Cooking Fiesta

Mustard chicken with honey dipping sauce. Stuffed mushroom. Risotto with Norwegian Salmon.

At Pure (Taj Land’s End), we learnt desserts – nothing exceptional, or nothing that I didn’t already know, but it was a lot of fun to watch from the front row seat. They taught us Tea Time Tarts, Chocolate Pudding, Flourless Chocolate Cake, and what I liked the most, the Oven Baked Yoghurt. It was so thick and rich and delicious! What was sad was that they did not make enough samplers for everyone and the place got chaotic with people trying their best to lay their hands on the desserts. And to think this event was presented by the Taj group, is quite a shame. All I sampled was the chocolate pudding served with the raspberry sauce and vanilla ice-cream (Yum!). No photographs for this one because I feared someone might want to dig into my plate (which wasn’t much at all).

Austr“>The next day the demonstration was conducted at Aurus, a restrobar that serves modern European cuisine. They demonstrated an asparagus soup which was treated with NO2 to give it a light and fluffy texture. They used a canister from Austria to conduct this molecular gastronomy demonstration. The other culinary demos included Jalapeno stuffed Balsamic Mushrooms, Pepper coated Mustard Chicken, a Bok Choi Risotto with pan seared Norwegian Salmon and Lindt Chocolate Chip Cookies. Everything tasted soooo good! What was impressive was that after ever dish was demonstrated, the service staff was quick in serving every person with the samplers. I really enjoyed the chicken with honey dipping sauce and the wonderfully creamy risotto. This was the only place where the demonstration as well as the service was impeccable. Everyone applauded the staff for putting up such a great event. Getting a gift is always a good thing, and Aurus just knows how to pamper the women! At the end of the event everyone got a bag full of goodies that included a packet of pasta, olive oil, stuffed green olives and the recipe sheets.

At Dum Phukt Chef Mohd. Shareef demonstrated the specialties of AwadhiMurgh Awadhi Biryani, the Murgh Parcha Kebab and the Rajma Galouti Kebab (which was only to please the vegetarian crowd, but Galouti kebab is always made with minced mutton. While the chef prepared the dishes, the room was filled with the aroma of all the spices. What is common at all such events is women asking for vegetarian options for the chicken which will invariable be cooking with the paneer. And yet they ask! Grrrr. Anyway, after the demonstrations, a buffet of the dishes demonstrated was laid out. I was too preoccupied savouring the biryani to take some photographs. Sorry! Although the food was good, my personal choice would be the biryani he taught last year. You can find the recipe here.

The events were a lot of fun to attend and I can’t wait to try out the recipes for myself! If you’d be interested in any of the above mentioned recipes, drop me a mail and I’ll get back to you.