With a delightful contrast of flavours, chef Davinder Kumar presented unique dishes made from soya recently at le Meridien. We sampled the fare
As regular and clinically uniform as soya bean may seem (or look or taste), this little legume native to East Asia has vast potential. For ages mothers have been trying to force feed their kids into drinking a glass soymilk or eat that soya salad. Breaking the boring image of soya, chef Davinder Kumar of le Meridien recently crafted an entire menu keeping soya as the base. And do not mistake it for the regular soya chaap or paneer. The chef surprised us with an array of seekh and shammi kebabs, soya biryani, soya korma and soya and pine nut-stuffed chicken malai tikka. The treatment was all about Indian favourites but it was the texture of the soya — beaten to a melt-in-mouth and absorptive consistency in some and granular in the others — that did the trick in helping each item on the menu stand out with distinct flavours.
We particularly liked the soya biryani, a complete dish in itself, as we did the soyaseekhs. The soya korma tended to border on a known paneer variant but still managed to get more than one helping.
To break the idea that soya is a replacement of chicken, the chef has experimented with both vegetarian items like cottage cheese, spinach and chicken. He shared, “Soya is rich in protein and people have started liking it as it is also good for health. We have come up with many dishes. A few years ago, it was only soya paneer and now there are nuggets and grains. But we have tried to present many dishes out of it.”
On asking whether the dishes will be added permanently in the menu or not, Kumar replied, “We are doing the soya promotion and the inclusion will be based on the response of the people. Dishes which will become popular among the guests will be added in the menu. Our special menu has items like chicken stuffed with soya which is very good.” The chef explained that the person eating it would not be able to figure out whether it is chicken or lamb unless they take a bite. He added that the preparation has been done in such a way that it might leave people confused, though he told us very clearly that it is stuffed with chicken and not lamb.
Another dish from the vegetarian menu was five spiced tofu served with wilted spinach and bell pepper makhani. “It’s an Indian soya dish presented with contemporary taste,” he said.
“We can easily find dishes made from soya at any fast food corner, so I have prepared the dishes which are unique like soya and pine nuts stuffed chicken. This particular dish has been very popular among our guests,” said Kumar.
Another dish made by chef was broccoli, yellow corn, silken tofu stir fried with aromatic spices. “It has florets of broccoli which is green in colour, yellow baby corns and white tofu. A touch of fresh tomato sauce is given to it,” he said.
The chef shared that though they have given a twist of modern touch to the menu but the originality of soya has not been compromised. “The shammi kebab, which is stuffed with chopped onion and mint, is served with the pineapple carpaccio and mint mayonnaise. It is a unique combination and is delicious,” Kumar said.
He added that while preparing a dish out of soya, his focus did not drift to other ingredients. “I wanted the flavour of soya should dominate the dish and not chicken or some other spices and condiments,” he concluded.