RESTAURANTS AND FOOD: South Indian

Showing posts with label South Indian. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Come to the Supper Club

Come to the Supper Club

Banu and Ruth, of the South Indian Supper Club, have been in touch to tell me they "have lots of events and evenings planned for the next few months that hopefully some of you will be able to attend".

"Our supper clubs are going from strength to strength. We had our last one on Saturday night in Banu's house. It was fully booked and all had a great time! The dates for the next evenings are:

12th April - Saturday

3rd May - Saturday

14th June - Saturday

These events cost €35 for 3 courses plus a welcome cocktail and are lots of fun and very sociable! Please contact us for details (annamkitchencork@gmail.com).

Our Indian cookery classes, which are proving a huge hit, are running on Monday evenings, and are held in the Cookery Cottage on South Douglas road. They run from 7-9pm and cost €25 for 2 hours. A 4 week cookery class will also be commencing on the 9th of May. This will cost €99. Banu will be teaching a range of Indian cusines during this class. Please contact us for more details. Also please do not forget to mention 48 hours prior to attending if you have been to any other of our classes so that we can make sure recipes aren't repeated.

We are also now offering event catering. In conjunction with Lishh catering in Turner's Cross we are able to provide home cooked, tasty, authentic Indian food for your parties and events! Please spread the word!

We have also attached a recipe for you to have a go at at home. Let us know how you get on."

Spicy Potatoes South Indian Style
Ingredients

4 large potatoes

1 tbsp. oil

½ tsp black mustard seeds

1/4^th tsp asafoetida powder

½ tsp turmeric powder

½ to 1 tsp red chili powder

Salt

Method:

Peel and cube potatoes

Cook in boiling water until soft

Drain well

In a frying pan, heat oil

Crackle the mustard seeds

Take off the heat

Add all the spice powders with the salt

Add potatoes and coat well in the spiced oil

Place the potatoes on a baking tray or an over proof dish

Bake in preheated oven at 200 C for 3- to 40 mins until crisp and golden

Serve hot

Friday, March 14, 2014

Taste of India on Cork’s Left Bank

Mango Lassi

For a hundred years, from the late 18th century, Cork exported butter to the world (including India), the merchants building quay walls to facilitate the trade. Yesterday, facing one of those walls and just a few hundred yards from the former Butter Exchange, I enjoyed the cuisine of South India in a tiny restaurant called Iyer's.

Gautham Iyer opened the restaurant in December 2012 and, aside from a few weeks out of action due to a broken leg, has has not looked back since. The customers have come regularly, the reviews have been good and of course all that is because the food is excellent and the prices are very keen indeed.

The menu is entirely vegetarian and, yes, there is spice. Some people are wary but the spice is not at all extreme and, indeed, if things are not hot enough for you, you are encouraged to ask for their pickle! Everything is prepared freshly on site, leading to long working days for the owner-chef.

Samosas

Vadas

Aside from a visit to a local Indian supper club, I know very little about Indian cuisine. Maybe you're in the same boat so here is a little Wikeipedia guide to what you may expect at Iyers. These are items such as the Vada, Samosas, and Dosas.

Iyers has all these and also some more substantial rice dishes. Best advice I can give is to go in and try them! The menu, on a big board behind the counter, changes regularly.

We started with a Masala Vada and also a Samosa (a pastry, normally triangular with a savoury filling). These were served with two sauces or dips (each on a small dish). One was Tamarind (Imli), the other Green Chilli. Both the Vada and the Samosas were very tasty, crunchy and savoury and nicely spiced and, no, we didn't ask for the pickles!

Dosa, with chutneys and bowl of Sambar.

Gautham came out from from time to time to see how things were going but, in any case, service was friendly and informative and there was no shortage of water. In addition, they have a range of drinks and I went for a lovely looking and great tasting Mango Lassi while CL picked the refreshing Apple & Mango Juice.

On then to our dosas. You may get a Plain Dosa but ours were the Masala and the Onion. Again we were sharing, so they held the second one back until we were finished with the first. Each was served with fresh chutneys, one tomato, the other fresh coconut. Really loved that coconut and we both preferred the Masala filling to the Onion. With this dish, you also get a bowl of Sambar (a kind of soup, changes from day to day).

