Gourmet meals ready in a jiffy

HYDERABAD :  Your friends come home at short notice and you want to make an impression? How to serve a restaurant-grade gourmet meal at home without the hassle of grocery shopping, prepping and spoiling your coiffed hair? Try th Gourmet-In-You (GIY) by ITC Hotels--five-step DIY meal kit. Their pre-portioned, do-it-yourself food kits (in seven variants of veg and non-veg) provide not just variety, but also the ‘home-cooked’ advantage. Each portion serves two hungry souls.

We ordered the meal kits of Burmese Khowsuey with chicken and vegetarian Ruby Risotto. Packed in clearly marked food-grade containers, the box came with easy-to-follow steps. All we needed from the kitchen was salt, water, butter and a couple of pans. Burmese Khowsuey is my absolute favourite dish and this kit hit the perfect notes. The soup provided was a delicately spiced coconut milk with a sharp and tangy taste of lemongrass.

After heating it through, we added diced boiled chicken, steamed vegetables and gave it a boil. A quick micro of the boiled noodles and we were ready to plate. Took 10 minutes tops! The Khowsuey soup is a meal in itself and this one was bursting with flavours.  We topped the soup with contrasting condiments such as noodles, boiled egg, crispy garlic, fried onions, green onion, red chillies, crunchy peanuts, and a squeeze of lime juice. Slurp!

The risotto took a tad bit longer to cook, as the dish needs a little attention. The Arborio rice has to be stirred constantly while combining it slowly with warm liquid, in this case, water. The rice should be slightly al-dente. Once the rice looked rightly done, we mixed the red pepper sauce and buttered the veggies (yellow and green zucchini, carrot and baby corn) in a side pan.

 After the sauce was incorporated with the rice, we topped it with the grated parmesan and the buttered veggies. The generously grilled butter-garlic bread made it a wholesome meal. Bon appetit! Get Insta-worthy pics. Go ahead make that impression! Available from 11 am to 11 pm. To place an order, call 91212 31753 or email butlers.itckohenur@itchotels.in

(Tamanna S Mehdi; tamanna@newindianexpress.com;  @tamannamehdi)