New carry-out Indian place in Palatine

There are Indian restaurants popping up all over. New India is a small, strictly carry-out and catering Indian place in Palatine at Quentin and Northwest Hwy. (The other new places are Indian Bistro in Palatine and Vishnu Vilas in Schaumburg in the old Sizzle India )

We have ordered from New India several times and the food is nicely spiced and reasonably priced. The owners must do quite a bit of catering, because when ordering they will suggest that a certain dish was made for catering that day and that it might be a good idea to order that dish. We had a nice okra dish that was suggested in this way.

Here is the partial menu. Give it a try.

Tasty Japanese food in Elk Grove

Kurumaya is a great casual Japanese restaurant in Elk Grove Village. We went there again last night for dinner. Here’s a prior review on Kurumaya. I really like this place because it has reasonably priced sushi, tempura and other traditional Japanese dishes.

We had two sets of maki rolls as an appetizer, one of which had cilantro, jalapeno and avocado.  Then we ordered a third appetizer, fried oysters that were served with a Japanese hot mustard. The oysters were lightly breaded, but moist and flavorful inside. Really good. For entrees we had udon noodles and soba noodles in a flavorful broth along with some tempura ($11). It was not too crowded on a Saturday night, maybe half full. This place continues to be one of my favorites.

New Schaumburg Indian restaurant Vishnu Vilas

Vishnu Foods opened in 2002 in Schaumburg near Motorola. They sell Indian food ingredients and prepared foods like samosasdosas.

Recently, the owners of  Vishnu Foods opened a restaurant next door to their retail store in the space formerly occupied by “Sizzle India.” I stopped in to Vishnu Foods a few weeks ago and the owner said they were thinking of opening up a restaurant to serve good Southern Indian food with “some healthier options,” but he added that he was afraid of the economy (wise man) . He forged ahead and Vishnu Villas is now open. Review will be forthcoming.

Vodka lite=Korean soju

The wonders of Korean Soju are explored in this post

At 21% alcohol, it’s good straight or in cocktails.

Hard to find, but it’s available at Mitsuwa in Arlington Heights.

Quickee kalbi: Costco-style Korean short ribs

 

Last summer, we went to New Seoul Korean BBQ in Mt. Prospect  and had a wonderful dinner that included kalbi grilled over a small, but mighty charcoal grill that kicked off  more smoke than a homecoming bonfire.  I’ve been obsessed with Korean short ribs ever since. So when I saw this short video on the Chicago Magazine site, in which Bill Kim of Urban Belly makes some killer-looking short ribs, it really caught my attention.

 I didn’t have 24 hours to marinate the beef, and I had some Costco short ribs on hand, so I modified the recipe to marinate for 20 minutes and used the Costco shorties.

(Serves 2)

Use 2 boneless short ribs from Costco ($14 for a package.  A package contains about 8 short ribs that are about 6 inches long and 2 inches thick. 1 short rib will serve 1 person)

1. Slice each short rib with a knife lengthwise. You can do this once to make two pieces or twice to make three pieces. In the video, Bill Kim’s ribs are about ¾ inch thick, so you would cut the Costco rib once.  I like them thinner, so I cut them twice.

 2. Put each piece between two pieces of plastic wrap. Using a heavy object, or the flat end of a meat tenderizer flatten each piece so it’s the thickness that you want. I made them about 1/8 inch thick.

 3. Salt and pepper both sides of each flattened rib.

 4. Make the following marinade:

 ½ cup soy sauce

1 T chopped ginger

½ or 1 t Sriracha chile sauce

2 T of sesame oil

1 T honey

1T Rice wine vinegar or any vinegar

 5. Pour the marinade over the ribs and make sure they are all covered. Kim marinates the ribs for 24 hours. I marinated the ribs for 20 minutes and they tasted great.  Store in frig until you need them.

6. Using a cast iron skillet or any other heavy-ish pan that holds heat, put the flame on high until the skillet is very hot.

7. Add 2 T oil to skillet. Take ribs out of marinade and put them carefully in skillet. Don’t crowd the skillet. Saute for 3 minutes on each side.

 8. Top with some toasted sesame seeds

Serve over rice or with lettuce wraps as an appetizer or main course.

 

Best Thai in NW suburbs

Thai House in Hoffman Estates has the freshest Thai food around. I was getting tired of the other Thai places nearby my house.

It is a little hard to get into and out of since it’s on the east side of Roselle, between Higgins and Golf, but definitely worth it.