Sunday Brunch : White Sauce Pasta

Sunday brunch is quite a good idea after a late Saturday night spent with friends over a session of drinks, movie outing with your date, clubbing hard with your pals thus waking up late on Sunday becomes obvious.

Presenting a simple and easy to cook recipe for White Sauce Pasta:

Boil macaroni or pasta with few drops of cooking oil and pinch of salt. Boil pasta to the right extent and don’t overcook it.Drain the water using a sieve; toss it gently so that they don’t stick to each other.

For White Sauce preparation:

Take 1/2 tbsp of cooking oil in a pan.

Mix ½ cup of milk with maida or all purpose flour in the pan along with the cooking oil. Stir well so no lumps are formed keep stirring till it turns into a pale white thick sauce in between add ¼ tbsp of vinegar and pinch of salt to it.

Take vegetables of your choice I prefer peas, bean, onion, carrot, capsicum. Wash and chop all the vegetables. Take 1 tbsp of cooking oil in a pan; add all the chopped vegetables to it. Sauté the vegetables till the onion turns pale yellow. Now time to add the pasta and pour the white sauce pasta over it sprinkle some oregano, black pepper we have already added salt wile boiling the pasta and preparing the white sauce if you feel the salt is less sprinkle some according to your taste.

Bake some brown bread and get some juice or coffee .

Happy Brunching ;)

Chakhna : Something to munch while boozing

Best Chakhnas that we enjoy with friends over the drinks:

1. Peanuts are one of the best chakhnas available without a doubt and can be combined with,anything     from whisky to vodka, the available variants.

a. Plain Peanuts: available at every nook & corner of any street with a pinch of salt.

b. Masala Peanuts: fried with onion, tomato, salt & red chili powder  to taste served with

    mint sauce.

c. Masala Coated peanuts:  fried with batter of gram flour and spices.

2.  Paneer Tikka: The most preferred snacks for munching along with any drink perfect to have while   chilling out with friends over drinks and some Punjabi songs in background.

3. Roasted Chicken or “Tandooori Chicken”: one of the best combinations that goes well with beer. Being a bachelor if you don’t want to cook for yourself and enjoy your weekend. Grab some cans of beer along with Tandoori chicken from a nearby non-veg joint in your neighborhood, similarly Chicken Tikka can also be tried.

4. Bhelpuri/Jhalmuri: If you want to have a low calorie sweet and sour chakhna with a peg of your whisky in the evening as it is easy to prepare and can be munched for a longer duration and have less calories.

5. Salad: very healthy easy to prepare comprising of sliced cucumber, onion, tomato and whatever you wish to add with some salt and chaat masala sprinkled over.

6. Exotic cheese & chocolates: They really go well with wine and champagne and sets your class         apart. Is not it ladies?

7. Dry Fruits: Roasted and salted cashews, almonds goes well with whisky but should be in limited quantities.

8.   While sipping a peg of scotch there is no need of munching only a company of good friends with a good conversation with some soft music playing in background is more than good enough to enjoy your drink.

Global brands chose Desi platter for India

The Indians were never used to the taste of junk food till the arrival of the McDonald’s as they opened the gates for other biggies in the Indian market followed by Domino’s Pizza, Pizza Hut, Subway etc.

What McDonald’s did was quite innovative and considered the sentiments of a nation where vegetarian food has always been preferred over the non-vegetarian food, and McDonald’s never did such thing anywhere in their previous ventures. They came up with the idea of McAloo Tikki Burger and McVeggie the Indianised version of the burger sold with a tagline “Humare Zamane ke daam” and also giving more economical options coming up with the idea of Ecomeal. The combination of AlooTikki or Chicken McGrill with (Small Fries + Small Cold Drink) targeting mostly the college students and just to have an experience.

And to attract the younger ones came up with the idea of happymeal which comprised of a toy and thus became a craze among the kids as well.

All these ways helped McD’s to tap the potential opportunities available in the Indian market.

Later with entry of Domino's Pizza, pizza which was served by only few bakeries and some high end restaurants or eating joints, I remember whenever I had to eat pizza my parents would take me to Wrangler’s in Connought Place, pizza used to be a highly fancied food then. But Domino's Pizza changed all the equations and now they are available in around 100 cities across the country very easily accessible with their home delivery service that too in 30 minutes otherwise the order is free of cost if they can’t keep up with their commitment of delivering in 30 minutes bracket.

The experiments done, serving veg and chicken variants instead of pork and beef, by the McDonald’s and Domino's were quite successful that they set a benchmark for their rivals who were ready to enter into the Indian market. Like Subway introduced the seekh kebab, chicken tikka, aloo tikki in their menu. Similarly, the Burger King chose lamb patty for their burgers and also included veg items as well.

So, in order to make a deal with Indian customers do as the Indians do.