Tandoori Kabab Touch restaurant review

We were there for the supper buffet on a Saturday. The place was not too busy although there was a large group there for a celebration.

There were a number of selections in the buffet (veg, chicken and beef) and all were very flavourful and the meat was nice and tender. The papadum had a nice bit of spice to it, and the naan bread was really very very wonderful. The hostess brought around a plate of chicken (not tandoori) which was very tasty and very hot (temperature hot).

My favourite dish is usually beef vindaloo (I like spicy dishes) but my favourite dish at Tandoor Kabab was the butter chicken, it was one of the best versions that I've had.

The only negative I would say is that the curries were thinner than I like.

Tomatoes are doing well

All the warmth and sun means the tomato plants are doing well. Although we have to give them a good drink every day since they are in pots. There are two different kinds of tomatoes, a cherry tomato and beefsteak kind of tomato. Can you tell which is which?

All the hot weather lead to extreme weather warning. First we saw dark clouds around us. We could hear thunder and saw rain falling to the north and west.


And then we got some quite severe winds. The red lines indicates the normal line where this little maple tree usually stands. It was almost bent over.

The elm tree in the front yard was really blowing all over - we thought that perhaps some branches might break off. The sign was blowing past horizontal - as indicated by the blue line.

We got a little bit of rain, but not enough. The lawn is looking parched as you can see. I put the hose on for the elm and the service berry tree on Thursday.

Summer Berry Clafoutis

We had a few raspberries left from making the jam, and we saw this delicious looking recipe for Summer Berry Clafoutis in a magazine. It looked so good that I decided to try to make it. The instructions said it was easy to make, so that was a real bonus (especially for me!).

So I prepared the ingredients: egg, milk, flour, vanilla, salt, sugar, and butter.

I put the raspberries and blueberries in a buttered pan. I thought I would cook up a bit of rhubarb and add it, but I overdid the rhubarb and it is just sort of gloppy (as you can tell).

The pan is a bit too full because I used more fruit than the recipe called for in it. We had about 3 cups of raspberries left so I put them all in, even though the recipe only called for 2c of raspberries. Because of the added fruit, I added a bit extra sugar (actually, Splenda).

I poured the mixture over the berries and put it into the oven.


Taz was watchfully eyeing me with studied disinterest... I think he was hoping I was preparing something with meat in it. No such luck, buddy!

Because I had put too many berries in the pan, it took quite a bit longer for the dough mixture to cook through. And also it spilled over in the oven. :(

After it cooled off somewhat, we enjoyed a some of it with some whipped cream.

Overall evaluation: the recipe was easy to make, and absolutely was delicious!! I will definitely make it again but I won't add extra berries.

One of our neighbours gave us some rhubarb, so I decided to make Strawberry Rhubarb Compote. From what I can tell by looking at the recipes, compote is basically a fifty dollar word to say "stewed"...

I cut up the rhubarb and sprinkled it with some sugar and let it sit in the pot, so the juices would come out. I let it sit for a couple of hours. Then I put it on the stove to bring it to a boil and then simmered it for 10-15 minutes. Since strawberries are softer than rhubarb, and I wanted the strawberries to have a bit of texture to them, I cut up some strawberries and added it to the rhubarb mixture after it had been simmering for about 10 minutes. After it cooled for a while, I put the compote into a container and put it into the fridge overnight.

The clafoutis recipe said it was also delicious for breakfast, so Freda and I decided that we would have it for breakfast, along with some of the strawberry rhubarb compote. I added a dab of whipped cream because it sets off the deep reds and purple of the fruit. YUMMMY!!!!

Rasberry Jam - yumm!!!!

We went to some friends for Canada Day - it's sort of a Regina Refugee tradition. When we were there, Freda went over to get Wilma, who lives across the street. Wilma was in her back yard picking raspberries and invited Freda to go and pick some. So we did and we picked a large bowl full of plump juicy raspberries! Freda made two pies (need 4 cups each) and we had about the same amount again of fresh berries.

Wilma invited us to go and pick berries again, because they were so ripe they were just falling off the bushes, so we took Colleen (one of our neighbours) and did just that on July 3rd. Freda made another pie and I made jam - 3 batches in total.

This is a photo of the 2nd batch. I decided to do a double batch this time.

Stopped stirring for a second so I could take a photo. This is just before adding the sugar.

Here are the hot jars of jam, cooling off. It was nice hearing the click of the lids as they sealed. Only one jar didn't take, and that was the tall skinny jar at the back left row in this photo. It's in the fridge now and we will have that first.

The label for the raspberry jam: Picked and prepared on July 3, 2010.

Berbere Chicken and Peanut Butter Fudge (Yum!)

Berbere Chicken - seasoning mix from Thyme after Thyme (Edmonton). I forgot to take photos during the preparation process. It was quite simple for this. I cut up some chicken breast, drizzled it with olive oil, and then shook the Berbere seasoning mix over the chicken pieces. I left the seasoning off a few pieces (at the bottom center of photo) in case the spices were too hot for Freda.

The ingredients for the Peanut Butter Fudge.

Heat the milk, butter and sugar over medium heat, and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes.

Add the peanut butter, and mix well. Then add the marshmalllow, and mix well.

I poured the fudge into a cookie tray. I really should have put it into a cake pan because the fudge was too thin. It was Yum-O though!

A nice day and a nice dinner!

Pano - April 28, 2010

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Chocolate mousse with a dab of strawberry ice cream

Faux pho

So I decided to try to make a version of pho - a Vietnamese (I think!) soup with noodles, vegetables and bit of meat. I started with this package of soup flavouring.

I cooked the noodles separately. This is what they looked like -a pale version of spaghetti.

