Prity Poddar, Leading vegetarian food blogger of Kolkata and an official food blogger of many renowned food fests.
Being quite in demand amongst the vegetarian diners, The Grand Kebab Festival has now become the signature event of Casa Kitchen – the popular vegetarian restaurant & bar, wherein the kebab festival’s menu is a nice mélange of – age-old popular recipes, twisted recipes and new innovations.
The festival menu comprises of a total of 11 vegetarian kebab dishes, out of which the following 7 were served for tasting, along with 3 types of Dips –
– Gun Powder Potato: It was a rustic amalgamation of north and south. It comprised of baby potatoes aka dum aloo, coated with gunpowder infused marination, served along with few chunks of onion and capsicum. The dish tasted spicy and nice.
– Achari Makai Sheek:The usual finger-shaped corn kernel-based Sheeks were infused with in-house made spicy pickle masala. The spicy twist in the usual Makai Sheek recipe did not bring about any upgrade in the taste of the kebabs. They tasted the usual – dry and nice.
Gun Powder Potato and Achari Makai Sheek
– Paneer Pudina Cheese:It comprised of concoctions of mint and processed cheese, sandwiched between big square chunks of paneer aka cottage cheese. As usual, the paneer quality was top notch. It was made in-house and had a dense and moist composition. The dish tasted good.
– Shika Broccoli Sheek: It comprised of marinated and grilled medium-sized broccoli florets. The marination was made of Awadhi spices. It was a relatively healthy dish. It tasted average. Personally, I prefer the Malai Broccoli Kebabs that are widely available of late.
Paneer Pudina Cheese and Shika Broccoli Sheek
– Mustard Kumbh Sheek:It comprised of roasted fresh mushrooms mixed with in-house spices and grain mustard. The mushrooms were relatively big sized and juicy. The kebabs tasted good.
– Paneer Khubani:The dish comprised of char-grilled cottage cheese cubes, stuffed with mildly seasoned khubani aka dried apricots. The cheese cubes were quite big, well marinated on the outside and garnished with a solitary canned cherry and a sprig of mint leaves on the top. The dish looked attractive, tasted excellent and was quite filling. One person cannot have more than one portion of this dish!
It was the hero of the entire meal.
Actually, it was a refined and better version of their last year’s Irani Paneer Tikka.
Mustard Kumbh Sheek and Paneer Khubani
– Chilka Galouti Kebab:Made of roasted skin peels of assorted vegetables, bound together with boiled potato and shaped liked small round thick disk, it was an absolutely new kind of kebab. The peels as such did not give out any distinct taste, but it was a good experiment, which tasted nice.
– Dips:The 3 mayonnaise-based Dips were infused with green chutney, mustard and garlic respectively. All of them tasted nice and paired well with the Kebabs. I liked the garlic one most. Please note that each kebab dish comprises of 6 portions, barring Paneer Khurmani, which owing to its big size, comprises of only 4 portions. Some kebabs are cooked on an open fire while some are pan-grilled.
You can enjoy the kebabs on their own, or even pair them with any rice preparation or bread of your choice from their usual menu. I called for Vegetable Pulao, which came garnished with enough sauteed cashews and raisins. Another good choice would have been their Olive Cheese Naan.
Vegetable Pulao
If you are a teetotaller, then feel free to order your usual quota of – aerated drinks, virgin mojitos and mocktails, like I finally settled with my can of chilled Coca Cola to combat the dryness of the kebabs. Overall, it was a nice tasting session wherein vegetarian cuisines were well presented.
