Desserts @ Palace Kitchen and a Rajastani Delicacy ~ Sing Pitta ( Drumsticks in a Spicy Yoghurt and Chickpea flour Sauce)
The weekend was so much fun and so tiring as well. Friday night, we went to the Jagjit Singh’s concert at the Benaroya Hall in Seattle. It was my first Jagjit Singh concert and I am not a very ghazal person, but totally enjoyed it (or at least a couple of hours of it). After the concert, a bunch of us decided to go for a late night dessert at Palace Kitchen. I wasn’t very keen at first but when we decided on Palace Kitchen, I knew i just had to go, at least to taste Tom Douglas’s famous Coconut Cream Pie. Anywhere you read a review about any of the Tom Douglas restaurants, the coconut cream pie always gets a special mention. So, we went. It was already past 1.00 and the kitchen was about to close, but thankfully we still had half an hour more if we were ordering only desserts. I didn't even bother to look at the menu and ordered the Coconut Cream Pie. AJ ordered the Banana Cream Pie, which was also ordered by one of our friends. A cornmeal base pie-like thing with a chocolate ganache was the third dessert ordered. I couldn't find it in the online menu, so I'm not sure what the name is and also sadly, i don’t have a picture of it now (It was taken in another camera and I haven't gotten it yet)
Triple coconut cream pie with white chocolate, toasted coconut ($9) – it definitely is one of the best pies that i have eaten. It had a very delicate not overpowering coconut flavour. The pie filling was very smooth with like a mountain of whipped cream and the toasted coconut on top added the crunch. Loved the little bites of white chocolate in it.
Banana Cream Pie with malted ganache and shaved chocolate ($8) – this one was good but nothing extra ordinary or maybe i was just not in the mood for a strong banana flavour. There was nothing new in the taste. I felt that, one can easily recreate the taste with a readymade piecrust filled with Jell-O vanilla pudding and chopped bananas. But, like i said, maybe i was a little too partial to the coconut cream pie ;)
The third dessert was pretty interesting. When i read corn meal as the base for this dessert, I was a little hesitant to order it myself but when someone else ordered and i tasted, it wasn’t that bad after all. Infact the combo with chocolate ganache and the ice cream was really good! I really wished I had taken note of this one’s name!
So overall, we had a fun time in Palace Kitchen. Loved the rich ambience of the place and the staff were very friendly too, in spite of us crashing in when the kitchen was about to close :) It is a very good fine dining restaurant and is a perfect place to go for an occasion or if you are not that price conscious, for normal weekend dining as well.
On Saturday, we went for a small hike at the Mercer Slough Trails. It was a very good day for the hike and totally enjoyed it. The next day morning, we headed out for a walk /run for 3 miles at the Sammamish trail with two of our friends. Us girls walked and the guys ran! We were totally ready for a big fat breakfast after that and drove to Denny’s for their Grand Slam breakfast!! Came back home, rested for a while and went to Seattle again for the last show of the Hindi play “Ek Tha Gadha” by Pratidhwani. It was awesome and much better than their previous play, which also I liked. So that was a good end to the weekend!
After all the laziness I had, to enter the kitchen in the last few weeks, I managed to cook something nice during the weekend and also meticulously sat and prepared the menu planner for the week as well. So, the lunch in the menu for today was the Rajasthani curry, Sing Pitta from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer. There are a lot of recipes from this book, that I have put in my menu for this week, that Im thinking of naming this week, “660 Curry week” or something. LOL!
Sing Pitta – Drumsticks in a Spicy Yoghurt and Chickpea Flour Sauce
7-8 3” drumstick pieces
2 cups yoghurt
3 tbsp chickpea flour / besan
4 green chillies
2 tbsp chopped ginger
1/2 tsp sugar
2 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
a handful of cilantro leaves, chopped
a few curry leaves
1 tsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
salt to taste
Cook the drumstick pieces for about 10 mins in water. Drain and keep aside. Coarsely grind the green chillies and ginger using a mortar and pestle. Dry roast the chickpea flour and keep aside. Dry roast the coriander and cumin powder as well. In a small bowl, mix in the yoghurt, chickpea flour, chillie-ginger mix, coriander-cumin powder, sugar, salt, turmeric powder, cilantro and curry leaves. In a sauce pan, heat the oil and splutter the mustard seeds. Add the yoghurt mixture and drumsticks and let it simmer for a while till the drumsticks absorb the flavour. Serve hot with basmati rice and papads.
Triple coconut cream pie with white chocolate, toasted coconut ($9) – it definitely is one of the best pies that i have eaten. It had a very delicate not overpowering coconut flavour. The pie filling was very smooth with like a mountain of whipped cream and the toasted coconut on top added the crunch. Loved the little bites of white chocolate in it.
Banana Cream Pie with malted ganache and shaved chocolate ($8) – this one was good but nothing extra ordinary or maybe i was just not in the mood for a strong banana flavour. There was nothing new in the taste. I felt that, one can easily recreate the taste with a readymade piecrust filled with Jell-O vanilla pudding and chopped bananas. But, like i said, maybe i was a little too partial to the coconut cream pie ;)
The third dessert was pretty interesting. When i read corn meal as the base for this dessert, I was a little hesitant to order it myself but when someone else ordered and i tasted, it wasn’t that bad after all. Infact the combo with chocolate ganache and the ice cream was really good! I really wished I had taken note of this one’s name!
So overall, we had a fun time in Palace Kitchen. Loved the rich ambience of the place and the staff were very friendly too, in spite of us crashing in when the kitchen was about to close :) It is a very good fine dining restaurant and is a perfect place to go for an occasion or if you are not that price conscious, for normal weekend dining as well.
On Saturday, we went for a small hike at the Mercer Slough Trails. It was a very good day for the hike and totally enjoyed it. The next day morning, we headed out for a walk /run for 3 miles at the Sammamish trail with two of our friends. Us girls walked and the guys ran! We were totally ready for a big fat breakfast after that and drove to Denny’s for their Grand Slam breakfast!! Came back home, rested for a while and went to Seattle again for the last show of the Hindi play “Ek Tha Gadha” by Pratidhwani. It was awesome and much better than their previous play, which also I liked. So that was a good end to the weekend!
After all the laziness I had, to enter the kitchen in the last few weeks, I managed to cook something nice during the weekend and also meticulously sat and prepared the menu planner for the week as well. So, the lunch in the menu for today was the Rajasthani curry, Sing Pitta from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer. There are a lot of recipes from this book, that I have put in my menu for this week, that Im thinking of naming this week, “660 Curry week” or something. LOL!
Sing Pitta – Drumsticks in a Spicy Yoghurt and Chickpea Flour Sauce
7-8 3” drumstick pieces
2 cups yoghurt
3 tbsp chickpea flour / besan
4 green chillies
2 tbsp chopped ginger
1/2 tsp sugar
2 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
a handful of cilantro leaves, chopped
a few curry leaves
1 tsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
salt to taste
Cook the drumstick pieces for about 10 mins in water. Drain and keep aside. Coarsely grind the green chillies and ginger using a mortar and pestle. Dry roast the chickpea flour and keep aside. Dry roast the coriander and cumin powder as well. In a small bowl, mix in the yoghurt, chickpea flour, chillie-ginger mix, coriander-cumin powder, sugar, salt, turmeric powder, cilantro and curry leaves. In a sauce pan, heat the oil and splutter the mustard seeds. Add the yoghurt mixture and drumsticks and let it simmer for a while till the drumsticks absorb the flavour. Serve hot with basmati rice and papads.
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