When a Chef invites me over for dinner, it makes me anxious and nervous. I’m always confused whether I should starve myself till the Chef’s meal so I can do justice to their skills. On the other hand, I don’t want to be perceived as a “hogger”. Arriving suitably hungry at a Chef’s residence also means I can make reasonable demands to be fed – but how would the Chef perceive it? Etc. Like I said, anxiety.
Luckily, with Chef Saransh Goila’s #GoilaButterChicken dinner, my anxiety dissipated quickly. He’s adorable as a person and his family welcomed us warmly. And the residence where we were dining has a full-fledged mini-theater with 3D capabilities. I had enough things to keep myself busy with till the meal was ready and other guests had arrived!
The dinner menu included Chilli Coconut Vodka, Kathal ( jackfruit ) Tacos, Spaghetti Moily, the Goila Butter Chicken and Saffron Fruit Cream. Below, prep for the Spaghetti Moily.
Salad leaves for inclusion in the kathal tacos and on the right below, paisley wallpaper in the kitchen.
A well-stocked bar is always quite the attraction.
Trying to get a goofy selfie before things get serious in the kitchen. Things never got serious in the kitchen thankfully – Saransh loves food with ease and there was a lot of love infused in what he cooked last evening. ( If he looks a little wide-eyed above it’s probably because he could sense the #SelfieMonster in me *giggle* ). Despite my #SelfieMonster phase in life, I didn’t get selfies with all the guests at dinner. Boo.
There was going to be a “Coal Tadka” in the Goila Butter Chicken and I was in position, ready to take photos as things got sparkly.
The hot coal is placed in a metal “katori” and set in the middle of the chicken curry.
Saransh then added dollops of butter into the katori and the sizzles were on. The entire “kadhaai” or wok needs to be covered so that the curry is infused with the smoked butter and coal, so I didn’t have too much time to get the photos. So much fun in the kitchen!
The Kathal Tacos on a plate above left and the Chilli coconut Vodka on the right. I got myself a Magnum Budweiser from the refrigerator and added some of the Chilli Coconut in it for a delectable shandy!
We settled down in the theatre room for some banter and soon it was time for the Spaghetti Moily. More coconut! Yum!
Two Chefs in the frame. Chef Sabyasachi Gorai aka Chef Saby with Saransh in the above photo. And selfie with Lavina Kharkwal of Indian Food Freak below.
The Goila Butter Chicken is READY! What a treat it was!
Below, selfie with Ghazal singer Nasser Harvani ( extreme right ).
On the right above, rose-coconut sweets. I do love everything coconut and Saransh included it in almost everything ( except the tacos and the chicken of course ). The Jat in me was delighted that there was fruit cream AND coconut laddoos! The sweet-tooth is forever voracious.
Finally time to sample some 3D in the theatre ( see how my artificial tooth glows in the blue light above! ). We watched a bit of underwater fish and then a bit of the film Gravity. So cool getting to watch it through 3D glasses that aren’t scratched. Good fun. I couldn’t stop shrieking at and reaching out to this one particular fish that almost seemed within reach!
Also, Chef Saby’s stories were enthralling! What a colourful career!
Before I knew it, it was time to go. The evening went by much quicker than I’d anticipated. Great group of guests as well. Not everyone knew each other previously ( I did not know anyone except Saransh! ) and that showed Saransh had been very thoughtful about his guest-list. I don’t go out much because it is invariably the same set of people and the conversations are on the same tired subjects. This was a delightful evening and I’m happy I was part of such an eclectic bunch of guests. ( Although, since I quit Facebook yesterday, I’ve been wondering how I’m going to stay in touch with these folks now! ) Miten and Mona are on Twitter, so that’s done.
Fantastic evening and great food Saransh! Thank you!
