MONISH GUJRAL Last Updated : 17 Feb 2012 01:51:42 PM IST
Some times a memorable dinner, even though eaten many years ago, stands out as ones first great meal. I experienced something similar in my childhood at an old French Bistro on one gorgeous summer evening in Paris.
I still remember that I nearly burnt my mouth eating a dish that remains the epicenter of a seminal food experience. Since then, I’ve eaten this dish at most a handful of times, and even cooked it on a few occasions. It’s the French onion soup (Soupe à l’oignon).
French onion soup is an onion and beef broth or a beef stock based soup which was traditionally served with croutons and cheese toppings. It’s a classic French recipe. Although ancient in origin, this dish underwent a resurgence of popularity in the 1960s in the US.
The rich flavour of the base is not just due to the broth, but for the caramelized onions. Caramelization, in this case is the procedure in which the onions are cooked slowly until the melting sugars approach burning temperature, becoming golden brown. Some recipes suggest a half an hour of cooking time, but many chefs and cooks allow for hours of cooking to bring out the complex flavours of the onions’ sugars. The trick to sweat the onions to draw out the liquid is an important step in caramelization. This can be accomplished by tossing the onions in a fat of choice (olive oil, butter, or bacon fat), adding salt, and then covering the pot and letting the onions cook over very low heat. The salt and heat draw the liquid out of the onions. Finally a dash of cognac or sherry is often used to enhance the caramelized onion flavour and to deglaze the pan.
The base is usually topped with the crouton, which will be very dry and crusty to allow it to withstand lying on the soup surface, while baked or broiled with a good melting cheese on top. In some instances, a slice of plain bread can also be used. The soup is then served in the bowl in which it was broiled or baked. Although the original version has beef base, but there can be variation depending upon ones choice of stocks such as vegetable or chicken stock, which makes a lighter-coloured broth.
Despite many trips to Paris, I never found that restaurant whose soup I remember till date. I guess it was in the part of the city demolished for a new development
French Onion soup

Traditional food from
France
Ingredients
50g (2oz) butter
750g (1 and a half lb) onions thinly sliced
2 teaspoons of sugar
2 teaspoons of plain flour
1 litre of chicken or beef stock
Salt and Pepper
Half a small french stick cut into 4 slices(is “a long thin loaf of French bread that is commonly made from basic lean dough )
50g (2oz) Gruyère cheese, grated
Parsley, chopped
Preparation
1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan and add the onions and sugar. Turn down the heat so it is just simmering and cook the onions very slowly for 20-30 minutes until they are soft and a deep golden brown. Stir occasionally.

2. Stir the flour into the onion mixture and cook over a very low heat for about 5 minutes, stirring to prevent burning or sticking to the pan.

3. Add the stock and a dash of salt and pepper. Turn up the heat so the soup boils, stir all the time and then turn the heat down and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Taste the soup and season as you like.

4. Toast the slices of french bread. Put a piece in each bowl and sprinkle with grated Gruyère. Pour the soup over the top and sprinkle the parsley over the top.
.

