7 Delicious Food Items That Can Taste Extra Awesome With Just A Generous Layer Of Hot Sauce

If somebody asked you to state that one food item which could just make your ordinary, boring food taste extra-ordinarily tasty and lip-smacking, what would that be? Simple, it's a bottle of chilly-loaded fiery, hot sauce, isn't it? Bet you can't find anything else on the planet that can practically go with EVERY-freaking-dish possible! Whether you're a college student in a hostel that serves bland & boring food, or you're a traveller who needs that spicy tadka even on a roast pie, or you've got friends over and need something out-of-the-world to serve - there's one thing to your rescue, and that's a bottle of Bira 91 hot sauce.

To satiate your taste buds, here's a list of generally oh-so-normal foods that can taste extra awesome and delicious with just a layer of this fiery, hot sauce.

1. A Simple Platter Of Nachos That Need An Extra Dash Of Awesomeness.

Hot sauce effect: Forget the thick layer of cheese or the lamb chops and meatballs that are too less, the spicy Habenero chillies in the sauce will just take your gastronomic experience to a new high.

2. Spicy Hot Chicken Wings Which Need To Be Even Spicier.

Hot sauce effect: Oh man! Just so delectably out of the world! These chilly-layered wings can deeply satisfy your innermost cravings for a flavourful platter. And bet you can't stop with just one!

3. Those Quintessential Spaghetti And Meatballs That Are A Spicy Dream Topped With Chilly Sauce.

Hot sauce effect: Drool-worthy to the core! Who wants gravy when the top-view of the spagetti bowl is layered up with a generous amount of hot sauce? And with those meatballs soaking in them, totally dinner-date material, dude!

4. Steamed Momos. Fried Momos. Tandoori Momos. Gravy Momos.

Hot sauce effect: Momos are real momos only if they are dipped in a gratifying bowl of finger-licking and burning-hot chilly sauce! It is the ultimate evening snack.

5. Those Regular Snacky Veggie Cutlets Which Really Need Some Excitement To It.

Hot sauce effect: These crunchy cutlets get loaded up in their spice quotient with just one layer of hot sauce. And there you go, they jump to the top of your favourite food list just like that!

6. Those Fiery, Hot Peanuts Which Can Get You All Geared Up For The Boys' Night.

Hot sauce effect: Can those snacky peanuts get more awesome? Sure, it can! Simple yet lip-smacking and flavorsome! It becomes the ultimate bowl of satisfaction when a few tomatoes, onions, green chillies and a generous layer of hot sauce is mixed up!

7. Plain Platter Of French Fries Which Needs A Party Twist To It.

Hot sauce effect: Who doesn't love french fries? But just those ordinary salted ones can be boring. Turn them into tangy and delicious fries with just a squeeze of spicy, hot sauce! Shake them up well inside a box, and there you go! You can very well forget the mayo, bet you'll fall in love with the chilly-flavoured french fries.

Be it midnight hunger pangs or last-minute food ideas, you know what you need! Because, the all-new extra-hot and spicy sauce in town - Bira 91 hot sauce has come to the table! It is super-hot and flavourful. With just a splash of it, you can make your normal boring food so damn interesting. Of course, spicy food and beer is undoubtedly THE best combination there is! Ain't it? Go order your bottle today from Amazon - 350 gms for just Rs.399 and get on a food high like never before!

Gonzo Gourmet Food Truck Looking To Expand In Hall

Hot chicken came sizzling out of the oil, but it didn’t become “hot chicken” until it was smothered in Brandon Wilson’s cayenne pepper sauce.

Wilson was slinging hot chicken, a full cut of chicken breast deep fried, covered in cayenne pepper paste and laid over buttered bread with a slice of pickle and green onion, at Tap It on Friday for one of the growler bar’s takeover events. The truck also sold sweet potato fries, North Georgia tacos (which are heavy on the pulled pork) and a few other dishes in the parking lot.
Normally seen covering lunches at Northeast Georgia Medical Center, the Friday event was one of the first in Hall County served by Gonzo Gourmet as the food truck tries to break into the Hall market.

