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Showing posts with label Indian restaurant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indian restaurant. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Korma Sutra: Excellent food- how is basmati rice different?

Korma Sutra on Urbanspoon We have been here many times since it first opened. Always excellent. This time, the Caribbean place El Caribe seems to have gone out of business so we headed to one of favorite Indian places Korma Sutra (Overland Park, KS). We usually go during Sunday buffet but we thought to spend some time after Valentina day since we could not go that night.
The head owner waiter (I should get his name) is so funny and is always making the place "hop". He is always gracious and a "real Hoot!". There were few people in the place when we arrived. But the place quickly filled up and he and the other waiters and waitresses were always buzzing around.
We had a coupon for $$ off but I immediately used that up. When he asked if I wanted some Indian beer (Taj Mahal) I thought why not? It was a big bottle and it was good and even my wife sipped a little. But at $7 I won't do it again but hey it was a valentines date.
My wife ordered the Lamb Saag as she loves the spinach and wanted to try this version. I had seen a special that they make here for our friends. It is a variation of Vegetarian Kofta (meat patty) with seasoned onions, tomatoes and more. My wife ordered the chi tea which loves while I worked on the beer. Meanwhile they asked if we wanted garlic naan bread and we said yes (comes with buffet so this was extra) as well as the cracker wafer Roti (unleavened wheat bread). Poured on some of the condiment tray sides of spicy mint relish, tamarind liquid (lemony- lime dark), mango chutney (which I always love and use at home -except don't buy the hot variety) and another one or two.
She loved the lamb saag. I tested it and it was great and very creamy.
My lamb kofti came extra spicy that I wanted (looked like more cayenne, turmeric or red spice). The way they make it here is in the shape of little cigar shaped patties called kofti. She tried one piece and she thought it was real spicy. Maybe when I make it I won't make it that spicy and order the regular. Still both were great and as we normally do, we eat part and take part of it home to eat the next night or day. That way we get to share the meal, see whether the spices die out over night or taste differently. Also the portions are quite generous so it's a way to cut the calories for that meal and try to keep my waist trim (yeah right?) and take some home to savor again later (like getting 2 meals for 1 price).
Dessert came in the way of creamy rice pudding (which I love) with orange stuff on top. I thought it was like a candies carrot tiny pieces and I was right.
Last but not least and an interesting touch is that the waitress poured warm water over our hands. We massages the lime on our hands to clean ourselves of the meal. Nice touch literally!
Of course the Basmati rice came with the dishes. I new this rice is an Indian specialty and wondered whether we should try it at home and how special or what other information I could found about it. What I found most interested was the scent for the rice. I thought it came from the spices themselves made in the kitchen but is actually part of the process. More information said
" Like jasmine rice, it has its own unique smell. In the case of basmati, this smell is due to the presence of a chemical called 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which is found in basmati rice at about 90 parts per billion. That's about 12 times more than other rice giving basmati its special aroma. Brown basmati rice is comparable to other types of brown rice in nutrient content, and white basmati rice is comparable to other types of white rice."

It turned out to be an expensive night with the extra beer, sides etc. Sweet time, sweet place , sweet date. But we get to taste it all again the next night:) We'll be back again but next time for the buffets you can bet , soon.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

The night was Friday at Ruby Tuesdays and the food was excellent

I've seen the TV commercials of Jim Carry ( I guess that is him) at Ruby Tuesdays. In the commercials says the lamps, waiter/waitresses outfits were different and they had some new menu items. A coupon convinced me that we should try the place out again and check it out.


I was more interested in the food and not the decor. We've been here a couple of years ago and the food was pretty good but what would it be like now? We really wanted to have something that also included the salad bar as we both wanted it with our meal (as last time it was pretty good then). My wife does not usually get steak but she chose a big steak ($14.99) that came with tiny roasted fried onions and mashed potatoes and also came with the salad bar. I thought about the steak but passed on that and the new 3 burger trio (turkey, beef and crab mini burgers ) and the Bela turkey burger which was mentioned recently on the web as one of the worse and high calorie and fat laden entrees you could ever eat! I opted for a lean bison burger. I've tried bison before and wanted to see how it would fare. I also opted for an added salad bar (extra $2.99) and asked for rice pilaf instead of french fries (I usually don't eat these anymore).

The salad bar was even better then before .The 4 different types of leaf, lettuce were crisp and very fresh. It seemed to have expanded and also offered beets, potato salad, other standard topics veggie stuff ( chopped eggs, slivered carrots, green peppers, red onions and many more). The raw slivers of zucchini were different touch. There were different types of dressings of course but what I really liked were the crisp, pumpernickel croutons were awesome and provided a good contrasting flavor to the dressing and greens.

The helpful, attentive and very cheerful waitress brought the entrees after we worked on the salad bar. Our nice waitress brought our entrees in their new distinctive oval type dishes. My wife's steak was excellent, grilled and seasoned to her liking. The big bison burger was on a nice bun with greens was so good I did not even add my usual steak sauce. It was not too gamy, was moist and had a great mild grill type flavor to it. I was a little surprised that the rice pilaf came with some melted cheddar like cheese on the top of it. I expected just fluffy light pilaf rice. This pilaf was fine but did not feel that the cheese went well with the pilaf. I kept going back to salad bar trying out all the different parts of the bar. The ambrosia type salad with apple was tangy. I went back twice for outstanding potato salad which had big chucks with a chive and sour creamy type dressing (not mustard or vinegar).

