Indian food is rich in variety, taste and flavour. Much of this is due to the liberal use of spices, with these exotic flavour enhancers being the backbone of trading routes throughout history - no country in the world produces as many varieties of spices as India.

The use of spices has been documented well over a thousand years - both for their ability to engage the palate and also for their medicinal qualities. For example turmeric, cloves and cardamoms are antiseptic in nature. Ginger and cloves help aid digestion. Pepper is a great remedy for throat ailments.

With 29 states in India, each region has its own style of cooking and unique cuisine. Broadly, the cuisine can be divided between the North and South. Religious and caste restrictions, weather, geography and the impact of foreigners have contributed to these regional differences.

Plates and cutlery by Sabre Paris - Glassware from Bruno Evrard and Love Plates. All available in our shop Lemongrass & Aubergine in Cluny Court # 02-26 Singapore.

The most striking difference is rice vs bread.  Rice is more popular in the south while wheat (which is transformed into breads) reigns in the north. Rice grows more efficiently in the tropical and semi-tropical south, wheat in the temperate north.

The curries or sauces tend to vary as well.  They are thinner in the South, thicker in the North. The fact that wheat is the main base means the dishes that accompany the breads must be thick enough to be picked up or scooped up by the bread. Southerners use a thinner sauce over rice, which stays relatively firm when absorbing liquid.

Plates and cutlery by Sabre Paris - Glassware from Bruno Evrard and Love Plates. All available in our shop Lemongrass & Aubergine in Cluny Court # 02-26 Singapore.

Generally speaking, South Indian cuisine is distinguished by a greater emphasis on rice as the staple grain, spicier, more vegetable based dishes with a liberal use of tamarind, coconut and curry leaves and coconut and gingelly oils.

Plates and cutlery by Sabre Paris - Glassware from Bruno Evrard and Love Plates. All available in our shop Lemongrass & Aubergine in Cluny Court # 02-26 Singapore.

A typical south indian meal will feature rice, an array of vegetable dishes, a pickle, pappadums and curd. A meal such as this would be consumed on a banana leaf. On festive occasions and weddings, briyani, a meat flavoured rice dish is made. This is accompanied by a yoghurt based raita or vegetable relish. Payasam, a popular milk based dish completes the meal.

Plates and cutlery by Sabre Paris - Glassware from Bruno Evrard and Love Plates. All available in our shop Lemongrass & Aubergine in Cluny Court # 02-26 Singapore.

According to Indian food theory, there are six different tastes: sweet, sour, salty, spicy, bitter, and astringent. A proper Indian meal attempts to balance each of these flavours, with one or two of them standing out, but no one dish containing all six.

Plates and cutlery by Sabre Paris - Glassware from Bruno Evrard and Love Plates. All available in our shop Lemongrass & Aubergine in Cluny Court # 02-26 Singapore.

Do the featured recipes stay true to theory? Test it out and tell us what you think. Happy cooking!

South Indian recipes 

Easy chicken biryani: Serves 4-6 by Prema

Ingredients:

1 kg boneless,skinless chicken breasts,cut into 2-inch cubes.

3 cups basmati rice

1 large red onion,chopped

5 tomatoes, chopped

5 garlic cloves,crushed

2 tbsp ginger,crushed

4 green chillies,sliced into thin rounds,or to your tolerance level

4 tbsp olive oil

4 whole cinnamon sticks

4 cardamom pods

1/4 cup mint leaves,chopped

1 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp chilli powder

1 tbsp coriander powder

1/4 cup coriander leaves,chopped 

Salt,to taste

Fried Golden raisins and cashews,for garnish,optional.

Method:

Prep the rice. Wah the rice thoroughly and soak in water for 20 mins and then drain completely.

1) Blend cumin seeds,crushed garlic,half the green chillies and 2 cinnamon sticks together with very little water into a coarse paste.

2) Heat oil on medium in a large deep pan. When hot,add the chopped onions and salute for about 5 mins or till translucent.

3) Add the blended paste and  keep sautéing of another few mins till the raw smell goes.

4) Now add the chopped tomatoes and cook for five mins or so until the tomatoes are soft and mushy.

5)Add the chopped chicken pieces, 1 tsp salt and stir it through the masala thoroughly. Put lid on pan and cook for about 15mins or so.

6) Remove cover,add the rest of the green chillies,spice powders,and the chopped coriander and mint leaves and stir through.

7) Cook for another 10 mins till chicken is fully done and the masala is relatively dry. Check on the seasoning and add more salt if necessary.

