Introduction with Pepper Trail, Chain Masala including Paulami’s recipes

At the invitation of Paulami of SpicetripwithPaulami I was allowed to attend a food event of the Indian restaurant Peppertrail and online shop for Indian food Chainmasala. If you want to know more about this, read on.

Introduction

Paulami from SpicetripwithPaulami (https://spicetrip.nl/) welcomed the foodbloggers / Instagrammers group. On the table lay a large bowl with small bowls of Indian spices. She told each spice the name, origin, preparation method and what kind of health effect it can have on your body. We were allowed to smell and taste it from every spice. A number of necessary spices have been added in a goodie bag together with the 2 recipe cards from Paulami.

Uitleg van Indiase specerijen door Paulami

Then Arvind, the owner of Pepper Trail (http://www.thepeppertrail.com/nl/) explained more about his restaurant. He himself lives in England and has a number of restaurants there. His Pepper Trail restaurant in Rotterdam has been just over 3 years old. His goal is to introduce the Netherlands to traditional high-quality authentic Indian cuisine. They make their own herbal mixes from scratch. All ingredients are fresh and of good quality. The name Pepper Trail has been carefully chosen. She did not want to choose a typical Indian name but a name with a meaning. It became the name Pepper Trail because they want to take the guest on a culinary journey where pepper is the element of the dishes.

Arvind, The owner of the Indian restaurant Pepper Trail

Then it was the turn of Chainmasala (https://www.chainmasala.com/). It is an online shop for Indian food. They tell about the products they sell. And that in cooperation with Paulami they sell ready-made Indian meals, just like at Hello Fresh. The recipes are developed by Paulami. They have added a number of products in goodie bags so that we could try it out ourselves.

Chainmasala is an online store for Indian products. They explained what they were selling in their store and they had also add their products in the goodiebags to try.

Mango Lassi

Afterwards glasses with mango lassi were handed out. It is the most popular Indian yogurt drink also called a smoothie by others. This was my first time I drank it. It was so delicious that I decided to make it myself. I asked Paulami for her recipe and with her permission I share the recipe with you. Click on the link for Paulami’s recipe Mango Lassi https://marilynamaterasu.com/2019/03/12/mango-lassi/

A peek into the kitchen of Pepper Trail

We were allowed to go into the kitchen with the group to see some chefs at work. A cook was busy with chicken rezala and as soon as it was ready, the food bloggers were allowed to taste it. It was served in a large bowl and spoons were handed out to them. The food bloggers deposit at the chicken rezala. It is braised chicken in a creamy sauce based on cashew pasta. I found a separate combination myself. We found the chicken rezala tasty. Then the other cook showed how a naan bread was made. It was interesting to see how that was done.

Foodbloggers were tasting the chicken rezala

Lunch

Due to another earlier appointment I could only be with the starter. It was a delicious starter consisting of tandoori potato, chickpea chaat, lamb seekh kabab and pickled chicken. I was allowed to take the main course home to try it. Lamb curry (Laal mas from Rajasthan), chicken rezala and monkfish in coconut curry with naan bread and rice. I found them delicious and monkfish in coconut curry was my favorite Indian dish.

Lam seekh kabab, tandoori potato, pickled chicken and chickpeas chaat.

Foodbloggers taking photos of their dishes

A full goodiebag with products from Chain Masala, Paulami’s recipes and Belle Kookstudio blondie

Chainmasala – Chai N Masala Amrakhand dessert hangop with alphonsomango, a delicious creamy, yogurt-based substance with a refreshing mango flavor. It was not too sweet but just right. Chai N Masala Srikhand, a curd also a creamy, yogurt-based substance with saffron, cardamom and nutmeg. Soft in taste and all three in balance.

Paulami showing us the 2 different Indiase hangop desserts

Chitale Bandhu Mithaiwal, crispy tasty spring roll. It is a fried spring roll with filling fried rice in herbs of chili, coriander, cumin, tamarind pasta, sesame etc. Taste was spicy with soft spicy. It tasted good.

Chitale Bandhu Mithaiwal, crunchy tasting egg rolls

I prepared Indian dishes according to the 2 recipe cards developed by Paulami with the necessary Chain Masala products and spices that were added to the goodie bag. The dishes were fairly easy to make according to the recipes. It is only in English and it would have been nice to have the recipe cards in Dutch as well. The dishes were delicious. I enjoyed it.