The Spaniards' love for seafood and cheese is justified. Chef Yash Rajpal tells Siddharth Tewari what makes Spanish food an uncomplicated cuisine
I walk around the Pavilion’s, ITC Maurya, Spanish spread and the first thing that strikes me — why a buffetIJ When you have a good variety of food why not go a la carteIJ Chef Yash Rajpal is quick to reply, “Yes, I agree that a la carte is a better option to buffet because in the latter the food is heated time and again, although we replace it in quick succession. But when you are introducing a cuisine like Spanish, buffet is a good option as people get to taste a variety of options.”
Spanish cuisine is all about fresh food, it is uncomplicated, based on the ingredients available locally or the crops grown regionally. A reason why lots of tomatoes and olives are used. “Most of the dishes cooked today are pass-ons from generation to generation, they may be hundreds of years old. The newer dishes came up with the influence of South and North America and Europe and slowly were adapted to the Spanish taste buds,” says he.
Even as we discuss we are offered Sangrias that are just apt, neither too sweet nor sour. “Sangria goes well with Spanish food,” says the chef. We ask him how different is Spanish food from IndianIJ “In fact, there are a lot many similarities. This is one reason why we came up with the idea of hosting this festival. There are many dishes that are suited for our palate as they have a lot of tomatoes, nuts, spices and saffron.”
Just then we are served pulpo gallego, slices of octopus cooked with paprika and olive topped with sliced potato. “The key here is not to over do the potato and the octopus, the crispier, the better.”
We ask the chef, that since Spanish food is all about fresh ingredients, how does he source themIJ “I don’t believe in sourcing ingredients. For Spanish food I have only sourced olive oil and the rest we pick up fresh stuff from the Indian markets. The idea is to use your own resources. We take olive oil from there cause Spain is a leading producer of olive oil and olives are grown all over the south of Spain.”
Next up we are offered brazo de gitano, gypsy arm made of mashed potatoes stuffed with tuna topped with aoli and pimento chillies. It had the right amount of spices even for the Indian palate.
Being a country that is surrounded on three sides by water, the cuisine of Spain has a domination of seafood. “Fresh seafood is always found in abundance there as it is consumed daily. Shrimp, octopus and baby eels are are favourite on the menu.”
“Another favourite of the Spaniards is cheese,” we are told, as we dig into olla gitana, Gypsy stew from Murcia. Spanish cheese is made from sheep, cow, goat milk and mixed. There are even blue cheeses that mature in limestone caves, such as Cabrales.
Although I did not try anything sweet, but the festival has deserts like tarta de satiago, traditional almond cake with cross of Santiago.