The Great Turkish kebab crawl

Monish Gujral Last Updated : 06 Jan 2012 02:08:22 PM IST
Sometimes, best things happen to you when you are least expecting them. The same happened to me a few days ago, when I had to visit Turkey’s capital, Istanbul, for work. Walking by the streets of Istanbul, the birthplace of kebabs, you witness lines of kiosks and restaurants, always filled with gastronomes. Most gorge on Doner Kebabs, spicy beef chops, soft meat rolls, fish pancakes, beef burgers and pizzas, while the health freaks love to gulp the soft tender meat from oyster shells, dampening it with lemon juice.
Turkish cuisine is a heritage of the Ottoman empire. With influences from Middle Eastern Cuisine along with traditional Turik elements such as yogurt, the Turks created a wide array of specialities.
Turkish cuisine varies across the country. Some use fewer spices, while others prefer rice; most like seafood. In the areas around the Black Sea, people extensively consume fish, especially the Black Sea anchovy (Hamsi), and they also eat a lot of maize dishes because of influences from Balkan and Slavic cuisine. Southeast Turkey is famous for its kebabs, mezes and dough-based desserts—for instance Baklava, Kadayif and Kanafeh. In the western parts of Turkey, where olive trees grow abundantly, olive oil is a primary ingredient for cooking. The cuisine of Aegean, Mediterranean and Marmara region is rich in vegetables, herbs and fish.
In Turkey, besides lamb meat, beef and sea food, vegetables are also widely eaten and sometimes a vegetable can also be a main course on a Turkish dining table. When in Istanbul, a visit to the Old Fish Market and the 20-25 restaurants by the street is a must. One of my favourite restaurants is Kalamar. You can savour kebabs, hot and cold mezzes and roasted chestnuts here, along with live music by the gypsies and finish off the hearty meal with a cup or two of Turkish coffee.
Since Turkey is said to be the birthplace of kebabs, I have dedicated this column to some special types of Turkish kebabs. Kebab stands for a variety of meat-based dishes in Turkish cuisine. It not only encompasses grilled or skewered meats, but also stews and casseroles. Here’s a low-down on the varieties of Turkish kebabs:
■ Adana Kebab: Kebab made with hand-minced meat mixed with chilli on a flat wide metal skewer (shish). The kebab is associated with the Adana region and is popular all over Turkey.
■ Ali Pasa Kebab (Ali Pasha Kebab): Cubed lamb, tomato, onion and parsley wrapped in phyllo sheets.
■ Alinazik Kebab: Ground meat kebab sautéed in a saucepan, with garlic, yogurt and eggplants.
■ Bahcivan Kebabi (gardener’s kebab): Boneless lamb shoulder mixed with chopped onions and tomato paste.
■ Beyzok Kebab: Tomato and onion flavoured lamb, wrapped in aubergine slices and garnished with lamb brains.
■ Beyti Kebab: Ground lamb or beef, seasoned and grilled on a skewer. Often served, wrapped in lavas, hand topped with tomato sauce and yogurt. The kebab’s origin can be traced to the famous Beyti Kebab House in Istanbul.
■ Bostan Kebab: Lamb and aubergine casserole.
■ Bugu Kababi (steamed kebab): Cooked in low heat until the meat releases its moisture and reabsorbs it.
■ Cag Kabab: Cubes of lamb is first roasted on a cağ (a horizontal rotating spit and then on a skewer), a specialty of the Erzurum region. It has witnessed rising popularity in recent times.
■ Liver Paper Kebab: A lamb liver kebab mixed with meat and marinated with thyme, parsley and dill .
■ Earthenware Bowl Kebab: Meat and vegetable casserole with eggplant, carrots, shallots, beans, tomatoes and green pepper.
■ Cop Sis (small skewer kebab): A speciality of Seluk and Germencik region. It is made of pounded boneless meat with tomatoes and garlic marinated in black pepper, thyme and oil on wooden skewers.
■ Hukan Kababi (sultan’s kebab): Sliced lamb meat mixed with aubergine purée, basil, thyme and bay leaf.
■ Iskender Kabab: A form of Doner Kebab, it is served with yogurt, tomato sauce and butter. Originated in Bursa, the kebab was invented by İskender Efendi in 1867. He was inspired by the Cag Kebab and turned it from horizontal to vertical.
■ Islim Kabab (steamed kebab): Another version of the Aubergine Kebab.
■ Kagit Kababi: Lamb meat cooked in a paper wrapping.
Kuyu Kababi (pit kebab): Prepared from goat, it is a speciality of Avdin.
■ Kuzu Incik Kababi (lamb shank kebab): Lamb shanks mixed with peeled eggplants and chopped tomatoes, cream, salt and black pepper.
■ Kofte Kebab: Minced lamb meatballs with herbs, often including parsley and mint on a stick, grilled.
■ Orman Kebabi (forest kebab): Lamb meat on the bone and cut in large pieces mixed with carrots, potatoes and peas.
Yogurtlu Kebab (Kebab with yoghurt )
Ingredients:
● 4 tablespoons of butter
● 3 ripe tomatoes
● 4 hot green peppers
● 4 slices of bread
● 500 gm meat, cut into cubes or ground
● 500 gm yoghurt
● 1 tsp pepper powder
● 1 tsp red pepper powder
● Salt to taste
● ½ cup onion juice
● ¼ cup olive oil
Method:
● Marinate the meat cubes in a marinade of onion juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.
● Cook peeled tomatoes, cut into small pieces in 1 tbsp of butter in a pan . Keep warm.
● Toast bread, cut into small slices and distribute on the plates.
● Skewer meat and grill on coal fire.
● Melt 2 tbsp of butter and pour over bread. Add hot tomato sauce and yoghurt.
● Remove meat from skewer and place on the dish. Serve with hot green pepper and parsley.

Text
By Diksha Sahni

Monish Gujral
A view of the tandoor at the earliest Moti Mahal restaurant in 1948 where a cook is seen putting bread inside the tandoor to cook it .
Moti Mahal (Palace of Pearl), one of the oldest restaurants in Delhi, helped spread to the world one of India’s iconic cuisines: Tandoori food. It is also credited with inventing dishes such as “dal makhani” — black gram lentils with tomatoes, cream and butter — and “butter chicken” that have become hallmarks of Indian food globally.

What began as a small eatery in Peshawar in British India, the restaurant later reopened in Delhi in 1947 after Partition. It has been an institution in the capital ever since and has established several branches. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, independent India’s first education minister, is said to have once told the Shah of Iran, “Visiting Delhi and not going to Moti Mahal is like going to Agra and not visiting the Taj Mahal.”

As part of our “New Delhi@100” series, India Real Time traces the journey of Moti Mahal – now in its 91st year.