The Dosas may not have looked that mighty large but we were quite full by the time we finished them. Well, maybe not quite. I had spotted a gorgeous looking cake on the counter on arrival. This was Banana, Mango and Coconut and it was absolutely delicious. The Pistachio and Rosewater Cake may not have looked as well but that too was a delight. All the baking is done by Caroline, Gautham’s wife.

Pistachio and Rosewater Cake

Just across the bridge from the Opera House, the restaurant is out of the hustle and bustle of the city centre but still quite close. On Wednesday, it was busy when we arrived at 2.30 pm and the few, very few, outside spaces were taken up.

The south-facing aspect and the nearby river gave an almost Mediterranean air. On days like this, Gautham wonders if he could expand to the larger footpath at the other side of the road but knows that sometimes if you get too big, that compromises may have to be made and you might well lose some of your integrity, a route he doesn't want to take.

For now, small and all as it is, let us enjoy this fabulous corner of South India on the banks of the Lee. Very Highly Recommended.

Banana, Mango and Coconut Cake.

Iyers Restaurant

Phone	087 640 9079
Email	iyerscafecork@gmail.com Hours	Tue - Wed: 12:00 pm - 5:30 pm Thu: 12:00 pm - 5:30 pm, 6:30 pm - 9:30 pm Fri - Sat: 12:00 pm - 5:30 pm

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Annam - From my kitchen to yours.

Annam - From my kitchen to yours.
(authentic taste of south India)

Ruth was in touch recently to tell me all about Annam - From my kitchen to yours.

“We are two friends (one Indian, one Irish) who have been running supper clubs and cookery classes in Cork for over six months now. We are attempting to introduce a really authentic taste of south Indian to the people of Ireland. There's no vindaloos or lamb baltis on our menus! We even encourage people to eat the Indian way - with their hands! If people are interested to find out about Idly, dosa, chicken chettanad, chutney and lots of different types of food and spices then we're here to help!

We run our supper club on the second Friday of every month and our cookery class on the fourth Friday of the month at the Cookery Cottage on the South Douglas road. So far we have had a huge response what we are doing. We have had people from all over Cork attend our evenings, which are very social, everyone eats together and are positively encouraged to bring a bottle of their fancy while cooking and eating.

We would like to say a huge thanks to you all for your support in getting Annam off the ground over the last 9 months! It has been so inspiring and encouraging to have you at our supper clubs and cookery classes and we've learnt tons. We've had great fun doing them and we really hope you've enjoyed attending. We hope that we offer something a little different with our experience in that it's a very social evening but you also get the chance to learn too!”

Here are the up and coming events for October, November and December.

Friday 25th October 7pm - Cookery Class - Cookery cottage

A south Indian theme this time. As usual a cocktail served with vegetable bhajis and coconut chutney. You will also be given a short demo followed by hands on workshop:

Tomato Rice

Olan

Chicken Chettinad

Crispy Potato fry

Green Beans Poriyal

We will have a sit down meal at the end so please bring a bottle of whatever you like!

Cost - €40 BYOB

Saturday 2nd November - Diwali celebration - Cork cricket club

Annam is running a street food stall in the Cork Cricket club as a part of the Diwali Lights installation by the Cork Community Art Link and Cork Indian Summer. Come for the fabulous food and the lights 2.30 to 5.30 pm. More information at https://www.facebook.com/corkindiansummer.

Friday 15th November 7pm - Supper Club - At home with Annam

We will serve you a 3 course authentic Indian meal with a cocktail on arrival and tea or coffee to finish. Menu to follow. Due to very positive feedback we have decided to run the next few supper clubs from our chef Banu's home. We feel our supper club is more suited to an intimate, homely environment!

Cost - €35 BYOB.

Friday 29th November 12.30-2.20pm- Charity lunch - Cookery cottage

Annam is hosting an Indian Lunch in aid of Pralayashema which is a small Charity operating in the East Coast of India in Tamil Nadu. Come and eat our fabulous food and donate to a good cause. Your money will go towards buying school supplies for some very underprivileged children who would not get to go to school if not for Charities like Parlayashema. Their members travel to these very rural areas to give the school supplies like uniforms, books, stationary etc to the families.

For more information please visit www.pralayashema.org

Friday 6th December 7pm - Cookery class - Cookery cottage

Fancy a Christmas party with a difference? Cook up a storm with your friends or colleagues at our Indian cookery class. Enjoy the labours of your hard work at the end with a few drinks! Menu to follow.