The Italian Pop Up.

A 4 course meal inspired by my travels in the Amalfi Coast and 6 months of Italian cooking - book your seat now!

Email me at devikabing@gmail.com to book!

Cannot wait to feed you!

xoxo
D

The Pink Radish Story.

Three months ago, after feeling completely inspired by an episode of Chef's Table, I decided to have a go at growing my own produce. It seemed to make so much sense. My family had seen me cribbing and whining about Indian produce and here was something I could do to take matters into my own hands, instead of just complaining.

I was lucky enough to have some space in the country to start this new project and to begin my mission. I had a few of my favourite veg planted; Bhavnagri chilies, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, zucchinni flowers and pink radishes. I started with zero expectations. I was ready for complete disappointment.

I made trips every 2 weeks to see that everything was in order. Thus far, nothing had gone disastrously wrong, which was.. umm.. a good sign?

Then, in December, when I visited, I was told that my pink radishes were ready. I couldn't believe it. I plucked them out of the soil, and there they were, in all their scarlet glory, my beautiful radishes!

HEY SEXY THANGS

ENOUGH SHOWING OFF ALREADY!

Once I got home, I decided that I HAD to make a dish entirely of radishes, like a  Masterchef challenge where I had to hero just one ingredient; CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.

I spent all morning figuring out the best ways to treat the different parts of this sexy root vegetable. I even called a few chef friends and asked them for ideas as well. Slowly but definitely, I could see a dish forming in my mind.

I don't know how to explain the immense joy you feel when you execute something on the plate and it is the exact replica of the picture you had in your mind. Ecstasy. Plain, unadulterated ecstasy.


So, wihtout further ado,  here is my finished dish and I'm ready for the tasting table ;)

BRAISED RADISH, PICKLED RADISH, FRESH RADISH, FRIED RADISH LEAVES, RADISH STEM SALSA VERDE, PRAWN AIOLI, RADISH LEAF DUST.

READY FOR MY CLOSE UP MISTER DUVALL

Hope you enjoyed this post you guys! Let me know what you think in the comments below!
Wishing you all a very Happy New Year! I hope to do a few more posts with the bounty from my farm, I can't wait!

Stay Hungry y'all

xoxo
D

MENU.

Hello friends! I finally have a menu, just in time for the holidays! I'm super proud of these items and I really hope you'll enjoy them as well. I know how many cravings I've been getting lately so I can only imagine.

Email me at devikabing@gmail.com to place orders and/or to discuss variations of items you'd like.

Happy browsing!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS Y'ALL!

 xoxo
D

Travel Diaries: Venice.

Ever since I ate my first pizza and learned that it was Italian, I've wanted to visit Italy. In my mind, it was a haven. I couldn't grasp the fact that Italy actually created the pizza. Also pasta, how freaking amazing is pasta? It's safe to say that pizza is my favourite food item. I can always eat pizza. Literally. Any weather, any mood, pizza is my go-to food. So you can imagine my excitement when I booked my tickets to Italy, the Mecca of pizza. This is the first of many Italy-related posts, so bear with me.



When I first arrived in Venice, I couldn't believe it was real life. The city has no cars, no roads for cars, just canals and boats. The 'taxi' ride from the airport to out hotel was on a super fancy boat and the views were unbelievable. The hotel we stayed in, The Danieli, was the same one from the movie The Tourist and it was quite surreal. I feel like you won't get the gist of anything I'm saying unless you see the pictures, the pictures of the magic that is Venice; so here goes.

NON-STOP GUSHING BEGINS IN 3... 2... 1...

Italian bacon, Serrano ham, Amalfi lemon, smoked salmon, mushrooms, scrambled eggs, the most delicious Italian pork sausage, hash brown. Who needs carbs?
- Hotel Danieli, Venice

Okay, guess I need carbs. Almond croissant, apple cake, chocolate cake, custard tart, doughnut.
- Hotel Danieli, Venice

Aperol Vino Spritz with a cheeky olive.

