Yearly Archives: 2010

Vik’s Chaat Corner and Market in Berkeley

Sign outside of vik's chaat corner in berkeley

My husband, Steve, took a day off work recently, so we made an afternoon trip to Vik’s Chaat Corner in Berkeley. I’ve written about this place in the past, but not since they moved to their new, deluxe accommodations further down 4th street. 2390 4th street, to be exact.

Interior of Vik’s Chaat Corner in Berkeley

It’s still industrial-like, but larger, more open, light and modern. Long stainless steel tables and sturdy grade school chairs offer plenty of eating real estate for the crowds that show up to munch out on superior Indian snacks.

Cooking stations at Vik’s Chaat Corner in Berkeley

Chaat (think of it as Indian tapas) has become quite popular in the US over the past decade, and a number of chaat houses have cropped up in the Bay Area, but Vik’s was an early one and is still the best, in my opinion.

Steve at Vik’s Chaat Corner in Berkeley

This is my go-to place when I want something spicy. Or something without meat. Or when I’m alone, because it’s a great place to eat and read. It’s controlled mayhem at noon, so a meal comes complete with entertainment if you decide not to read.

Vik’s menu says that “chaat” means “to lick.” I believe it. I’ve been licking my chops here for years.

The weekend is the best time to visit, food-wise, because they offer their full menu – but I can’t deal with all the people. I forgo the chaat with animal protein for more comfort. The weekday chaat is completely vegetarian, unless they offer a weekend special. Often they have the keema samosa listed as such – but don’t count on it. I can tell, you, though, that the vegetarian chaat is wonderful, and if you must have fish, chicken or lamb, you can get one of three daily lunch plates that contain beast.

Chaat at Vik’s in Berkeley

If you’ve never been, go with a couple other people and order an assortment to share so you wind up with several breads to dip into various sauces and condiments. For example, most of the masala dosa potato stuffing is in the middle of this long crepe affair, so you can tear off plain pieces of the dosa on the ends and apply them to whatever looks good to you on other plates.

The average cost of an item at Vik’s is in the neighborhood of $6, so it’s a great place for a cheap meal, but one thing to be aware of is that almost everything has some heat. This would not be a good place to take people who cannot tolerate a slow, steady, pleasant burn. If in doubt, ask.

On this visit, Steve and I ordered:

Keema samosa. These pastry-wrapped “pies” are stuffed with minced lamb and peas and served with mint chutney. The samosa at Vik’s are always stand-out. No kidding. This includes the vegetarian (potato) version. You get two per order and they’re nice and fat – juicy and never greasy. Vik’s achieves real complexity in their dishes, and the deeply-flavored samosa fillings are a perfect example.

Keema samosa at Vik’s in Berkeley

Masala dosa. The dosa is a crepe made of ground rice and dal (lentils) and it’s stuffed with spiced potatoes. On the side there’s coconut chutney and sambar, a subtly-spicy warm lentil sauce. This dosa is large and hangs over the plate it’s served on. The potato stuffing in the masala dosa is different than the one in the samosa, so don’t have any qualms about ordering both items. I love the coconut chutney, which is cold and has a slightly sweet edge. It’s also nice to add an item that does not include the ubiquitous cholle (chick pea curry) on the side. The lentil sauce gives a little variety.

Masala dosa at Vik’s in Berkeley

Potatoes inside the masala dosa at Vik’s in Berkeley

Bhatura cholle. This is a huge puri (puffed, fried bread made of fermented wheat) served with chick pea curry and Indian pickles, which are pungent and hot. The puri is the “bhatura” and the chick pea curry is the “cholle.” This is a dramatic and savory chaat item that is a must when I’m involved in a trip to Vik’s.

Lunch special B, which was chicken korma. Lunch specials come with a small serving of the main dish, roti (flat whole wheat bread), papadam (thin, brittle, chick pea flour bread), some kind of dal (lentil sauce), rice, raita (cold yogurt sauce) and pickle. Lunch specials work well when you share because one provides three dipping options for crepes or bread. Steve is a big fan of these plates, while I’m more interested in chaat, figuring I can get a chicken curry elsewhere.

