South African Airways first Woman CEO takes over the helm


South African Airways  recently announced the first woman CEO for the national carrier.Ms Siza Mzimela, who was CEO of SAA's domestic partner SA Express (SAX), will take over from former Kenya Airways finance director Chris Smyth from April 1. She will be SAA’s first female to head the airline.

Both airlines are owned by the Government of South Africa through a parastatal called Transnet. Mr Smyth, then general manager of operations at SAA, was appointed acting CEO of the airline in February 2009 after the departure of Mr Khaya Ngqula.

 “With her extensive experience in the airline industry, and especially her knowledge of the inner workings of SAA, she is the ideal candidate to fulfill the mandate of SAA to be an African airline with global reach,” said SAA board chairman Cheryl Carolus.



Ms Mzimela has an impressive track record as the CEO of SAX, which she joined in 2003 and she is highly regarded in the aviation industry. Under her leadership, the regional airline has grown and introduced new routes and recently started a new airline, Congo Express in the DR Congo.Best Wishes from the Flight Africa Team!

Based in Johannesburg, SA Express started operations in April 1994. Although it is operationally independent of SAA, its flights are incorporated within the strategic alliance with South African Airlink and South African Airways (SAA).

Ms Mzimela re-joins SAA at a time when its position as the biggest airline on the continent is threatened by a resurgence of its African rivals and erstwhile partners led by Egypt Air, Ethiopian Airlines, Air Algier, Royal Air Maroc and Kenya Airways.Just like Ethiopian Airlines, KQ and EgyptAir, SAA has a commanding presence in Africa, which has been less affected by the recession than the rest of the world.

With a fleet of 49 aircraft, SAA is relying on the 2010 World Cup, where it is the national carrier and host airline, to shore up its coffers after several years soaking up losses.

SAA has experienced strong growth in market share in Africa, which remains the most profitable market following a strategic decision to concentrate on growth in the region. Domestically, the airline’s position has remained strong, backed up by its low-cost carrier subsidiary, Mango.
A Brief Profile of Ms Mzimela:After she graduated with a degree in economics and statistics, Mzimela's first job was in the small business and retail division of Standard Bank in 1991. Three years later she joined Total SA as a corporate planning analyst responsible for managing capital projects, before joining SA Airways (SAA) in 1996 as a research analyst.
After various promotions at SAA, Mzimela was appointed executive vice-president of global passenger services in 2001/2, later taking on responsibility for the airline’s core business global sales and the airline's loyalty programme, Voyager in 2002/3.
She was involved in setting overall strategic direction for the sales and Voyager team and in actively managing and reducing costs. She was also responsible for the strategic positioning of SAA and for optimising alliance partnerships. She is also a board member of SA Tourism and was the Chairperson of the Airlines Association of South Africa for two years. In 2002, she was a finalist in the Nedbank Businesswoman of the Year Award.

Teriyaki Pork Burgers


My husband and I have been sitting together in our living room for the last week and a half cheering on our Canadians in the Olympics. Each medal we get we beam from ear to ear, proud to be a part of this beautiful country....especially HOCKEY. Hockey is the real deal for Canadians, even ones who don't normally watch the sport come out of the wood works for the Olympics (ummm, that would be me). A sport that brings our country together is one I like to cheer for.

The operative word being "cheer". Neither my husband or I are any type of athlete. We're both more of the emotional artistic type. But when it comes to food we could definitely compete with the best of them. Cooking Iron-Chef style would be my event but both Steve and I could win a medal in a throwdown for "who gets the last bite of food". Just last weekend we roasted up a lamb leg with friends and Steve scarfed down 7...maybe 8 pieces of meat polishing off the platter. And that was before he found out there was more lamb in the kitchen so he snuck three more pieces. And then ate two slices of chocolate tart.