Buffalo mozzarella, Italian cherry tomatoes, rocket.

FIRST PIZZA IN ITALY AAAAAAAH

No, this isn't a postcard.

Seriously, guys, this is an actual place in the actual world.
- Plaza San Marcos, Venice

Oh, just a mimosa with the most goddamn incredible view ever.
- Hotel Danieli, Venice

Friends, this is a 'Bus Stop' in Venice. For real.

Aperol Spritz by the canal

SO MUCH CANDY. MUCH SWEET. OMG.

Quite simply, the best pistachio gelato I've ever tasted, ever.
- Gelato Artigionale, Venice

SO. MUCH. SEAFOOD.
*blinks eyes*

Again. These are real boats, this water is real as well, so is that sky

LAST NIGHT IN VENICE. ARE YOU WITH ME? ARE YOU SEEING THIS MAGIC?

Just one of my favourite snacks; rye bread, mixed leaves, smoked salmon, lemon, cream cheese
- Hotel Danieli, Venice

V For Vendetta, amirite?

NO FILTER. NO. GODDAMN. FILTER.

I can't even... I give up.

Sigh.

If this doesn't make you want to visit Venice, I don't know what will. I'm sorry all I've basically done is flip out over how beautiful everything is but GUYS LOOK AT THAT WATER - okay I'll stop.

Hope you enjoyed this LONG overdue post. Let me know your thoughts/comments below or on my Twitter or follow me on Snapchat @bingster22

xoxo
D

The Brookie Story.

It's that time of the year again, Masterchef fever is upon me and my head is buzzing with new ideas and inspiration. There is just so much to learn from Masterchef Australia. Even when I was at Le Cordon Bleu last year, completing my Grand Diplome, I came home everyday, to my tiny studio apartment in London and watched Masterchef Australia. 


As a cook, there is just so much to learn. So much creativity, so much inspiration and I'm not going to lie, I get teary eyed REALLY often. Whenever I feel like I'm being lazy or in a rut, I just switch on an episode of Masterchef and I feel like it's been a useful 60 mins. Seeing Reynold from last year set a Pressure Test this year just makes me feel more confident about achieving my goals.

Any who, enough of my gushing, I'm just writing this post to tell you that I made Harry's Brookies from Nigella's Midnight Feast Challenge last week cause I just couldn't get them out of my head. Also, I don't know whether it's just this year, but I discovered that most of the recipes are up on http://tenplay.com.au/channel-ten/masterchef/recipes/all-recipes


I was just SO SO SO excited to discover this and I checked out the recipe and made Brookies immediately after I was done watching the episode. Also since so many of you reciprocated my excitement, I thought this post was in order :)

Brookies : pre-oven

Okay, so I though I'd tell you a few things they don't tell you in the recipe and hopefully they'll help achieve the desired results!

- Use the best quality chocolate cause the chocolate is the predominant flavour and if you use rubbish chocolate, your Brookies are going to taste rubbish.

- Cook the Brookies in the oven for EXACTLY 15 minutes if you're doing them the same size I did because if you leave them in even a little bit longer, they'll just turn into hard biscuits with no gooey, brownie-like centre.

- It's also really important to note that they harden considerably as they cool so DON'T think that they're under cooked if they look slightly runny in the oven and leave them in for longer.

TA DA YOUGAIZ!

Alright, so that's the end of my sermon, I know a lot of you (like me) wanted to make these at home after watching the episode so I thought why not make your lives just a tad easier!

Here's the link to Harry's recipe : http://tenplay.com.au/channel-ten/masterchef/recipes/dark-chocolate-brookies
Hope this was slightly helpful!

(Also guys, how proud are you of the fact that I've post TWO blog posts so close to each other? Hopefully, I can keep this streak going ;)

Happy Baking!

xoxo
D

Fresh.