Lunch plate at Vik’s in Berkeley

If you go on the weekend, I suggest trying:

Kathi kabob. This is an egg-covered paratha wrap with boneless chicken chunks, onions and cilantro and comes with mint chutney. Paratha is a relatively thick, flaky, buttery whole wheat flat bread.

Lamb baida roti – a wrap made using roti and spiced ground lamb filling. The filling, which is also used in the keema samosa, is über-savory and addictive.

They have a couple of new items on the menu, but what I really liked seeing was salty lassi! I’m not a mango lassi kind of girl. Their version of salty lassi has herbs. Interesting. Never had lassi? How come? It’s a yogurt drink and serves as a foil for the hot food.

Salty lassi at Vik’s in Berkeley

It’s worth mentioning that Vik’s has a full sweets counter. If you like milky sweets, try a couple of the squares that look like solidified milk. They’ll be really sweet – like sweetened condensed milk – and may have pistachio or rosewater in there.

They carry my fave: rasmalai. These paneer (milk curd) dumplings in sweetened milk should be tried by all. The thing you might find odd is the texture. Unfamiliar textures seem to be a nonstarter for many people. Come on!

Steve and the parental unit love gulab jamun. The best way for me to describe these is to call them large donut holes saturated with, and swimming in, syrup.

They don’t have kheer (rice pudding), as far as I know, and if you order it in any restaurant I’ll come after you. It’s so easy and inexpensive to make at home there’s no reason to buy it. I’ll post my recipe soon. Milk, sugar, rice and a couple drops of rosewater. That’s all you need.

Now that I’ve covered the Chaat Corner, let me tell you about Vik’s Market, which you must walk through to get to the restaurant.

Items purchased at Vik's market laid out on a table

I spent about $25 on all the stuff in the photo.

What I bought:

-4 imported spice mixes that will season several meals each. Tandoori chicken, butter chicken, chicken masala, and dhanshak masala. 100 grams – AKA 3.5 ounces – apiece for about $1.50 per. None of those pretty, little, expensive, American-made packets for me. Check out my posts about this here and here.
-400 grams of cashews.
-Small bottle of rose water.
-Fenugreek leaves and seeds (methi).
-One jar of avakai mango pickle (little, pickled, raw mangos with chili and spices)
-One jar of lime pickle.
-Half-kilo of dried chick peas.

For Indian home cooking, a well-stocked Indian market is a must. Not only are the prices great, but they have everything you need and then some.

The next time you eat at Vik’s, check out all the aisles of the market just for fun. The imported pickle products alone are worth the price of admission. Even when you can find these at the supermarket, the prices are insane compared to Vik’s.

My Dog Won’t eat Chicken McNuggets

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“I want my cheeseburger!”

My companion, Berry, the actual akita-chow mix behind Akitachow.com, has to go to the vet regularly due to his allergies and skin condition.

When you adopt a dog it’s kind of a crap shoot in terms of vet bills, but you can count on shelling out lots of cash for your “free” dog.

The important thing is, of course, that your dog is healthy and happy, with everything else being secondary, but there are numerous non-life threatening conditions that’ll cost you a fortune over time.

Berry seems to have a few of these.

We have to keep on top of the ear situation, in particular. Allergies inflame his ears. He scratches and impacts them with stuff by jamming his toes in there. The ears get infected. Once he even punctured his eardrum. It’s impossible to catch this early on each time, because you can’t watch what’s going on 24/7.

Well, there we were at the vet again today, which is a big pain in the ass because he’s terrible with other dogs and creates general mayhem there. He has to be muzzled because he gets kind of scary when you mess with him too much, he’s all stressed, and he sucks the air out of any room he’s in (and the car!) with his non-stop hyperventilating.

I feel terrible for him because he hates going to the vet, and I feel terrible for me because it’s a huge production to take a non-compliant, 105-pound dog where he does not want to go. I feel terrible for the techs, because, as he is being treated in the back, I can hear snarling, people saying, “It’s OK, Berry!,” and then something large crashing into a wall, which shakes the walls of the waiting area.

