Anti-Valentine's week begins the day after Valentine's day comprising of fun events like slap day, punch day and more. To celebrate this week, here are some recipes to bid farewell to conventional romance and explore the savory delights of our curated dishes designed to soothe the souls of anti-Valentine's enthusiasts. From bittersweet indulgences to unapologetically bold flavours, these recipes will make your celebration memorable.
1. Classic Bruschetta Trio (By Chef Amrut Mehta, Little Italy)
Ingredients:
- Acasa Italian Bread, sliced
- 2 ripe tomatoes, finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- Fresh basil leaves, chopped
- Extra virgin olive oil (Acasa)
- Balsamic glaze
- Olive tapenade
- Artichoke spread
Method:
- Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F). Place the bread slices on a baking sheet and toast them lightly for about 5 minutes.
- In a bowl, mix the chopped tomatoes, minced garlic, chopped basil, and a drizzle of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
- Spread olive tapenade on some toasted bread slices, artichoke spread on others, and the tomato mixture on the rest.
- Drizzle the tomato-topped bruschetta with balsamic glaze before serving.
2. Cookies (By Chef Aditi Dixit, CYK Hospitalities Pvt. Ltd.)
Ingredients:
- Unsalted Butter, soft - 125gms
- Powder Sugar - 35 gms
- Egg Yolk - 1no.
- Milk - 2 tbsp
- Vanilla Extract - 1 tsp
- All purpose Flour - 135 gms
- Corn flour - 2 tbsp
- Salt - ¼ tsp
- Pink Gel food colour - 3 drops
Method:
- In a bowl, beat butter & sugar for 1-2 mins until smooth. Scrape bowl.
- Add milk, egg yolk and vanilla extract and mix until combined. Add the food colouring.
- Add all dry ingredients mixture at once and mix for a few seconds just until combined, do not overmix. Make sure you achieve a hot pink colour, if required add more food colour.
- Now, preheat the oven at 170 degree celsius . Make sure the rack is in the middle.
- In a piping bag with a star nozzle, make the cookie in heart shape on a butter paper lined tray.
- Put the cookie tray into the fridge for 30 mins. It is important for the butter to firm so they keep their shape and not overspread.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the edges are Just lightly golden brown. Let cookies cool on a baking sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.
Storage:
- These keep for 7 days in an airtight container (once completely cool) or you can freeze them for a month.
3. Pan Fried Noodles (By Ram Bahadur Budhathoki, Head Chef, Chowman Chain of Restaurants)
Ingredients:
- Noodle 18gm
- Chicken
- Shrimp
- Chinese cabbage
- Pak choi
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Shitake mushroom
- Bamboo shoot
- Green zucchini
- Yellow zucchini
- Carrot
- Cabbage
- Green capsicum
- Onion
- Oil
- Ginger
- Salt
- Sugar
- Ajinomoto
- White pepper
- Oyster sauce
- Dark soya sauce
- Light soya sauce
- Wine
- Potato starch
Method:
- Take noodles to fry it, take a potion of noodle and pan fry it both side of 5/6 minutes.
- Keep it side. Take rest of the vegetables including chopped and keep aside.
- Take the chicken and the shrimps and boil it well and blanch the vegetables before cooking.
- Heat oil in the wok add chopped ginger add the blanched vegetables and sauté it well.
- Add the chicken and shrimps give it a good mix. Add salt, sugar, white pepper, oyster sauce, dark and light soya sauce one by one and give it a mix.
- Add water and let it cook for a couple of minute.
- To give the gravy right thinness add potato starch mix and give it a good ster. In conclusion add a few spoon of wine on the top and mix well.
- Garnish it with spring onion and serve.
4. Cocktail- Smooth Operator (By- Naresh Karki, Restaurant Manager, Taj Corbett Resort & Spa)
Ingredients:
- 60 ml Gin
- 20 gms Fresh Grapes
- 10 gms Ginger
- 90 ml Sour Mix
Method:
- Pour gin in a mixing glass
- Add grapes, ginger & sour mix
- Pour it in glass and serve!