The Club Mahabaleshwar - Food and Kitchen Tour

I hope you have read my previous post about The Club , Mahabaleshwar....If you haven't as yet here it is.

The reason I chose to write a separate post on just the food is because the food is so spectacular I just could not put it all together in one post!

The quaint old brass bell is rung to indicate the start of a meal time....yes there are fixed meal times....and the same old brass bell is rung 10 minutes prior to the close of meal time!

Meals at the club are a formal affair ....members are expected to dress appropriately....no shorts and rubbish thank you very much!

And best of all no cell phones allowed in the dining area! Thank God ....dosen't it just ruin a meal ?

When people on your table keep checking their phones or worse still when people on the adjacent tables talk loudly over their phones....at least there are a few places in the world that still  respect the environment in which a meal is to be enjoyed and go that extra mile to create such an environment!

The tables are laid out perfectly ....every guest is assigned their own special table and bearer for the entire duration of their stay. Each meal is accompanied with a printed menu on the table!

Breakfast

Of course the menu for the day is disclosed 24 hours in advance on the notice board outside the dining hall ....

Akuri - Parsi style scrambled eggs at breakfast

I dont know about you but food is pretty much the thing I look forward to on any holiday I take....so its nice when they tell you what they will serve you for your next meal....that way you can dream about the next meal while dozing off on the hammock :))

Chicken roasted to perfection

Food both vegetarian and Non Vegetarian is exceptional ....meals are almost always a good mix of Indian and Continental.  Lunch and dinner start with a soup and soup sticks....and the main course is a delight!

Spring Onion Soup

The food is modern yet old world ....dining at The Club is such a delight to all your senses....here are some more pictures of what we ate during out last stay there....

Sauteed Vegetables and Patrani Macchi

Vegetable Lasagna

The desserts are spectacular ...I specially love the steamed date pudding served with cream...

Steamed date pudding with cream

Liveried bearers , in white,serve you promptly in the dining room and it is a pleasure to be welcomed over breakfast,lunch and dinner .....

Banana Split

And now onto the Kitchen tour...well what can I say....

Never before have I seen staff that has so much pride in the kitchen and establishment they work in....

I took an exclusive guided tour of the kitchen and the kitchen staff was so happy and welcoming and they told me "Madam you will not find a better and bigger kitchen than ours in all of Mahabaleshwar...well thats true....there isnt any......

The kitchen is airy , sunny , beautiful and all white.....its so spacious and old wordly....

The vegetarian and non-vegetarian areas are separate....

Its such a lovely positive happy place to be in.....so much better than any 5 star kitchen I have seen with all its steel and sharp edges....

I hope you enjoyed your tour of The Club Mahabaleshwar as much as I enjoyed writing about it....

Parsi Prawn Curry

The 69,000 strong Parsi community of India is special indeed!

 Apart from contributing so much to trade and economy they have added a sense of honesty to business for centuries!

And more importantly they have shown us how to make eggs in a hundred ways .....given us iconic dishes like Salli boti, Patrani Macchi , Dhansak and more , each of these stunning dishes is a celebration of fusion of Persian cooking with Gujrati cooking techniques  !

Like all Indian cultures, the Parsi way of life is one of assimilation. Their language, customs, food are a combination of Persian and Gujarati traditions. 

We love Parsis for their generosity, idiosyncrasies,prominent noses, great hospitality , love for the good things in life- food, alcohol, travel,western classical music , a passion for two-wheelers , a rollicking sense of humour and for making Bombay a great city!

I am lucky to have know N for so many years....she is a great cook who knows so much about every day home style Parsi food.


          


This curry is my favorite , its fool proof and my go to recipe for fish and prawns!

And I must mention this is N's aunts recipe!

 So this  is Freny Mamis Parsi Prawn Curry...
 SERVES 2 

300 g prawns de-veined , washed 

For the curry powder 

White sesame seeds 1.5 tablespoons
Coriander seeds 1.5 tablespoons
Poppy seeds 1.5 tablespoons
Cumin seeds 1 tablespoon
Kashmiri whole dried chillies 7-8 (with seeds removed )

1 tomato
1 onion
7-8 cloves of garlic
A few curry leaves

25g maggi coconut milk powder packet diluted in 1.5 cups of water 
OR
1.5 cups coconut milk fresh or from a can

Lemon juice and coriander leaves to garnish 

2 tablespoons oil (refined oil)

PROCEDURE

Dry roast the ingredients together mentioned under Curry powder on a hot griddle/tawa for 2-3 minutes on very low heat . Once they are just a little toasted cool and blend to a powder in a blender.
Then add the tomato, onion and garlic cloves into the blender and blend with the curry powder to obtain a curry paste.

In  a pan heat some oil , add curry leaves and cook the curry paste for 5-10 minutes . Then add the prepared coconut milk and let it come to a 
boil.

Add prawns cook for a further 5 minutes till prawns are cooked,dont over cook prawns. Finish with a squeeze of lemon juice and some coriander leaves.

Serve with steamed rice!