So how are you guys holding up? Is the heat getting to you? I can empathize, I've pretty much had two really severe heat strokes and constant headaches since May began. But enough about my whining, this post is about the current diet I'm following which is includes not eating carbs after 7 pm. With a really hectic work schedule, it's the only diet I don't find restricting and hard to follow. Plus, it shows pretty rapid results. In a country like India where full fledged meals are cooked at our homes everyday, it's tough to follow your diet and almost impossible if you can't cook.

Indian meals are extremely carb-centric and if you, like me, don't have great will power, it's really hard to enjoy a chicken curry, without chapati or rice. Because cooking is my profession, I find it relatively simple to fix up my own meals at night but I still find it a lot tougher than I did when I lived in London, cause the ingredients were so much more easily available.

Anyway, I'm here to provide you with a few zero-carb recipes, the ingredients for which are easily available these days, for light and healthy dinners.



1. SUPER EASY CALABRESE.

Okay guys, this salad is incredibly simple. The flavour combinations of this classic salad are so good, that it tastes really complex but it's super super simple to put together. The traditional salad doesn't have rocket, but I add it for the peppery zing it adds to the dish.

Ingredients
- Tomatoes, sliced
- Rocket leaves, picked
- Mozzarella
- Extra virgin olive oil, to drizzle
- Basil leaves
- Balsamic vinegar
- Fresh pepper
- Sea salt


Method
Put the balsamic vinegar in a saucepan and reduce it on the stove until it is a syrupy consistency and keep aside. Tear up the mozzarela into bite sized pieces and dress in olive oil, salt and pepper. Dress the rocket leaves in olive oil, salt and pepper. All that's left now is to plate the salad. How I do it is rocket leaves at the bottom, sliced tomatoes over them, mozzarella and then basil leaves. Drizzle the reduced balsamic over the salad and ultimately season with salt, pepper & a drizzle of olive oil.

2. OTTOLENGHI INSPIRED PUMPKIN SALAD WITH CHILLI YOGHURT & CORIANDER OIL.

This is one of my favourite salads. It's warm, it's moreish, it's creamy and it's downright delicious.

Ingredients
- Pumpkin, sliced
-Greek yoghurt or hung curd
- Ground cumin
- Ground cinnamon
- Dried chili flakes
- Garlic
- Olive oil
- Coriander

Method
Slice the pumpkin into comfortable wedges, marinate them with the ground cumin, cinnamon and olive oil and roast in an oven at 190 degrees for about 40 minutes or until the outside is crisp and the inside is soft and creamy. Mince the garlic and and mix into the yoghurt with the dried chili to form a nice creamy dressing. In a pestle and mortar, pound the corriander, garlic and salt with some olive oil to form a kind of pesto. Once the pumpkin is done, plate by spooning over the chili yoghurt and drizzling some of the coriander over all the slices. Perfection.

3. KALE & GOAN CHORIZO SALAD.

I can literally have eggs with anything, they're so bloody versatile. This salad right here, is proof.

Ingredients
- Kale, picked
- Goan chorizo
- Greek yoghurt or hung curd
- Olive oil
- Red wine vinegar
- Egg

Method
Dress in picked kale in olive oil and vinegar. Whip the hung curd to form a smooth consistency. Sautee the sausage WITHOUT the covering in a pan until it renders some of the oil. Make a soft boiled egg in boiling water with a dash of vinegar for about 4 minutes. In a bowl, place the dressed kale, place the bits of goan sausage around the bowl, place the soft boiled egg in the middle and cut in half so the yolk oozes and helps dress the salad. Spoon over some whipped yoghurt on top, season.

4. SPINACH, BEANS & GOAN CHORIZO SALAD.
I like this salad cause it's no-nonsense, punchy and full of protein. It's also incredibly filling.

- 3 different kinds of beans, soaked & cooked. I used rajma, white chana & chowli.
- Coriander
- Lime
- Olive oil
- Spinach
- Goan Chorizo
- Salt & Pepper

Method
Dress the beans in olive oil, lime juice, salt and pepper and chopped coriander. Render the oils of the Goan chorizo and add that into the mix. Toss together until you can see the beans have a reddish hue due to the chorizo oil. Tear spinach leaves and place at the bottom of a bowl. Place the bean & chorizo mixture on top so that the spinach wilts slightly with the warmth of the bean mixture.