In the 1920s, in Peshawar in undivided India, a boy aged 12 started working as a kitchen helper in an eatery called Moti Sweets. Having lost his father at a very young age, he had to start earning early in life. When the eatery’s owner died a few years later, the boy took over the chain as the owner was very fond of him. He renamed the place “Moti Mahal.” The young boy was Kundan Lal Gujral.

Monish Gujral
The restaurant’s signature dish of ‘Tandoori Chicken.’
“Once a customer demanded that he wanted a lighter option rather than the usual gravy-based dishes of Korma, which are cooked in oil and thus very heavy,” recalls Monish Gujral, the founder’s grandson and now managing director of the chain. “So to please the customer, K.L Gujral thought of experimenting with chicken and marinating it with yoghurt and using the tandoor (open hearths),” he added. This is how the “tandoori chicken” was born.

Kebabs were invented in Turkey and the tandoor had been used for centuries to cook breads. But Mr. Gujral claims it was the first time the kebabs were grilled rather than fried. He adds that, once the tandoor came to be used, the options to experiment were almost endless.

Butter chicken, too, had humble beginnings. When the founder realized that dry pieces of tandoori chicken go bad very quickly without refrigeration, he decided to add gravy to them. He took the leftover pieces of tandoori chicken and cooked them over a low flame in a gravy of butter, spices, cream and tomatoes. The result was butter chicken, a dish that is now a staple of Indian restaurants around the world. The same gravy recipe was then used to make dal makhani.

Moti Mahal had already established itself among the British elite in Peshawar but the challenge came with Partition, when K.L. Gujral had to move to India and start a new life as a refugee.

Monish Gujral
The restaurant’s other famous dish – ‘Butter Chicken.’
But he came from a more privileged background than most other refugees, so starting afresh was less of a struggle. “My grandfather was among the few rich people who flew to India rather than taking the train,” said Mr. Gujral.

“My grandfather stayed in a refugee camp initially and thought of setting up a dhaba (roadside eatery) to introduce Delhiites to the tandoori chicken. He finally bought a small space in a corner in Daryanganj and thus set up Moti Mahal in the city,” Mr. Gujral said. The place quickly proved popular and within a year K.L. Gujral bought the adjoining area, turning his eatery into a 400-seat restaurant. K.L. Gujral also tried to make Moti Mahal a different experience by introducing live “qawwali” (a form of sufi devotional music) and a see-through kitchen.

Dignitaries like former prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, former Indian President Dr. Zakir Hussain, actors Raj Kapur and Nargis, and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev are among the famous patrons.

With time, Moti Mahal changed, too. While it retained the signature dishes of dal makhani, butter chicken, tandoori chicken, chicken pakora (fritters), the restaurant reinvented itself to suit the changing palate of the Indian customer. They introduced tandoori dishes made with broccoli, trout and lobster.

Monish Gujral
Dr. Zakir Hussain, extreme left, seen in this picture with K.L. Gujral, first from right.
“Indian customers are now exposed to a lot of international eating and want not only better presentation but also varieties that are good for health,” Mr. Gujral said, adding that customers are now more health conscious and thus demand more barbequed stuff.

What is also interesting to note is the price for the dishes: in the early post-Independence days, the restaurant used to sell a portion of tandoori chicken priced at one rupee and butter chicken at 1.25 rupees. Today, these are priced around 500 rupees ($10) and 650 rupees, respectively. Mr. Gujral serves over 100,000 butter chickens in a year.

Monish Gujral
Monish Gujral, the founder’s grandson, outside one of the restaurants under the chain.
Mr. Gujral instituted Moti Mahal Delux Management Services in 2003 with the objective of expanding the business into franchises across India. Today, it has grown from a small restaurant in Old Delhi to a modern eating chain with more than 150 company-owned restaurants and franchises in India and abroad and he plans to expand at the rate of two restaurants a month.

“The first thing I did when we started the franchise model was to standardize the recipes,” he said. “I couldn’t have a chain serving different recipes, so all chefs are trained by Moti Mahal, thus ensuring the quality remains the same.”