8)Remove pan from fire and let it rest.

9)Bring a deep pot of water,about 8 cups,to the boil. Add a little salt,the remaining cinnamon sticks and cardamom pods.

10) When the water comes to a boil,add the pre-soaked rice and cook for about 5-6 mins. Ensure that you don't overcook thrice as it needs to be 'al dente' at this point or firm to the bite.

11) Drain the rice completely. Nest step is layering the biryani.

12) Put the deep pot back onto the stove. Put heat on to medium. Pour 1/2 cup water into the pot and bring it to a simmer. Now add half of the drained cooked rice,followed by the chicken masala and then top it off with the remaining rice.

13) Close the lid,and let the dish simmer for about 20-30mins and turn heat down to low. Check after the required time to make sure that the rice is fully cooked by now and the masala is infused into th rice.

14) Serve hot in a casserole dish ,sprinkled with chopped coriander leaves and the optional cashew/raisin garnish and a raita as an accompaniment. I served mine with pineapple raita.

Easy Chicken biryani recipe adapted from Kitchen Geekery.

Pineapple Raita: Serves 4-6 by Prema

Ingredients:

2 cups greek yoghurt,whisked till creamy

1 cup fresh pineapple, finely chopped. save juices.

2 shallots,finely chopped

1 red chilli,slit into 2, deseeded and sliced into half moons

1 tsp cumin powder

About 10 mint leaves,julienned

1 tsp salt or to taste

Paprika and fresh ground pepper for garnish

Method:

1) Mix the chopped pineapple and its juices,the mint leaves,the shallots, the red chilli slices and the cumin powder together with th yoghurt.

2) Leave in the fridge to chill until ready to serve.

3) Just before serving,add salt to taste and mix well.

4) Sprinkle some red paprika and fresh ground black pepper on top and serve immediately.

Semiya Payasam (serves 4) by Bindu

Vermicelli sauteed golden in ghee with cashews and raisins, simmered with milk.

Ingredients:

200g vermicelli
25ml ghee
1.5litre milk
100g sugar
100 g cashew nuts
50g raisins
5g cardamom powder

Method:

Heat the ghee and fry the vermicelli until a golden brown.

Mix in the cashew nuts and the raisins.

Add milk and boil for 5 minutes.

Mix in the sugar and stir till the sugar is dissolved.

Stir in the cardamom powder and serve hot or warm.

Enjoy with a fabulous group of girlfriends...as much as we did ... Cheers !​

Laguiole, in France, is almost a common name to design a solid knife that hunters and farmers traditionally took with them to eat their lunch out in the woods, or out the field, cut their meat, cut some branches to prepare a fire, pull out some mushrooms for dinner, carve a stick to walk...

But above all, Laguiole and especially les FORGE DE LAGUIOLE is the guarantee for high quality knives made traditionally, by skilled artisans in France in the Laguiole village. Like the Piaget watch, it's something that your son will inherit, and his son too, and the son of his son and ... (too bad if your family is a long line of daughters. Ask your wife to buy some shoes or Hermes and Chanel bags, and Piaget watches too. Ha ! Ha ! ) Sorry, let's get serious.

How it all started...

The story begin in 1828, when Mr. Casimir Antoine Moulin set up his forge and cutlery business in Laguiole.

The first knives were the "Laguiole Droit" models (Straight Laguiole) with a forced notch. The blade had a Boubonnaise shape with a centered point.

Between 1850 and 1860, the current shape of the Laguiole appeared and became gradually refined. The blade curved up slightly.

Since the 1820's, all the cutters located in Laguiole used to forge the blades and the springs of their knives by hand. The steel comes from Pyrenees and Tarn regions.

In 1909, the first bee appeared on Laguiole knives. The ivory handles we carved and sculpted in various forms - horse hooves, rattlesnake tails, butterflies rams head... New knives appeared during the Edwardian and the Art Nouveau eras, their handles made from ivory carved with for example the head of Napoleon, Joan of Arc or Venus. The First World War meant the disappearance of the cutleries in Laguiole. From the end of this conflict, most of Laguiole knives would be produced in Thiers. Only three craftsmen were producing small amounts in Laguiole itself.

In 1987, a group of councillors reintroduced the manufacture of this famous knife in its home : it is the return of the Laguiole knife to the place of its birth and the creation of FORGE DE LAGUIOLE.

