Sagar Vegetarian Restaurant 

A few days ago I went to review Sagar Restaurant, which specialises in Pure South Indian vegetarian cuisine. The menu allows you to explore other regional veg dishes especially infamous chaats from Mumbai!

My initial impression was that it was lovely.  The decor was simple, clean yet striking, a quiet and calming space, very zen like to be able to eat in peace and comfort. Traditional music was floating in the air which definitely added to the ambiece of the restaurant. 

The staff were extremely attentive, helpful and knew their dishes well. I fancied the Idli Sambhar, my mum who had accompanied me, was recommended to have the Medu Vada. 

These starters were truly incredible.
The idli were like soft clouds that just melted away on my tongue. The silky texture of onion in the sambhar and its consistency was spot on!

The medu vada, simple  crispy battered fried doughnuts, not greasy but cooked to perfection, was stunning when dipped into the coconut chutney and drenched in the tasty sambhar!

I was also pleasantly surprised having ordered an orange juice that I received a freshly squeezed sweet and tangy oj.

For my mains the Traditional Udapi thali was getting prepared and the chilli & onion Uttapam for my mum.

The thali is one of their best sellers and I can totally understand why and I agree! Presented well and all the individual dishes were named and shown to me by Shridhara the manager. 

I found all the elements of the thali complimented each other.  A mixture of curries, dry and saucy. Two types of dal to go with the heaped mountain of rice. The over generous puri/flatbread binded each portion together.

My favourite in particular had to be the dry cabbage bhaji. A soft, salty, crunchy dry curry. Extremely tasty and so very moreish! The creamy yogurt based coconut curry was amazing too!

“Rasam…ummmm!” Was how my mum described the thin almost transparent soup.  It was to her liking due to the chilli factor. It hit the back of your throat with a warming sensation!  I just loved how she reacted.

My siro, a sweet semolina pudding had started to disappear mysteriously.  Yes you guessed right, my mother couldn’t help herself.  She said she never eats siro unless it’s homemade but the look of Sagar’s siro tempted her.  I too loved it. Sweetly balanced, the cashews were toasted and cardamom notes stayed on my palette ~ Divine!!

Overall I can’t rate this restaurant enough.  I have to admit so far it is THE BEST SOUTH INDIAN restaurant I have been to and I have been to a few!

There’s no surprise that there are two more branches of Sagar in Central London.

If you fancy traditional South Indian food, good service and great prices, Sagar is the place to go!

I would sincerely like to thank Shridhara and Jay Kumar for awesome service and the management for having us over for the review

Please feel free to visit their website http://sagarveg.co.uk/ and try this yummy restaurant for yourselves 
Until next time, much love D x

If you would like me to review your vegetarian restaurant dishes in the UK, please feel free to message me on dhmakani@gmail.com

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Mature Cheddar Soufflé with Tefal

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It is difficult making soufflés but what if I told you, I have a machine that will not only mix the ingredients but cook the base of the soufflé and all you have to do is follow the simple instructions and place the soufflés to bake.

INTERESTED?  I’ve caught your attention right?!

Ok, so I’m going to take you back to August last year when I was approached by Tefal to trial out a new kitchen product, and what a product it is!  I am now allowed to show this wonderful piece of apparatus as it is about to be on UK shelves in September this year.  It proved to be a very popular and extremely useful tool in the kitchen.

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It cooks, chops, mixes, whisks.  Making all types of dishes from your simple sauces to exquisite sweet delicacies. Not forgetting hearty meals that can be prepped and cooked in the one machine, especially for those Autumn and winter nights approaching.  You are able to plug this in, follow the recipe, set the Cuisine Companion, then sit back with a large glass of vino

I will be making many more recipes with the Tefal CC but for now I will indulge your eyes and tastebuds with these mature cheddar cheese soufflés!

INGREDIENTS

40g plain flour
30g butter
500 ml milk
150g grated mature Cheddar cheese
4 eggs
Salt & pepper to taste

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 180°c.  Place the flour and milk in the cuisine companion food processor with the mixer attachment.  Season with salt and pepper then mix at speed 7 for 1 minute,  Add the butter, launch the sauce programme for 8 minutes, set at 90°c speed 4

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In the meantime separate the egg whites from the yolks.  At the end of the program, throw in the grated cheddar, mix for 1 minute at speed 8.  Combine the yolks in to the mixture and mix for 45 seconds

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Pour the cheese mixture into a large bowl and wash the food processor bowl

Place the egg whites into the cleaned bowl, fit with the mixer attachment again.  Start the food processor at speed 7 for 7.5 minutes without the stopper

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Grease 6 to 8 small glass ramekins, gently fold the egg whites in to the cheese mixture.  Pour individually up to the top of each ramekin.  Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, without opening the oven door.  The soufflés will be ready when risen, golden brown and still have a little wobble to them.  Eat immediately for a fluffy sensation

To make soufflés by hand see http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4805/cheese-souffl-in-4-easy-steps-

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Loving My New Cards…

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I finally got round to designing my name cards. From being an optician to writing about food…What a career change! But I would have it no other way! I am really loving exploring and cooking all types of vegetarian food. I can’t wait to get into my kitchen and start cooking some more.

Hope you are all well friends. Do please come join me on Facebook and Twitter for lots more foodie interaction!

