Coorg

Coorg is located in southwest part of Karnataka. We planned to visit this place in our winter holidays of December 2011.

Coorg Vacation reminds me of Misty hills, lush teakwood and sandalwood forests, and acres of tea and coffee plantations and lip-smacking Spicy Coorgi food.

We stayed at Club Mahindra Kodagu Valley Resort, a complete nature’s splendor for Seven days. This is one place where we enjoyed much more inside the resort compared to usual outside site seeing. The resort is spread over luxurious green 35 acres of property truly one of the best of Club Mahindra resorts.

Every morning, we woke up to the sound of birds chirping, then taking long walks around the resort, and sometimes doing nothing at all!! An ultimate relaxation! Well...Sometimes doing nothing is the best we can do.

 

 Our Cottage… It was named after an Indian berry ‘Karvand’

Cottage interior

enjoying with my canon

My Kylie Kwong look!!

Jai

Pool surrounded by trees

me

Giant Chess

Resort restaurant

Daily visitor in our room- her name is Oonchi

More of me

Way to the Spa- best three hours of the holiday

Bit more of photography

We never used these throughout our stay…we preferred walking :p

Coffee beans on the plant

Plantation visit

Our duo

Clicked in an old temple surrounded by forest

It’s a bath time for elephants at Dubare - Elephant Camp

Abbey Falls..Roar of the falls can be heard from the main road, from where a path goes through lovely coffee and cardamom plantations

With this magnificent view it was time to say good bye

Grilled chilli chicken with stir fried vegetables

Filling, fast, fresh and simple. Enjoy this quick tasty meal.

Ingredients

For Chicken

2	chicken thigh
2 tbsp	Olive Oil
1 tbsp	dried chilli flakes
1 tbsp	Paprika /Chilli Powder
1 tsp	Garlic paste/ crushed garlic
to taste	Salt

For Stir fried vegetables

2 tbsp	Oil
1	Large Capsicum (Bell Peppers)
2	Tomatoes
1	Onion
`3-4	Garlic Cloves
1 tsp	dried mixed herbs
to taste	crushed black pepper
to taste	Salt

Method

Grilled Chicken

·         Prick chicken pieces all over with a tip of sharp knife to make lots of small incision

·         Combine the oil, paprika/ chilli powder, crushed garlic and salt to prepare the marinade

·         Cover the chicken with the marinade so that it is well-coated all over.

·         Preheat a grill Oven. Place the chicken pieces on the grill and cook for 15-20 mins. (Grill High: 10 mins + Combination: 10 mins)

·         Or you can also cook it on a barbeque/grill pan on medium heat for 10-15 minutes on each side.

Stir fried vegetables

·         Finely chop garlic cloves and dice tomatoes, capsicum and onion.

·         Heat oil in a wok. Add chopped garlic and let it fry for few seconds

·         Now add onions and capsicum and cook for two minutes on high heat.

·         In the end add tomatoes and mixed herbs and let it stir fry for a minute.

·         Season with salt and crushed black pepper

 Tips

·         Grilling chicken brings out the best by crisping its skin, juicing up its meat

·       Stir-frying makes the most of vegetables, retaining their color, flavor and texture

Things

La Cuisine Paris - Cooking Classes

This cooking class was a highlight of our Europe trip, it was a one day foot tour and cooking class in Paris and I must say we never had so much fun cooking together!!

The chef was incredibly awesome, knowledgeable and experienced; he assisted our group to shop different ingredients from the local market to create a delicious lunch.

He started with discussing the menu with the group and finalized the meal that will suit everyone’s preference. Shopping in the local market was an amazing experience, we saw and shopped some of the freshest ingredients like vegetables, poultry, fish, bread, fruits, cheese and wine!

In the classroom every one of us had a separate work station. We learned how to prepare meat (Chicken and duck) for this recipe, later we chopped vegetables like asparagus, carrot, mushrooms and zucchini. I remember Jai was making flowers out of carrots, and I was so surprised to see his dedication in the kitchen.

 

The chef also taught my husband how to make mayonnaise. It was the first and a last time when he prepared it, so its actually worth uploading this legendary video!!

Chef asked me to concentrate on the dessert so for the next few minutes I was busy making this mind-blowing Rhubarb- Strawberry dessert topped with cream.

After the salad, main course, and dessert was prepared we began plating our work. Chef gave us a lot of tips about food presentation and serving as well. The table was ready; we served ourselves and enjoyed this heavenly meal with crisp zesty-white wine and friendly chitchatting.