These are the exercise of both my culinary skills and passion for teaching, in the hope of raising the quality of modern European cooking in the Indian home kitchen, whilst championing the small & intimate sit down & served dinner party format that advances interesting dialogue, cultivated debate and enduring friendship … do try your hand at these recipes, for they are easy yet impressive, and above all delicious!
Well, since I had the nerve to critique one of uber Chef Prateek Sadhu’s culinary creations, I decided to put my money where my mouth is, with reference to his ‘confit style’ duck on a horsegram stuffed parantha, whereby I suggested adding both a touch of sweetness and char to the duck meat, in addition to employing some kind of crisp bread base …
And here we go, round 2 of the Modern European Thali Service … but this time a slightly different format to the first, although both are equally efficient depending on the selection of dishes … this selection is served in four courses, one at a time, in individual wide surface bowls that are part of the thali set, courtesy Rezon luxury silverware, with the final main course protein served directly onto the leaf …
Now, I am not going pretend to be nonchalant about this one, for I am hyper-excited with the result of my trial, the origin of which is my love of Chef Manish Mehrotra’s Dodha Barfi Tart at the famed Indian Accent restaurant, and this is my way of paying a tribute to both the dessert and its creator.
And yes indeed, this is quite a sensation with respect to the textural transformation of the principal ingredient, made all the more enticing with the addition of what is a Dodha barfi infused butter toffee sauce …
Yes, it is absolutely & unequivocally as delicious as it looks…sweet, sour & perfectly caramelised on the surface, leading to a chunk of succulent flesh beneath, and best served in the singular for full impact … the real trick here is in the dual technique of cooking as the title reveals, since one style alone will not yield the right result for the quality of imported frozen scallops available in India.
Since we are on the threshold of the so called season to be jolly, which in reality, as families reunite for the holidays, is a period of heightened agitation and collective irritation, mitigated only by the consumption of vast amounts of alcohol that facilitate the requisite merriment, I couldn’t think of a better recipe to present to you this week.
Not one for the waist watchers, but hey, who cares … as far as we know, we only live once, and the denial of all pleasure creates the kind of stress that will kill you much faster than the occasional added calorie … that said, this does not qualify as a fattening dish by any stretch of the imagination! Moreover, outside the US, this is not a salad that many F&B outlets do well, so for the Caesar lovers in New Delhi, India, here’s how you can tickle your taste buds at home the quick and easy way …
When I stumbled upon the story of how this recipe came into being, I was absolutely charmed, since it is essentially a son’s tribute to his mother, and in light of my very precious relationship with my own mother, I decided to add this soup to my dinner party repertoire …
T’is the Indian festival of lights & abundance of all things sweet, so here is a dessert that was the absolute rage in the early 2000s and is unlikely to ever lose its allure … while this absolutely fabulous recipe isn’t my creation, other than one slight alteration, my real contribution is to not only share it with you but also demonstrate how to turn a casual one dish pudding into a smart individual plated dessert.
Now this is a dish that may well be considered an acquired taste; it is in fact the outcome of my longing for both ‘moules marinieres’ & ‘spaghetti vongole’ on an autumn afternoon in New Delhi, where neither of the two is available, and thus in an attempt to satisfy my cravings, I jumped into the kitchen and knocked this little beauty up for myself.
As you can see, I have kept my promise, which is to show you how to easily knock up a smoked salmon eggs benedict at home using the delectable croissant tissue loaf as a base, which I promoted a couple of weeks ago …
This is a salad I once created for a restaurant at which I was a consultant chef, but since the restaurant is no longer operational, I am not in danger of breach of contract by revealing the recipe to you…funnily enough it was not only a favourite amongst the customers, but also the owners who would ask for it to be delivered to their homes every alternate day.
