The newly introduced Culinary Demos by chef Manish Mehrotra at the Indian Accent are an introduction to innovative Indian cooking. Navneet Mendiratta spends a day in the kitchen
He works magic with his ingredients — combines the most unthinkable, tosses them effortlessly and presents in a style which is no less than work of art. That’s Chef Manish Mehrotra for you, the Executive Chef at the Indian Accent and unbeaten czar of fusion cuisine in India. His food philosophy is simple — listen to your heart and never follow any recipe blindly. Cooking should be fun.
“There is no hard and fast rule as to how a dish must be prepared. Creativity comes out best when you are willing to experiment. I tell my students not to go strictly by what is written. I tell them to keep tasting at various levels to figure out what appeals to the palate. Add a surprise element to give it an individual twist,” he announces while initiating a class of about 10 ‘students’ to an exclusive learning and dining experience at Indian Accent at The Manor.
Dubbed as Culinary Demos, there are three programmes on offer — one-day, two-day and three-day experience, where the participants are taught three recipes followed up by a three course meal. You also get to carry back a recipe booklet back with you so you don’t forget or leave out any ingredient or miss a step.
Pots and pans in place with ingredients all lined out to show to his students, chef Mehrotra starts his demonstration with valuable practical tips that not only make cooking appear fun but easy as well. “Often best recipes include ingredients that are not necessarily counted as good for health,” he says. “I believe that anything consumed in moderation is healthy. Certainly you could replace ingredients with ones of your own choice, just make sure they are of good quality or you might have a flop show at hand,” he adds.
To illustrate his point, he talks about the use of oil. “If replacing cooking oil with olive oil, make sure you use quality olive oil and not pomace which is only residue,” he says. He has a personal experience to share. “I come from a place where you have one bottle of mustard oil and you put it in your food, in your hair and rub it on your body. And I am married to a girl who comes from a place where coconut oil is used in similar fashion,” he jests.
The preparations on the list sound extremely exotic and elaborate — panko crusted bharwan mirch, cheese mash, chilli aam papad chutney; duck Chettinad, upma barrels, tomato chutney and Old Monk rum ball, 70 per cent Valrhona chocolate sauce. It’s only when he starts demonstrating that you find that these are not only fun to prepare but quite easy as well. What’s best, he offers various possibilities on the pairings and usage of the fillings that form an important part of these recipes.
“I am not against the use of prepared masalas and ingredients that help you save time and effort. like bhuna masala or packed powder to prepare coconut milk,” he shares while preparing duck Chettinad. “If you are doing something south Indian, don’t cook your food in coconut oil, just add a few drops of it towards the end. It would give a very south Indian feel to it,” he tips the audience.
Most important, he repeatedly instructs the students to not close their minds and flirt with the ingredients. For instance, he tells them how fillings from these preparations could be used in myriad combinations to come up with equally exotic variations. “You could use these as a mixture anywhere — on a canapé, as sandwich filling, in kathi rolls or even as dosa stuffing. likewise, try the same recipe with different ingredients, you would be surprised at the results you would get,” he instructs. As he likes to put it: When it comes to cooking, it’s a lot about a cook’s attitude and how comfortable one is with one’s ingredients and how far one is willing to go while trying out something new. For those who do like to experiment, sky is the limit. Just get imaginative.