Although he’s over 11 now, he’s as strong as an ox. Compact and all muscle.

After these vet visits, I take him through the McDonalds drive-thru for a plain cheeseburger, and I have a coffee while he gobbles that down. Since he’s getting older, I thought I would get him something with a little less fat to digest, and I heard there were chicken breast sammies available. I ordered two Classic grilled, one plain, and six McNuggets, in case he hated the sandwich.

My sandwich had an anemic chicken breast that looked, well, shellacked. There was a slice of tomato, which was not half bad, and a lettuce leaf. The whole wheat bun had no texture, but I guess that’s the idea. When I took a bite the contents slid out due to a large blob of mayo hiding under the lettuce that created a landslide effect. I suppose if you tell them to go light on the mayo, and to actually spread it on the bread, it’s the best thing to have if you find yourself at a McDonald’s for some reason.

I tore a piece of the plain sandwich off for his nibs in the back seat, and he took it gingerly but promptly spit it back at me with some velocity. The piece of chicken and bun went flying over my shoulder and down my shirt. Nice. I dug everything out and tried again, but no sale. I don’t blame him. The roll and chicken were almost identical in color and texture. When you’re accustomed to a cheeseburger and get something like this, I guess a poor reception is to be expected.

Then I tried with a McNugget. This he was so suspicious of he wouldn’t take. When I thought he was going to take it, I let go, and it bounced to the floor of the car.

I ate one of the McNuggets – which I don’t think I’ve had since Steve and I used to get them at the East Village Mickey D’s back in the early 1980’s. Tasted like the same chicken flavored cellulose stuff it was back them.

I later tried to give him the rest of his sandwich and a couple of McNuggets via his dog bowl, but he never even looked.

He’s been glaring at me since we got back home, saying, “I want my damned cheeseburger!”

Northern German Herring Salad

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Renate’s Herring Salad in Northern German Style

My Mom just came back from a long trip to Germany, where she’s from, and has been raving about one of her favorite dishes: herring salad.

I miss herring salad. To make it properly in the US borders on impossible, though.

Herring, a fairly strong, oily (and Omega-3-rich!) fish from the North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans and the Baltic Sea, is a way of life in Northern Europe. Not so much here. Much of the herring consumed in the US is of the appetizing variety that’s part of (Ashkenazi) Jewish cuisine. You know what I mean: herring in cream sauce, herring in wine sauce, chopped herring. If you’re not connected to a hard-core herring eating community, chances are you don’t know Matjes from Buckling.

For the record, Matjes herring are young, mild herring that run once per year in early summer. A Buckling is a hot-smoked herring. The head and insides are removed, but not the roe. My Oma (Grandma) loved these, and used to talk about them all the time, describing their savoriness in full glory. Loosely like a kipper.

If you hear Germans talking about “green” herring (grüne Heringe), they mean herring straight out of the water – nothing done to them yet. These are often fried whole in butter. Fried herring are called Bratheringe. The German language is famous for producing compound words from multiple nouns, verbs and adjectives. Here, a form of the verb “to fry,” or “braten,” is simply now part of the noun. You may not care, but I figure I’d mention it, along with Straßenreinigungsgebühr, or “street cleaning fee.”

Among the ways Europeans deal with herring, a popular one is simply curing and preserving with salt in a barrel. The fish are then soaked in water to rid them of excess salt and used in various recipes, like herring salad. They are not cooked – just cured. It may rock your world to know that the jarred Vita Herring you’ve been buying at the supermarket all your life are not cooked….by heat, anyway. If you eat this stuff, go ahead and have ceviche. Hell, go ahead and take the next little leap to sashimi. Many things, both good and bad, are arrived at incrementally.

It is very difficult to find the aforementioned salt herring in the US. The only place I know of in the SF Bay Area that carries the real deal is Nordic House, in Berkeley. They actually dig the herring fillets out of a barrel in front of you. Another option is an on-line outfit, like GermanDeli.com, but the shipping and handling charges are outrageous.