Okay so yes, he may be able to beat me (hands down) in that category but I would put up a good fight for the last toasted coconut cupcake, the last buffalo chicken wing, the last cheese encrusted nacho, the last gyoza dumpling, or the last piece of Spicy Shrimp Tempura Maki from our favorite sushi place. Heck, Steve and I would even battle it out for the last piece of pickled ginger that comes with the sushi. I may not be able to devour a half a leg of lamb but I could definitely throwdown for some sweet pink pickled ginger, our chopsticks clicking together in a miniature version of plate hockey. And after (I WIN) we would revel in the uniting factor of good food.

These sweet meaty burgers are topped with the mildly pungent pink morsels of pickled ginger that we love so much and would fight for the last piece over, as well as cool crisp cucumber making these burgers totally irresistible.

I would definitely fight for the last one of these babies.

Recipe adapted from Rachael Ray
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Serves 4


1 lb ground pork
4 green onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, grated
1 tbsp grill seasoning, or salt and pepper
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
1 tbsp oil
1/4 cup pickled ginger
1 english cucumber, sliced
Lettuce
4 buns

In a mixing bowl mix together ground pork, green onions, garlic, grill seasoning and teriyaki sauce. Divide mixture into 4 portions and shape into burger patties.

In a frying pan or on the grill, turn heat to medium and drizzle in your oil. When hot add the burger patties. Let them cook for about 6 minutes, turn and then cook another 4-5 minutes. Make sure your heat isn't too high since the sugar in the teriyaki sauce will want to caramelize and burn. You can put a lid on your pan to speed up the cooking process without raising your heat.

Split open your buns, add the lettuce, teriyaki pork burger and top with cucumber slices and pickled ginger.


Click here for printable version of Teriyaki Pork Burgers.


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THE RESULTS?
The ease of preparation and the interesting flavor profile keep us coming back for more of these bad boys. It seems every time I have some ground pork kicking about either my husband requests these or I automatically gravitate towards cooking up these Asian-inspired gold mines. We love 'em and can't get enough of 'em.

These would be excellent prepared with ground chicken if you prefer. I choose pork because we love the flavor and ground pork is about a quarter of the price of ground chicken, making this quite a frugal meal for us.

Two little eyes watching you

This happened at the neighborhood supermarket yesterday afternoon. The only other shoppers in the aisle I was in were a young couple and their young girl about 3 or 4 years old. The little girl was picking up tubes of soap and toothpastes and was trying to open them and smell them while the parents were busy looking at other things. I happened to notice that the girl had opened a tube of cleansing gel and was having fun dropping the pink contents on the floor in some sort of modern art. I gestured to her mother to turn and look. The next thing I saw was that the parents took the tube from her, replaced the cap and put it back on the shelf and quickly left the aisle ignoring my advice: “I think you should pay for that tube.” By the time I found a shop assistant and informed her of the slippery floor in the aisle and the reason for it, the family had disappeared from the shop.

Bad enough that they let the child do whatever she liked in the shop; it was worse that they did not have the decency to offer to pay for the mess. Now the second one explains the first. What kind of behavior can the child be expected to learn from such parents? Do these parents realize the amount of damage they have done to their child’s values by cheating the shop of those 40 or 50 rupees ?

Don’t get caught’ - That is the message the child gets from such behavior. It is ok to do anything as long as you are smart enough not to get caught – Cheat, lie and even steal perhaps.

I always thought that parenthood is good for everyone because we learn to strive for perfection once we have a child looking up to us. We go all out not to lose our dignity in front of our child’s eyes. We refrain from swearing, try to be less impulsive and more mature. This is not to say that all parents are perfect but every good parent tries hard to avoid passing their shortcomings to their child. But as I see so many educated parents trying to violate traffic rules, jump queues, litter public places, I wonder what their children learn from such behavior. How would they learn to distinguish what is right from what is wrong? Or would they learn that everything is right and getting caught is the only wrong thing?