The manufacturing of a Laguiole knife is a complex process that involves many essential steps. It's a product, an object shaped meticulously from start to finish by the admirable expertise of cutlery masters whose skills are equal to goldsmiths and watchmakers when it comes to sculpting, polishing, etching, stamping and riveting.. all these words and skills, all these senses timelessly reproduced to give birth to the knife. The cutler's hands and the materials used make each knife unique.

From the outset, FORGE DE LAGUIOLE has worked to develop its manufacturing skills with respect for traditional know-how. Once a knife used locally, it has now become a cult object, a design benchmark and a synonym of the French art of living and of the French gastronomy listed world as an intangible heritage by Unesco.

As an object representing continuity and solidarity with the past or as a statement of contemporary creativity, Laguiole cutlery continues to inspire designers : Philippe Stark, Andree Putman, Ora-Ito, Jean-Michel Wilmotte, Hilton McConico, Christian Ghion, Matali Grasset,

The process of fabrication...

Forging :

The steel is heated until it is cherry red and will be forged while hot to allow the creation of the legendary sharp blades. The forging combined with the tempering result in a blade with a perfect cutting edge. The blades are then shaped, pierced, and given their V edge angle.

The handle creation : 

The handle is made from different materials. The most traditional are horn, precious wood or bone. The most precious are mother of pearl, coral, ivory and mammoth molar. The materials are cut by hand, each material being carefully selected.

Chiselling and carving : 

In the past, each craftsman used to sculpt a pattern which represented his inspiration and reflected his talent. Many older models were decorated with the scallop shell carried by pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela, four-leaf clovers and animal heads. The bee became the standard decoration for FORGE DE LAGUIOLE. Each knife made with a bee is hand chiselled in the traditional manner.

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Assembling :

Here, the artisan gives to the knife its definitive shape. Each model is unique, Each knife takes several hours, sometimes several days to make. Every piece is assembled and finished by hand from start to finish by a single artisan.

Polishing :

At this stage, the knife is assembled. Each part is going to be polished by hand on discs made from cotton or linen.

The last step in the manufacturing process consists in sharpening the blade.

Nowadays, FORGE DE LAGUIOLE propose a wide range of creations : art knives, unique pieces, hunting knives, cheese knives, butter knives, pipe tools, cigar cutters, letter openers, golf knives, tables knives, sommelier knives...and even made to measure.

At Lemongrass & Aubergine, we carry the sommeliers and cigar cutters but we can order the one Laguiole you were dreaming of (unfortunately no Hermes bags in stock !)

At Lemongrass & Aubergine, we are in love with those Pappelina rugs, for their design, the choice of colours, and of course - our motto- their quality. 

I bought my first Pappelina rug 10 years ago, in France, and today, this Vera orange rug still have the same shape and colour, from the time I bought it. And above all, the rug's maintenance is hassle free. What else can you ask ?

We started to import them for the shop 8 years ago and proof that it was the good choice, our customers are coming back to buy one or more rugs. It's the goal that every company should try to tend to and be proud of.

Pappelina rugs - Model Molly 

Lina Richardson, the founder of Pappelina, started the company as a weaver of paper, then cotton and linen, and then, seventeen years ago, moved to plastic to make Pappelina, the leader in the design and production of plastic rugs. The quality and environmental requirements are ensuring no hazardous metals nor harmful softeners are used in any part of the production process: 90 % plastic foil ribbon is from Sweden and 10 % warp thread is made in Germany.

Nowadays, Pappelina employs around 30 people, and all the rugs are made by hand with passion and proudness.

Pappelina rug - Model Viggo

How to make the rugs...

The plastic arrives in the factory in rolls and those are placed into a room to be kept at an ambient temperature for several days, making the plastic more malleable and easy to work with. Then, the rolls are placed onto a simple spinning machine that turns the ribbon onto a bobbin ready to be weaved.

The bobbin shoots from left to right and back, capturing the downward plastic threads weaving the jacquard way, into the color and pattern punched into the card in the machine. The process does take time and to create one row of the circle style shapes you see at the bottom of the picture on the screen takes just over a minute...so 10 rows would take 10 minutes plus of course the spaces in between. So it will take some time to produce just one rug, let alone hundreds.

From the loom, the long rug roll is then taken to the cutting room to become many shorter and more manageable rugs. The rug end is first lined up by hand on a long flat table to be sealed and flattened by a frequency welding machine which melts the end together in a very smart way, so it doesn't come undone. Then, every single rug, no matter how short, long, wide or thin, is cut to the chosen length using just a hand held pair of strong sharp scissors which requires skill and attention.

