Goat.....the other red meat.

Ok....calm down. Breathe. It's gonna be alright. Are you calm? Goat meat is nothing to be feared. Yes I did say goat. Please don't be alarmed. It tastes much better than lamb and is a lot healthier. Goat meat is low in fat and cholesterol compared to beef and lamb. Now that you have officially been introduced, let's get into it.

So. Stew.

©Raj Rao

A simple word that has almost a thousand possibilities. Almost every culture in the world has some sort of a stew. Be it vegetarian or otherwise.


So a few weeks ago, I decided to make lamb stew. A nice, easy all-in-one meal with some tender, juicy lamb.  After driving around to few grocery stores I could not find any decent lamb. I decided to call an audible and switch over to goat instead. This is pretty easy to do. Despite the minimal popularity of goat meat on this side of the hemisphere, it is relatively easy to find. Your local Indian or Middle Eastern markets are bound to have some goat meat.

So I picked up some goat, a package of baby bella mushrooms, some beef stock, red potatoes, carrots, fresh thyme (don't skimp and go for the bottled stuff, fresh is always better), an onion and a nice bottle of decently priced Pinot Noir. Now, you don't have to be a wine connoisseur to pick out a good wine, just read the label.

©Raj Rao

Almost 2 hours later I was enjoying a criminally delicious bowl of homemade goat stew. The Pinot definitely added more body to the stew. The goat meat was very tender and absorbed the wine like a sponge. That's a good thing. The carrots were still al dente and absorbed the flavour of the stew and the fork-tender potatoes added a mild sweetness to the dish. The baby bella mushrooms had the perfect meaty texture and the fresh parsley added an extra freshness to the dish. All in all, your guru made a kick-ass goat stew that was a last minute improvisation. Don't be concerned because, after all I am a food guru. But trust me, this is very doable, even for goat virgins. Minds out of the gutter please.

So please be daring and go to your local butcher and get some goat and make the stew. You will not regret it. Oh, don't  forget to get some hard bread to go with the stew. 

Ciao.....           

Ingredients:

1.5 pounds goat meat

1/4 cup of flour

1 onion

2 cups Pinot Noir

7 baby bella mushrooms

1 cup beef stock

1 tsp fresh thyme

3 carrots

4 to 5 medium red potatoes

Fresh parsley

Salt and pepper

©Raj Rao

Method:

First season the flour with some salt and pepper in a large zip up bag. Cut the goat meat into bite sized cubes and add into the bag. Shake it up until meat is fully coated. Take goat out and shake off excess flour and put the meat on a plate.


Heat up a Dutch oven, when it is hot add two tablespoons of oil. Add the meat and sear it for about four minutes. Add onions and sweat the onions. Then add the carrots and quartered potatoes and sauté it all together at medium heat. After another two to three minutes, add the beef stock and scrape the bottom of the pan. Then add the Pinot.


Increase heat to high and bring it to a quick boil. Reduce heat to medium and add mushrooms. Cover and let it simmer for about 30 minutes. Open the pot and stir it up and make sure it it coats the back of a spoon to ensure the right thickness and make sure potatoes are fork-tender. Add some rough chopped thyme and stir. Remove from heat. 


Right before serving, chop up some fresh parsley and top it off. Serve with French baguette and enjoy!

Pollo Loco!

©Raj Rao

Let's talk fried chicken. Being born and brought up in Malaysia, my choices for where I could go for some fried chicken were pretty limited. It was either hitting up some mom and pop shop or rely on good ole KFC... Kentucky Fried Chicken that is. I am still amazed at how many people have no idea what KFC stands for. Now, even though the menu items are pretty similar, I think KFC in Malaysia tastes much better than the KFC here in the States. Sorry, the food guru has spoken. Oh and Malaysian KFC doesn't freak out when I order sky juice*. I'll give you a moment to work that one out, Ace.

©Raj Rao

Anyway, I digress. I recently discovered a fried chicken joint that has the colonel beat and it's called Pollo Campero. This Guatemala-based restaurant has been around since the 70's but did not venture into the US until 2002.


The fried chicken has a rich latin twist with well coated spices and seasonings. The skin has that perfect colour and crispness while the meat underneath remains moist. It's a taste that you will not forget. 

They serve corn tortillas with each order. You can be like me and make your own lil taco with the chicken and some of the home made salsa that they have at the store.  The best part about this place besides the chicken are the sides. They include yucca fries which are made from thick cut yucca root that has been fried to a rich golden brown. You can also get fried plantains which have the perfect balance of sweetness and tartness or you can opt for spanish rice or beans. True to their Mexican roots, they serve flan for dessert.

©Raj Rao

When it comes to beverages you can either get soda if you are boring and every-day, or you can be a Maverick and get your choice between Jamaica© which is an hibiscus-based drink that is mildly tart and sweet, or Tamarindo© which is a tamarind-based drink.

Take my word for it and look for a Pollo Campero around your area and go now. If you like fried chicken you will definitely love this place.

Food guru is never wrong.....

**Sky Juice is plain water.

Oh Crêpe!!

