The pair of us were starving so we opted for three courses. For starters we shared garlic bread and Involtini Melanzana, which are parcels of aubergine filled with mozzarella, basil and tomato. I have to admit that when I heard the word ‘parcels of aubergine’ I assumed filo pastry parcels, but instead it was the aubergine that ‘parcelled’ the cheese. The parcels were firm but moist inside and I actually didn’t miss the fact there was no pastry involved, I am sure my waist line didn’t either.

As for the garlic flat bread, it had a nice texture with actual pieces of garlic on the bread, not simply garlic paste or butter. It tasted authentic but could have done with a bit more seasoning.

Moving on to the main course. I tend to sway towards chicken dishes. I know it sounds un-adventurous but I know that I like chicken and I am not fond of many other meats. The phrase “it tastes like chicken” that people commonly use when they try a new meat, I imagine is used because people realise “yes I chose a safe option”. There are times to be risky but this time I was really hungry and so decided to take the safer option.

Even so, when it comes to chicken, I always judge the dish on whether I could have cooked it better. If I could have, then I have probably wasted my money. So Bellini’s was under that scrutiny without even knowing it. The dish I chose was corn-fed chicken filled with asparagus mousse, served with roasted vegetables, saviardi potatoes and redcurrant jus. In non-cheffy terms, it’s basically chicken stuffed with liquified asparagus, served with layers of potato and accompanied by a redcurrant gravy and roasted veg. It was delicious. I have not eaten much asparagus in my time. I know it’s good for you, well it’s green after all, and I have heard people say it makes your pee smell funny. Sorry a bit graphic, but I can’t say I noticed. On a more tasteful note, the chicken was moist, not overcooked, the asparagus mousse helped keep the meat soft. I could also taste the garlic in the potato. I was concerned that the redcurrant jus would be too sweet, especially as there was quite a bit on the plate, but it did not overpower the dish, it worked well.

 
Now arguably the best part of any meal – the desert. There were lots of options from the rhubarb crumble to the panna cotta. But I decided on the chocolate mousse. It was rich, but not sickly sweet and had a buttery biscuit base. The combination of the smooth chocolate with the crunchy base gave the dessert a new definition in my view. I personally find that mousse can be boring as it’s one-dimensional – just creamy, but this one was more like a mini cheese cake. Lovely.

All in all, it was a great meal. I really recommend eating there – good quantity and quality food. It is a pricier restaurant than some others. The average main was around £14, but with the high quality service and delicious food, you should give it a go. We all need to treat ourselves once in a while.
You can visit Bellini’s web page here

The chicken kebab (above) is one of the most popular dishes – simply grilled chicken breast with spices, salad, served in a flat bread. So I thought I would give it a go. But instead of piling it with mayo, I opted for the low fat yoghurt dressing. And it was delicious. I could really taste the good quality chicken used. A healthy kebab, who would have thought?

PanAroma tries to incorporate dishes from many Asian countries, be it Indian biryani, pad thai or nasi goreng which is Indonesian egg fried rice. I was quite sceptical about the biryani as coming from an Indian background I knew that biryani (a rice based dish mixed with vegetables and meat) can take a while to cook for the flavours to infuse. If the spices aren’t cooked enough you will notice a raw taste, which is not nice on the palate. However, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with the PanAroma version. It was cooked well, albeit quickly and I could taste the range of flavours, especially chilli, cinnamon, and lemon grass.

But if you are not a fan of Asian food and all you fancy is a simple burger and chips, then try PanAroma’s gourmet burgers. There are Pembrokeshire beef, turkey and lamb burgers on offer, and for vegetarians there’s the mushroom and halloumi burger. Vegetarians may find their burger options limited. As someone who often goes veggie I would have liked to see more meat-free choices such as falafel and tofu. But regarding noodle dishes and curries, vegetarians have lots of options.

PanAromas proprieter Joe Shaw is open to experimentation with his burgers and encourages customers to build their own, with a mixture of different meats. As strange as it sounds many customers have developed their own signature dishes. A popular example is a double beef burger with a grilled chicken breast on top (below). This has really taken off. All burgers come with a selection of salad and sauces such as PanAroma’s own chilli sauce.

Yes it’s naughty, but occassionally you just need to take the day off from being your healthy self. And trust me it’s delicious.

PanAroma has recently expanded its menu incorporating even more Asian dishes. The average cost for a meal is around £7 and the quantity is hearty.

PanAroma not only delivers in taste but can also be brought straight to your door.

For those of you that don’t know what paneer is, it’s a fresh cheese and is common in Indian cuisine. Paneer is basically separated milk solid which is compressed.

Paneer on its own has a mild flavour, but add some spice, and you can make yourself a very tasty dish. It’s full of protein and is actually one of the key foods for vegetarians in India.

I am going to share with you one of my family’s recipes, what we call “Pepper Paneer”. The recipe is for a meal for 4.