Once cut, the rug is folded in a special way, to avoid creasing, and taken to the final step - the Quality Room - to be tested by a team, every centimeters of it, on both sides, to ensure that the rug is ready to be ship to its new home. This attention to detail is what makes the rugs so "perfect' and show the love and passion of the whole Pappelina team, no matter the size, the color or the design of the rug.

Mother's day is the occasion to say "I love you" to your mum and make her day sweet and easy. You can also do that all year long, but it's not always possible when you are abroad, working, with kids to taxi drive, dogs to walk, leaking aircon to fix, Coco Pops to get... and shoes to buy ( just joking for the shoes, not that often! Yeah ?).

You can say it with words, flowers, chocolates, bottle of champagne, perfume, jewels, restaurant invitation, spa treatments, staycation, scarf, and more...

At lemongrass & Aubergine, we love our Mummy and/or are mummies too, so we listed what we wanted to receive this year and funnily, there's no little handmade pasta or shell necklaces, or even the famous "camembert embellished jewelry box (French moms will understand)... ok except if any of those items come from Hermes, Tiffany, or Pomellato !!

So here is our wish list : hello hubbies and kids (with pocket money not already spent in the latest PS4 game), please read this . 

For the Sporty Mum : Makaron Gym bag S$ 158 - Makaron Big Pouch S$85 - Makaron Make up Pouch S$ 54 - Foutah towel large S$ 50 - Foutah hand towel S$ 28 - Lafco Soap lime gardenia S$ 22 - Lafco body wash lime gardenia S$ 44 - Lafco body lotion lime gardenia S$ 51 .

For the Cooking Mum : Apron Singapore Lemongrass & Aubergine S$ 52 - & Klevering large tray Marble S$ 24 =- Expresso cups Sabre S$ 16 each - Acrylic cake server S$ 28 and cake knife S$ 40 both Sabre -Moka spoons printed Sabre S$ 22 each -Glass cup S$ 20 each - Carage olive oil 1 liter S$ 78 - Carafe olive oil 50 cl S$ 58 - Salt grinder XL S$ 20 - 5 baies salt grinder S$ 22.

For the Outgoing Mum : Clutch Makaron S$ 88 - Silk pareo / scarf S$ 105 - Pompons Necklaces from S$ 35 - Silver bracelets from S$ 45 - Duchess Peony Candle Lafco S$ 110 - Duchess Peony Soap Lafco S$ 36 - Champagne glasses S$ 16 - Lacquer Necklaces Darsala S$ 390 - Stone necklaces from Baraca S$ 55.

Today: Sabre Paris and it's founder Francis Gelb - a superb collection of flatware, porcelain and more.

At Lemongrass & Aubergine, we started working with the company Sabre Paris in 2010, and we have been grateful for our collaboration since then. We love their wide range of flatware, both stainless steel and acrylic, and their colourful porcelain. Quality is our priority at Lemongrass & Aubergine, and Sabre products are always been at the very top.

Their flatware collection is stunning and can please all sort of tastes, from the Bambou collection with its exotic Asian touch, the Gustave Glitter for festive and girly get togethers, the Aquarelle line with it's delicate paintbrush shape, to the printed handles Decores with elephants, Tiare flowers, stripes or dots and much more... you will find for sure a match made for you, in the 36 different models and the 46 different tools offered in their catalogue.

From a display in our store at  Lemongrass & Aubergine - Cluny Court # 02-26 Singapore.

Sabre acrylic salad servers and serving spoons model "Old Fashion", printed handles from the models "Decores", porcelain plates, mugs and cups from models " Numero 1" and "Pois Blancs"

After this little introduction, I "give the pen" to Francis to present his company.

"In 1993 after seven years in the family silversmith company, Francis Gelb has establish Sabre with the support of Habitat, the famous English chain store, created by Sir Terence Conran.

With every euro made with Habitat, Francis was investing in his own collection of printed handle flatware. The fabulous "mix and match" concept was born, and became quite a revolution in the very classic tableware world.

Pascale and Francis Gelb - founders of Sabre Paris

The difference and the attractiveness of the product lies as well in the way of merchandising the product. It is very visual, and colours and designs are emphasized. This approach immediately seduced the three major French department stores _ Galleries Lafayette, Le Bon Marche and Au Printemps, and also worldwide with always these key guide lines : Happy - Simple - Elegant.

A few notions are very important in the Sabre policy : flexibility, made to order, two aspects that our customers do appreciate in particular.

