Chennai - Paella at Courtyard by Marriot

[versión en español]

Last thursday, the Managers of Courtyard by Marriot Hotel in Chennai invited me to meet them and some other hotel guests in a cocktail. I arrived late (working), but my friends Raja, Annang, Mohit, Namrata and Prakash where already there. They introduced me to some new people (Leila from Marocco, Judith and Claudia from Colombia and Waleed from Egypt) and we were all talking for a couple of hours. In one of those conversations, we started talking about cooking... and someone asked me to do a paella, to what I quickly answered: "Of course, why not this sunday?" and in a few seconds the list of people who wanted to tasted it arrived to the dozen; even more, I received an special order "Please, do one for vegetarians!"...

So I asked my friend Bob to help me in this challenge and on friday we prepared the list of ingredients, it was the first time cooking a paella for so many people and in India, so we just tried...

This morning was the great morning, the show started at 12:15am... after almost 2 hours in the kitchen we went to the table and finally eat ! It was good, but we can improve !

Thanks to everybody... it was a really nice day !

Thanks Bob for your help, comments and pictures.

For those who want to try cooking in the same way we did it...

Ingredients for 4 people:

• 1 or 2 onions (in cubes)
• 1 red pepper (in cubes)
• 1 green pepper (in cubes)
• 1 garlic
• 150 gr prawns (with heads!)
• 200 gr black king fish (in cubes)
• 8 squids (medium size, in rings)
• 12 mussels
• 20 prawns
• olive oil
• 400 gr rice (short grain)
• 15 olives
• water
• salt
• saffron and turmeric

Method:

1. Put water in a pan, and let those prawns get boiled.
   
2. Keep that water clean the prawns.
   
3. In parallel, you can put some olive oil in a big saucepan (oil enough to cover all the bottom) and add onions, peppers and smashed garlic.
   
4. Keep slow flame and see how they are going to be cooked slowly.
   
5. When the vegetables are done, you can add the fish, the cleaned prawns and the squids rings.
   
6. When the fish is cooked, add the mussels and some saffron and turmeric.

[At this point you can keep everything apart in order to continue another day or go on.]

1. Now you add rice using something a cup.
   
2. For each cup of rice, you add 2.5 cups of water (starting with the prawns' water and compliting with normal water) .
3. Add olives.
   
4. Using a wood spoon, you distribute uniformly rice and other ingredients in all the sauce pan.
5. When done, rise a little the flame in order to let the hole mixture boil slowly. From that moment, take over 20-25 minutes to get the rice cooked.
6. Then, put the fire out and cover the sauce pan with a clean cloth.
   
7. About 5 minutes later it is ready to eat

Chennai - Cooking at Courtyard by Marriott

[versión en español]

Yes, still at hotel...

I'm like a member of a big family, I think that all the great group of people working at Courtyard by Marriot in Chennai knows my name, my preferences and, even, my timetable; the only thing missing to feel like at home was "to go inside the kitchen" and, well... why continue waiting?, I've asked one of the managers if it was possible and he told me: Sure !!!

After a long working week, nothing better than getting some relax doing what you like the most: go inside the kitchen and preparing a homely, simple and tastly meal: an "Spanish omelette". At 7:30pm the hotel Senior Sales Manager, Mr. Raja, was waiting for me at the lobby; we went inside the kitchen and, there, he introduces me to Mr. Prakash, the Executive Chef, with whom I quickly connected and started cooking.

After finishing the work, we went to the dinning aerea and, as if we were two good old friends, we started eating and chatting. Prakash, from Mumbay and after having been working for more than 7 years in different Indian cities, is an expert chef in French and Italian cook, but now he admits than he is not able to apreciate Indian cooks as before... spices can kill tastes !!!

He showed me his last invention... he called it "Churros", I tried them and... they were reeeeeally great... but I had to tell him that what he had prepared are not churros, but something very near to buñuelos !!! Laughs, comments, how churros are done?, I don't know, I'll ask it, then you'll tell me... jajaja

What a great good man !!! Later I knew that he has won a prize beaten other 900 chefs, and he is going to U.S. to take it in a few weeks.

I'm sure that we will keep in contact !!!