INGREDIENTS:
For paneer:
– 6 pints of whole milk
– Juice from 3 lemons – sieved

For sauce:

-2 medium-sized onion
-Cumin seeds
– Chilli flakes
– Flower of garlic
– Root ginger
– Garam masala
– Coriander powder
– Cumin powder
– Turmeric
– Salt

- Olive Oil

- Chinese 5 spice
– 1 plum tomato tin
– 2 peppers, preferably 1 red and 1 gree

-fresh coriander to garnish

1) To make the paneer:

- You firstly need to boil about 6 pints of milk in a thick bottomed pan, stirring enough to make sure it does not stick and burn. When the milk comes to boil you add the juice gradually from the lemons, until the milk separates.

- You will be able to see the milk solid float to the top, leaving behind relatively clear fluid.

- Then when this happens turn off the heat and use a colander lined with sufficient porous cloth (basically a cloth that lets water through) and pour the contents from pan into the colander and drain.

- Collect the solid in the cloth and then lift the cloth from its corners (watch your hands it will be hot). But do not wait till the paneer gets cold.

- Place the cloth on a flat surface, preferably on draining board and fold the cloth to cover the paneer entirely.

- Then put a heavy object; eg a pan filled with water; on the paneer to squeeze out the excess fluid from it.  Leave this for a couple of hours.

- Then take the paneer out from cloth and it is ready to use.

- You need to cut the paneer into small cubes, about 1-2 cm cubes.

- You need to seal the paneer now. Heat some oil in a pan, on medium to high heat. Test the oil by putting one cube in; if it quickly rises to the top, then it is hot enough. At this stage before frying the other cubes, put the hob down to medium heat.

- Then put 10 pieces at a time in and fry for 10-15 seconds, enough to seal but do not over-brown them. Sealing stops the paneer breaking up in the sauce (the sauce will be made next).

- After sealed, put the cubes on a sheet of kitchen roll to allow the oil to drain.

  2) To make the paneer sauce:

- You need to chop the onions finely.

- Put 4-5 tablespoons of olive oil in a karahi/wok. Heat the oil and add the onions. Cook until oil separates from the onions, and the onions go slightly brown (but don’t burn them), and the oil is released. Add 1 tsp of cumin seeds and a few pinches of chilli flakes (optional) and stir.

- Then add finely chopped 8 cloves of garlic and an inch and half of root ginger grated.

- Stir on high heat for a few seconds, but be careful they do not burn.

- Then put on medium heat and add 5-6 tbsp of hot kettle water and stir.

- Add 1 and a half tsp of garam masala and coriander power. Add salt to taste.

- Stir and when water has disappeared, add similar amount of water again and stir until oil separates.

- Then once it has, add another 2 tbsp of hot water to make sure the mixture does not burn.

- Add 1 tsp of turmeric, 1 tsp of cumin powder and 1 tsp of Chinese 5 spice powder and stir.

- Then add 3 plum tomatoes (from the can) and quatre the can’s juice.

- Cook the mixture until oil separates from the mixture and this will take a couple of minutes.

- Add 2 chopped peppers, removing seeds (green and red to give colour to the dish), and cook for about a minute.

- Then add the paneer and stir and add 3 tbsp of hot water.

- Stir and simmer on low heat. Place a lid on. Simmer for around 5 minutes.

- Garnish with coriander and it’s ready.

                                                                                                                                               Best served with rotis  or naan bread. ENJOY!

On Tuesday, Cardiff will be putting on its eighth annual St David’s Day Parade.

The parade will begin at City Hall and the group will march past the Castle, down St Mary Street, back along Mill Street then to the Hayes -where the band will play for half an hour.

Dan Peterson, who is in charge of the restaurant’s marketing, said:

“The parade band will be eating a curry lunch with us after their performance. They will be able to taste the celtic curry that we have come up with.”

So what will be on offer?

Babaru Mehr, the manager of the restaurant said:

“Firstly we will have a welsh black beef and potato curry. It includes the traditional indian spices such as cumin and fennel, tumeric and a few other spices that I won’t give away!

“We will also have Welsh lamb biryani, which is more like a fried rice, it’s more like a stir fry.

“And the final dish is a twist on the traditional chicken korma, we will add leek to it. Obviously the chicken and leek pie is a Welsh dish so we wanted to incorporate the leek in the curry.”

I went down to the Juboraj Restaurant and tried the three dishes:

I tried all three dishes and they were delicious. I have never had a curry with beef in it and it was lovely. The beef had a moist texture, it was not over done. It definitely worked well with the traditional spices.

I prefer spicy food, so the korma would not normally be something that I would order. But if you prefer the milder option, then the chicken and leek korma would definitely be something to try. It was creamy, and the leek gave the curry an extra bite.

Babaru says he hopes that these dishes will be popular with the band and could well make the restaurant’s menu in the future.

A Welsh curry, who would have thought it?

So when my guy friend invited me round for dinner, I didn’t even think twice about the roles we were taking or whether he was a good cook.

Tom had told me before that he can only cook three dishes, 1) spaghetti bolognaise, 2) sausage, basil, and pasta, and 3) lemon chicken. And he decided on the third option. I appreciated the honesty on how far is culinery skills stretched, and was glad he was cooking a tried and tested recipe. Although it did involve chicken, so maybe it wasn’t the ‘safest’ option out of the three.  Especially when he realised the chicken had not fully defrosted. So it was not a good start. Bless him.

