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CHEF'S CORNER

The age of tandoori broccoli

It is the age of experimentation in food. Nachos have replaced papad, and salsa upstages chutney

PHOTO: K.K. MUSTAFAH

FOOD WITH A VIEW Globalisation has affected the approach to eating too

The world has learnt to open its windows. Food-lovers have learnt to be receptive to food beyond that cooked by their mother in childhood. And restaurants across the world are opening their doors to guests ready to experiment. And there are chefs ready to deliver all kinds of food under one umbrella. "Be Indian, eat Indian" is a mantra swept aside. Now it is the age of "Be Indian, eat global".

And in the land where the guest is an avatar of a deity, restaurants regard their words as nothing less than precious pearls. How many times we have said, "Wow, great place for food!"

Believe me! These words are the ultimate "trophy" that can be won by any restaurant, and to keep that "trophy", restaurants will do anything and everything in their business acumen.

All of them may do 50 other things differently to be among the top 10 restaurants, but there is one common task: They all observe, understand and search for current food trends.

In its simplest definition, "food trend is what people are demanding and eating currently".

That leads us to ask, what is the current food trend?

As many successful restaurants have rightly analysed, and already capitalised upon, the current food trend is of exotic simplicity, while also going global about it! Simple healthy food creations coming from other parts of the world are trendy and happening dishes.

International food

Japanese food is not something that happens some 10000 kilometres away any more! Thai food happens next-door! And so on... Remember in Awadh you can relish Mexican delights, and in Delhi you might be at home with Lebanese fare!

People have become more daring and experimental in cuisine and in ingredient selection.

The names of ingredients that made people look up the dictionary till a few years back are in hot demand today. Who would have thought of eating asparagus in our own desi kadahi masala? Or a shift from tandoori gobhi to tandoori broccoli? And what would have been called corn plucked prematurely a decade ago is selling as a hot item now as baby corn! Using lemon leaves in cooking must have been considered a mad idea at one time, but now people demand it.

They demand food that is trendy, food that is simple, and simply different!

Be it the barramundi fillet with the silken texture or Tasmanian salmon. Be it the rainbow trout or simply a different pasta. Be it a simple but different looking potato salad with German mustard, or just papaya - different of course, in this case, raw papaya salad. Papads are replaced by nachos! And chutney is replaced by salsa. Peppercorn is making way for green peppercorn, and ginger for galangal!

So restaurants are on the lookout for such exotic ingredients, which have some an overseas link, are nutritious, have something about them that spells "exclusive". They not only manage to get them but also use them as their USP. And it is working!

But a few things don't always make sense. Like cherry tomatoes being whipped off the shelves whereas the beautiful fresh, ripe red tomato is losing its place as part of a salad.

But I too believe in moving with the times. So here is one recipe in line with the current food trend!

Valencia Prawns

Ingredients

Quantity

Three tiger prawns peeled but with head on

Three thin slices Norwegian salmon

50 ml orange juice
Half a lemon
Salt to taste
One tsp green peppercorn
A few basil leaves
20 gm butter
Half tsp chopped garlic
Half tsp chopped parsley

Method

Take prawns and marinate them with salt, half the orange juice, quarter of the lemon for 20 minutes.

Place prawns in a greased tray and cook in medium heated oven till almost done. Wrap prawns in thin salmon slices and cook again in oven for two minutes.

Make sauce in a pan with remaining orange juice, lemon juice and butter.

Add green peppercorn too at this stage. Arrange the wrapped prawns on the serving plate.

Pour the sauce on top of the prawns in just the sufficient quantity.

Sprinkle the chopped parsley. Garnish the plate with basil leaves and green peppercorn sprigs.

Serve hot with a portion of vegetables and/or rice.

RAKESH KUMAR

(The author is the Executive Chef, Crowne Plaza Surya, New Delhi)

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