CaLDRON February 2014 - Valentine's Day Special

FOOD FAD Penne with Creamy Chicken, Mushrooms and Broccoli Ingredients: • 400g penne pasta • 2 tbsp onion, chopped • 1 tsp garlic, chopped • 3 tbsp, olive oil • ½ tsp chilli flakes • 1 cup button mushrooms, sliced • 1 cup cooked Godrej Yummiez Hot & Spicy Chicken • 1 cup broccoli florets, small • 1 cup cream • Salt and pepper, to taste • 2 basil leaves • 1 tbsp parsley, chopped • 2 tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated Method: 1. Cook the pasta in boiling salted water for 9 minutes. Drain and set aside 2. Sauté some onions, garlic and chilli flakes in olive oil. 3. Add the sliced mushrooms and chicken. Sauté for 3 minutes until the mushrooms are soft. 4. Add the broccoli florets, salt, pepper and cream. Simmer for around 4 minutes. Add the pasta and herbs into the sauce. 5. Toss well, finish with grated parmesan cheese. Recipe courtesy: Chef Vicky Ratnani, Head Chef, Aurus best part of it is that you can tweak the recipe to your palate, add to that little bit of creativity and voila! You can flaunt your very own signature dish!” Frozen Reality Arabind Das of GTFL believes that home makers and other people who are starved of time can now easily create excitement to the daily meals with these new introductions, and also add proteins to their daily diet. However, other companies that had introduced ready-to-eat and readyto-cook meals are adopting a waitand-watch policy, because they feel that Indians, especially those who are not from urban cities, still do not 36 Penne with Creamy Chicken, Mushrooms and Broccoli prefer to eat frozen food, especially wonders why people eat frozen and when they have the option of dining ready-to-fry foodstuff and they visit doctors complaining that they out or ordering food in. have allergies and digestive problems. “I do not support using frozen Interestingly, in 2009, US-based Heinz had introduced Kitchen Klas- and packaged food. Fresh is fresh. sics in 2009 with meals like Amrit- There are many fresh vegetables sari Chole, Awadhi Dal Fry, Jammu everywhere in India available and it is cheaper than frozen stuff,” she Wale Rajma and Peshawari Dal emphatically states. Manju Sood, a Makhani. But these are no longer Faridabad-based homemaker, also available. Similarly, in 2001, Hinbelieves that one should never offer dustan Unilever Ltd announced it would launch ready-to-eat chapattis such ready-to-cook foods to kids under its Annapurna brand, but that since they contain too many preserproduct has vanished from shelves vatives and stabilising agents. in departmental stores. Frozen ready-to-cook food might not be everybody’s idea of a meal While some believe that ready-toand would r ather eat cold leftovers cook frozen packs are becoming part of a new eating culture, there instead. However, there is no denying that they have emerged as a are those who still swear by the traditional mode of cooking their boon for a growing number of busy urbanites who look at it as a way to food with fresh ingredients, or if really pressed for time, they would zing up their lackluster meal. ■ prefer ordering in. Michaela SaVinita Bhatia mant, a mother of two from Nellore, CaLDRON February 2014

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