In his autobiography Gandhiji writes of an instance when he could not copy even when his school teacher prompted him to do so. So impressed was he by the character of Harishchandra from our mythology. I wonder what Harishchandra’s rating would be among parents like the one I saw in the shop? Would he be considered a ‘loser’ for sacrificing so much and not being smart enough to tell a single lie? As for Gandhiji and emulating his values the usual escape clause is: “I am not a Mahatma. I am only an ordinary person.” I do not believe that we need to be a Mahatma to follow simple traffic rules or have basic honesty. In a lot of cases such behavior is due to the simple inability to distinguish right from wrong and lack of moral courage to own up to wrong behavior and all of this, in turn, can be traced back to the absence of proper guidance and example from one’s own family and especially parents.

There are some parents who are in denial. They say that petty corruption is a way of daily adult life today and children do not really notice it all. They are still in their own world of toys and fairy tales and all this doesn’t impact them. I wish it was true. I remember an incident that my son told me when he was in 7th standard. Their school had gone on an excursion to Mysore and Shivasamudram. Their teachers wanted them to see the hydro-electric power station but the officer in-charge refused permission citing some administrative issues. One of the boys in the class was a state minister’s son and he told the teacher: ‘Sir, please note down his name. I will have him take care of.’ It is not tough to guess where he got that from, is it? As a wiseguy said: 'Don't worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you'

Unfortunately parents are a child’s first role models and parents like the ones at the supermarket are a threat to their own children. A child exposed to such parental behavior is confused between right and wrong and the circumstances under which certain behavior is wrong. And when they land themselves on the wrong side of law for a crime their parents wonder where they went wrong. Perhaps the world would be marginally better if each one of us could use one simple question as a reference for every action: ‘What if my child did this and got caught for the same?” This would make each one of us a better human being with some hope for a better world for our children.

Prawns Burrito Bowl


Chipotle is Ajoy's favorite joint and he does keep insisting on going to it once in a while. We like the chicken burrito bowl there. So after seeing them prepare the bowl for few times, I decided to try this out at home. Since I had prawns at home and didn't have boneless chicken, I made it with prawns. Turns out it was quite nice.

Prawns Burrito Bowl
Ingredients
400g Cleaned Prawns
1.5 Cup Rice
5 Tomatoes
1 Lemon
3 Cup Sweetcorn
3 Spoon Curd
3 Spoon Red Chilli Powder
1/2 Spoon Oregano
1/2 Spoon Pepper Powder
1/4 Spoon Corriander Powder
1/4 Spoon Garam Masala
1/2 Cup Grated Cheese
1/4 Cup Ranch Dressing
1/2 Cup Corriander Leaves
4 Spoon Butter
Lettuce
Salt to taste
Olive Oil

Method
  • Mix in curd, 1 spoon of red chilli powder, corriander powder, garam masala and salt.
  • Add in prawns and mix well. Keep aside.
  • In a pressure cooker cook the rice with 2.5 cups of water and keep aside.
  • Heat 1/4 spoon of oil and add the corriander leaves to lightly cook them.
  • Add the oil-corriander leaves mixture, lemon juice and salt to the rice and mix well. Keep aside
  • In a pan, add a spoon of oil and heat it.
  • Add in 3 mashed tomato, remaining 2 spoons of red chilli powder, pepper powder, oregano and salt. Mix well.
  • Cook till mixture thickens. Keep aside to cool down
  • In another pan heat butter and fry in the marinated prawns till they are done and dark brown in color.
  • Now in three big bowls make the burritos by adding a layer of rice dividing equally in them.
  • Add prawns, finely chopped remaining 2 tomatoes, grated cheese.
  • Microwave sweet corn for 3 minutes and add it to the burrito bowl.
  • Add the tomato-chilli sauce, ranch dressing and lettuce. Serve it immediately.

Notes
I microwaved the corn for quick cooking. You can alternately boil them in water and drain out the excess water.
The tomato-chilli sauce would turn quite spicy. I had used another spoon and it was little extra spicy hence while writing this recipe I have suggested 1 spoon less compared to what I used.
Used ranch dressing because I didn't want to buy or make sour cream just for this.
Since I had jumbo prawns I cut it into 2-3 pieces after frying them in butter.