Monish Gujral Last Updated : 02 Dec 2011 02:15:28 PM IST
On a recent trip to Sweden, I was touched by the Swedish warm hospitality and it reinforced my belief that people living in cold countries are generally warm-hearted. I also found them very sweet. Perhaps, that is the reason why Punjabis pronounce sweet dish as ‘swedish’. This was also one of the culinary expeditions to understand culture and food habits of the place.
In Stockholm, I was hosted by a young dynamic chef K C Wallberg, who is also author of many cookbooks and runs a couple of fine Swedish restaurants. A week that I spent with him in his kitchen and touring Stockholm contributed a lot towards my knowledge of Swedish cuisine and culture. We experimented with deer meat, elk meat, marinated them with Indian spices, curd and grilled them in salamander in absence of a tandoor. The result was tandoori deer and elk, which was thoroughly enjoyed by the guests at the restaurant. We also had tandoori wild duck salad and for dessert I made Phirni.
I was overwhelmed by their culinary excellence and hospitality after making culinary rounds of popular and Michelin-star restaurants. I visited Mathia’s at the Grand Hotel, confectioneries famous for their royal wedding cakes and Cafe Esaias. On one occasion, I was invited by a Swedish couple Tommy and Maret to their house in the woods near the sea. I learned more about Swedish cuisine from them. Basically, Swedish cooking is a no fuss cooking with less use of spices. I was served traditional baked Onion with Pear Jam and tomatoes halved and grilled with mild spices and Goat Cheese.
Due to Sweden’s vast north-south expanse, there have always been regional differences in Swedish cuisine. Historically, in the far north, reindeer and game meat dishes have been popular, while fresh vegetables have played a dominant role in shaping the culinary habits of the south.
Swedes have traditionally been very open to foreign influences, ranging from French cuisine during the 17th and 18th century, to the Sushi and Cafe Latte of today. On the fast food front, pizzas and hot-dogs have been a ubiquitous part of Swedish culture since the 1960s. Twenty years later, the same could be said about the growing popularity of the Kebab and Falafel, as many small restaurants specialise in such dishes.
General features
Swedish cuisine could be described as centered around cultured meats — beef, pork seafood, fish, dairy products, bread, berries and mushrooms. Boiled potatoes are often served as a side dish. Swedish cuisine has a huge variety of breads of different shapes and sizes, made of rye, wheat, oat, white, dark, sour-dough, whole grain soft flatbreads and crispbreads. There are many sweetened bread types and some use spices. Many meat dishes, especially meatballs, are served with lingonberry jam. Sweden’s pastry tradition features a variety of yeast buns, cookies, biscuits and cakes, many of them in a sugary style with a pastry.
Some traditional Swedish dishes are:
Pea Soup, Blood Pudding (black pudding which is eaten with Lingonberry Jam), Julskinka (Cured ham boiled and breaded with mustard), bread crumbs and eggs (Meat stewed with onions spices, and vegetables) and Isterband (Sausage made of coarsely ground pork, barley and potatoes), to name a few.
The writer is a well-known
restaurateur and author of
many cookbooks. Follow Gujral
at Monishgujral.com
Red Baked Swedish Apples
Ingredients
● 5 red ripe apples, cut into halves
● 1tsp cinnamon
● 1 tbsp malt vinegar
● 2 tbsp melted butter
● 1 tbsp Sugar
● 5 Walnuts
● 10 Raisins
How to make:
● Cut apples into halves and deseed them from the centre
● Brush melted butter on the apples
● Sprinkle sugar
● Put 2 raisins and one whole walnut in the centre of each apple
● Sprinkle with cinnamon
● Pre-heat the oven at 150º F and bake the apples for 15-20 minutes
Eat hot with a scoop of
Vanilla Ice cream
Topics:Sweden, K C Wallberg, tandoor

