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CHEF'S CORNER

Chakki to chapati-maker!

With the changing times, our food preferences and cooking methods have changed too

Times change. Surroundings change. Generations change. Food? Well, it is one of the key elements of life, shouldn't it change too? No matter how famous and traditional the dish is, it needs to evolve and develop with ever-changing time, the ever-changing world, ever-changing technology, ever-changing food preferences, ever-changing food trends, and ever-changing customer demands.

Let's understand the expression "being traditional" in cooking terms. You can be traditional in cooking in various ways, including choosing ingredients, recipe, appliances and equipment for cooking and serving style, etc. Interestingly enough, among all criteria of being traditional, a lot has already changed with serving styles as an exception to some extent.

We do use modern equipment for cooking traditional food. Be it the microwave oven, electrically operated grinder, combi steamer, pressure cooker or simply an LPG gas burner.

Dough is being kneaded in electrical mixers, chapatis can be made in chapati makers, masalas can be ground in mixer-grinders, breads are baked in the latest hi-tech bakery ovens and tandoori chicken can be cooked in an electric tandoor that is not bigger than a school bag. And when the equipment has changed, traditional recipes too have been improvised with minor deviations to adjust accordingly.

If so much has changed in traditional food, then why not some change in the ingredients too?

Well! That too is happening very subtly.

Tomato paste is fast becoming a substitute for fresh tomatoes, garlic powder is available in the market any time, frozen vegetables are there for instant use, poly pack cream is fast becoming a favourite over fresh cream, pre-mixed spices are a hit with almost every household, lemon juice comes in a bottle. You don't have to go and search for a honeycomb to fetch honey!

So, while we all value and want to stick to traditional food, it has gradually been improvised and is constantly improving for the benefit of us all. Food is indeed keeping in touch with the ever-changing times. This is what one would call being differently traditional at the dining table!

Now here is a fish recipe, which has remained almost traditional despite the changing times:

Tandoori Pomfret

Time for preparation: 30 minutes

Time for marination: 30 minutes

Time for cooking in charcoal tandoor: 6-7 minutes; in gas tandoor: 10-12 minutes

INGREDIENTS

1 medium size pomfret (fish)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
1 tablespoon malt vinegar
1 heaped teaspoon red chilly powder
Half teaspoon ajwain seeds
Salt to taste
Quarter teaspoon green cardamom
1 teaspoon garam masala
Half cup hung curd

METHOD

Clean the fish with the blunt side of the knife. Pat dry the fish with a clean kitchen towel. Cut the tail and cut from side the fins and gut.

Mark the fish with deep cuts in criss-cross manner till bone on both sides. Apply half the lemon juice and ginger garlic paste on all sides and leave the fish in a wrap in a cold place.

Take a bowl and mix in remaining ginger-garlic paste, red chilly powder, salt, malt vinegar, garam masala, ajwain seeds, hung curd and lemon juice.

Rub this mix all over the fish, ensuring the paste is smeared inside of the cut marks too.

Leave aside for 30 minutes at room temperature. Take a clean skewer and skewer the fish from the centre, following the mouth-first and tail-last technique running with the middle bone. Cook this skewered fish in a medium heated tandoor till half done and the cut fins are nearly browned.

Remove from tandoor, de-skewer carefully without breaking. Place gently on the serving plate.

Best served with mint chutney and cucumber salad.

RAKESH KUMAR

(The author is Executive Chef, Crowne Plaza. He can be emailed at chefrk@crowneplazadelhi. com)

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