Calf Ribs - the one and only

So having a ribs craving for a good while now, I decided its time to take it to the next level and get away from the ordinary spare ribs you can get and go for calf ribs.

The difference? Well basically the meat is more tender and most importantly, there is more meat on it in the first place ;)

I marinated the ribs with a marinade made out of honey, tomatoes, soy sauce, joghurt and some other spices so the meat would have a sweet-spicy combination. I topped the meat with emmentaler cheese at the end which melted nicely and had potato wedges to go with it. After having this, I think i will stockpile more calf ribs in my fridge as its really delicious and also quite cheap compared to other meat :)

cheer cheer

Udon noodles with mussels

So I went to visit my sister in the UK over the weekend and figured it was time to keep a promise I had made to her a while back. When she came to Vienna the last time she chose a few dishes she wanted me to cook from her from a Gordon Ramsay cookery book she had bought me a few months ago.

I chose to cook Udon noodles with mussels this time, an asian inspired dish which can be served as a starter or main. As we didnt have much time to go to the right places for shopping it turned out a bit difficult to find all the right ingredients in the local supermarket (tesco it was), but we managed to get the essentials in palm sugar, lemongrass, ginger, rice vinegar, fish sauce and soy sauce (which we had at home conveniently).

Cooking the mussels did not take much time. If you are not familiar with cooking fresh mussels, here is a quick tip:

They need to be closed when fresh (throw away opened ones), and open after cooking (throw away cooked ones). Also make sure you brush them properly as they can be quite sandy. Luckily the ones we bought were cleaned already.

The noodles just take a few minutes to cook in boiling water and basically you pour the mussel brine on top of them and to add some extra flavour top up with some coriander leaves (or basil if you are not a fan of coriander - like me)

cheer cheer

Der Stadl- XXL Restaurant in Vienna

Here I am again, after battling with the flu for a week I can finally spare a few words on a place I visited over a week ago. "Der Stadl" is a typical Austrian tavern, decorated with rustic wooden furniture and a rural atmosphere. We chose this restaurant as it touts to have the biggest Schnitzel in Vienna and Ribs of the length of a meter.

Overall, I must say the place is really nice and cosy. The waiter's are caring and the food.. well lets put it this way, its a lot! Problem with most places offering these kind of meals is the quality of the actual served dish. Here however I must say the Schnitzel was close to perfect, the Ribs were tender and the fries crispy.

The Stadl also offers a challange for the really brave ones: Finish the XXL Schnitzel platter within 45 minutes and  you get it for free! I can tell you that this is really a huge task as one gets 5 (FIVE) pieces of Schnitzel (around 2,5 kg meat) and 0.5 kg or fries (i think its pretty obvious what I am talking about if you look at the pic). Not an easy task at all and as expected we failed. According to the waitress only one 12 year old girl has made it until now (which i find hard to believe, not the no one else beeing able to do it, but at 12 year old being able to do it bit..).

The 1 meter Ribs looked delicious already. I dont understand why they come with bread, but so be it :) Other then that we ordered Cordon Blue which was OK... not the best in the world but definietly edible.
Both Schnitzel and Cordon Blue can be ordered from Pork or turkey so except you strictly eat halal meat, there is definietly something for you to get. I strongly recommend this place and surely will try the challange some other time!

A breeze of Morocco

Well well, here I am again!!! :-)
This time the craving for meat took over and so I plated up a Moroccan style dish:
Spiced up oven grilled chicken and some fresh couscous with chopped up red and green peppers. Oh, I just noticed that my green peppers are nowhere to be seen on the picture I took....they must be hiding deep inside Mount Couscous. :-)

When cooking rather oily & spicy dishes, I find it nice to balance it out with something rather fresh and light. This way you can enjoy more of it and not have the feeling of your tummy being at the verge of exploding. But believe it or not, I did not use a single drop of oil in this dish....the only fat on the tray was from the chicken itself.
So, one could say that this is quite a healthy meal!

Tip: A bit of yoghurt with a few drops of lime juice and some peppercorns would go well with it! Just realised now that I even had the ingredients at home, but did not think of it yesterday. Oh well, next time maybe!

For the seafood lovers out there!

Wow....am loving this blog! Finally I can share my passion for food and get together with others who appreciate food the way I do. This is great!

Well, I am the kind of person who needs variety and therefore I cannot survive without a bit of everything....meat, seafood, fruit, veg....and today I fancied some:



SEAFOOD - Prawns to be specific!

Being Sri Lankan, I often use coconut milk in my curries (which not everybody is a fan of, but I surely am!). So I've made a tradtional Sri Lankan prawn curry with just a few spices, chilli and coconut milk. Easy peasy!!!


Perfect with some rice containing carrots and peas as I have dished it up here. :-)

something simple to start with

Today I decided to cook one of my all time favourites - spicy chicken curry. Very simple, easy to cook, and most importantly, delicious. I love my curry hot, and when I say hot, i dont mean the vindaloo you get in any ordinary restaurant but proper phaal level spicy.

I added potatoes, basil and creme fraiche to give the whole thing a certain extra note. It goes well with rice or naan, but bengali as I am, rice comes first!

bon appetit!

Welcome to A La Carte

Many people see cooking as something "necessary" and while some enjoy good food every now and then (while being too lazy or dismissive about the cooking part itself), others don’t feel the need of having a nicely cooked meal at all (cornflakes and fast food Olè!).

Cooking for me is more then just preparing a meal. I enjoy the preparations, the creativity needed to make something look extraordinary and most of all I enjoy a nice meal with people around me.

I wouldn’t consider myself a good cook, but rather someone who is interested in trying out new things every now and then and explore the world of culinary tastes. A few months ago I watched a show called “junior master chef” where kids aged 6-13 prepared stunning dishes. I admire them for the talent and most of all, the patience they put into this (as I am everything but a patient person… lies in the family I guess).

On this blog I would like to share my doings with my friends. I would also like to encourage everyone to come up with ideas, suggestions and even criticism. The world of food is more than open for exploration and I want to motivate people to get together and exchange experiences, be it a tasty curry (which I definitely will try to copy hehe), a good restaurant, a dish one wants to try out or just a simple sandwich which turned out to be delicious!

So long, bring it on!