7 things you didn't need to know about me....


It has been a while since this blog got anything by way of an award and so it was a great surprise when R's mom chose me in her list of awardees. Thank you.

I like the condition attached to accepting this award which is that I should state 7 facts about myself which I need to share. I remember that we used to have quite a few tags like this in the early years of blogging which actually let us know a bit more about the bloggers than what we gathered from their posts. Above all this came at a time when I didn't seem to find anything to blog about. So whether these facts about me or interesting or not, it would keep the blog breathing for a few days.
So 7 facts huh, let's see:

1. I have a constant fear of failing which manifests in the form of dreams where I am either prepared for the wrong subject, or I lose my hall ticket or I simply arrive at the hall when the exam is about to be over.

2. It makes me very uncomfortable when people have high expectations about me. I feel very pressured and the consequent stress kills me. I went through the whole of my bachelors' and post-graduate degree courses trying to meet the expectations of my professors which made me a wreck most of the time.

3.I do not respect people who do not contribute their bit as part of a team or in the house. I cannot stand lazy people, smart shirkers and passive consumers.

4. For me, meals with friends and family is about the company and conversation and least about the food. Most often I don't remember what I ate.

5.What I find most attractive in a person is their sense of humor, knowledge of their subject and the ability to speak well.

6. I find it tiring to have long phone conversations. After 5 minutes I get exhausted.

7.I get very annoyed when there is no milk or curd in the house.

I don't know if the world has become marginally more informed now that these 7 facts are out in the open.But it was a good exercise for me to think up something I may not have blogged about already.

So now it is time to pass on the award to 7 other Kreativ bloggers:

Suranga ( I know you don't do tags but I have to include you here because you are among the top creative bloggers for the choice of subjects).
Jane Turley (absolutely out of this world for the way she writes her posts)
Hiphopgrandmom (for blogging on unusual topics)
Hillgrandmom ( her posts are usually short but very thought provoking and I love her photographs)
Pam and Phil (both very creative people and have a wonderful blog detailing their adventures in this past year in India. The subjects of Phil's photographs are totally unusual )
Maami How can we talk of creative bloggers and leave maami out? Her subjects and style are completely awesome.
Last but not the least our beloved writer Parul who can make you smile about just about any subject she chooses to write about.

There is no pressure to do the tag but please accept the award. But if you want to do the tag, you need to share 7 facts about yourselves and pass on the award to 7 other creative bloggers.
Thank you.

Fried Chicken


When we were in Bangalore, KFC was our favorite joint. We also have couple of stories that took place in the KFC :) So quite a lot of memories. But since we came here, we haven't been to KFC once, though MacD is regular joint instead. But the fried chicken is something that went missing from our meal since then. So today I knew what I wanted to cook. I was earlier thinking of frying boiled chicken but then decided against it after a second thought. Bing just confirmed my thoughts :)

Fried Chicken
Ingredients
5 Chicken Leg Pieces
1 Egg
3/4 Cup Maida
5 Spoon Bread Crumbs
1 Spoon Red Chili Powder
1/4 Spoon Oregano
1/4 Spoon Pepper Powder
1/4 Spoon Corriander Powder
1/4 Spoon Garlic Paste
Salt to taste
Oil

Method
  • With a sharp knife, give slits to the chicken pieces
  • In a warm bowl of water, add 1/2 spoon red chili powder, oregano and pepper powder with salt.
  • Add the chicken pieces and soak them in it for an hour.
  • In a bowl, beat egg with garlic paste, remaining half spoon red chili powder, coriander powder and salt.
  • In another plate mix maida with bread crumbs and salt.
  • Take out the chicken pieces out of water and drain the water.
  • Dip each leg piece in egg mixture to coat it completely and then in maida mixture to cover it with maida coating.
  • Heat oil to medium high.
  • Add each leg piece and fry till golden brown in color.

