Banana Leaf Rice & Biryani @ Fierce Curry House, Bangsar, KL

A recent craving for banana leaf rice led us to Fierce Curry House in Bangsar. Only in operation for slightly more than a year, this restaurant has garnered quite a name for itself and was even nominated for "Best Cheap Eats" and "Best Indian Restaurant" in TimeOut KL's award last year.

The restaurant is spacious, air-conditioned and very clean. Makes dining very comfortable, and great place to bring your overseas guests. We arrived just before the lunch crowd started arriving, the place was packed by the time we finished our meal. Service here is prompt, orders taken as soon as we were sat down and food arrived within minutes.

Hubby and I ordered the banana leaf rice (RM6 each), while The Unc had the Hyderabad Dum Biryani with boneless mutton (RM18). The banana leaf rice was excellent and hit the spot.... totally satisfied our cravings and more. For RM6, you get rice, 4 types of vegetables, fried bittergourd, rasam (South Indian appetizing soup), fried salted chilli, pappadam, as well as chicken or fish curry or dhall and a dessert of payasam (South Indian sago and vermicelli dessert). Pretty good value for money, I thought.

We really liked the fish curry that we had to ask for seconds (its refillable for free) and I ate a lot more rice than I usually do. It was so good. The four types of vegetables that we got was cauliflower, beansprouts, cabbage and greens.

The banana leaf rice was served on a metal plate with some banana leaf cuttings, you could either argue that this is more hygienic or that it does not feel "authentic" anymore. Personally, I am not fussed how it is served as long as it is tasty, however I did have to confirm with the waitress that this was a banana leaf rice as I was expecting it to be served on a banana leaf. For traditionalist, it seems that you can still request for it to be served on a banana leaf instead of these metal plates.

Excellent banana leaf rice!

Satisfying lunch!

To go with our banana leaf rice, we ordered a plate of mutton (RM8), very good too - tender chunks of meat and the portion was sizeable.

Before coming to Fierce Curry House, I have read about its famous Hyderabad Dum Biryani, so The Unc opted for this. He ordered the boneless mutton option, but there are many other varieties here such as chicken, scallops, cod fish, crab, king prawns, lamb shank, squid and even lobster! The biryani is served in a silver pot (which looks small but it isn't really when you see the amount of rice you can scoop out of there!) which is sealed with pastry. It is served with a mixed raita, vegetable achar and chicken curry.

As soon as the top was opened, we could smell the fragrant biryani.... and man, did it taste awesome! The rice grains were fluffy and flavorful... I couldn't help stealing spoonfuls of these from The Unc's plate.

A mountain of perfection!

We ordered 3 mango lassis which was very refreshing, but price is a little steep at RM7.50 each (considering the BLR was only RM6). :P But then again, the banana leaf rice experience for us is not complete without the mango lassi... :)

The Last Polka ice cream is available here

Verdict: Food here is great, as well as the service. Would definitely return!

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Opening times: 10.30am to 10.30pm daily.

Location: Fierce Curry House, 16, Jalan Kemuja, Bangsar Utama, Kuala Lumpur. (close to Bangsar LRT)

Tel: 019-383 0945 / 03-2202 3456

GPS Coordinates: 3.129696, 101.67969


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Recipe: Gingerbread Man + Hello Kitty Biscuits

Before Christmas last year, we made many batches of these gingerbread biscuits to give away to friends. Gingerbread biscuits is type of biscuit made from ginger and cinnamon, and is typically associated with Christmas. Depending on how long you bake it and how thin you roll it out, these biscuits can either be soft and moist or crunchy. Either way, it is very nice.

Making these gingerbread biscuits with the kids was very fun. I prepared the dough and then refrigerated it, and after dinner we all sat around the dinner table with lots of different cookie cutters and set off to work. The dough was easy to handle, but because of the hot climate, it got a little sticky towards the end. The kids enjoyed drawing faces and decorating their gingerbread men. We also bought a Hello Kitty cutter, which we used for the first time. It's slightly more tricky using the Hello Kitty cutter as a little more precision is required (ie how thick to roll out the dough as it affects the "legs" of the Hello Kitty and helps it stand). We were very happy with how the biscuits turned out. A beautiful assortment of different shapes!

Hello Kitty Gingerbread Biscuit

I like my Santa plate! :)

  

Concentrating - Baby C did a very good job!

The first batch we made was slightly thicker, hence they were softer when baked. Personally I prefer them soft, I guess that's why I like lebkuchen (German gingerbread) so much. Our friends were happy to receive these as a gift, especially when they learnt that these were made by both Baby C and Baby D.  This recipe is definitely a keeper, and we will be making more gingerbread biscuits when Christmas approaches this year.

Happy bakers! 

Gingerbread Biscuits
Recipe adapted from James Martin - The Collection
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 10 - 12 minutes
Makes about 20

Ingredients
1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 heaped tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup golden syrup (or dark corn syrup)
1 tbsp evaporated milk (I omitted this)

1. In a saucepan over medium low heat, heat the butter, sugar and syrup together until dissolved and allow to cool.

2. Sift the flour, salt, baking soda and spices together into a bowl. Once the syrup mixture has cooled, mix into the dry ingredients with the evaporated milk (if using) to make a dough. Chill in fridge for 30 minutes.

3. Preheat oven to 375F/190C and grease two baking sheets. Roll out the cookie dough to about 1/4 inch (5mm) thick and cut into desired shapes (gingerbread man / Hello Kitty / heart).

4. Place on the baking sheets, allowing a little space to spread, and bake for 10-15 minutes until golden. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly for 10 minutes on the baking tray. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

*This recipe was featured on Asian Food Channel's Facebook page on 26 February 2013.