This must be one of the small plates I am most proud of, once again inspired by a restaurant dish i.e. Chef Prateek Sadhu’s dirty Toast at Naar restaurant, which I had the good fortune of tasting earlier this year … I tried my best to get him to reveal the ingredients, but alas to no avail, and was thus left to interpret it on my own …
Why copy-cat? Well because I recently ate this specific dish at a restaurant called Mama San on the island of Bali, Indonesia, and it was so damn good I just had to reproduce it upon my return to Delhi and share the recipe with you …
The showcasing of a partnership, as opposed to a marriage, between east and west, which unlike the latter does not demand or require a part submission, adulteration or embellishment of its members’ respective personalities & identities … why this?
This absolutely delightful recipe is the outcome of my curiosity over what a vegetarian version of a steak tartare would taste like, and so I decided …
The very first time I tasted this dish was in Abu Dhabi at the home of the then Turkish Ambassador to the U.A.E, and not only did I fall head over heels in love, but was also awestruck, for it was no less than a highly accomplished concerto of taste and texture on the palate.
Another cute, coquettish, and lip-smacking hors d’oeuvre to serve with drinks, but be-warned, since it is best eaten with one’s fingers, it is going to be messy so do make sure your least precious & most resilient cocktail napkins are available.
Now even if I say so myself, not only is this a stunningly delicious compilation, but also the height of subtlety and sophistication … frankly I have not made a classic beurre blanc as an accompaniment to a fillet of fish since cooking school …
A long time ago, when I briefly worked alongside an Australian Chef at Olive, Diplomat, New Delhi, I had put this dish on the menu and it went down a storm…I had altogether forgotten about it until recently, when at a smart little bistro in Helsinki, Finland, I ordered a comte and truffle gougere …
Now once again, not only have I leaned backwards into the colonial era for inspiration, but also specifically developed this recipe for you, and in the bargain, fallen head over heels in love myself … it is simply delicious, to say the least, and frankly ….
Now this may not seem like that much of a novelty to you at first glance, but make no mistake, it is not the same Anglo-Indian vol-au-vent filled with chicken & mushroom in white sauce that was ubiquitous at our ancestors dining tables …
Well, just because I love this dessert, and truth be told, had never made it before I decided to test it out last week, solely for the purpose of presenting you with a user friendly formula …
Allegedly the death dish, or at least according to the judges of ‘Masterchef Australia’, except that I beg to differ … if anything the perfect scrambled egg is a far greater challenge, and this week, I am showing you exactly how to handle the making of this dish, including advance preparation and a perfect finish.
As promised, this week I am going to show you how to re-produce in your own home kitchen in India, what is without a shadow of a doubt, a bite of heaven on the taste buds …
Well since I have just returned from Europe, where wasabi seems, increasingly, to be creeping into many Modern European dishes, I feel justified in giving you this recipe, which may either be served as an hors d’oeuvre with drinks, or else as one of two micro starters at the table …
This week, I am gifting you a recipe that, once again, gets polished off before you can say Jack, never mind Robinson, in my living room with drinks, but these nuts are actually even more delicious as an accompaniment to both blue cheese and foie gras, which is how I like to consume them when I am alone …
This week, I am bestowing upon you the recipe of a real, and really delicious Spanish gazpacho, for which I know that each and every one of you is going to thank me …
This week I am going to teach you a dish that is not of my own creation, but one that I stumbled across some years ago in a magazine, when I was living in London and attending the Cordon Bleu Cooking school …
This week, I am going to teach you how to make a very pretty, darn delicious and, believe it or not, healthy little dish, for I have not been able to convince many of my guests that mozzarella (ordinarily the principal ingredient of this assembly) is not in itself fattening.
This week, I am going to teach you how to assemble a ‘small plate’, rather than cook it, with the exception of a simple little sauce that serves to both elevate and distinguish the assembly, which as mentioned above, is an ‘upper class’ smoked salmon hors d’oeuvre.
This week, I am going to teach you how to re-produce in your very own kitchen at home in India, in the most simple way possible, a modern French ‘Millefeuille’.