Notes
Soaking the chicken in water, tenderizes it a bit adding to the taste. I used mild spices to soak them in instead of dipping it in plain water.
I fried chicken on medium high heat instead of very high or very low. That helped me get the chicken that wasn't too dark in color and yet it was completely cooked.
I made extra bread crumbs while making Paneerbhara Kabab and stored them in air tight container. You can refer to it for how to make bread crumbs.

Ginger Corn Flower


Ajoy loves cauliflower so we end up eating it every week at least once. So I keep trying variety of preparations instead of sticking to the usual one. So today I decided to make a gingery flower. To reduce the spiciness and pungent taste of the ginger I decided to use sweet corn. The recipe came out pretty well and here it is.

Ginger Corn Flower
Ingredients
1 Cauliflower
2 Cup Corn
1 Spoon Grated Ginger
2 Tomatoes
1 Onion
3/4 Spoon Red Chili Powder
1/4 Spoon Turmeric Powder
1/4 Spoon Coriander Powder
Salt
Oil

Method
  • Heat oil to high and fry the medium sized flower florets in it till light brown. Keep aside
  • In a pan heat spoon full of oil and add onion. Fry till translucent.
  • Add grated ginger and fry for another minute
  • Add red chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder and fry for a minute or two.
  • Add mashed tomato in it. Cook for couple of minutes.
  • Add sweet corn, salt to taste and cook for 5-6 minutes till mixture dries up a little.
  • Add fried flower florets and mix up gently so that masala coats the flower
  • Cook for 2-3 minutes and serve.

Notes
Dont wait for the florets to be dark in color, after taking out from the oil they darken up a little.

Chicken Clay Pot Rice

A lot of dishes can be cooked in clay pot. Clay pot cooking is fast and easy, and also saves electricity. Another advantage of cooking with a clay pot is that it can be served right from the stove to table - and the food stay hot for quite some time.






Ingredients:

1/2 cup rice
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp vegetable or peanut oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
5 small pieces boneless chicken meat
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce
sliced spring onions for garnishing

Method:

1. Chop the boneless chicken meat (you can use chicken breast) into small chucks about 1 inch square.
2. Marinate boneless chicken meat with light and dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, oil, pepper and salt. Store it in fridge for at least an hour.
3. Add half cup of water with half cup or rice into the claypot and cook it in medium high heat.
4. Add marinated chicken to the rice when it is half cooked.
5. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer with the lid on.
6. After 10 to 12 minutes, the rice should be ready.
7. Sprinkle some spring onions on top of the rice.
8. Serve it while it's hot.

Note: Chinese sausage can be used instead of chicken meat.

The A380 Writes Aviation History in Africa

The Big Bird has landed in Johannesburg on 18 February. The A380 writes aviation history as the largest passenger aircraft of the world landed for the very first time on African soil.Fans flying to World Cup to South Africa later this year will travel in style!This was not however the second A380 landing in South Africa.

In November last year,Air France launched an A380 Promotion to South Africa giving passengers who book Business or First Class return ticket from South Africa with Air France or KLM between 02 November & 15 December 2009 a chance to win two A380 tickets!

Here are a few shots of the memorable flight! 

Air France A380 leaving Paris for Johanesburg!!



Arrival in Joburg

The first A380 arrival in South Africa occurred on November 26th 2006 when Airbus A380 touched down in South Africa in certification flight





Fish

Fish

Chinese Orange Chicken


Last night if I hadn't already met my daily quota of pillowy carbs and bundles of meat I definitely tripled it from all the dumplings I ingested. We celebrated Valentine's Day by getting together with two other couples and creating a Dim Sum feast for Chinese New Year. I made Chinese Steamed Spareribs in Black Bean Sauce and a Beef and Chinese Chive version of these potstickers that I could've eaten until my stomach exploded.

