

For the Sauce:
Ginger - 1" piece chopped
Garlic - 10 cloves peeled and chopped
Chicken Stock - 300Ml(Either boil bony waste pieces of chicken with chopped ginger pepper powder, one bay leaf in 1 Liter water for 15-20 minutes and strain it or use 2 Maggi Chicken cubes)
Unsweetened Pineapple Juice - About 200Ml(1 thick slice pineapple chopped, liquefied with 200ml water and strained)
Dark Soy sauce - 1 Tsp
Salt - To taste
White Pepper powder - 1 and half Tsp
Sugar - 1 Tsp
White Vinegar - 1 Tsp
Corn Flour - Leftover from chicken dusted for deep frying. Mix with some water to make a thin paste.

Vegetables:Spring Onion bulbs - 2-3 chopped
Onion - 1 medium cubed
Capsicum - Handful of 1" pieces
Red/Yellow Bell Pepper or Carrot Sliced - Handful of 1" pieces
Pineapple - Handful of 1" cubes)
Onion Shoot - 2-3 sprigs cut into 1" long piece

Method:
Wash pat dry and marinate the chicken pieces with salt, white pepper powder and vinegar for 1-2 hours in the fridge.
Heat oil in a wok and allow it to start fuming.
Reduce the heat to medium.
Dust the marinated chicken pieces in corn flour to coat them and deep fry 4-6 pieces at a time in hot oil till crisp and golden.
Allow to cool down on a colander lined with kitchen paper.
Heat a frying pan and add 1 Tsp oil from the wok.
Stir fry the onions, chopped spring onion bulbs and carrots on high flame slightly, followed by pineapple pieces, capsicum and bell peppers(if you are adding bell peppers) till crunchy, adding a pinch each of salt and white pepper powder.
Keep aside.
To the same pan, add one more tsp oil from the wok and fry chopped ginger, garlic and spring onion bulb.
Add pineapple juice and chicken stock.
Add dark soy sauce and bring to a boil.
Add salt, sugar and remaining white pepper powder.
Now add the corn flour paste and stir till the sauce starts to thicken.
Add the fried veggies and chicken pieces.
Allow to sizzle on full flame for 2-3 minutes till chicken pieces are well coated with the sauce.
Add vinegar and mix gently.
Finally garnish with chopped onion shoot and serve hot with fried rice or noodles. 

Note:
1. You can use the same fried chicken pieces to make a number of Chinese gravy based preparations like Hunan Chicken, Ginger Chicken, Garlic Chicken, Chicken with Cashewnuts and Veg, Chili Chicken or even Chicken Manchurian.
2. Vegetarians can make this dish with baby corn adding vegetable stock. Use one maggi vegetable cube for making stock.
3. Most of the Sweet and Sour Chicken recipes have added tomato sauce or ketchup but I don't prefer adding that directly. If you wish, you can always add it optionally while eating this.