India has always taken to the prevailing fashions of the day — be it about fast cars or style — in its stride. But unfortunately, when it comes to food, most Indians were very closed in their choices and palate. This didn’t change until Young India started travelling a lot and were exposed to varied international cuisines. Now, you’ll find that variations on Indian food too are being tried outside the country, such as in London Market or at Gaggan in Bangkok. And in India, we’ve seen trends changing, with greater experimentation creeping in, marking the emergence of a fusion cuisine. (Fortunately?) the trend died out before “fusion” could become “confusion”.
So, what is Modern Indian Food? Is it the application of new thought to the same food? Or is it just contemporary plating? Or is it about the use of fancy ingredients in the dish? It was on this quest of finding the real “Modern Indian” cuisine that I researched exhaustively and spoke to many chefs in London (one of my pit-stops) like Vivek Singh, Atul Kochar and Marcus Wareing.
The sum of what I got to know and learn was that yes, Indian food had progressed from where it was. Modern cooking techniques were being applied to traditional Indian food — for instance, nalli nihari being cooked in a sous vide machine with the sauce dehydrated to form a crumb crust which resembles a gremolata. This is an example of a Modern Indian dish at the highest level.
The thought process behind the change that has been brought about is that the context of the dish must not change. It is how we look at, feel and experience that same old dish in a new avatar that must change. Now whoever thought of having compressed watermelon paani poori or pithaud cakes with masala green peas? The fact is that now New Age chefs have started thinking about Indian food more globally and coming out with newer flavours or reconstructing or de-constructing dishes.
The future of Indian food is very bright as the whole world has started to understand the magnanimity of our culture and also the flavours. India is very ready to try this new type of food but it definitely needs more chefs, more restaurants and a whole lot of more research. Here, I’m sharing two recipes: My take on Modern Indian Food.
R E C I P E S:
Assam tea lacquered duck with pomello and coconut chutney
Ingredients:
- 4 duck breasts, cleaned
- Salt and black pepper, to taste;
- 400 ml pomegranate juice;
- 3 gm+ 5 gm paprika powder, 10 gm Assam tea;
- 8-10 grapefruit or pomello segments;
- 2 gm mustard or micro herbs, for the garnish;
- 20 ml oil, for cooking.
For the Coconut chutney:
- 400 gm fresh coconut, grated;
- 2 gm roasted chana dal;
- Salt to taste;
- 10 gm ginger, peeled and in chunks;
- 5 gm dried red chillies.
Method
For the chutney: Deseed the red chillies and soak them in hot water for 30 minutes. Remove and drain thoroughly. Place grated coconut, roasted chana dal, red chillies and ginger in a blender jar. Blend into a smooth puree. Adjust seasoning. Tip into a container and
refrigerate.
For the duck:
Marinate the duck breasts with salt, pepper and 3 gm of the paprika and set aside. Infuse 10 gm Assam tea into 100 ml boiling water, brew for 5 minutes, strain, and discard tea leaves. Over heat, reduce the pomegranate juice into half (200 ml), then add the above tea liquor and combine. Continue to reduce till this glaze acquires a slight syrupy coating consistency. Score the duck breasts on the skin side into a cross hatch pattern all across.
Heat oil in a saucepan; place the duck breasts skin side down when the oil is hot. Continue to cook and turn when the skin turns crispy and fat is released. Apply the glaze at regular intervals on both sides. Place in a pre-heated oven at 180° C for 5 minutes or place a lid on the sauce pan and apply the reduction at regular intervals using a brush, till the duck is cooked. Place on a plate and place the chutney, pomello and micro sprouts around. Serve at once.
CRAB AND MACKEREL CAKE
Ingredients
- 150 gm mackerel fillet
- 150 gm crab meat
- 100 gm onion, sliced
- 20 gm green chilli
- 15 gm curry leaves
- 15 gm ginger, chopped+paste
- 15 gm garlic, chopped+paste
- 10 gm turmeric powder
- 10 gm red chilli powder
- 10 gm coriander powder
- 30 ml oil; 10 gm salt; 30 gm bread crumbs
Method
1. Marinate the mackerel fillet with oil, ginger-
garlic paste, turmeric, chilli powder and cook it in the oven at 180º C for 5 mins. Take it out, remove the skin and chop the meat. Set aside.
2. Next, poach the crab meat with salt for 5 mins. Keep aside.
3. Heat oil in a pan. Add the chopped ginger, garlic, green chilli, onion, curry leaves and the remaining masala and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and chop finely.
4. Add all the mixtures (crab+mackerel+onion masala) together, along with bread crumbs and shape into patties.
5. Heat oil in a pan and shallow fry the patties. Serve hot with chilli mustard mayonnaise.
Chef Ajay Chopra is culinary advisor to The Westin Garden City, Mumbai
