Chef Diwas Wadhera has experimented with corn-fed chicken and vegetables cooked in different styles to come up with an interesting variety of sizzlers at the Flluid, Mosaic Hotels. Divya Kaushik sampled some rarely found combinations
If you will try searching on the Internet, you will find out that origin of sizzler is as unclear as that of French fries. Each country has adopted sizzler like it was part of its own cuisine. Talk to chefs across the world and you will be surprised by the kind of experiments done on the thick, hot metal pan. Some place the sauces and the grilled meat and vegetables on the bed of rice or noodles and call it a sizzler and some choose leafy veggies, mostly cauliflower as the base, place the kebabs and the tikkas topped with the sauce of their choice and say that it’s a sizzler. You will find many sizzling versions around the city too. But only a few would appeal to your senses so much so that while your eyes are still watering from the effect of smoke coming from the dish, you continue digging your folk into the tender, moist meat and exploring the veggies hidden in the layer of rice or noodles. We didn’t have high expectations when we walked into the Flluid, the multi-cuisine restaurant at Mosaic Hotels, Noida, which is running a sizzler promotion. But Executive Chef of the hotel, Diwas Wadhera, knows how to make people interested in his food. Chef says that sizzlers have been the hot selling item on his menu and the preparations are so popular that every six months they have a sizzler promotion for the guests who travel long distance to try their favourite sizzler. The interesting part that he revealed to us is that none of the sizzlers in the promotional menus is repeated. “Guests come here looking out for fresh tastes and even I won’t enjoy something same every time the promotion is on. So we keep experimenting with the sizzlers and take into account a lot of suggestions from our guests,” informed chef Diwas.
The sizzler menu at present has limited options, “but it was deliberately kept so, to make it easier for the guest to choose.” There is Cantonese style sizzler, surf and turf sizzler, corn-fed chicken steak Madagascar, exotic vegetarian sizzler to name a few. Corn-fed steal Madagascar sounded interesting so we asked for it in the non-vegetarian section and we opted for Chinese style vegetarian sizzler.
“It is said that food involves our senses. While we indulge in other foods there is an involvement with only four senses — eyes, nose, hands (skin) and tongue but it is only in case of sizzlers that all the five senses are a part of your eating experience. The crackling sound along with the smoky fragrance are the signs of a good sizzler,” shared the chef.
The corn-fed steal Madagascar sizzler came with the roasted ‘corn-fed meat’ cooked to perfection. It was served with baked potatoes stuffed with cheese and spinach. “It is a special variety of chicken that is only fed on corns. Corn-fed chicken meat has a slightly yellow colour that comes from the corn the chickens are fed,” said the chef.
The vegetarian sizzler came with honey chilli potatoes, vegetable balls and cottage cheese steaks. A bowl of noodles was served alongside and everything that was a part of hot pan was so well arranged and the sauces so well spread that the flavours were distinct. Vegetable balls were like dry manchurian but cottage cheese was added to them to make them soft. The other offering made by the chef was something special.
It is not a part of the menu this time, but will surely form a part of list in the next sizzler promotion. On the bed of stir-fried rice cooked with parsley were two sticks of dimsums. The dimsums had different fillings, some were stuffed with crushed cottage cheese, some with corn and mushroom and were marinated in Indian spices. The red chilli sauce was served alongside. “Because of the marination the dimsums are already well flavoured, so the rice balances the flavours and those who want their dish to be extra spicy can dip the dumplings in the chilli sauce,” said the chef.
We concluded our meal with the dessert sizzler — chocolate brownie and pies served smoking hot. It was something rare and to die for. A must mention will be a chocolate paan stuffed with gulkand served with betelnut juice. It is a must if you visit the Mosaic.
“As per our Vedas betelnut is a fantastic thing to refresh your senses after a heavy meal and we thought of coming up with a fusion, that resulted in a chocolate paan,” said chef Diwas.