So when I lived in Dubai, one year my mum and dad or rather Aai and Baba as I call them we went for a fabulous Safari in East Africa. I had been inspired by my friend from a long time Chris Francis and his wife Ashwini who went the year before and came back with hordes of videos on their handycam of sorts on mini dv tapes that we sat at their place near Lamcy Plaza and i said this must be done. We saw dem and said Wot men, we have to do this thing..

So the plan was I would set ff from Dubai and meet my folks in Nairobi and then we would go on a tour together to Lake Nakuru and Masai Mara, to see the big 5. To cut a long story short it was a great safari we saw all the big 5 , we cheetah’s chase down and make a kill everything was amazing. Unfortunately my brother couldnt make it, since he was caring for the dogs( we had 5 back then) at home ..

So the next year we planned to do the safari again this time with Deep and I. so everything was set, I booked it through a customised safari company called Suntrek Safaris and we would goto Mountain lodge , first then come back to Nairobi and thrn proceed to Masai Mara, and hopefully get to see the migration through the river.

Mountain lodge was great and we had a day to kill when we were back at the Hilton Nairobi waiting for the next day to go to the Mara.So through our company Suntrek i booked a day day trip deluxe of nairobi which included a trip t Sheldrick the animal orphange where we met delightful baby elephants and rhinos, followed by a trip to Giraffe Manor where we can hand feed the giraffes, a crocodile farm ,an ostrich farm where one tried to peck my toes .Luckily my red wing shoes saved me feet.What was going to come next was an overwhelming adventure which we never had thought would happen.

Since this was Deeps first trip out of india , naturally he was excited and was clicking photos on the 35 mm camera , like it was never going to end.

We finished the ostriches and were on our way to Nairobis most famous restaurant ” Carnvivore”, when we started passing Wilson Airport , Nairobis domestic airport. Now unbeknown to us, since 9-11 , British airways had cut all flights to Kenya and were restarting on that day, so there was heightened security around all airports.

Deep saw some red and yellow propellor kind of planes and wanted to photograph these. by this time i was fed up and said you go ahead and do it quickly , because we are already behind schedule. A few minutes later the driver got out to see what was happening an 5 minutes later i lost it and stormed out to see an airport police man with a big gun talking animatedly in Swahili to the driver. It turns out that photography around there isnt allowed and the guy wanted some baksheesh from the dirty foreigner tourists. I said ok i apologise but im not paying any money and if you want you can keep the film. so this goes on for sometime until there is a big truck coming up, and more policemen and more Swahili.

Then the three of us were sent to Langata which is the closest police station and apparently one with a ” reputation”.

The inspector there looks us over like were the scum from Waka Chaka land and interrogatedus, took our belongings and keep us in a room. Form here it got even more and more crazy. Then we were interrogated as a group and individually , to see if there are any inconsistencies in our story, which got very frustrating for us.

The drivers cousin brother is also at the same station and he informed the tour company, who in turn informed our uncles from a long distance who incidentally was working for USAID and an diplomat or some sort .

So by the time all these things had been worked out we had been put in a holding cell, with all our belongings taken away and a handwritten piece of paper given to us , with the warning, ( if we lose the piece of paper we dont get our stuff back) . The inspector wanted to know why i had the big swiss army knife with me and his eyes sparkled when he counted all the $$ in the wallet. we were also hobbled by being allowed to wear only 1 shoe/ boot so in case we broke through the walls we would not be able to run far or very fast.

The cell itself was wonderful , about 5 m x 2 m and 1 window 30 cm or so high up on the wall and a bunch of colourful folk inside who wanted to know what we were in for.with nt much to do we had to sit down on an ammonia scented floor ( God knows how many folk wouldve peed there).

Then in the evening we were summoned to the office where the tour companys people had gotten s some food ( but having used the toilet before ) i didnt want to get even close to there. Deep pleaded with the inspector for a better cell and the guy wanted to his palms greased which ” no way jose”, from me which peeved him off even more and he locked us away from the others in our own private cell. We were also able to talk with our uncle who said theat they would be able to do nothing until tht next day at the earliest , because there wasnt anyone to speak with .

We then went back to our cell to suffer in silence .Luckily our passports were safe in our hotel safe and I used to at time carry a miniaturised photocopy of mine in my wallet, but never the original.

