Restaurant Review: Indian Buffet Palace

Slightly spicy butter chicken

Indian Buffet Palace was a complete and utter pleasant surprise. An authentic East Indian restaurant in Bayers Lake, Clayton Park??? No way!



We just happened to come across it when going to lunch at Freddie's Fantastic Fish House, which is right next door.



Just to give you some perspective, when you leave the restaurant this is the view of Empire Theatres. This place is literally right behind Jungle Jim's.



For just under $10 you can indulge in an all-you-can-eat East Indian buffet that is made fresh every day, with different items to sample every single day as well.



The restaurant is not huge but the second you walk through the door and into those warm and fabulous spices lingering in the air, you feel absolutely at home.



We walked into the restaurant to pick up a takeout menu and the woman working there insisted we sample every single item from the buffet and scoop it up with bread as we eat it. She said that it would help absorb some of the spiciness. I am kind of a wimp when it comes to "hot" food but am warming up to adding heat to my own dishes. For me, the food was spiced perfectly: more than I would usually cook with but definitely not painful. She said the heat of their food was a 6/10 which sounds right to me.



Chef Rohit Duggal even came out and set up some food shots for this impromptu visit. We sampled the Palak and Makki (spinach and corn) which was out of this world! I have no idea how it is cooked but I could have eaten a huge bowl of it, it was that delicious. We tried the Aloo (green) beans, Rajmah (kidney beans), along with the basmati rice and chicken dishes. Absolutely everything was wonderful and impressive. Chef Duggal also confirmed to me that traditional butter chicken does have a little spice in it. The sweeter and zero heat version is a North American adaptation. I knew it!


Chicken curry

We scooped up every fabulous bite quite happily. I was overwhelmed by their generosity and friendliness, which was just as heart-warming as their food. It amazes me that you could have an authentic homemade East Indian meal for under $10 in an industrial park. Next time I think I will skip Jungle Jim's and get a real meal at Indian Buffet Palace before we head out to the movies instead.

The restaurant is not fancy and the buffet is not huge but after sampling every dish that day, I would prefer a smaller fabulous buffet where every item is delicious to a monster buffet of mediocrity. Any restaurant that makes beans taste that good to this legume-a-phobe is impressive. I give this restaurant five out of five wooden spoons. 

Recipe for Roasted Red Bell Pepper Soup

We are moving into soup territory at this time of year and I love soup! I recently got a great deal on some red peppers and taught myself how to make oven-roasted red peppers, so much easier than I thought it would be! I had to throw them in the freezer because life got busy and when I finally had a day at home I used them to make this roasted red bell pepper soup which was astounding! It was inspired by this recipe but I of course made a few changes along the way.



To roast the corn for the garnish I wrapped it up in parchment paper and then aluminum foil. I roasted it in a 350F oven for 40 minutes. The corn ended up being so sweet and lovely!



While the corn was roasting I had put the peppers on a plate to let the residual heat thaw them out a bit. Then I chopped up the peppers and removed the corn kernels with a knife.



I gently sauteed half a cup of onions and shallots with two cloves of minced garlic in 1 tbsp of butter.



I added four chopped roasted red peppers, 2 tbsp of tomato paste and three cups of chicken stock. I brought it to a boil, lowered the heat and simmered the soup for 20 minutes which is longer than the original recipe but I wanted to enhance the red pepper flavour by reducing it. As a result I did not have to add the whipping cream, keeping it lighter and healthier than the original recipe.



The soup did need some thickening so I put 1 tbsp of cornstarch in a little bowl, added a little water, combined and then added it to the pot, stirring and letting the soup thicken.



While the soup was thickening I added some lime juice to a dollop of sour cream for the topper.



Using the medium blade on my food mill I processed the soup. You could always use a food processor or a blender instead.



Topped with some lime sour cream and a sprinkle of roasted corn with some freshly ground pepper, this recipe makes one beautiful and stunning soup. This made a small bowl for me and my husband, next time I am doubling the recipe! My husband said this was a five star recipe and I have to agree. I am not a huge red pepper fan but this type of dish is what they seemed to be made for.

Do not be afraid to roast your own peppers while making this soup. It is incredibly satisfying to know you went the extra mile to make this dish your own.

Tutorial: How to make oven-roasted red bell peppers

On all my favourite cooking shows the hosts always say you can just put red peppers under the broiler to make roasted red bell peppers. Then they proceed to use a gas burner instead. I do not have a gas burner so I was always dubious about how easy these were to make in the oven. I got a small bag of red peppers for $1.50 (what a deal!) and wanted to try oven-roasting them.

I turned on the broiler, let it heat up and then put the peppers two inches away from the element. I was surprised that it took a while but they did start to blacken over time. I turned them over to expose the other side of the flesh. Whatever you do, do not use parchment paper when you do this process, it will go up in flames!



After about 10 minutes my peppers had blackened here and there and were ready to be put into a brown paper bag. I left them in there for at least ten minutes.



Beautiful! I took off the tops, removed the seeds and did not run them under water, this will dilute their flavour. Definitely a little more time consuming than using a gas burner but not hard at all, in fact, impressively easy to make. There is so much you can do with these peppers: soups, dips, pasta sauces... I am going to try everything!



After I made these life got insanely busy and I did not want them to go to waste so I put them in freezer bags for a red bell pepper soup!

Food Fight Challenge: Three Cheese Pasta Party... help!!!!

I was invited to participate in a food fight and I need your help to win! If you love the look of my Three Cheese Pasta Party go here to vote. Click here to check out the recipe.