Wilson and Gonzo Gourmet operate from a farm just over the line in Lumpkin County. For the past 18 months — since he moved to Georgia from Knoxville, Tennessee, to be closer to his daughter — Gonzo Gourmet has sold food at North Georgia wineries, weddings and festivals.

“That worked out well, but I did want to branch out,” Wilson said, talking about his past few years running the food truck in Knoxville.

Gonzo Gourmet had become a regular around a few famous corporations, including Regal Cinemas, which has a theater in Gainesville. But in Tennessee the truck was operating from a “postage stamp” of a lot and, while it was still based on local ingredients, Wilson didn’t have the room to grow his own food.

The truck now has “a real focus on farm to table, so we try to bring forward local ingredients, local product, to nearly everything for serve off the truck — except for tater tots, today,” Wilson said, smiling and standing in the parking lot at Tap It.

Tater tots came in at the bottom of Gonzo Gourmet’s menu for the event. But now in Georgia, just about every bit of vegetable served from Gonzo Gourmet comes from Wilson’s Lumpkin County farm, and the meat comes from local farmers. The food and its background went over well at wineries and weddings, but Wilson said he’s looking to add more to the truck’s routine.

Hoping to get back into more regular lunch service, he and his girlfriend, Kim Hughes, made the jump into Hall County — starting with lunch at the hospital.

“I’m looking for more big corporations in Hall County that would love for me to be there for lunch services with their employees,” Wilson said.

The name of the truck was inspired by Hunter S. Thompson and his gonzo journalism. Wilson himself is a graduate of journalism school and spent 10 years working in newspapers, including the Marietta Daily Journal.

Roy Choi on Food Trucks, Pizza and the Art of Properly Cooked Korean Food

Plus, the L.A. chef offers his predictions for the food world in 2018.

It’s been ten years since Roy Choi parked his Korean taco truck Kogi in front of a nightclub and became one of the first people to spark what would become a phenomenon in the restaurant industry—the now-ubiquitous food truck. Choi is now working on opening a restaurant at the Park MGM in Las Vegas, he has a line of food products with Williams-Sonoma and he’s still celebrating the successful launch of POT Pizza Joint. In the decade since he entered the food scene, he’s still conquering new territory. Choi has always been ahead of the curve, though. He’s just been waiting for the rest of the world to catch up.

“Everyone always looked at food trucks like the trend is going to end. I have been hearing that for ten years and it hasn’t,” he tells Food and Wine. “They're still serving a lot of people lunches in office complexes. We’re no longer the ones that you have to drive out of town and call the cops on. Food trucks are an essential part of people’s days. They are important to the fabric of feeding people, like hotel chefs cooking breakfasts or for weddings.”

He says this last part without an ounce of disparagement in his voice—this is not a criticism of the food truck system, but is rather meant to praise how necessary they have become to Los Angeles. Now, Choi sees the true originators of the food truck movement—the taco trucks—experiencing a renaissance in his city.

“There has been a resurgence of the roots of food trucks. There are really great taco trucks right now,” he says. “The original taco trucks survived the new wave, and the now [they’re] coming back with even better food. It’s gratifying to see that.”

Though Choi is considered an innovator in the food scene, especially when it comes to fusion cuisine, he still experiences moments of anxiety when introducing a new dish to the public. He recently had that experience with the opening of POT Pizza Joint, which serves a kimchi pizza.

“I was nervous and excited to see people accept it,” he explains. “There are certain foods that are somewhat sacred or you’re not supposed to mess with. When you do mess with them, it touches a nerve where you have to compare it to the original, and then that thing you’re creating has a loosing change right out of the gate.”

Still, Choi took a risk with the kimchi pizza, and it paid off. He found that when people eat his creation, they aren’t thinking about the Neopolitan origins of pizza, or scrutinizing his variation for all the elements that make up a classic slice. Instead, his diners can appreciate for the innovation for what it is.

“It just tastes delicious,” he says. “It's not even pizza anymore, but it is pizza.”

Choi—who is Korean-American—has long been playing with Korean-inspired flavors and ingredients in his food. Though this has been a largely fearless enterprise for him, Choi remembers a time when adding Asian influences to a dish may have been not only unwelcome, but looked down upon.