The maybe at 10 pm we were woken up.I had decided to goto sleep because there was no point in sitting and worrying. Then go back to the desk and put on our shoes , but no belongings yet.

Then we have to go in the back of an army truck with three soldiers, by which time Deep says” now they are going to do an encounter with us and we are gone” . I said well if they do would be your fault i think for taking those stupid photos..or something along those lines.

Those army dudes kept taunting us saying hey you guys are from this and that and then we stopped at the petrol station and were asked to get down. Next we get into a car with some plainclothes guys and we drive to the Hilton and goto reception and upto our rooms.

The guy who took is in the car checks ur passports and then returns them and says ok , you can stay here now and come tomorrow to Langata and then the secret service office or whatever they have t collecect your stuff.

Pheww , was like a spy movie gone wrong . we then got a knock on our door and was the owners son Nish Lakhani. they had to pull a lot of strings to get us out but they did it. Thank you once again .

The advnture though had not ended until the safri was done and we were back at the airport to go back , me to Dubai and Deep to India.

At the airport , the immigration police guy tells me i dont have small pox vaccination so i cannot board the flight and by now i know what they are wanting , but im nt going to budge an inch. I said i need yellow fever vaccine and heres the boklet for that which says clearly i dont need the other. He says i can help you if you help me. i said no.. i can wait here at the ariport and you arrange the vaccine for me , and ill just take the next flight to Dubai,…hehehe.. the dude decided i was to stubborn and the Emirates guys came to look for me and he said ohhh just get out of here..

Im waiting for the next chapter when i go the next time , with Viraaj and Ananya my kids and get them introduced to the wildlife outside the Mara river ..

Cooking international

Pescado Verracruzana / How Arturo tamed the mighty fish beastie

December 20, 2020 admin

When i started working in Dubai 20 years back, my immediate boss was a wonderful guy called Arturo Cristiane, from Mexico. He was the man behind the menu at most of our restaurants at the time , till after he left and we made some changes . I remeber in our Latin American restaurant “Pachanga”, we had a brazilian churrasco(vertical spit),a mexican section and the Argentinian grill and a Cuban cigar bar.

On the menu or before rather we got from our Fish supplier Gerard Vouyoukas, a huge snapper one day and Arturo cooked it for lunch with an amazing sauce with onions, tomatoes, peppers and capers.

To a gringo from outside all south america seems the same..Mexico and half baked understanding of nacho chips and not much else. Luckily since id worked for Oberoi Hotels, where we had Casa Mexicana, i was exposed a little bit to Sabores Latinos( or the Flavours of Latin america), some of what Arturo would say made some sense.

so in essence we are making a spicy tomato sauce(not with chilli as such ) but peppers and capers and baking the fish with this sauce so it stays nice and moist.

Fish either whole or fillets -500 g marinade with some lime juice salt and pepper.. How much you ask.well how long is a piece of string..u need approximately 10 g of salt per kg of meat or fish and 1 g of pepper but that is approximate.. some need more some less. Cooking is not an exact science its more about tinkering with combinations and sometimes experimenting till you find the next best thing.
Olive oil-25 ml
onion brown- 1 approximatley 125 g.. a little more or less wont make a huge diffenece
garlic cloves peeled- 3-4 chopped
canned diced tomato- approximately 250 g
capers drained- 1 tsp/ 3 g
olives- 2 tsp / 5 g
capsicum/ peppers- 1 sliced thick approximately 75 g
bayleaf
oregano
epazoate

Method-

clean and wash fish with cool water. marinade with half the olive oil, salt, pepper and lime juice. if you are using whole fish we cook it like that.

For the fillets its probably ood to just pan fry and then bake for a few minutes with the sauce/ sofrito

Heat the remaining oil and sauted onion , garlic, bayleaf and add the tomato. simmer for 15-20 minutes. then add oregano, epazoate , peppers, capers and can also add optionally some paprika or chile serrano.

The sauce is savory and tangy and just right for snapper or for that matter any sort of white fish.

Then with the whole fish you can score it and put the sauce on top and bake fr about 15-20 minutes .Serve with some arroz con tomate and you have a wonderful lunch or dinner ready..Have a glass of chardonnay or maybe some dry-ish pinot gris/grigio alongside .

If it was a fillet then after you pan fry you top with the sauce too and bake also its just that you woould bakke for lesser time to make sure the fish does not dry out.

