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| Bombay Times (TOI) 22 - 06 - 2005 |
| Dishing It Out |
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 PLATES
Savour it. Here it is. The world on your plate. A pure vegetarian world of recipes. The superstars of the culinary world hand over their unique vegetarian offerings. Where should I begin... with George Blanc, the grand master, fourth generation, three Michelin starred chef's Beignet de Pomme recipe? Or, should I start with the "father of modern Australian cooking" Cheong Liew's Black Rice and Palm Sugar Pudding, or the world renowned geniusTetsuya Wakuda who doesn't seem to cook, but compose his food? How about starting with the US based Charlie Trotter's exuberant Chilled Sugar Snap Pea and Mint Soup? Too difficult to decide, and I have 80 such maestros.
What a treat to meet Anton Mossiman, Alain Passard (thanks to Priyarn Jhaveri), Forran Adria... Most of the chefs have TV shows, stars, accolades, bestselling books, cooking academies to their credit. Namita and Camellia Panjabi'sAmaya'has been heaped over with awards in London. The custodian of the French cooking tradition, Le cordon Bleu Academy, gifts a special menu.
I eat at the world's legendary hotels from Singapore's Raffles to the world's best chocolate mousse in Zurich's Hotel Baur An Lac and bring back the recipes.
The world distills itself and all major countries gift their special vegetarian recipes. There is a balance of starters, main courses, and desserts. There are also twenty full menus.
I am grateful to our very own Mumbai masterchefs, Joy Bhattacharya (The Oberoi group), Hemant Oberoi (The Taj), Ananda Solomon (Taj President), Chef Vernon Coelho (IHM Catering college, Dadar), Sanjeev Kepner (Khana Khazana), Rahal Akerkar (Indigo) for generously sharIng their unique vegetarian recipes too. I share with you this recipe from China's Jin R who is a qualified musician and owner chef of the hugely popular Green T House, Beijing.
GOLDEN PUMPKIN soup
500 g small pumpkins (2 small ones); 80 g shallots (roughly chopped); 50 g carrots (thinly sliced); 20 g butter; 800 ml vegetable stock; 50 green tea leaves (steeped); 10 g bay leaf, 20 g thyme; 10 g white pepper; sea salt; for the Garnish, 1 tsp cream
Method: Steam the pumpkins, cut in half lengthwise and scoop out the soft flesh. Save shells for serving. Melt the butter in a pan and stir fry shallots till soft. Add carrots, bay leaf, green tea leaves, steamed pumpkin and stock. Bring to boil and thicken. Add thyme and white pepper to taste. Place mixture in blender and blend till smooth but thick. Serve in pumpkin shell (optional). Garnish with cream.
Around the World in 80 Plates is available in Crossword, Planet M, Oxford, Strand, Danai and all leading bookstores.
FORTHCOMING ATTRACTION
The questions: Is it a deli? Is it a wine bar? Is it a gourmet shop? Is it an accessible comfort-food cafV Is it a cookware store? Is it a take-away? Is it a cook-book-shop?
The answer: The Indigo Deliratessan and cafe is all this and more. The twinlevelled, wooden-floored, 54 seater is all set to open. I sample the meaty quarter kilo classic burger pastrami sandwich, tornato and basil souffle, taste the preservative and additive free jams (yum! bitter orange and mint) and put my teeth into the dense, freshly baked three-grain bread. Yes! I enjoy them. Chef Jaydeep Mukherjee's (ex Tai and QE 2) is fine tuning his spice and herb rubs, marinades, flavoured oils (super tangerine, rosemr and junipe and vine jars.
The choice of cheese and cold cuts and caviar to 'comfort food 'to' wine and food tasting...'Rahul
and MaLmi Akerkar are all set to deliver 'another'first-ever. I must point out that I haven't checked it out
as objectively as I do for a review. 111 is a preview of their new production which is about to be
released only on the 30th of June. All I can say is that having seen the trader, we are excitedly waiting for it.
PS The pricing will be'accessible', the place will be open through the day (starting with my favourite meal of breakfast). Ground floor, Pheroze bldg, Next to Yacht club, Apollo Bunder. Ph 56551010. |
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