“[Korean flavors] weren’t so versatile when people would scrunch their nose and call our food stinky,” he recalls. “You have to give all props to David Chang. David was the first one to break through. That was the thing that opened the versatility up. Korean restaurants have always been the same, but when that window opened up, it just allowed people to look at it with a different lens.”

While Americans with Westernized palates may not have accepted these flavors until Korean chefs hit the mainstream, Choi is quick to point out that Korean-Americans, especially the children of immigrants, have always known how delicious their food is.

“The things that make Korean food delicious are garlic, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, chili powder and chili paste,” he explains. "They make anything delicious."

In order to cook Asian dishes properly in your own home, Choi says the most important thing to do is “take a step back and respect the differences in cultures.”

“This is not a one-shoe-fits type of thing,” he continues. “I see a lot of people doing fusion things [but] Korean food is not European food. I see folks trying to cook it like it’s beef bourguignon. You don’t have to cook it the traditional way, but it’s a difference in technique.”

Choi points to the fact that Korean recipes for braising typically don’t sear the meat, whereas in a French recipe, searing the meat is common practice.

“When you take that approach with Korean food you end with a murky product – it hurts the product.”

In his experience, home cooks also tend to underseason their food, so he recommends that they “focus on simplicity, season properly" and embrace "the less-is-more model.” For example, if you’re cooking a piece of meat, don’t try to be fancy. “The best way to do it,” Choi says, is to simply “roast with salt and pepper.”



 You can expect to see all his favorite Korean ingredients continue to pop up in Choi’s food as he continues to expand his restaurant empire. He jokes that the next fusion cuisine to pick up steam in 2018 is “healthy milkshakes,” but he actually sees the whole world of food open to being molded into something new.

“Everything is up for grabs,” he says. “Meatloaf, casserole, even the cherished hero—we can mess with those. I think this year is up for grabs.”

Navratri 2017 Recipes: 5 Delicious Paneer Recipes to Try at Home

Navratri 2017 starts from 21st September. The nine days of festivities will also see many devotees observing a fast. This is the period when many households, particularly in North India and Gujarat, follow a restricted diet without the use of onions, garlic, whole grains, non veg, table salt, pulses, and certain spices and vegetables. Milk and dairy products are however allowed, and therefore various kinds of vrat dishes are created during this festival making the most of dairy products, particularly paneer.Paneer or cottage cheese is a popular vegetarian treat, and can be prepared in myriad ways to delight one's palate. During the fasting period, you can use paneer to dish out lip-smacking kebabs, kofta curry, pakoras, subzis, and gravy dishes. But if you are looking for interesting ways to spruce up regular Navratri paneer dishes, we present five creative recipes for you. From pizzas to sandesh pudding, there's lots to try -

1. Paneer Tikki

A quick and easy, paneer and potato roundels recipe. Made with singhare ka atta and sendha namak, this snack is perfect for the festival of Navratri.

2. Paneer Pizza

Here's how to make a Navratri Pizza at home from scratch. The base is made with buckwheat flour and you can use paneer and makhanas as topping to abide by the fasting rules.

3. Paneer Afghani

Paneer cubes marinated in a creamy paste of melon seeds, cashews, poppy seeds, cream and butter. Grilled golden on a tandoor.

4. Paneer Payesh

Payesh is a popular Bengali dessert similar to kheer. This version is made with paneer, saffron, milk and cardamom.

5. Hot Paneer Sandesh Pudding

Whip up a guilt free sandesh - no sugar, only organic fruits.

Read This Before You Swallow A Spoonful Of Yummy Peanut Butter

For a long time, we have been hearing that butter is the most dangerous fat. Whether it's solid or semi-solid, it's worse for you. It has been blamed for everything from obesity to heart disease. Yet, recently, it has made a comeback as a "health food" in the form of peanut butter.

Peanut butter is utterly delicious and contains high amount of healthy fats, vitamins, minerals and protein. Two tablespoon of this butter has 3.3 grams of saturated fat and 2.3 grams of unsaturated fat. This ratio of unsaturated to saturated fat puts it up on the list with olive oil. In moderation, saturated fat is okay for your body. It also provides you some fibre and has a terrific potassium-to-sodium ratio if consumed unsalted. People who regularly include peanut butter in their diet in the right way are less likely to develop heart disease or type 2 diabetes than those who rarely eat it.