Cooking indian, Cooking international

The Cully puff / Vhejetable petties

December 19, 2020 admin

The name is just me being cheeky and calling it like how the Thai Chef i trained under would call a curry and how the Marathi peoples (i am half marathi) call this artery blocking snack!!

I first ate this at this hole on the wall bakery called ” Santosh bakery” on Apte Road, where one of my close friends Gautam “gotya” kotwal used to stay. They would have a line of people waiting to get them and would invariably be sold out since they made it only 1-2 times a week.

What made it better was that Santosh bakery packed up their shop and moved to 100 mtrs from our house in Pune .Unfortunately by then, i was away in Dubai i think oor could be Chennai then Dubai..

They used t make this by hand and bake them in a puff pastry / flaky pastry and filled with a spicy mix of potatoes and peas and so on. There are more refined versions available all over the world and in different forms( could be a turnover or a sausage roll or something else wrapped in pastry )

My version is something that anyone of you can make at home, pretty easily. There are more complex versions where you make the puff pastry at home and while i can do it quite easily(or train you to make it too).

Not on this post though we are going to keep this succint and short and easy to accomplish.

The recipe below makes about 20 generous sized ones …

Puff/ Flaky pastry- 1kg—ready made one , look for one made without animal fats.

For the filling

oil-25 ml

onion chopped- 1/ 200 g

cumin- 1/2 t- 2 g

turmeric – 1/4 t- 1g

green chilli chopped- 1-2 or more, if you like to live dangerously like my friend Jatin Nandrajog used to at one point of time.

Ginger and garlic- 20 g

chopped vegetables- 100g(carrot, cauli, beans or whatever you fancy really)

green peas-50 g / 2T

cooked and peeled potato-250 g

coriander chopped-as much as you like usually i add abput 2 sprigs of my favourite flavouring herb…stems and all, just make sure you wash it well

So you heat upthe oil and add cumin and saute the onion and add the chilli, turmeric, ginger and garlic. Also add in your chopped vegetables and peas. Make sure the vegetables are cooked and then add in the potato. Check seasoning( is there any salt written there, no because i was checking to see, if you do read everything)

Cool down your mixture and then add in the coriander . then you make the sheets into triangles or rectangles. Seal the edges well and then refriegrate for 15-20 mins. You need to keep these cool, because the pastry gets very soft otherwise.

Preheat your oven to about 180C/ 400 F and brush these with beaten egg or milk if you dont eat egg.

Bake for about 18-20 ,minutes turning midway through to make sure they get coloured evenly.

You can replace the filling with spinach and ricotta or cooked chicken , or mince and will still be very nice.

Enjoy with some spicy suicide sauce or tomato ketchup or dipping sauce of your choice…ill put down some dip and sauce recipes soon too

Random bits and bobs ..

The backpack which never gives up ..

December 19, 2020 admin

or as the fine folk from Cactus climbing and space exploration/ not the companies name anymore but used to be say” Gear that wears in , not wears out”

When i first moved to Nz , i had a backpack, which was about 1.5 yrs old but was wearing out..by a half decent company Jansport, but wasnt as durable as i thought could be. At the point of time i stumbled on this Kiwi company called ” Cactus Climbing “, they are now named Cactus outdoor and they make really great quality backpacks and a whole lot of things.

and this s what i bought from them in 2008 . I was jobless at the time and my wife screamed at me for buying the most expensive bag ever. I went with me everywhere, carrying all the groceries walking back home( to save money for the bus being jobless)

Forward to 2018 and the hydration bladder was getting a bit munted as they say in Kiwi land, and these blokes and gals fixed it for no cost and sent it back to me.

I paid 175 $ then but its 2020 and still showing no signs of giving up, Why put in the bin when it can go on and on..For me thats being eco friendly.

Last week i had inside 1 x 5 kg bag of potatoes, butter, broccoli, one bottle of olive oil,one 1kg carrots , my saw, deo spray and was on my back for about 5 kms..

my only suggestion would be to keep the sternum strap as a fixed accessory and not as an optional.

And no im not getting any freebies from Cactus to promote their stuff, i just think its great quality stuff , and over the years ive added more ( custom made knife roll(10+), messenger bag,( 2nd hand about 20 +yrs ) laptop bag, sleeveless vest (8 yrs +) .Go and get their things, they are great quality and made in New Zealand!

Vacuole Backpack