Because my stomach is still in the Chinese food spirit I thought it was time to post this recipe. And while this Orange Chicken may not be authentically Chinese, it is authentically satisfying and authentically mouth watering. It's amazing how easy this popular North American Chinese take-out favorite is to make at home; and without all the MSG and subsequent gut-bloating/hungriness half an hour later.

Recommended by Thoughts from a Wanderer and adapted from Allrecipes.
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Serves 4


Sauce:
1 1/2 cups water
2 tbsp orange juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp grated orange zest
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 tsp fresh ginger, grated
1/2 tsp garlic, minced
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
3 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp water

2 chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Canola oil

1 head of broccoli, cut into florets
2 green onions, chopped


In a saucepan over medium-high heat combine all ingredients for the sauce except for the cornstarch and 2 tbsp of water. Bring to a boil and stir to combine. Turn heat to low and let simmer, stirring occasionally while you make the chicken and broccoli.

In a bag or on a large plate, combine the flour, salt and pepper. Add the chicken and toss until coated with the flour mixture. In a medium pot over medium heat add enough oil to come up the side of the pot about 1-2 inches. Divide the chicken and add in small batches so the temperature of the oil doesn't drop. Cook for about 3-5 minutes, or until the chicken turns golden and crispy and is no longer pink on the inside. Remove with a slotted spoon to a paper towel lined plate. Continue cooking chicken in batches until all chicken is golden.

In a separate pot or in the microwave, steam broccoli florets for about 5-6 minutes until tender crisp.

Turn the heat on the sauce back up to about medium. Stir together the cornstarch and remaining 2 tbsp of water and add to the sauce. Stir for a minute or two until thickened then remove from heat.

In a large bowl toss together broccoli, chicken and sauce. Top with chopped green onions. Serve over rice or along side fried rice.


Click here for printable version of Chinese Orange Chicken.

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THE RESULTS?
I'm not gonna lie, when I originally read the recipe I was tempted to mess with it and cut the brown sugar and up the orange juice and cut the lemon juice and up the ginger and and and....BUT I held back and made the sauce according to the original. The orange taste is subtle yet bright. The combination of sour acids is balanced with rich brown sugar giving the sauce a smooth tang. It really is delicious and tastes just like Orange Chicken from a North American Chinese restaurant.

My addition of the broccoli ups the nutritional value and adds a great texture and crunch. This is a great recipe for pleasing everyone in the family, including the kids.


For more excellent Chinese recipes made at home, check out:

For inexpensive meal ideas, visit $5 Dinner Challenge and Gayle's Grocery Cart Challenge.

Plums Cake


We had got lot of plums from Costco but they weren't ripe ones. So I had been thinking of making a cake using them for quite a few days. Finally today I got some time to experiment with it thought the plums were ripe now. I made it in heart shape in honor of today's Valentines day.

Plums Cake
Ingredients
1 Cup Butter
1.5 Cup Sugar
3/4 Cup Maida
1 Cup Hazelnuts
1 Cup Walnuts
1 Cup Groundnuts
3 Eggs
1/2 Spoon Baking Powder
6 Plums
2 Spoon Lemon Juice
4 Spoon Powdered Sugar
2 Spoon Almonds

Method
  • Grind hazelnuts to powder
  • In a bowl, beat in sugar and butter till light and fluffy.
  • Add a egg to the butter and beat well
  • Then add in 1/3rd of hazelnut powder and beat well.
  • Continue adding remaining eggs one at a time alternating with hazelnut powder and beat well
  • Add in walnuts and peanuts and mix well.
  • Sieve maida and baking powder together and add in to the above mixture. Mix well.
  • Grease a pan and add in the batter
  • Preheat oven to 350F/180C
  • Bake the cake at 350F/180C for 45 minutes
  • Take out the cake out of oven and arrange in halved plums(without seeds) over the top
  • Bake again at 350F/180C for 10 minutes. Take out and let it cool down
  • In a small pan mix lemon juice with powdered sugar and let it simmer till thickened
  • Pour it over the cake, garnish with finely chopped almonds.