Most of the Euro and Euro-style herring sold in the US is pickled and in jars or canned and in some kind of mustard or tomato sauce. You don’t want any of that stuff for this herring salad. Try to come as close as possible to the right thing. Keep reading.

To further complicate matters, I like my herring salad made with young, tender, Matjes herring – which are impossible to come by here in a salted state. When you see them at all they are in a marinade. When looking for neutral-tasting Matjes herring for this salad, be especially careful with that sold in a marinade — such as the 1 kg containers of Swedish Matjes herring available at Nordic House — because there is often lots of dill present. Although you may be told you can “soak” the dill flavor out, you can’t. Plus, there is sugar that will remain after soaking.

After trial and error I found a great product that is available in many US cities and via mail order – much easier to come by than barrel-cured herring: Richter Matjes herring fillets in canola oil. There is no marinade. This is just salted Matjes herring packed in oil. All you need to do is rinse and dry, which will cut down on the salt. It may still be too salty for you, but you’ll never know if you don’t try it. If you live in the SF Bay Area, you can get this at Berkeley Bowl West, across from the meat counter. UPDATE on 1/29/13: I have not seen the Richter Matjes at Berkeley Bowl West for a few months now.

The salad I make from these herring passes muster with my Mom, so you know it’s good. Not only has she eaten a sea of herring in her lifetime, she’s also brutally honest about what she likes and doesn’t like. Feelings don’t always seem to factor in.

richter Matjes herring in canola oil
In Germany, your basic herring salad includes only a few ingredients, and you can even make the “salad” with whole fillets, which are then served, sauce and all, with little steamed or boiled yellow-fleshed potatoes. Sometimes the sauce will be made a bit runny when prepared this way.

If you make the salad with chunks, you can serve it on little crusty rolls or with said potatoes.

richter matjes herring in canola oil
In Southern Germany, beets are added. We hail from North Germany, so we don’t include them.

chopped apple and onion for herring salad on white cutting board
Forget the Sauerbraten, which I never saw any of my relatives eat and I’ve only had once or twice, and try this. This is what Germans really eat at home all the time. Believe you me, this will be interesting to you if you never had anything but Vita.

If you hate it, send me a recipe from your homeland that you think an American won’t eat and I’ll try it. I eat everything but kidneys and custard.

Renate’s Herring Salad (Renate’s Heringssalat)

500 grams Matjes herring (a little over a pound/2 Richter 250 gram packs)*
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup good mayonnaise
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and cut into small dice
1 small red onion, chopped (not too fine)
Black pepper
Perhaps a little heavy cream or half and half

1). Open containers of herring in sink and transfer fillets to colander. Rinse under cold water well and dry very well before transferring to cutting board.
2). Cut herring fillets into chunks (something like 4 – 6 pieces per fillet, depending upon size).
3). Whisk sour cream and mayo together in a glass or earthenware bowl with a couple grinds of black pepper.
4). Fold in apple and onion.
5). Fold in herring.
6). Cover and place in fridge for an hour.
7). Check sauce situation. If too thick, you can fold in a little heavy cream or half and half, but don’t thin too much.
8). Serve or set back in fridge until you do.

Allow to sit to marinade a bit.

*If you use salt-cured, barrel herring, you’ll need to soak it at least a day in a goodly quantity of water, changing the water often. Dry it well. Action here will depend upon what you buy. If you are lucky enough to find salted Matjes herring in bulk, it most likely won’t be as salty as mature barrel herring, but your mileage may vary.

Quick Pickles

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Yellow bowl of quick pickles made from English cukes

I’m sharing this simple little tip for making quick pickles because it’s been as hot as hell here in the Bay Area the last few days and I’m resorting to cool foods to help out.

This always happens. Much of the US is cruising into fall by this time, with soups, jackets, flaming foliage and pumpkin chais running rampant. We sit here with a string of 95 degree days. Hate that. I don’t care how cool the summer has been overall. I can’t deal with extreme heat. The resident akita-chow, Berry, has been miserable, too.

These pickle-like creatures can be made in the morning and served in the evening, and are helpful when you want something to serve with a sandwich or a curry.