Have a beautiful day friends..Much love, D x

Rupa’s Salsa Verde…

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Salsa verde is a green salsa, it can be quite chunky but the one that was prepared by my youngest sister in law last Saturday, was something extremely special.  Rupa had called us round for dinner and  Oh my did we enjoy ourselves!  She had prepared grilled vegetable and golden halloumi skewers with a jewelled vegetarian couscous along with the salsa that tantalised our taste buds and made all the the different ingredients on the plate sing!

The consistency was very smooth and the colour so very vibrant.  I just deeply regret not taking a picture to show you all, I was too busy eating away! Sorry!
I have however, found a picture that shows the type of consistency of the salsa we had.  The colour here, is more a lime green but the colour you will achieve with this particular recipe will be slightly darker due to the mint. I hope you all enjoy it as much as we did.

Thanks to R & V for a wonderful evening and for this lovely recipe!

INGREDIENTS

1 bunch parsley, chopped leaves only
1 bunch basil, chopped leaves
1 bunch mint, chopped leaves
2 tbsp capers drained
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1 tsp dijon mustard
Olive oil as required
Sea Salt & Ground fresh pepper to taste

METHOD

Simply blitz all the above ingredients together in a food processor, grinder or Nutribullet if you have one

Pour into a bowl and leave in the fridge until your ready to serve

Picture courtesy of https://fortheloveofyum.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/img_5766.jpg

A Baked Broccoli Kofta Curry….

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I absolutely love to find new recipes to try and am able to get a variety everyday on the Facebook interactive food group. With over 6000 members, I have made many friends and you can imagine the amount of vegetarian food dishes, recipes and ideas that are flying around.

I see so many that I wish to make, that now I have started to bookmark them. The first one I couldn’t wait to cook was The Baked Broccoli Kofta Curry by Swathi Pareek @ Cooking wid joy and what an outstanding recipe. Firstly what stood out at me was that the koftas were baked rather than fried and the ingredients were really healthy with hardly any use of oil.

What resulted was a superb curry with an intense broccoli hit of kofta in the most delectable tomato based curry. Swati! What a fantastic recipe!! One I know I will be making over and over again. Thank you so much!

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It’s a must make…Do visit Swati and check out more tasty vegetarian recipes. Hope you all enjoy it. Have a relaxing, stress free Sunday! Much love D x

I followed the recipe with one acception.  I added a handful of cheddar cheese to the broccoli mash!  You know me and cheese! Lol!

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Sharing Food with Shivaay Delights

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I have just seen these gorgeous tricolour yummy veg and cheese balls made by the super talented Shikha Gupta!

The colours are synonymous to the flag of India, being Indian Independence Day tomorrow.  Online all friends are going orange, green and white crazy to celebrate.

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Some recipes are so very innovative as is this one, I just want to reach out into my screen and grab each one!!! 😉

For Shikha’s recipe please go to http://chhapanbhog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/tri-coloured-vegetable-and-cheese.html?m=1

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Karaisutir Kochuri or Peas Puri

A delicious treat of stuffed bread…which puffs up as soon as it hits the oil as you fry it. Gorgeous recipe from Jayeeta, Enjoy friends x

Cooking Delight

Nothing beats the idea of  starting the lazy Sunday morning with a breakfast of puris or luchi with Dum Aloo (spicy potato curry). However, puris can be of different kind and known as kachori, bhatura , nun etc. Among all, Peas Puri is my favourtie.

Since fresh peas used to be available only in winter months in India, Peas Puri was more of a winter delicacy. I still relish the memory of my mother preparing this while waiting seemed too long for me. My expertise in the whole process, however was limited to peeling off the peas back then. Now it is indeed a bit arduous to prepare all by myself, but the end result is worthy. Here goes the recipe of peas puri which you will not be tired of trying again and again.

Karaisutir Kochuri/Peas Puri with Aloor dum Karaisutir Kochuri/Peas Puri with Aloor dum

Ingredients for 20 pieces of puri :

For stuffing…

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Sharing Food On Shivaay Delights

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Today’s food blogger choice is the vegan cook from the clear, concise and full of delicious food blog “Why not vegan?”

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I saw this amazing picture. Roasted brussel sprouts with a garlic spaghetti, I know I will be trying this very soon. I always seem to forget that sprouts are available during the whole year and not just at Christmas where everyone eats them for tradition, rather than actually wanting to eat them!

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The Why Not Vegan Blog and Spaghetti Recipe

Check out this food blog…it will inspire you! Much love, D x

Good Morning Friends ♡

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And yummy Vegetarian food!

Come join our new vegetarian food group on Facebook and post your yummy recipes, pictures and blog links…Let’s all share and connect through food! 🙂 Where WordPress and Facebook comes together! 🙂

https://m.facebook.com/groups/1433687623575418?ref=m_notif&notif_t=group_activity

Can’t wait to see you all there my lovely friends!!!

Have a brilliant day! Much Love D x

Come Join Me….

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ShivaayDelights.com is on PINTEREST…I have been on it for a few years now, but i’ve just retitled as ShivaayDelights.com.  It’s a great place to connect and find lots of information and most importantly yummy recipes. 

I didn’t realise how many pins I had accumulated so far until Elaine @ Foodbod messaged me and said that I have 3.7k pins!! Wow! I was amazed but as you can see it is highly addictive this pinning and you’ll get to know me even more!… Now that’s a bonus! Lol 😉

Come have a look and follow me on Pinterest…Shivaaydelights.com
I will be pinning a lot of  your WordPress blog recipes and posts too as I always have and am dedicating a board to it too very soon!

Join Pinterest if you haven’t done so and come follow Shivaay Delights… I can’t wait to connect there too and follow you back!
Much Love D x

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