Notes
Alternately you can use marmalade jam if you have. I wanted to use that for the glazing but since I didn't have it I made lemon, sugar mixture.

Lauki Kofta


Ajoy just loves lauki kofta so much so that he asks ma to make it every time we go to pune. Till last year, that did work out especially since we visited pune atleast each month. But after coming to Redmond, one thing I am sure Ajoy and me too missed was Ma's special Kofta. So this time when we were in india we did ask her to make it quite frequently but the recipe is so good that eating it once in a year doesn't satisfy the taste buds. So after I got the recipe from her, today I made it on valentine's day. Guess my gift to Ajoy :)

Lauki Kofta
Ingredients
3 Cup Bottle Gourd
1 Cup Carrot
1.5 Cup Besan
3 Spoon Corn Flour
2 Onion
2 Tomato
2 Cup Curd
4 Spoon Sugar
1/2 Spoon Chaat Masala
1/2 Spoon Jeera
1.5 Spoon Red Chilli Powder
1/2 Spoon Turmeric Powder
1 Spoon Corriander Powder
1 Spoon Jeera Powder
1 Green Chilli
1/4 Cup Cashews
1/4 Cup Raisins
Oil
Salt to taste

Method
  • Grate bottle gourd and carrot and mix well
  • Heat oil and add in jeera. Let it sputter
  • Add in grated bottle gourd and carrot and mix well.
  • Cook well stirring occasionally till the mixture dries up completely. Keep aside to cool down.
  • Heat oil in a pan and add chopped onion. Fry till translucent and keep aside.
  • In a mixie add tomatoes, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, jeera powder, corriander powder and salt. Grind well.
  • Add in cooked onion and grind to smooth paste. Keep aside
  • In the bottle gourd and carrot mixture, add besan, corn flour make soft dough
  • Prepare small balls with cashews, raisins and green chilli pieces in the center of them.
  • Fry the koftas in oil to brown color and keep aside.
  • In a pan add the grinded paste, 3 cups of water and let it simmer for 5-6 minutes till gravy attains consistency.
  • Add in koftas and simmer for another few minutes. Take of the heat
  • In a bowl, mix in curd, sugar and chaat masala.
  • While serving koftas, add in the kofta with the gravy, add curd and then garnish with grated carrot and some cashew pieces and raisins

Notes
Instead of carrot you can use raw banana as well.

Masons - CLOSED


1116 15th Street, Sacramento, CA 95814.  (916) 492-1960

There’s nothing I hate more than wasting good money on bad food. That being said Masons…what a complete and total let down. Just shortly after my visit, the Wong family announced that they would be closing Masons and I can’t say I’m too surprised. If you were rating a restaurant on aesthetics alone I’m sure Masons would fare well with it’s hip furniture, coifed staff and trendy West Elm color scheme…but when you get down to it are you willing to hand over your hard earned cash to choke down food that exudes as much flavor as an actual West Elm catalog?

My recent visit to Masons was during Dine Downtown Week. Some will disagree with me, but I’ve always thought that DDW is a perfect opportunity for a restaurant to showcase what they’re all about and to lure in some new clientele; but I’ve found that more often than not, most restaurants fail to seize this opportunity. Anyhow my dining partner, Mr. S., was curious to explore Masons and see if there was any validity to the hype so off we went.  Reservations were easy enough through opentable.com but upon checking in at the hostess desk we were informed that our table was not ready and were directed to the bar. A cursory glance in the dining room showed several open tables. Strike one…I hate when you make a reservation, are on time and are not promptly sat. What’s the point of making a reservation if you end up having to wait anyway?