Monish Gujral Last Updated : 18 Nov 2011 12:16:06 PM IST
In 2004, a few introspective Danish chefs put away their knives and gathered around a meeting table in Copenhagen for an 18-hour brainstorming session with an ambitious plan. The plan to create an indigenous Scandinavian cuisine to rival that of Italy and France.
The result was a unique agreement called “New Nordic Cuisine Manifesto”—a 10-point programme that has become a foundational text not just for Danish chefs but also for foodies worldwide. In short, the manifesto was an agreement that cooking should be based on local, seasonal ingredients that were sustainably and ethically produced. This culinary revolution was based upon Nordic history and ancestral traditions. Nordic food labs carefully experimented with ingredients to develop interesting flavours and potential recipes such as combination of seaweed and cheese. Unlike Spain and Italy, ancestral food knowledge was lost to Denmark over the centuries, which the Nordic food movement has brilliantly revived.
In the fiercely competitive culinary market of Denmark, the chefs are expected to be creative and dream up their own original dishes. Meet Trevor Moran, a sous-chef, who invented the sea buckthorn and hip rose petal pickle dish. “We found sea buckthorn growing near some hip roses, a beach variety of rose. The idea is that if you find two things growing near each other, they’ll probably work well
together in a dish, as their chemical makeup will be similar. We pickled the rose
petals in apple vinegar for about a year. Then we combined them with the juice of the sea-buckthorn berry, and the result was just incredible,” says Moran. He works at Noma a celebrated restaurant, which is a must visit on a trip to Copenhagen. Noma offers its personal rendition of Nordic gourmet cuisine with an innovative gastronomic take on traditional
cooking methods.
Within almost a decade of the revolution, Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark has become a fine-dining destination. Gourmets and culinary tourists from around the world visit Denmark for a unique culinary experience.
Now the revolution for restoring culinary history is so widespread in Nordic countries that the search for lost ingredients is going online. An iPhone application is in development that will allow enthusiasts to photograph and map plants, they find growing in the wilderness, and suggest or innovate some appropriate recipes for them. The 10-point programme of “New Nordic Cuisine Manifesto” are :
1. To express the purity, freshness, simplicity and ethics associated with the region.
2. To reflect the change in seasons through meals.
3. The cooking should be based on ingredients and produce whose characteristics are in tandem with the Nordic climate, landscape and water.
4. Combine the demand for good taste with modern knowledge of health and well-being.
5. Promote Nordic products and producers to the world.
6. To promote animal welfare and a sound production process in the region.
7. To develop potentially new applications of traditional Nordic food products.
8. To combine the best in Nordic cookery and culinary traditions with impulses from abroad.
9. To combine local self-sufficiency with regional sharing of high-quality products.
10. To join forces with consumer representatives, other cooking craftsmen, agriculture, etc so that it is advantageous for everyone in the Nordic countries.
Smørrebrød, simply means “buttered bread”, but as any Dane will tell you, smørrebrød is much more than just open-face sandwiches. The rye bread is considered the canvas, and the topping a dish in itself.
Sourdough for Danish Rye Bread
Total Time: 3 days
Introduction
Sourdough is the basic ingredient for Danish Rye Bread—It has to be prepared a few days in advance, however one can make a big batch and store it in the fridge for 2-3 weeks. You can make a big batch and then store it in the fridge to be used later. To keep it fresh, add a little fresh rye or wheat flour once in a while.
Ingredients
1cup rye flour
1 ½ cups water
pinch of salt
2 tbsp honey
2 tbspYoghurt
½ tsp sugar
Steps
Place all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix into a mud-like consistency. Cover the bowl with a layer of plastic wrap, punching a few holes in the wrap so the dough can breathe.
Place the bowl in the fridge for two days. On the third day, mix some extra rye flour and water into your mixture, and leave for a day or two until you see the dough start to bubble. Your sourdough is now ready to be turned into rye bread
Danish Rye Bread
Introduction
Baking this rich, dark bread that forms the basis of all smørrebrød dishes may take some time to master but once mastered you will be addicted to this dark beauty
Ingredients
Day One
2 cups of Sourdough
1 cup of whole rye grains
½ tbsp whole linseed
½ tbsp bread flour
2 cups of lukewarm water
1 tbsp salt
1½ tbsp honey
½ tsp sugar
Day Two
4 cups of rye flour
2 ¾ tbsp salt
1 ¼ tbsp honey
3½ cups of water
vegetable oil, for greasing the loaf pans
Steps
In a large bowl, mix all of the day one ingredients together. Cover the bowl with a wet muslin cloth and set it aside for at least 24 hours.
On the second day, add the day two ingredients (leaving the vegetable oil) and knead them into the day one mixture for 10 minutes. The dough should now have the thickness of heavy muddy mixture .
Rub a little vegetable oil inside two large loaf pans and divide the dough between the two pans. Leave to rise for 5 to 6 hours.
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees, then bake the two loaves of bread for 1 hour and 55 minutes. Remove the bread from the pans and place the hot loaves directly on the oven rack; continue to bake for another 15 minutes to develop a nice crust.
Let the loaves cool completely. For smørrebrød, cut thin slices of less than ¼-inch thick each .
Gravlax for topping
Serves: 12
Total Time: 4 days
Introduction
Gravlax literally means “buried salmon”. It’s a tradition that goes back to the middle ages, when fishermen would salt their catch and preserve it by burying it in sand. It remains a hot favorite across Scandinavia, and it’s delicious when eaten with mustard or horseradish sauce as smørrebrød.
Ingredients
1 whole fillet (2 pounds) of salmon
Aquavit (preferably dill-flavored)
6 tbsp sea salt
5 tbsp granulated sugar
1½ tbsp dill seeds
1 tbsp coriander seeds
2 pinches of freshly ground black pepper
Garnishing
Large bundle of fresh dill
Sweet and strong mustard
Horseradish
Herb mayonnaise
Apples
Salad
Steps
1. Clean the salmon fillet, removing the bones and fat but leaving the skin on. Dry the fish with a clean cloth.
2. Put the aquavit, salt, sugar, dill seeds, coriander seeds, and pepper into a food processor and grind the mixture into a paste. Rub the paste all over the fish. Place the fish, skin side up, on a tray, and cover with plastic wrap.
3. Put the fish in the refrigerator for two to four days, turning the fillet over once each day to ensure it cures evenly.
4. When ready to serve the gravlax, finely chop some fresh dill and sprinkle it evenly over the fillet. Slice the fillet into thin cuts with a sharp knife. Serve with thin, toasted slices of rye bread and a variety of spreads (horseradish, herb mayonnaise, and mustard) as well as salad and apples.
Topics:Danish chefs, Nordic manifesto, New Nordic Cuisine Manifesto