What's bad about peanut butter?

Peanut butter is loaded with omega-6 fats and low on omega-3 fats. The ratio is often as high as 20:1 omega-6 vs. omega-3 fats. This imbalanced ratio can cause inflammation, cardiovascular disease, cancer and autoimmune diseases. In addition, too many omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids can lead to asthma, type 2 diabetes, obesity, irritable bowel syndrome, metabolic syndrome, macular degeneration and more. Peanut butter often contains mould that is a big reason for food allergies or inflammatory immune reactions.

Peanut butter is healthy

Make sure that peanut butter actually helps your body in the best possible way. While buying it, always pick certified organic brand. They're made of peanuts grown in bushes off the ground or higher up to eliminate the issue with mould. Also, many a times, peanut butter contains non-organic hydrogenated oils. It adds to omega-6 count making the butter unhealthy to consume. Beware of this junk and stay away from it. It can cause you weight gain and inflammatory reactions in your body.

It is wise to make your own peanut butter or buy the natural organic one. Only then it can actually be beneficial for your health.

Consume in moderation

It's tasty. It contains nutrients. But, at the same time it contains some harmful substances like peanut lectin, a growth promoter of colon cancer cells and Aflatoxins, a kind of fungal toxins.

The mantra is to consume in "moderation" and use good organic quality with right foods. If you make it a part of your proper diet, it can support and boost metabolism and fat-loss because of its high-protein content. In fact today, it is one of the highest plant-based protein sources. Peanut butter is one of those foods that can turn meals into masterpieces. However, sometimes it can be a metabolism death food.

Bui Bistro: A Pearl In Napa

A pearl is the oldest acknowledged gem and for centuries was thought to be the most valuable.

The pearl is often mentioned in folklore and there are many traditions surrounding the pearl.

The pearl I am referring to today is actually a street in Napa. The gem I am talking about is a small and intimate bistro located on Pearl Street.

Bui Bistro is truly a local gem. It surprised me to discover that many residents have never even heard about this unique little spot. I was, sad but true, one of this group, but no more.

It shouldn’t be a secret, so please let me share.

Chef and owner Patrick Bui holds his own amongst a plethora of well known chefs in the valley and he has created a comfortably understated dining venue where splendid French Vietnamese meals are served with great respect for tradition. Tradition, passion and innovation are paired well.

Born in Saigon, and raised mostly in Paris, Patrick immigrated to the U.S. in 1980 and followed the career path laid out for him in the world of mechanical design.

His real passion was cooking. The foods of his youth and his early culture.

Fast-forward about 15 years, when Patrick stepped away from the tools used for mechanical design and picked up the tools of a professional kitchen as he entered the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco.

After working in several San Francisco kitchens, Bui’s first restaurant was realized in 1999, when he opened “Saigon City” in Berkeley, where he primarily served college students with Vietnamese style quick foods. The more upscale Bui Restaurant, also in Berkeley, followed.

Bui and his wife Thi found their way to Napa and in 2010, after several months of renovations, Bui Bistro opened its doors.

When I visit a Vietnamese dining establishment, there is a test. It’s the Pho Test. If the Pho is great then I am assured that the restaurant knows what it’s doing and then I delve into the menu for classics and offerings with a creative twist on favorites.

What is Pho, you ask? Pho (pronounced “fuh”) is a broth-based noodle soup, conspicuous in Vietnamese cuisine. Whether it’s chicken, beef or seafood broth there will be thick rice noodles floating in the broth along with pieces of meat, vegetables and a variety of spices and herbs. Flavors, combinations and spices are the chef’s choice, so the dish can vary slightly from place to place. The secret to a successful and delectable soup is the broth.

Simmering bones and fatty meat pieces in good water (this makes a difference), with spices such as ginger, star anise and cardamom is the beginning. It takes patience. Several hours are required to give all the flavors a chance to realize their full potential. This is where I remind you, dear reader, that if you don’t drink the water coming from your tap because you don’t like the taste, why then would you use it to cook with? Something to think about.

