Chef Ritu Dalmia tosses up a German-Italian combo at a Mercedes event. By Ankita Jain
Surrounded by a crowd watching her cook and eagerly waiting to know the secret behind her mouth-watering Italian dishes doesn’t come as a surprise for celebrated chef Ritu Dalmia. “I have been cooking as a young kid, so I do not get distracted easily. Being a Marwari, the breakfast discussion at home would be about lunch and lunch discussions would be about dinner. Altogether, it used to be a four meals-a-day discussion, including tea and snacks. So I got used to the drill of churning out spreads quite early in my life,” said Ritu with a dazzling smile.
The award-winning chef, who has been doing this for more than two decades now, recently gave a demo at the Mercedes Benz luxeDrive. Guests experienced a chance to test-drive any of the Mercedes-Benz cars on the occasion.
“I wanted to mix the recipe from two different parts of the world, one being Germany and the other Italy which is my love. Food is about a thrill, in some ways about a sense of luxury and lifestyle. This is exactly what Mercedes does as a luxury car. So we decided to go hand-in-hand for the day,” shared Ritu who tried her hand at cooking when she was nine and keeps experimenting. The blend of German and Italian cuisine — gnocchi stuffed with mushroom and gorgonzola butter — was a part of her innovation which got much appreciation among the guests.
How did she become obsessed with Italian foodIJ Well, it all happened during her numerous trips to Italy while assisting her family business. The Kolkata-born chef gradually developed a taste for Italian food and started learning their culinary skills and techniques. “I travel to Italy every month for ingredients, learning new techniques; I need the cheese from this nation. It’s not only about ingredients; it is also about seeing different products and styles of cooking. Italy is also like India, every region has its own speciality. So for me as an outsider, it is very important to get an overview of what’s cooking all over the country”, said the superchef.
With over seven restaurants in the capital and known for popularising Italian cuisine in the country at a time when only pizzas and pastas were all we knew about, Ritu talked about the drastic change among the food lovers. “When I started, that was a concept but now after 17 years, guests have become more discerning. People are travelling now and then. I won’t be able to run an authentic Italian restaurant all over the capital if people still had old notions.” Diva, Café Diva and Diva Spiced are few to be added to her list of successful eateries among foodies.
“All Italian dishes are easy to cook but what I love to eat is simple spaghetti with tomatoes and basil, my all-time favourite. When I feel like being treated with elegance and luxury, I serve myself a pillow of very thin pasta, ravioli which is as smooth as silk filled with burrata. These I would say are my two most favourites”, said the chef when asked about her personal choices. But Ritu is as passionate about her Indian roots. “I like curry chawal, moog bhaat, mattar ki kachori, aaloo pethe ki sabji, badam halwa, Rawat ke pyaaz ki kachori. I am largely a hardcore desi with simple food on my mind,” she said.The conversation with Ritu also threw light on her secret mantra for delicious cuisine. “Innovation has to be there all the time otherwise boredom sets in. I change my menu every three months. Recently, we have opened Diva Spiced, which is our Asian restaurant. Sangam Courtyard is an amazing all-day dining where you will find a Bikaneri roti being served with khatta-meetha Kerala curry. It’s a whole row of innovations and very interesting combinations and in some ways I’m using my brain again.”
In the near future one would not be amazed to know about Ritu Dalmia’s cooking academy as sooner or later she would be up with the venture. “I would love to do that one day but I don’t know whether it is going to happen soon or not.”