Personally I think one of the most underestimated foods is the crêpe. It's not easy to find a place out there that can make you a really good crêpe with all the 'fixins' so to speak. The best thing about a crêpe is that it can be combined with pretty much anything you want, be it savory or sweet.

Recently, I was strolling down 9th avenue in New York and I came across Chelsea Market. This huge building that spans over 2 blocks used to be the home of the National Biscuit Company, commonly known as Nabisco. Ah, THAT got your attention didn't it? Those creme filled chocolate cookies that we know as Oreos were conceived here in this building. But that is the subject of another blog post.

Lets get back to present time Chelsea Market. Apart from the very unique exterior, there are more than 30 retail stores in there that range from selling clothing, books, food and fresh produce and seafood. Tucked away on the first floor towards 15th street is a cosy little crêperie called Bar Suzette. The place does not have any flashy lights or fancy music. What they do have is 2 guys, 2 flat top griddles, few menus and good fresh ingredients and all they make is crêpes.

Their menu was split into savory and sweet. my friend and I were glancing at the selection and I considered ordering almost half of it. After a few minutes of mind numbing indecision, I chose to get the crêpe with Nutella™ and strawberries. My compadre ordered the crêpe with ham and Swiss. The chef carefully poured the crepe batter onto the hot griddle and used a fancy tool to spread it around the flat top. While the crêpe was cooking, he was slicing fresh, juicy strawberries. A few minutes later he flipped the crêpe and spread the Nutella™ and laid the fresh strawberries. He folded the crêpe into a triangle pocket and handed it over to me.

The scintillating combination of the crisp crêpe with the sweet chocolate hazel-nutty ooey gooeyness of the Nutella™ and the mildly tart strawberries was fantabulous. The ingredients tasted very fresh and made the crêpe that much better. There was nothing about the crêpe that I did not like.

I tried the ham and Swiss crêpe that my friend had and it was a perfect combination of melted Swiss cheese and very thinly sliced ham. I'm surprised she let me even have that, she seemed entranced in crêpe heaven.

These guys really do have something amazing going on at this store. Their menu features a host of fresh ingredients that range from figs, speck, Brazillian guava, hummus and more.

So next time you are in the big apple, do not forget to stop by Bar Suzette and enjoy a delicious crêpe. If you can't decide what to have then let your trustee food guru do you a favor and go ahead and have the one with Nutella™ and strawberries - only if you are not allergic to nuts.

Ciao.

For the love of donut...

Copyright 2010 Raj Rao

Hey blogosphere, the best food blog you'll run across has finally arrived. I know, I know, where have I been all your life right? Well I have been out there feasting on life and preparing to be your own personal food guru. Yes, you're welcome.

So why doughnuts for my first post? Well because this past weekend I visited the epitome of doughnut deliciousness. Now, I'm a guy who enjoys a good doughnut every now and again but listen to me when I tell you that you have not tasted a doughnut until you have bought one from Mark Israel's Doughnut Plant in Manhattan's Lower East Side. This is not your average-on-every-corner Dunkin' Donuts. Don't get me wrong, I love a good (donut) from Dunkin' Donuts but this transcends the generic. Doughnut Plant has taken doughnut making and innovation to new levels, introducing the Jelly-filled Square Donut™ in 2004. We are talking a huge square-shaped donut with an in-house jelly made from fresh seasonal fruit and a glaze made from the same fresh fruit and fresh roasted nuts. There are also Cream-filled Squares™, a delectable Creme Brulee doughnut and a Tres Leches doughnut that I missed out on because I didn't make it in time. Fail.

Now even though I completely wanted to gorge on as many of these doughnuts as I could stuff into my mouth, I had to limit myself. This was my virgin trip to New York, I had been daydreaming about this donut shop and as soon as me and my friend rounded the corner and saw that distinct logo I got excited. And the excitement was well worth it. The beauty of this place is that they make a fresh batch of each doughnut every morning and once it's gone, it's gone. We got there late afternoon so the selection was a little limited but they still had the Peanut Butter and Blackberry Jam Jelly-filled Square™.

At first glance I had a feeling that the doughnut was going to be very heavy. It has a good amount of peanut butter glaze on the outside. After my first bite I was surprised at how it tasted.  The solid taste of peanuts, a perfect doughnut and fresh, sweet jelly melted in your mouth in a flavor explosion. The jelly did not overpower the doughnut. Every bite had an equal amount of dough and jelly till the last bite. The blackberry jelly did not taste like the kind you get in a can either. You can immediately taste that its homemade.


Freakin' A that was good.  No wonder these doughnuts were featured on Food Network, they are definitely worth it. It's hard to imagine this doughnut making genius began in Israel's tiny apartment basement with a coat hanger frying pan but whatever he's doing, he needs to keep on doing it. Though a relatively small space with enough room to line up for these delicious circles of pure joy, the cute, very Manhattan chic atmosphere of the place is as original as the doughnuts themselves. Granted I didn't fly all the way across the country to get a doughnut, I would say even if everything else failed on my trip to New York, that doughnut would have been well worth the trouble.

So the next time you find yourself in Manhattan craving a sweet treat, I highly recommend a quick stop at Doughnut Plant. Trust me on this one, Ace. Your food guru never lies.