But overall he did surprisingly well. The chicken, once it was defrosted, was marinated in lemon and thyme, and he even drizzled oil on the chicken, so it would have a crispy skin. He also made roast potatoes, which for me is something that can either go really well, or really not. Because for me a perfect roast potato is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. To make his potatoes he cut them into wedges, and then boiled them until they were soft. He then placed them on a baking tray and smothered them with oil. He seasoned the potatoes with salt and pepper.

Both were put into the oven for over an hour, and they would have been perfect, however, during the last half an hour of cooking the chicken, Tom became slightly impatient and wacked up the heat, from gas mark 6, to gas mark 8, and cremated the poor chicken. It was all going so well! But you can’t judge a book by its cover, it is all in the taste.

I must admit, after looking at the blackened chicken, I can’t say I was thrilled that I had to eat it, but I was pleasantly surprised. It tasted delicious. It was just like if it had been cooked on the BBQ. And Tom definitely mastered the roast potatoes. Really enjoyed the meal.

So yes, who said men can’t cook?

A Welsh charity have put drinks industry sponsorships under the spotlight. Alcohol Concern Cymru have said that alcohol sponsorship in sport is encouraging young people to drink too much.

In their recent report ‘An unhealthy mix?’  they claim that the drinks advertising in events such as rugby tournaments and music festivals, attract new drinkers, especially young people who attend such events.

Mark Leyshon of Alcohol Concern Cymru said:

“Irrespective of whether or not the drinks companies are deliberately targeting young people, there is a growing body of evidence that sponsorship and other forms of alcohol marketing negatively impact on this group – on their perceptions of what is considered normal drinking behaviour.”

The charity have found that forty percent of Welsh fifteen year olds drink on a weekly basis.

But the Portman Group, which represents drinks manufacturers, have called the charity’s findings ‘misleading’. They have said that there is no evidence which links exposure to alcohol sponsorship when you are a child and drinking alcohol.

A spokesperson from the Portman Group:  ”There are very strict rules in place that makes sure that alcohol producers can only market or sponsor things in a very certain way. They are not allowed to target young people, they are not allowed to make content that would appeal to underage drinkers and they must be  careful in the way they promote their products to make sure they do not encourage irresponsible drinking.”

They also say that the majority of people do drink responsibly and that for the small group that don’t banning all alcohol sponsorship will not solve the problem. Instead there needs to be better education, better intervention, and stricter enforcement of existing laws, such as not serving alcohol to underage people.

France is one country where alcohol sponsorship in Sport is illegal. This was why in 2005 the Welsh Rugby Team had to have “Brawn” written on their shirts, not “Brains”.

Statistics show that since 1990 the amount of alcohol drunk by eleven to fifteen year olds has doubled.

Alcohol Concern Cymru do admit that the link between alcohol marketing and people drinking more is not conclusive, as there are many factors that affect how much people drink, such as our upbringing, how much our friends drink etc. But they maintain that young people are vulnerable to alcohol and they question the relationship between alcohol and sport and alcohol and music.

But as to whether the UK will follow France’s example, it seems unlikely, as alcohol sponsorship brings in a great deal of money which helps nurture the next generation of sporting talent.

The School of Social Community Medicine have based its findings on participants in the Avon Longlitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), which tracks the long term health and well being of around 14,000 children born in 1991 and 1992.

They were asked to complete a questionnaire.

And the information was then quantified to produce a dietary pattern score for three different types of diet: 1) processed or high in fats and sugars;  2) traditional or high in meat and two veg; and 3) health conscious or high in salad, fruit and vegetables, rice and pasta.

What they found was those kids eating the chips, cookies, and cakes had a lower IQ than those who ate the fruit and veg.

The IQ of around 4,000 children at the ages three, four, seven and eight, and around 20 per cent of children with the worst diet at age three were found to score, on average, five IQ points lower than the group with the best diet.

Even though the authors admit that the results are modest, they show a scientific link between what you eat and your brain power.

Dr Kate Northstone, Research Fellow in the School of Social and Community Medicine, said: “Our research suggests that any cognitive/behavioural effects relating to eating habits in early childhood may well persist into later childhood, despite any subsequent changes (including improvements) to dietary intake.”



Chicken Kiev:

Firstly to make the garlic butter, you need to crush the garlic and mix it in with the butter.

Add juice of half a lemon and a pinch of salt and pepper. Then add a tsp of dried rosemary and a few basil leaves.

Slice the chicken breast and spread the garlic butter.

Then you need to coat the chicken with flour and egg and cover them with bread crumbs.

After that, you must fry the chicken pieces for a few minutes before putting them in the oven for around 30-35 minutes.

Ingredients:

4 x 150g chicken breast

Breadcrumbs

3 tbl spoons of flour

2 beaten eggs

5 cloves of garlic crushed

100g butter

one lemon

dried rosemary

fresh basil

salt and pepper

Simple as that!

You can serve it with mange-tout and potatoes.

Enjoy!