Trip to Bangalore

Fruits and vegetables
Bangalore truly surprised me. I got very excited when I saw things I hadn’t ever seen before – beginning with something referred to locally as “butter” or “paneer” or “rosagolla” This was a fruit that on first sight looks like tiny lemons, only a lighter shade. It was hollow and had a brown seed. Quite dense and lightly fragrant. I bought some on the first day, hoping to get some home but they didn’t last.

The best buy in the fruit category was without a doubt the mangosteen. Dubbed as the “Queen of Fruits”, these taste like something else – a smooth, creamy texture and a wonderfully sweet, mildly sour, citrus flavour – I’ve hidden the last few at the back of the refrigerator.

Then I spotted a very peculiar fruit called the rambutan – this fruit is similar to lychee. Pink rind with a white and fleshy inside. These looked so odd – I hoped the taste would be as unusual, but the local lychee is a lot better.

Also, I bought artichokes – I have had the bottled variety, but had never seen the real thing. I’m going to follow Elise’s instructions in trying out the vegetable.

Teas
At a gourmet food store I found some African rooibos and honeybush teas from Africa. A little research tells me that Honeybush and Rooibos (red bush) teas are prepared from the flowers and leaves of plants, which grows only in the mountain regions of South Africa. Honeybush is so named because the flowers smell of honey – I can’t wait to try these! Apart from these, I also bough some dried lemongrass and camomile to make tea infusions.

Breads
I have been wanting to sample a sourdough bread and I was so overjoyed when I spotted one at a store in Bangalore. Quite a dense bread – but didn’t quite have the distinct taste that is synonymous with sourdough breads. But this is a good start! A very flavourful bread was the mustard and curry leaves bread. Everone at home loved it!

Donuts
There is a really nice chain of donut stores across the city called the Donut Baker. They have an amazing variety of donuts – honey glazed, Bavarian chocolate, blueberry jam filled, white chocolate, peanut coated and what have you! I bough a dozen of these.

Some other random things I bought include large and spicy Ooty chillies, some flavourful garlic powder, dried celery powder, biryani flavouring and a book on Portuguese cooking. On my last day I discovered a book called the Bangalore Food Lovers which had a list of some very good restaurants and gourmet food stores. I only wish I had found that sooner!

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