The restaurant had a big party come and sit right next to us near the end. The place was nice and not noisy at all. I did not really notice the new lamps that replaced the multicolored lamps , fixtures for so long at Ruby Tuesdays. The portions were big and we asked for Styrofoam containers. The nice waitress nicely took the other half of my bison burger and my wife's steak and put them into separate containers. We gave her a nice tip as we enjoyed the whole meal. Plus we had food left overs.

The menu is very versatile and we really like the freshness of the salad bar which is now even better. The prices are good and you can get a reasonable priced steak or another entree. I would even rank this as one of the best salad bars I have ever tasted in terms of variety, crispness and freshness of the items, the taste of the items and those awesome pumpernickel croutons. While it has some 20 plus items, it has might not have as many items as other salad bars but it sets itself apart by the flavors and tastes you get by sampling the offerings on the salad bar .

While I am not big on going to chain restaurants, this place has enough variety and has changed its menu to offer different entrees that are tasty, fresh and different. I liked this place before and feel that it is even better now. I definitely would come back here again with or without a coupon, on a Tuesday or any other day for lunch or dinner.

Ruby Tuesday on Urbanspoon

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Korma Sutra: Great Indian food- How is basmati rice different then regular rice? Lamb kofta and lamb saag at Korma Sutra

Korma Sutra on Urbanspoon We have been here many times since it first opened. Always excellent. This time, the Caribbean place El Caribe seems to have gone out of business so we headed to one of favorite Indian places Korma Sutra (Overland Park, KS). We usually go during Sunday buffet but we thought to spend some time after Valentina day since we could not go that night.
The head owner waiter (I should get his name) is so funny and is always making the place "hop". He is always gracious and a "real Hoot!". There were few people in the place when we arrived. But the place quickly filled up and he and the other waiters and waitresses were always buzzing around.

We had a coupon for $$ off but I immediately used that up. When he asked if I wanted some Indian beer (Taj Mahal) I thought why not? It was a big bottle and it was good and even my wife sipped a little. But at $7 I won't do it again but hey it was a valentines date.

My wife ordered the Lamb Saag as she loves the spinach and wanted to try this version. I had seen a special that they make here for our friends. It is a variation of Vegetarian Kofta (meat patty) with seasoned onions, tomatoes and more. My wife ordered the chi tea which loves while I worked on the beer. Meanwhile they asked if we wanted garlic naan bread and we said yes (comes with buffet so this was extra) as well as the cracker wafer Roti (unleavened wheat bread). Poured on some of the condiment tray sides of spicy mint relish, tamarind liquid (lemony- lime dark), mango chutney (which I always love and use at home -except don't buy the hot variety) and another one or two.

She loved the lamb saag. I tested it and it was great and very creamy.

My lamb kofti came extra spicy that I wanted (looked like more cayenne, turmeric or red spice). The way they make it here is in the shape of little cigar shaped patties called kofti. She tried one piece and she thought it was real spicy. Maybe when I make it I won't make it that spicy and order the regular. Still both were great and as we normally do, we eat part and take part of it home to eat the next night or day. That way we get to share the meal, see whether the spices die out over night or taste differently. Also the portions are quite generous so it's a way to cut the calories for that meal and try to keep my waist trim (yeah right?) and take some home to savor again later (like getting 2 meals for 1 price).

Since I possibly wanted to make a Kofti dish like this I search for one and found at this website.
http://www.indiasnacks.com/recipe/454/Kofta-(Meatball)-Masala.php
try this site for more snacks and entrees ( quite a few vegetarian dishes at this site too)
http://www.indiasnacks.com/
I also found a recipe that was like the lamb saag that she got but was called a kofti
http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2007/06/baked-spinach-kofta-with-cucumber.html

Dessert came in the way of creamy rice pudding (which I love) with orange stuff on top. I thought it was like a candies carrot tiny pieces and I was right.

Last but not least and an interesting touch is that the waitress poured warm water over our hands. We massages the lime on our hands to clean ourselves of the meal. Nice touch literally!

Of course the Basmati rice came with the dishes. I new this rice is an Indian specialty and wondered whether we should try it at home and how special or what other information I could found about it. What I found most interested was the scent for the rice. I thought it came from the spices themselves made in the kitchen but is actually part of the process. More information said
" Like jasmine rice, it has its own unique smell. In the case of basmati, this smell is due to the presence of a chemical called 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which is found in basmati rice at about 90 parts per billion. That's about 12 times more than other rice giving basmati its special aroma. Brown basmati rice is comparable to other types of brown rice in nutrient content, and white basmati rice is comparable to other types of white rice."
More information and practice tips below I found at.
http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=george&dbid=190

It turned out to be an expensive night with the extra beer, sides etc. Sweet time, sweet place , sweet date. But we get to taste it all again the next night:) We'll be back again but next time for the buffets you can bet , soon.