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Hot ’n’ sizzling

It’s just the perfect thing for the pouring rains. Taj Manjarun is hosting a sizzler festival

Photo : R. Eswarraj

WARMING UP The festival atmosphere is combined with the many enticing smells of meats and vegetables sizzling away

During the rains, it’s nice to eat hot goodies. Sizzlers form a great way of food and entertainment for all those indoors as well as outdoors, irrespective of what the gathering is.

Sizzlers are more than a meal. It is an event. People gather for good barbecue, whether invited or not. For, it is the place to eat, drink and tell stories. When the first Spanish explorers arrived in the new world they found the local people preserving meat in the sun. The chief problem with doing this is that the meats spoil and become infested with bugs. To drive the bugs away the natives would build small smoky fires and place the meat on racks over the fires. The smoke would keep the insects at bay and help in the preserving of the meat. Taj Manjarun is hosting the Sizzler Rain Festival at Port Café. A perfectly prepared sizzler gives the charcoal smell of the griller spreading the flavour and aroma of the sizzler. The crackling noise which keeps the sizzler sizzling makes it irresistible to have a bite.

When considering barbecue, tradition is particularly important. Barbecue is not easy to prepare, it requires hours of tending a hot smoky fire, and vigilant monitoring of the roasting meat and vegetables. The term “barbecue” correctly refers to meat that is slow cooked many hours with indirect heat and smoke.

Among the veg sizzlers, oriental vegetable shaslik sizzler has exotic vegetables and fruits garnished with spices. The Mexican herbal polenta sizzler is prepared using a combination of corn and rava. The golden crusted corn sizzler is more like the Bhutta, but with a tastier difference. The non-veg sizzler platter has chicken drumsticks sizzler, tenderloin steak sizzler, grilled fish sizzler, grilled chicken sausage sizzler, grilled tenderloin sausages, jumbo prawns sizzler and lobster sizzler. The prices range between Rs. 300 to Rs. 600.

The taste of sizzlers gets better with sauces. The red wine sauce, tomato salsa, currywas sauce, mango salsa and garlic citron beure, punctuate the crispy succulent taste of the sizzlers.

The accompaniments of herbed rice, jacket potatoes, grilled American corn, grilled vegetables and grilled tomatoes makes a sizzler a full meal to eat.

Most of all Barbecue is fun. The festival atmosphere is combined with the many enticing smells of meats and vegetables sizzling away and the rhythm of the music making your feet want to move. Music, sizzlers, great food, family and friends... it all adds up to a day well spent. So, hurry as the sizzler fest concludes tomorrow.

AMRITA NAYAK

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