Futz with the recipe as you like. If you want them like Vietnamese cucumber salad (i.e., sweet/sour), use more sugar and only a bit of salt.

Quick Cuke Pickles

1 English cucumber, cut into large chunks – as in the photo (do not peel)
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons Kosher salt
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional)

1). Place the cuke chunks in a glass or earthenware bowl.
2). Combine remaining items in a small saucepan and bring to a rolling boil.
3). Pour liquid over cukes.
4). Cover with plastic wrap and allow to remain on kitchen counter for 2 hours.
5). Transfer to fridge and allow to cool for several hours.
6). Drain and serve.

Roasted Corn with Hazelnut Vinaigrette

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Roasted corn in an earthenware bowl

There were mountains of white corn at Berkeley Bowl West the other day, so I picked up six ears. I love that they provide receptacles near the corn for shucking then and there. This helps me keep my green recycling pail from being a third full after one meal.

We’re a little tired of plain old corn on the cob (though we’ll be missing it like mad in about three months), so I thought I’d shear the ears, roast the kernels, and make some kind of side dish.

There is nothing like fresh corn right off the cob. I have friends who have never taken corn off an ear – and these are food people. Come on! It’s easy and really worth it.

They have gizmos now that de-corn an ear in one fell swoop, but a sharp knife works fine. I like to use my boning knife or smaller chef’s knife, and I cut about 1/2 inch off the thinner end of the cob to create a flat base. I stand the corn on this base and then cut from the top down, hugging the ear with the side of the knife fairly tightly so I get full kernels.

Make sure you use a sharp knife. If you feel unsure of yourself, then do this: Buy a small scrap of untreated plywood – something like 5″ X 5″ – sand and wash it well. Hammer a brand new, washed and dried, nail through the center of the board. You want a thick nail that will give you about 3″ to work with once it’s all the way through the wood. You can then jam the thicker end of each cob down onto the nail as a means of stability. Gluing some flat silicone “feet” onto the bottom is also a good idea. Ask for these at your hardware store. For this recipe, just stand the thing in a sheet pan and allow the corn to fall into the pan as you cut.

Another option is using a bundt pan. Stick the smaller end of the cob (don’t trim it) into the hole in the middle. When you shear the ear, the kernels will fall into the pan. I don’t use this method because I wind up cutting the bundt pan.

Note that my recipe calls for 6 ears of corn, which will crowd your sheet pan – which should technically be a half sheet pan, or half the size of a professional sheet pan. A full sheet pan will not fit into most home ovens, but a half sheet pan is perfect, and you should have several of these on hand as they are serious workhorses.

Anyhoo, I crowd the sheet pan because I don’t want to dry out the corn. Some of it will brown, but some of it will just cook from the heat of the corn crowding it. You want this. I don’t salt the corn until it’s out of the oven to prevent toughness.

Basic Roasted Corn Kernels
Makes plenty – a half sheet pan will be full

6 ears’ worth of corn, white or yellow
1/3 cup olive oil

Version A – plain buttered
Sea salt
Black pepper
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter (take it out of fridge when you start corn)
Plastic wrap

Version B – with hazelnut vinaigrette
Sea salt
3 tablespoons roasted hazelnut or walnut oil
1/4 cup fresh orange juice (from sweet oranges – not too tart)
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
Plastic wrap

1). Place corn on sheet pan.
2). Add oil, mix with hands, and spread out evenly in pan.
3). Roast in 400 deg. F. convection oven until you see some browning action.
4). Turn/mix corn with spatula and spread out evenly.
5). Allow to roast for another 10 minutes or so.
6). Remove from pan and place in large, heavy bowl.
7). Go to version A or B.

Version A: Season corn with sea salt and pepper. Bury butter in the corn. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit until butter melts – a few minutes. Remove plastic, mix in butter, and serve ASAP.

Version B: Season corn with a little sea salt and set aside. Make a vinaigrette out of remaining ingredients (plus a couple cranks of sea salt) by whisking. Mix vinaigrette into corn. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit out on counter for 30 mins before serving. Note that the corn will be very lightly dressed, so if you want more of the dressing just double the vinaigrette recipe.

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