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Food fusion

Students of Jenneys Academy of Tourism and Hotel Management tried out a fusion of Maratha and Old Tanjore cuisines

INNOVATIVE Attempt combining different cuisines Photo: M. Moorthy

Fusion cuisine seems to be the answer for the gourmands, who are on a lookout for variety. Fusion cuisine is nothing but a nice blend of different culinary traditions and it is certainly gaining popularity.

At `Amchi Maratha Khana', the seventh food festival of Jenneys Academy of Tourism and Hotel Management, students prepared a fusion of Maratha and Old Tanjore cuisines, which for sure satiated the taste buds of the guests. Two manuscripts of Maharaja Serfoji at Saraswathi Mahal Library, Thanjavur,that have vegetarian and non-vegetarian Marathi recipes, were the guides for the students of the academy, who also visited the Tanjore Palace and got valuable inputs from the chefs there. And they came out with an array of 30dishes.

Highlights

Some of the highlights of the festival were Fish Karda, a traditional dish made out of onion, ginger, garlic paste, red chilli powder, copra and cumin. Fish is shallow fried and added to the gravy. `Old Tanjore gravy' is made of vadagam, browned coconut and tamarind pulp and yes, it is very spicy.

`Sundi' is a dry Maratha dish having a pounded leg of a lamb blended with ground masala like copra, shallots and garlic made into dumplings and rolled with dry plantain stem or a twine.A spicy rice dish, `Chaurangi Brinji,' has four layers of coloured rice with vegetables. `Madakki' has various vegetable sprouts cooked with onion and pounded masala garnishes with coriander leaves.

Showpiece

Vegetable carving is always a showpiece in any buffet and the students did not restrict themselves to that. All eyes were riveted on the centrepiece - a five-foot-tall butter carving of Chatrapathi Sivaji, for which 40 kg of butter was used. It was an effort worth mentioning, as it is important these days to make preparations that are appealing. And so were the carvings on pumpkins, watermelon, radish and beetroot. These were the craftsmanship of about 10 students, who had spent hours in making them. The Director (Technical) of the academy, M. Ponnilango, says: "Most of the traditional foods have been forgotten because we do not have any recipe books. But that is not the case with Maratha cuisines. With the availability of manuscripts, it has become easier to prepare the dishes. This has also helped students to do research on these recipes."

Mr. Ponnilango also adds that a lot of five star hotels are interested in such fusion cuisines and these food festivals would help students get a real time experience. Carvings are a must in cruise lines and in any banquets and students should have flair and inclination to give an attractive presentation. "It is all about creative thinking. A beautiful carving adds value to the buffet and draws the attention of the onlooker. That is half the job done," Mr.Ponnilango says.

G. PRASAD

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