It is an honour to be one of the finalists and my husband won't be surprised at all, he LOVED this dinner and so did I! Turkey sausage, mushrooms, spinach, penne pasta and three cheese... oh I really hope I have a chance to win.

I need your help my friends! Please, vote for me if you like what you see.

Halloween Treats: Fat Ogre Fingers

Now these are true finger foods! I got this idea from a Halloween magazine I bought that I just can not find anywhere online! They recommend using breadstick dough but I had some leftover whole wheat dough I wanted to try using instead:



I used this recipe for whole wheat bread machine pizza dough. Do not forget to add extra water, this recipe really needs it. I made our BC favorite Phat Philly Pizzas and had leftover dough to work with.



I cut up some sundried tomatoes and green olives for the fingernails. Then I rolled out some of the dough and shaped it into a finger, topping with a nail.



On the left you seen them before I put them in the oven. I brushed on some olive oil and sprinkled some dried dill. I baked them in a 375F oven for 10 minutes. On the right you can see them after they came right out of the oven, boy did they ever get big!



Some of the nails stayed on but a lot of them fell off. You could always glue them on with some cream cheese. Making these with whole wheat flour gives them an aged looked that worked great, exactly what I was hoping for.

These really are spooky and weird treats that are great with a dipper. I had them with my roasted red pepper soup, post to come very soon!

Are you getting into a spooky foodie mood yet?

Restaurant Review: Mug & Anchor Pub at the Mahone Bay Scarecrow Festival

Over the weekend we went out with our friends to enjoy Mahone Bay's Scarecrow Festival once again. You can see and read more about it on my personal blog. The last time we were there it was so busy there was no way we were going to get into the pub but this year there was a thunderstorm in the morning and the skies were quite grey which seemed to keep people away.



Every time someone comes to visit, we take them to the Mug & Anchor Pub in Mahone Bay. It has fantastic atmosphere and this year for the festival it was all decked out with pirates.



A pub with pirates? What could be more up our alley than that?



My husband got right into the pirate spirit by ordering a pint of Strongbow Cider and a hot plate of food.



Sadly, their menu has changed! You used to get a giant platter of seafood with shrimp, clams, mussels but now it is come with fish, mussels and fish cakes. Not what I wanted at all! I almost ordered the seafood crepes but I have not had much luck with them lately so I ordered one of my favourites: clams 'n chips. The clams were super crisp which was great but they were under season and almost flavourless. This is the first time I have been disappointed with their food!



I think my husband ordered a hot sandwich slathered in gravy and I tested the gravy out, it was fabulous! My friend Jen ordered the hamburger which she liked and Mike got the seafood chowder which was a lovely thin pink broth with lots of chunks of seafood in it that he really liked.



I do not know if the pub is as old and as authentic as it feels but who cares? We love it and always look forward to spending an afternoon in the bright and airy restaurant overlooking the bay. This is the place for a pint and some hot grub if you are down by the south shore. Maybe if you are lucky you will even see the famous ghost pirate ship The Teaser burning in the harbour.

Even with the under-seasoned clams, if I were a pirate ghost, this is the pub I would want to haunt.

Halloween Treats: Taste of Home's Midnight Mice

Happy October! Today is the first day of my Halloween foodie posts and I FINALLY have a success to share with you! These little chocolate crispy peanut butter mice are fabulous and they come from Taste of Home. I did not need three dozen of these creatures so I divided the recipe in half and it only made 11???? Weird! Feel free to double it if you have a lot of people to feed!



The recipe begins with combining half a cup of creamy peanut butter (use full fat, I used low fat and they were kind of dry) with 2 tbsp of softened butter and a little bit of vanilla. Sift 3/4 cups of icing sugar and then mix in gradually. Again, mine were a little dry so you can hold back on the icing sugar if it is looking a little too dry/not coming together.



Fold in 3/4 cup of a crispy rice cereal. This is where I realized I was in trouble, the peanut butter mixture would barely take in any of the cereal. I did my best! Roll into 1" balls and taper at the front for the nose. Add sliced almonds on top for the ears and chill. I chilled mine for two days! Life has been stupid busy, blech. I finally had a chance to finish them yesterday. Yay!



You want some little sprinkles or super mini candy-coated chocolates for the eyes (I got mine at Bulk Barn) and some mini M&Ms for the nose. Get out your black sprinkles and slice black string licorice into 2" slices for the tails.



I prefer to melt my chocolate in a metal bowl over warm water. I melted 6 oz (2 thin bars) of dark chocolate with 1/2 tbsp of shortening. Let it take its time, never rush chocolate! Make sure the bowl is much wider than the pot so no steam impacts the chocolate. Also make sure that the water in the pot is not touching the bowl.



Dip the chilled mice into the chocolate. I used my chocolate dipping tools but you can just use forks. I worked one at a time, dipping and decorating. I did not want the chocolate to harden before I had a chance to add the details:



Aren't they adorable?! Keeping your hands chocolate-free while handling the decorative touches was the hardest part. Because I used low fat peanut butter and my mice were a little dry, adding the tails was very challenging but luckily the chocolate helped everything adhere nicely.

These Midnight Mice were a little time consuming to make but not difficult. They were quite tasty, crunchy peanut butter and chocolate is hard to beat. I was frustrated by the recipe because mine were quite dry and it only made 11 mice, not even a dozen which is confusing. Taking everything into consideration, I give this recipe four out of five wooden spoons.

Oh this is my favourite time of year! A spooky time to indulge and have fun with food, this is the month I live for. It has only just begun!