Zomato Restaurant review - Citrus Cafe - Lemon Tree Hotel, Whitefield

Visited this restaurant for dinner and chose to have their buffet as I had the gourmet passport by dineout which makes the buffet price halved. We went there with kids and my sister-in-law. The hotel was a desolete place at night - not very easy to find out the gate for entry. But Google maps helped us and we reached the parking place. Once parked, there was nobody to guide which direction is the reception, neither there is any sign. Anyway, we somehow found the way and reached the reception. They guided us to the restaurant. There was refreshing lemon fragrances throughout the hotel and that is very pleasing as I love citrus smell.The buffet price was reasonable ( Rs 650 per head ) but the spread is discouraging. There were only 4~5 starters and apart from the fish item none of them was worth mentioning. There were very few options in any categories. There was pasta live counter and that one serves quality pasta preparation but desserts were few and of average quality. The only saving grace was service and the waiters were very helpful. They arranged some juice for my toddlers which was out of the menu. Overall I am disappointed with this restaurant. They may not be costly but food is not worth visiting. A rating of 3 from my side.

Here are some of the snaps taken there of my family and me.
 

Dimer Jhol / Andey ki curry - Simple spicy Egg Curry

Eggs have been considered the standard against which all other nutritious foods are measured because their composition of different elements like protein, carbohydrates etc. is so ideal. Eggs are also considered very helpful for a mother as dishes of eggs are very easy to prepare, healthy as well as tasty. That is why in every country egg curry is available in some form or other. “Dimer jhol” as we Bengalis know this preparation is known as “Aunda kurry” in Punjab,  “Mutai Kulambu” in Sri Lanka, “Huevos Rancheros” in Mexico and simple Egg curry in several others. My recipe here has taken inspiration from some of these dishes and can be considered a fusion food. But the taste is still yummy and it does not take much time to prepare this one so that today’s supermoms are also happy.

Preparation Time: - 15 min

Cooking Time: - 35~40 min

Servings: - 4 persons

Ingredients:

1. 3 nos. Potato (medium size)
2. 6 nos. Eggs
3. 2 nos. Tomato (medium size)
4. 2 ½ nos. Onion (medium size)
5. 3 nos. Green chili
6. 1 ½ inch Fresh Ginger
7. 3 nos. cloves of fresh Garlic
8. 1 tsp Turmeric Powder
9. 2 Bay leaves
10. ½ tsp Garam Masala
11. 2 tsp Coconut Powder
12. 2 tbsp Red Paprika
13. Few pods of black pepper
14.  4 tbsp Vegetable oil ( I use Sunflower oil but you can use any vegetable oil)
15. 2 tbsp Ghee or clarified butter
16. Salt to taste
17. Coriander leaves for garnishing

Preparation:-

1. Boil eggs and potatoes. Peel the skin of potatoes and remove the shell of eggs. Keep aside.
2. Chop the onion and tomatoes, prepare the ginger and cloves of garlic.
   
3. Mix 4 eggs and potatoes with little salt and Turmeric powder and keep aside.
   
4. Crush the black pepper in a pestle and mortar.
5. Mix half of the onion, cloves of garlic, ginger, black pepper, coconut powder, tomatoes and two eggs.
6. Put the mixture in a blender and blend for a minute. Keep aside this spice mixture.
7. In a Kadai or deep bottomed frying pan, heat oil and 1 tbsp Ghee in high heat. Turn the burner to medium and add bay leaves and 2 green chillis.
   
   
   
   
8. Sauté for few seconds and add the rest of chopped onion.
9. Fry the onion till they turn golden brown.
10. Add the spice mixture and stir continuously till 3~4 minutes.
    
11. Add the red paprika and salt according to your taste.
    
12. Pour ½ cup of water and add potatoes and eggs.
13. Cover and cook till the gravy is thick.
    
14. Add garam masala and 1 tbsp Ghee – stir a little and turn off the burner.
15. Garnish with coriander leaves and a green chilli
    

Serve this side dish hot with steamed / flavoured rice or even with Roti/ Puri / Naan.

As always please feel free to comment, criticize and seek if any help is required. I am all ears.

Narkel Naru or coconut laddoo - Traditional Bengali sweet with coconut and jaggery

Narkel Naru in Durga Puja is etched in every Bengali’s memory as a childhood favourite. It is traditionally prepared after Dashami or Dussehra and it has two varieties – Gurer Naru or Chinir Naru depending upon whether jaggery or sugar is used to prepare this wonderful dessert. There is another variety where we use palm jaggery to prepare more brown laddoos but it is generally prepared in winter as thepalm jaggery is available in winter only. Now-a-days this recipe is prepared in some form or other in all over India during festival or even in normal time. Please check it out:-

Preparation Time: - 10 min

 

Cooking Time: - 20 min

 

Servings: - 3~4 persons but really depends upon the personal capacity or your affinity of sweets

 

Ingredients:- 

1. 1 ½ cup Freshly grated coconut
2. ¾ cup Jaggery powder or finely grated Jaggery
3. ½ tsp Cardamom powder
4. Little bit Ghee or clarified butter
5. Chopped dry fruits (optional)
   
   

Preparation:-

1.  Scrap two or more coconuts to have 1 ½ cup of grated coconut. You can use a blender to smoothen the coconut.

2.  Take a heavy bottomed vessel / kadai and heat it dry.

3.  Turn the burner to low flame and add coconut.

4.  Sauté for 3~4 min to evaporate the moisture from coconut.

5.  Add a little water to scraped jaggery and heat it in a separate bowl to melt it. Use a strainer to remove the impurities from the solution. Keep aside. Alternatively you can use organic jaggery or jaggery powder.

6.  Now add the jaggery to the dry coconut. Mix it well.

7. Continue stirring for 5~6 minutes. Melted jaggery will mix with the coconut and form a thick solution.

8.  Switch off the flame and keep the vessel on countertop.

9.  Add cardamom powder and mix.

10.Let the mixture cool down.

11.Use ghee to grease your palm and take a portion of the mixture to form laddoos of size of your choice. You should have made 12~14 laddoos of medium size.

12.You can garnish the laddoos with raisin or almond pieces optionally.

Your delicious Bengali dessert is ready now. You can eat separately as snacks or after a meal. You can store them in an air-tight container and refrigerate. You should be able to eat them for about a month.

Please note the following:-

1.    Instead of cardamom powder you can smash 3~4 green cardamom pods by pestle and mortar and use that instead of powder.

2.    You can use Palm jaggery instead of plain jaggery to make the laddoos tastier. The colour of such naru /laddoos will be darker.

3.    If you do not want to use jaggery you can use ¾ cup of condensed milk or same amount of plain vanilla sugar instead.

4.    You can use coconut oil to grease your palm instead of ghee.

As always please feel free to comment, criticize and seek if any help is required. I am all ears.