5. POSH APPLE & STILTON SALAD.

Okay so blue cheese isn't exactly cheap but sometime's you need something delicate and French so why not! This salad has so many different textures and flavours and I love it!

Ingredients
- Apple
- Blue Cheese
- Honey
- Walnuts
- Basil
- Pepper

Method
There's no real method to this you guys, just slice the apples, drizzle over some honey, crumble over the blue cheese, toast the walnuts slightly and pick the basil leaves, crack some pepper and you've got yourself a party in your mouth!

6. POACHED EGG, PARMESAN, SLOW ROASTED TOMATO, KALE & WILD ARUGULA SALAD.

This salad is slightly more complicated than the ones before and a little time consuming but the slow roasted tomatoes taste so good and the oozy poached egg yolk forms the dressing for the salad.


Ingredients
- Egg
- Kale
- Garlic
- Thyme
- Tomatoes
- Olive Oil
- Wild Arugula
- Parmesan
- Salt
- Pepper

Method
Cut the tomatoes in half and lay on a baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil, and place a sprig of thyme and a slice of garlic on each tomato. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and paper. Roast in the oven at around 150 degrees for about an hour. Once they're done, their flavour will have intensified and they'll be dark and squidgy. Next, poach the egg. Boil water in a saucepan with a dash of vinegar. Form a whirlpool with a spoon and break the egg in the whirlpool. Reduce the heat a little. Let the egg cook for around a minute and then take it out. Dress the kale in olive oil, salt and pepper and place on the bottom of the bowl. Place the little halves of tomato and then the poached egg in the centre. Grate Parmesan over the hot egg and the rest of the salad. Place some wild arugula on top for pepperyness. Break the egg before eating this salad so that the yolk dresses the leaves beautifully.

Yep! That's 6 super easy, low carb and healthy recipes for you to try out. I really enjoy them and I hope you do too. Meanwhile, wish me luck on my diet and hopefully it will inspire me to work on more recipes that are quick and easy for young people and also that can be made out of ingredients found commonly in Indian households.

Hope you liked this post and let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Staaaaay Hungry!

xoxo
D

Fin.

This post is titled what it is because I was supposed to have this post written and edited by December 2015. Clearly I suck at not procrastinating. Clearly I don't deserve readers whose views I count on so much but still am unable to deliver to, on time. Is it too late now to say sorry? (Totally obsessed with the Biebs currently by the way).

I've done a lot of things since December, in my defence. I moved out of a country and moved back home. I became a certified chef, I turned 22 - a lot of things have happened.

Leaving London was really really hard and I'm opening a gate now, to tell you about my graduation from Le Cordon Bleu so if I get a little too nostalgic or sentimental, you're going to have to deal with it.

December in London was beautiful, mulled wine, Winter Wonderland, hot chocolate and fur coats. My parents came for my graduation and I had the best time taking them to my favourite places in London.

Finally certified; Grand Diplome, Le Cordon Bleu.

Churros,
- Winter Wonderland '15

Smoked salmon, cream cheese, clementine juice
- Pret

Chilli Tonkutsu Ramen
- Shoryu Ramen

Parents
- House Manjrekar

S O U T H B A N K
- London '15

Also, one of my favourite bits, lunch at Jamie Oliver's Fifteen. Best.

Smoked mackeral, picalilli, pickled veg
- Fifteen

Best Caesar salad I've ever had.
-Fifteen

Sunday roast. Yorkie and all.
- Fifteen

Fruit
- Borough Market

Veg
 - Borough Market

Fish
- Borough Market

Cheese
- Borough Market

So that's what I've been up to since December. Turns out, 9 grueling months is just the beginning of things to come, of hard work to do, of goals to achieve.

See you soon, I promise.

Until then, goodbye from an older, wiser, certified me ;)

xoxo
D