A Few of My Favourite Things !

This is a lesson in not relying on my memory! We had dinner at Bala Da Dhaba a few weeks back but, of course, I didn’t get around to posting until now. The problem is that I cannot remember the names of all our dishes.

Well, we started off with the samosas, which resemble a little tribe sitting cross-legged around a campfire. They were described as ‘spicy’ on the menu but I could have handled quite a bit more spiciness. Some beautifully tender and moist chicken tikka followed.

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I haven’t been a fan of paneer in the past but we tried this one and I really enjoyed it more than I havd expected to. I suppose it was because the curry was tasty and the paneer absorbed this flavour.

The waiter recommended the special Punjabi fish masala (it had a really long name and if we could repeat it, he would have given it to us free). One of my favourites for the night – all sour and tangy, I’m salivating just thinking about it now.

I think the final dish was lamb something. Maybe someone can identify it?

All in all, a better dining experience than what we have had in the past. We’re not usually big fans of Indian food but the fish would have me going back. On second thoughts, I would probable get takeaway though because it took me at least a week to air my clothes out after that night!

I can’t do wontons.

What I mean by this is that I cannot wrap wontons in the traditional way, that ‘money bag’-style. When I have tried, they would just look like I had squished the top together and taste too much of dough in one spot.

I don’t know where or when I pick up this wrapping style but nowadays my fingers automatically shape these tortellini-looking wontons.

You won’t see them looking like this at your local yum cha restaurant but they taste GOOD, and have a better texture, in my opinion. These dumplings were filled with a mixture of minced pork, roughly chopped prawns, shao hsing wine, shoyu, sesame oil and seasoned to taste. I usually form a couple of tiny meatballs and cook them up so that I can check the seasoning before wrapping the rest.

This entry is my submission to the ‘Waiter, there’s something in my… dumplings’ event that Johanna, The Passoinate Cook, is hosting.