Mr. S. escorted me to the bar and excused himself to check out the lavatory (if you get a chance, do duck in there and check out the one-way mirror—it can be quite entertaining). Sitting at the glossy bar, I was left to attempt to try and flag down the bartender who was more interested in fixing his perfectly tousled, highlighted locks than attending to his one lone patron. His obvious annoyance at my request for a drink was evident. When I inquired what types of scotch they carried, I was answered with a silent wave over his shoulder to the backlit bar wall. I’m no bespectacled granny but sitting at the bar just a few feet from the bottles, I could barely make out the various liquor labels so I went with what I knew. Once I got my drink, a Macallans 18, let’s just say the pour was unmistakably small. Strike two. Finally after fifteen minutes of watching the bartender adjust his bangs in the mirror, we were finally escorted to our table. The table was flanked by two chairs on one end and a small robin’s egg blue cushioned bench on the other. Since the hostess had taken the liberty to place both menus on the side with the bench, Mr. S.  and I arranged ourselves there. What seems like a romantic idea, in actuality is the most uncomfortable way to sit and hold a conversation in a restaurant. We found ourselves having to contort our bodies so that we were perched sideways on a stiff cushion in an awkward half turn. To be honest, I’m not even sure that the acrobats from Cirque de Soleil could have made themselves comfortable on that bench.

As for our server, she was nice enough…when we saw her. In a half empty restaurant, she was MIA for the better part of the night. After a significant lapse in time, she popped up to take our order and to inform us that one of the dessert choices, a “french toast crème brulee” was no longer being offered…duly noted. I opted to start with a glass of their Kung Fu Girl Riesling (I’ll admit I ordered it solely for the whimsical name) and as a first course, the linguine carbonara with housemade pancetta and shaved grana.  Mr. S. went with a baby spinach and winter citrus salad. I found the carbonara to be gluey and cold. I noticed that Mr. S., an ardent salad lover, to be listlessly pushing his salad around the plate so I snuck a taste…not just was it overly bitter but the olives seemed to be an odd pairing for a citruscentric salad.

First course completed, plates cleared and I still hadn’t received my wine….hmmmm. For the second course, I decided to go with the slow roasted beef short rib and Mr. S., a bit more adventurous than I, went with the fancily named Ecuadorian white prawn cioppino (a dish which holds a place on Masons’ regular menu). The cioppino was touted to consist of a Spanish chorizo-tomato compote and saffron-lobster broth. Sounds exotic and delectable, right? Well, it was everything but…the broth lacked flavor and Mr. S gagged a bit when he got a bad mussel. My ribs were fatty and stringy simultaneously although the horseradish potato puree was decent…but then so are Betty Crocker’s instant garlic mashed potatoes and I can get those for a fraction of the cost that these spuds cost me.  Oh yes, my wine…don’t let me forget that…like my server did. Halfway through our second course, she did pop by to inquire about our dishes and to ask whether we “would like something to drink.” I had to bite my tongue to not retort with a flippant, “Yes, the wine I ordered when I sat down,” but having a mom who instilled good manners in me as a young child, I smiled politely and inquired about my forgotten wine. I shouldn’t have bothered. The Kung Fu Girl Riesling had no kick and was oddly reminiscent to a glass of Two Buck Chuck I had recently been subjected to at a house party.  Strike three, Masons…and you’re out.

Having not been punished enough, we foraged ahead into the third course…dessert. Mr. S. went with a cheesecake with a viscous like huckleberry compote and I requested some sort of chocolate cake with an embellished name.  We opted to get the desserts to go and surprisingly when we dove into them later in the comfort of my abode, they weren’t bad.  They were no Jacques Torres creation but definitely the highlight of this meal.

So you win some and you lose some and in this case our visit to Masons was a total bust. Rumor has it that the owners are slapping a revamp on the place and will be converting it to a “comfort food” restaurant (which seems all the rage these days) by the name of Cafeteria 15L. My opinion on this impending transformation? To borrow a quote from our current president, “You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig,”…meaning, you can slap some new paint on an eatery, change the light fixtures and fiddle with the menu but in my experience if the food’s bad, it’s bad and no amount of “lipstick” is going to fix that “pig.”