Tandoori tales
Great chefs ‘play’ with their dishes in the same way that an artist ‘plays’ with his canvas – preparing a visual extravaganza for the mind to digest. That explains the unbearable temptation for people who are unable to resist food.
By Nilima Pathak, Staff WriterPublished: 00:04 November 9, 2007
0
Image Credit: “During those days India’s Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and his daughter Indira Gandhi were regular visitors (at Moti Mahal),” says Monish Gujral. courtesy of Monish Gujral.
Monish Gujral, managing director of one of New Delhi’s most legendary restaurants, Moti Mahal
Cooking is like the performing arts. To be a good cook, one must first be an artist. Then, and only then, can you become a chef.
Great chefs ‘play’ with their dishes in the same way that an artist ‘plays’ with his canvas – preparing a visual extravaganza for the mind to digest. That explains the unbearable temptation for people who are unable to resist food.
Article continues below

In my opinion, our state of mind plays a major role in our eating habits. And as we grow up, our habits become more defined.
All children love their mother’s cooking. When a mother watches her children eat a hearty meal cooked by her, it’s the most satisfying experience. Like most people, if I were to be asked who I believe is the best cook, my answer would be ‘my mother’.

Regardless of the dish, the unique taste of my mother’s cooking comes purely because of the love with which she cooks for her family.
Although I loved all the dishes my mother made, I rate her spinach tikkis (patties) the best. She added cardamom to the numerous vegetables in these patties and called them ‘power balls’. She would tell me that these would help me grow.
Whether that meant lengthwise or breadthwise, I didn’t quite understand until much later! And by the time I realised what she meant, I had already become disproportionate in shape having gorged on her spinach tikkis (cutlets).
It made want me reinvent the tikkis. I started to heat them on a non-stick pan, rather than deep fry them. A far healthier option, you’ll agree.
My fondness for cooking dates to my school days.
After finishing school in New Delhi in 1983, I joined Hotel Oberoi for a summer job that paid me Rs700 a month.
It wasn’t really the money that made me take up the job, it was the opportunity to work with a friend who was also working there. I didn’t tell anyone at home that I had applied for the job. But when my grandfather, Kundan Lal Gujral, came to know of it, he summoned me and asked me to join the family business instead.
I vividly recall my first day of training at Moti Mahal. I reached the restaurant dressed in a suit and was promptly packed off home by my grandfather. ‘Go back, wear casual clothes and return,’ he ordered.
My grandfather first set up Moti Mahal in Peshawar, Pakistan, in 1920. Following Partition in 1947, the family moved and he re-established base in Daryaganj, New Delhi.
He set out on a culinary adventure and changed the face of Indian cooking. My grandfather was instrumental in turning the ordinary village tandoor – a clay oven, which until then was used for baking breads – into an contraption that could grill chicken.
That is how tandoori chicken was born. And Moti Mahal became the first restaurant in India to introduce tandoori cuisine to the world.
My grandfather also made a place for himself on the international gourmet map.
Tandoori Chicken was followed by the now famous Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani and Moti Mahal became a destination for both Indian and foreign VIPs and dignitaries.
Indian independence fighter Maulana Abul Kalam Azad even recommended it as one of the two ‘must visit’ places in India – the other being the Taj Mahal.
Those days, Moti Mahal would resonate with the sound of night-long qawwalis (a performing art) held in the restaurant’s open-air courtyard.
Old-timers recall that as the music reached its crescendo, many guests would get up leaving their food and dance till the wee hours.
Back during those days India’s Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and his daughter Indira Gandhi were regular visitors. Moti Mahal also hosted US President Richard Nixon, Canadian President Pierre Trudeau, Soviet leaders Alexei Kosygin and Nikolai Bulganin and former Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev.
In fact, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was so impressed by the restaurant’s cuisine that he invited my grandfather to set up a restaurant in Moscow at the 1960 World Trade Fair.
Over time, I have tried to follow in my grandfather’s footsteps.
After graduating from Hansraj College, Delhi University in 1986, I did a two-year hotel management course at the Pusa Institute in New Delhi.
Subsequently, I sweated it out in the kitchen of Moti Mahal. It was on-the-job training, learning about inventory management and I acquired culinary skills directly from my grandfather.
To commemorate my grandfather’s journey from Peshawar to Delhi …
… I launched the new-look Moti Mahal Deluxe Tandoori Trail restaurant a couple of years ago. The restaurant is different not only in its look, but also in its menu presentation and style of service. It offers a complete range of tandoori dishes as well as vegetarian dishes.
A while back, I visited a doctor for a routine medical check-up. He was blunt in his advice. “To remain fit, you must take only a single helping at each meal.”
Not one to give up easily, I protested. My argument was based on an old saying that states: ‘Once you see food that arouses your hunger, it blocks any advice that your brain is giving you’.