This is with everything in the pot. I added spinach leaves for the greenery, and chopped up some red peppers too. I had mushrooms in the fridge but forgot about them, otherwise I would have added them too.

The soup looked pretty good. It did smell spicy though.

Marks' verdict: yummy
Freda's verdict: too hot
Both of us: yucky noodles

So there won't be a next time for faux pho...

Cooking - cauliflower mac and cheese

Tonight I made a vegetarian dish - cauliflower macaroni and cheese. These are all the ingredients.

Substitutions: I used a whole cauliflower instead of just half a one. I didn't have fresh parsley so I used parsley flakes. But I didn't have enough parsley flakes so I added tarragon flakes. I also added a bit of ground chili and some chili flakes for a bit of spice. I grated some parmesan to replace the havarti the recipe called for. I didn't add the optional cubed ham or roast beef because I wanted it to be a vegetarian dish.

The Oxo packets were chicken flavouring as the recipe called for blanching the cauliflower in chicken stock. After blanching and draining, the recipe called for saving 1/2 cup of stock. Instead of throwing the rest of it down the drain, I added it to the water that I cooked the macaroni in. I mixed the cooked macaroni in with the cauliflower and the spices, and then added the cheese and a touch of turmeric.

This is what it looked like after it came out of the oven. It smelled heavenly!

And we enjoyed the dish with some salad. It certainly added some nice coulour to the plate too.

Tawny enjoyed it too, as you can tell from her vigorous licking... and her hanging onto the pan with her paw!

Cooking catchup

Flatbread Pizza - February 1st

This started life as a pizza kit - that's just the flatbread and the tomato sauce. I cut up green and red peppers, added some roasted chicken breast, and topped it with cheese - shredded old cheddar and some provolone. This was pretty good and we will make this again.

Almost KFC Fried Chicken - February 2nd

I didn't quite make this according to the recipe - which is from the book 330 Top Secret Restaurant Recipes. I used boneless skinless chicken breast and, in order to reduce calories, I didn't brown it in "half inch of vegetable oil" -- I just used a couple of tablespoons instead. Also, I didn't know what the recipe meant when it said "seal with flour" meant so I just dusted the chicken with flour before putting it in the oven.

The chicken tasted a lot like KFC, but was much less greasy. Overall, this recipe was FABULOUS!!! And I would definitely make it again.

PS: Did you notice the old-style KFC font that I used to label the photo??

Making Orange Braised Chicken with Vegetables

Today, I made Orange Braised Chicken with Vegetables for supper. I served it with Basmati rice, and we had salad too.

The recipe was actually from a Weight Watcher cookbook. I was looking through the cookbooks to find a recipe to make with chicken breast, and this was one that caught my eye.

Freda really liked it, and said she liked it the most of all of the things I have made so far. I thought the orange flavour was too strong, but that is because I put too much orange zest in.

I guess that's even though... I used consomme instead of chicken broth. and italian seasoning instead of basil. and lemon and pepper salt instead of salt. and crushed croutons instead of Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs. and broccoli instead of leeks. and mushrooms instead of carrots. and no celery. and no dry vermouth either.

Overall, out of the 14 total ingredients, I changed 7 (including the excess orange zest) and ignored 2 of them. And it still turned out quite well.

Meaningful things

We went to Arnprior last week, and found these napkins in a little store. After we stopped laughing, we decided we would buy these for some friends who have four children. She enjoyed them too!

The best gifts are those that help others. This gift represents stocking a medical clinic. Very nice.

And this gift represents helping start a small business. Terrific.

In our usual Christmas tradition, we go over to some friends for the Christmas dinner. We had been so busy lately that we hadn't had any time to vaccuum, so we cleaned the floors before we went over. The dogs were kept in the solarium while we were doing that so they wouldn't track wet footprints all over the house... Poor doggies - NOT!

When we go to potlucks, some people have favourite things that they always ask us to make. Helen and Steve like our Golden Crumb Broccoli Bake.

We actually make this recipe with cauliflower as well as broccoli - it adds a touch of sweetness as well as some colour. We also use real cheese instead of 'American' cheese. I used Colby cheese this time.

The cooked broccoli and cauliflower is covered with a mixture of condensed mushroom soup, mayonnaise, grated cheese and lemon juice. After that, some crushed crackers and the rest of the grated cheese are sprinkled on top of the sauce. This is what the dish looked like when it was ready to go in the oven.

And this is what the dish looks like after it comes out of the oven. It smells very nice too!

We also needed to take a pumpkin pie - as Steve loves pumpkin pie.

When I was buying the ingredients for the pie filling, I wanted to buy pure pumpkin, as a lot of the pumpkin pie filling is s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d with squash. The only pure pumpkin pie filling was a large can, so we would have enough filling for two pies. This is not such a bad thing... :)) So, Freda made two pie crusts and we baked them. While they were baking, I mixed up the filling. This photo shows the pies after the filling was poured into them. It smelled very tempting!

One of the best side-benefits about baking is that it fills the house with delightful aromas. Pumpkin pie is certainly no slouch in that department. This is what the pie looked like after taking it out of the oven - hmmm, looks good enough to eat (haha!).

Of course, you need to have whipped cream to accompany pumpkin pie. The recipe called for 'spiced' whipped cream, which basically just means adding a bit of cinammon and ginger when you're whipping the cream.

And this is what the pie looked like later on -- yummy! The pumpkin pie recipe called for cinammon, ginger and allspice - no nutmeg, surprisingly. Although the pie was delicious, I think I would add nutmeg the next time.

I'll close off this very long post by wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and best wishes for a Happy New Year!!!