Beef broth is called pho bo, the chicken version is pho ga, and the seafood broth is pho hai san.

As soon as I tasted the pho at Bui, I knew I was in the right place and in good hands. Diners will often add a favorite little “extra” to their pho. I sometimes enjoy a bit of lemon or lime, while others might play with Thai basil, bean sprouts, chili pepper, fish or hoisin sauce.

Try not to fill up on the soup, as tempting as it is. Save room for the refreshing Banana Flower Salad with it’s zesty fresh flavors combining wafer thin slices of grilled chicken, sliced pear and a dressing with it’s brightly balanced acidity. Perfect summer salad and the presentation is just plain fun.

The chicken curry had the perfect balance of spices while the sea bass was wonderfully crispy on the outside and lushly juicy on the inside, with coconut rice and a glass of crisp white wine, it was a delightful pairing.

Oh my gosh, I almost forgot to mention the egg rolls. Light, delicate and filled with shredded goodness. The dipping sauces are sweet, spicy, savory. It’s all there in every bite.

Great place to go with friends and order several items from the menu to share at the table. Another thing to enjoy about the Bistro is the fact that you can have a great conversation during dinner and actually be able to hear one another. Not the case in many restaurants.

Patrick is the consummate host. Patrick alone could keep diners returning to the Bistro just to chat with him. It’s a very personal experience.

He’s definitely accomplished the art of offering classic Vietnamese foods while implementing the techniques he learned from the French. Dishes like the Asian duck confit and bouillabaisse showcase traditional French fare, Vietnamese style. Is it Vietnamese food with a French twist or French food Vietnamese style?

Delicious BBQ Heading To Needy Families After American Royal

The American Royal World Series of BBQ may be over, but the meals are about to start for thousands of hungry people in the metro.

But that almost wasn't the case, until one barbecuer called FOX 4's Problem Solvers.

At the food donation tent at the American Royal, in between the chicken and the ribs, the brisket and the pork, you'll now find pens.

For almost 10 years, Gary Benham and hundreds of others donated the meat they made for the World Series competition - to Kookers Kare, which then donated it to Harvesters, and other local food banks.

Until last year.

"Last year," said Benham, "we had a little problem with the health department -- not knowing the process that we follow, to get the food safely to the people that needed it."

He explained, "Harvester's wasn't allowed to distribute that food. The food that was distributed to the pantry was tossed in a dumpster and bleached, and the rest of the food that had not been distributed had to be detroyed as well. It was a big disappointment to the people who work really hard."

Benham called Fox4 Problem Solvers and explained the situation. He said he and other BBQers were disappointed that a near 10 year tradition was about to end.

Now, in 2017, Benham said he worked with food inspectors at the Kansas Department of Agriculture and the Missouri Department of Health.

"We were very diligent in documenting what we did today," said the President of Kookers Kare. "It took us - it took us a little bit longer than what we've done in the past, because we did have to document all the stuff."

That documentation involved pens and adhesive labels - and the cloud.

"We had another company come in," said Benham, "that helped us with the digitally documenting some of the process. We've got temperature probes going that are going up to the cloud, and we've created a document up there with graphs and charts and everything, so we can physically document how we took care of samples of this food."

And now, some of the hungriest people in the metro will have some of the tastiest BBQ this week.

"It's going to go feed the hungry, the homeless, and they're obviously very grateful," said Harvesters volunteer Dennis Velasquez. "It's not often that they get world class BBQ. Just once a year - during this time. And they're very grateful."

Kookers Kare is the non-profit organization that handles all these donations. It estimates it will have anywhere between 3,000 - 4,000 pounds of meat at Harvesters and local food pantries; it expects it will all be eaten within a week.

Operation BBQ Relief (OBR) was also at the American Royal World Series this weekend. It donated food to the Kookers Kare organization on Sunday as well.

Operation BBQ Relief is already cooking food down in Houston for those affected by Hurricane Harvey. But it doesn't have refrigeration capabilities, so organizers say they donated all the cold food donations they received to Kookers Kare.

That means people at metro food banks and shelters will have some tasty sides to go with their award winning BBQ.