You continue to enjoy the food, even as you continue to block the signals that are ordering you to stop right then.I have been unable to change my food habits. And I am sure my doctor has given up on me.
The incident with the doctor reminds me of one of my experiences in Paris …
… a city where food and fashion go hand-in-hand. At the time, I was puzzled by how the French managed to stay so slender with all the gourmet food they consume. But I soon discovered the answer.
On a bright Sunday afternoon, I was sitting outside an old bakery called Escoffier, which overlooks a cobbled boulevard. I was enjoying a cup of aromatic French coffee.
At the table next to me sat a beautiful young girl who was eating a flambéed cherry pie with relish. Having finished it, she bought another one and gobbled it in no time.
Amazed, I gathered the courage to go up to her and ask her the secret of her slim figure despite such a (high-fat, high-carbohydrate) diet. First, she laughed. Then she confessed that the thought of eating a second pie was too tempting to forego.
With a wave of her hand, she said, “Just as a good figure is to be admired, scrumptious and appetising food is to be eaten with passion. One can always compensate for such indulgences by stepping on to the treadmill later and sweating it out.”
I, sadly and honestly, have never been able to put her advice to use.
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One question and one answer! Which is your favourite festival? On most occasions, it’s a one-word answer—‘Diwali’, the Festival of Lights. I have renamed it as festival of sweets since the crackers are on the low these days owing to our conscious effort to improve our environment. Exchanging sweets has become a part of the tradition. Different sweets are also offered as ‘prasads’ in Laxmi Ganesh Puja on Diwali. Thus they become an integral part of the festival.
It’s a fun-filled festival, which signifies victory, love, brightness and, last but not the least, food. The onset of Diwali induces in everyones mind: a positive spirit. I have always eagerly awaited this festival year after year. Not only for the gifts and firecrackers as a child and parties and card games as an adult, but also for the mouth-watering desserts and mithais. I remember my grandmother fussing over the mithais to be made for distribution during Diwali, months in advance. In our home, the chefs/cooks would start preparation weeks in advance for the occasion under my iron-fisted granny. The goodies made at our home were the talk of the town as they were always different and mixed with robust dry fruits. Sometimes, there were malai besan laddoos, which would just melt in the mouth; the soft and juicy kesari imartis; carrot and phulmakhane ki barfi with cardamom—it’s a never-ending list. This may be the sole reason for my love for Diwali.
Diwali is a time for pampering yourself and your friends and family with delicious, traditional high-on-calories sweets such as mouth-watering pedas, laddoos and barfis. Counting the calories is a challenge during Diwali. But with the changing times, size zero is the order of the day. As an old saying goes “necessity is the mother of all innovations”, chefs across the country have come up with low-calorie and sugar-free desserts to counter the calorie fight in the battle of bulge.
Some of the popular Diwali mithais are:
Barfi: This special sweet is made of milk and sugar,
garnished with cardamom and pistachios.
Jalebi: Another well-renowned Indian mithai, jalebis, are made of sugar and besan (gram flour).
Ras Malai: This Diwali special sweet is made of home-made curd cheese served in a sweetened cream sauce.
Kajukatli: A soft diamond-shaped sweet made from
freshly ground cashews.
Peda: Pedas are synonymous to Diwali. Agra pedas are
delicious.
Gulab Jamun: Gulab jamun is favourite to many Indians.
Moti Choor Ladoo: The most famous of all Indian sweets. Round in shape, made of besan and consisting of
cardamom, pistaschio and a touch of saffron.
Badam Barfi: Square-shaped Barfi made from almonds and topped with cardamom seeds and pistachio nuts.
Rasgulla: These round sweets hail from Bengal. They are white in colour and come with a tasty syrup.
You must be wondering, what about the size zeros or the ones aspiring to be one and also for those who order butter chicken, dal makhanis and butter naans, but insist on a Diet Coke in the end to counter ones guilt of overdose of food.
Don’t worry! This year, you can enjoy these low-cal desserts with significantly lessened sugar content. Here’s how to prepare them.
Ras Malai, originally from Orissa, is a very popular milk-based dessert. It consists of sugary, cream-coloured (it can be yellow too) roundels of paneer (cottage cheese) soaked in malai (cream) and flavoured with cardamom. It is specially made during the festive season.
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Ingredients (makes 20 pieces):
1 litre milk
1 tbsp vinegar
1 tbsp cornflour
1 cup water
08 almonds
1/2 cup sugar or sugar-free powder
Method:
● Boil 500 ml milk. Add vinegar, till paneer is separated.
● Switch the burner off and cover the paneer for a minute with a lid.
● Strain the water away. Do not press too hard on the strainer.
● Empty the paneer into a plate and add cornflour to it. Beat till it becomes a soft dough and make small balls out of it.
● In a pressure cooker, add water and sugar/ sugar-free powder. Let it boil.
● Put the paneer balls in and cover with the lid. Pressure cook till one whistle.
● Take the remaining 500 ml milk in a kadai and boil it. Remember to keep stirring the milk, or it will stick to the bottom and give a burnt flavour. Simmer on low flame for 15 minutes.
● Let it cool. Add the rasgullas (the paneer roundels) to this mix and add sugar-free powder. Decorate with chopped almonds.
● Serve cold.

