Spoonful of imagination

Award-winning chef Manish Mehrotra approaches his endeavours in the kitchen with a sense of adventure often combining the unthinkable, reinventing and balancing flavours and textures and never following any recipe blindly. The executive chef at the Indian Accent in Old Manor, Delhi, his unique amalgamation of local produce with unusual ingredients from across the world, both excites the adventurous as well as satisfies traditional palates. He shares with us some of his simple yet popular recipes that he has fine-tuned and perfected over time.

Karela churan - Quinoa puff

Ingredients

• Karela 200 gm
• Onion sliced 200 gm
• Green cardamom 2
• Cinnamon stick 1 inch piece
• Mace 1 small piece
• Anar dana churan 30 gm
• Red chilli powder 3 gm
• Salt to taste
• Chopped ginger 5 gm
• Chopped coriander 5 gm
• Oil 15 ml
• Sugar 10 gm
• Garam masala powder 2 gm
• Lemon juice 2 ml
• Quinoa 20 gm

Method:

• Wash, peel and slice karela
• Apply salt and leave for 5 minutes to remove bitterness
• Wash the karela and pat dry
• Deep fry karela and drain it on kitchen paper
• In a heavy bottom pan, heat oil and crackle whole spices
• Add sliced onion and cook till caramelised state.
• Add sugar and cook it for 1 minute. Add chopped ginger
• Add fried karela, anar dana churan, garam masala
• Finish with chopped coriander and lemon juice
• Serve karela chips
• and quinoa puffs

FOR QUINOA PUFFS

• Cook quinoa and dry it
• Fry it in hot oil.
• Wash, peel and slice karela
• Apply salt and leave for 5 minutes to remove bitterness
• Wash the karela and pat dry
• Deep fry karela and drain it on kitchen paper
• In a heavy bottom pan, heat oil and crackle whole spices
• Add sliced onion and cook till caramelised state.
• Add sugar and cook it for 1 minute. Add chopped ginger
• Add fried karela, anar dana churan, garam masala
• Finish with chopped coriander and lemon juice
• Serve karela chips and quinoa puffs

MISHTI DOI CANNOLI, AMARANTH LADOO

Ingredients:

• Refined flour 250 gm
• Jaggery 60 gm
• Desi ghee 90 gm
• Water As required
• Mishti doi (Mother Dairy) 1 kg
• Popped amaranth seeds 50 gm
• Toffee sauce 50 ml

Method:

• Hang mishti doi in a muslin cloth or sieve for about 3 hours. Drain as much water as possible
• Mix toffee sauce and popped amaranth and make small firm balls to make amaranth ladoo
• Make smooth dough using refined flour, jaggery, desi ghee and water
• Rest the dough for 15 min and then roll into a thin sheet of .5 mm thickness
• Using a round shape cutter of 1.5 inches diameter, cut round discs of the flattened dough
• Roll each sheet on a .75 inch thick stainless steel pipe to make a cannoli
• Bake at 180ºC for 8-10 min
• Remove from oven when crisp and light brown in colour
• Take out from pipe carefully, fill in the chilled hung mishti doi using a piping bag and serve immediately with amaranth ladoo.

Meetha Achaar Canadian Spare Ribs

Ingredients:

• Pork spare ribs 200 gm
• Chopped sweet 20 gm
• mango pickle
• Chopped ginger 10 gm
• Chopped garlic 10 gm
• Toasted kalonji seeds 10 gm
• Chopped aam papad 10 gm
• Corn flour 50 gm
• Chopped coriander 20 gm
• Salt To taste
• Crushed black pepper To taste
• Red chilli flakes To taste
• Oil 15 ml
• Oil for frying

Method:

• Boil pork ribs in water for 15 to 20 mins or till tender
• Dust in corn flour and fry till crisp and golden in colour
• Heat oil in a pan and sauté ginger and garlic
• Add mango pickle and kalonji along with little water to make thick sauce
• Add salt, pepper, and chilli flakes
• Toss fried spare rib well till coated
• Add coriander
• Garnish with chopped aam papad.