Having done this break-away from the style of the traditional world, Sabre also has the consciousness that timelessness and trends need and can work together. Timelessness in the world of Sabre does not mean boring - don't forget : Happy - Simple - Elegant in any circumstances.

It is with this subtle distinction that Sabre has succeeded in business now for 22 years.

In order to move forward and keep it's philosophy of Happy-Simple-Elegant, Sabre (meaning it's owners Francis and Pascale) always submits any product, and any decisions to their approval. It must fulfill the 3 qualifications of HSE.

Although present in department stores and retailers in many different countries, Sabre has as well its own stores.

Today, with this big world move, Sabre questions itself on what to tell to its customers, what are the customers' wishes, what do they expect... again and again, Sabre is questioning. Never satisfied you may think ? No ! A lot of requirements are appropriate.

Sabre is making its way in Japan, thanks to our Japanese agent who opened a cafe together with Sabre. The concept is fairly new but has had a good response. The cafe, as a meeting point for our customers in association with a store, is a great experience. Sabre may think of duplicating this in the near future. And more ideas are in the air... Francis and Pascale are always searching for innovation, and nothing is taken for granted...

Follow the link to view some of our famous customers worldwide : http://www.pinrest.com/sabreparis/retailers-with-sabre/ "

What is a piece of flatware made of ?

A piece of flatware is made of three components : the handle, the connector and the functional part.

Handle : ours are made of acrylic or laminated wood.

1. Acrylic is used for Baguette, Natura, Gustave, Tortoise, Katmandu Grey,Nature Horn and Old Fashion, Ice and Charm. Acrylic is not injected but crafted as you would do for a wood handle, meaning it does not have a seal all around the handle due to the molding. It also gives a much smoother feeling to the handle. This allows us to have a much richer effect than injection.
2. Laminated wood is used for Nature Wood and Katmandu, made of birch and oak, and each ply of wood is laminated. You can see that from the side of the handle. Then the plies are glued and pressed together. Aquarelle is a combination of laminated wood for the most part and the tip is made of acrylic.
3. Les Decores : we start from an injected white handle made of polyethylene, best known as Nylon. Then we cover the handle with inked paper and cook it for 20 minutes. At the end of the process, the handle is coated in order to make it dishwasher safe.

Connector : as opposed to most of our competitors, ours are made of stainless steel with the exception of Baguette. The durability is much better than cast connectors. Concerning the Baguette, it is made of Alpaca (white metal) and then Silver Plated.

Functional part : you have to distinguish the cutting and non-cutting piece.

• Cutting pieces : are made of Carbonium Stainless. If you look at our blade from the side, you will see that the shape is conical - it is called "enamouture", meaning, it can sharpened as many times as your customer would need. Also the cut is better than a serrated blade. Serrated blades rip the food, while our blades cut. For the record, do you know why a plastic knife for picnics is serrated ? Because plastic blades do not cut.
• Non-cutting blades : there are three key criteria to determine the quality of the stainless steel: thickness and polishing. We use 18/10 stainless steel, 18% chrome, 10% nickel. It's the standard for quality stainless steel and in fact, the only standard in the world. Thickness is 2 mm thick for dinner and serving pieces and 1.5 mm for teaspoons. It does not bend and does a nice job . Concerning the polishing, when you remove a Sabre piece from the polybag, it is absolutely without scratches, and very shiny. 
• Now, let's shuffle the cards :

1. 13 % chrome + very thick + very well polished = nice to sell but not nice to use, as it will shortly become dark grey after few times in the dishwasher -
2. 18/10 + thick + NOT polished = not nice to sell because it will look unfinished
3. 18/10 + very thin + well polished = you cannot use it, it will bend.

So, as you can see, the combination of the three criteria is very important: some look good and are not, some do not look good but are Ok.

Sabre is like Rolls-Royce : good on every criteria.

I believe you know now as much as I do on the flatware.

Production of Sabre flatware in process​

Our dinnerware is made in the Czech Republic in the Bohemia region (Eastern Europe, next to Germany). They have a very long tradition of Porcelain since the 18th century, and the Kaolin mine is part of the factory we are working with. This guarantees a very sturdy quality over the year.
The decal is cooked at the high temperature of 1400 Deg. Celsius. At this temperature, the glaze melts and the decal goes under the glaze. This is the best durability you can get, with no scratches, and no colour alteration. This is the quality used for hotels and restaurants.

Porcelain expresso cups from Numero 1 collection