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Kategorie | 2011, Aktuelles, November 2011, Nr. 48 vom 5. November 2011
Caviar, Gewürze & Wein

Was von einer Genuss-Messe bleibt

Die Genuss-Messe kulinart in Frankfurt wurde zum achten Mal veranstaltet und ist inzwischen zu einer festen Institution geworden. Die Qualität der Aussteller hat sich deutlich gebessert, die Qualität der Besucher ebenfalls. Das Wichtigste aber ist, dass man sich über die zwei Tage der Messe im Bockenheimer Depot hinaus viele Erkenntnisse und Adressen mitnehmen kann, die über einen weit längeren Zeitraum ihre Gültigkeit haben. Und genau von diesen soll hier die Rede sein.
In den ersten Jahren konnten einem manche Aussteller, insbesondere Weinhändler leid tun. Man merkte zu vielen Besuchern an, dass sie kaum Interesse am Produkt hatten und in erster Linie ihre zehn Euro Eintrittsgeld in flüssiger Form fünffach hereinholen wollten. Inzwischen gelingt dies weniger, da es nur noch wenige Gratisproben gibt und die meisten Gläser etwas kosten, wenn auch recht wenig.
Wenn Peter Gerigk vom Espresso Store (bester Cappuccino der Stadt, Top-Kaffeemaschinen), Ingo Holland vom Alten Rentamt (1001 Gewürze) oder Franz Olbrich aus der Kleinmarkthalle (exotisches Obst & Gemüse) mit von der Partie sind, dann stößt man schon auf ein gutes Kompetenz-Team. All diese Aussteller sind nicht nur für diese zwei Tage der Messe interessant, sondern das ganze Jahr, denn man findet sie ganz einfach in Frankfurt und Klingenberg. Das trifft ebenso auf das Catering-Lokal Michas Essen & Trinken in Frankfurt zu, das jetzt auch lange haltbare und fertig zubereitete Ochsenbäckchen im Einweckglas verkauft. Und auf Teos Delikatessen in der Frankfurter Kleinmarkthalle, die Sake-Spezialisten Ueno-Gourmet aus Kronberg im Taunus, Ilse Koflers Küchenkultur, das Delikatessenunternehmen Frischeparadies oder die Bottega del Vino, die in der Biertrinkerstadt Offenbach interessante italienische Weine verkauft.

Molteni-Herd
Die Kulinarische Botschaft muss man sich grundsätzlich merken. Diese Botschaft ist nicht nur eine neue Koch- und Eventlocation, sondern versteht sich auch als ständige Vertretung internationaler Hersteller, Erzeuger und Produzenten außergewöhnlicher Produkte, Weine und Küchengeräte. Dazu gehören beispielsweise der wunderbare Molteni-Herd und Western States Bison. Stefan Baumann und sein Team arrangieren zudem Kochkurse, Küchenpartys, Private Dinner, Weinverkostungen, Seminare und vieles mehr. Im Portfolio des vielseitig aktiven Wiesbadener Unternehmens ist außerdem der Caviar Per Sé.
Caviar aus sogenannten Aquakulturen, mithin Fischfarmen, konnten uns bislang kaum überzeugen und schmeckten meist flach und nicht typisch genug oder gar etwas schlammig. Der Per Sé ist jedoch spannender und fällt durch knackige Körnigkeit und einen zarten Nussgeschmack positiv auf. Dieser einzige als Bio zertifizierte Caviar kommt aus Zuchtanlagen am Fuße der Sierra Nevada im südspanischen Andalusien. Das Wasser ist kristallklar und überträgt keine unerwünschten „Aromen“. Die spanischen Drei-Sterne-Köche Elena Arrak, Ferran Adrià und Jordi Roca verwenden ihn ebenso wie Juan Amador in Mannheim.

Stefan Baumann (l.) und Monish Gujral
Auf der Genuss-Messe trafen wir auch den indischen Restaurant-Mogul Monish Gujral aus New Delhi, dessen Großvater Kundan die Moti Mahal-Betriebe gründete und als Schöpfer der Tandoori-Küche gilt. Monish betreibt nach dem Franchise-Verfahren über 150 Lokale weltweit und schreibt Kochbücher, die zu Bestsellern werden. In Indien ist die Familie Gurjal eine Legende. Jetzt will Monish Gujral seine Ideen auch nach Deutschland exportieren und sucht gerade nach geeigneten Standorten in Frankfurt, Hamburg und Berlin.

www.franzolbrich.de
www.berdux-weine.de
www.frischeparadies.com
www.espresso-store.de
www.caviarperse.net/de
www.michas-essen-und-trinken.de
www.japan-gourmet.com
www.motimahal.in
www.kulinarischebotschaft.de