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Summer special... cool concoctions
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Who says melons, salads and ice creams are the end-all of summer foods? <145,4>SUMITRA SENAPATY discovers summer cuisine at New Delhi's Maurya Sheraton... .
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IT COMES anytime in April and doesn't leave until the end of October. Meteorologists call it `summer' when the temperatures range from thirty plus to well over forty degrees. When summer comes everything changes. The loose pastels come out, heaters go in and air conditioners come on. Moreover, food changes as well. This is most significant. You eat cucumbers, salads, curd, rice and melons of different kinds, all of which are cooling to the body. But even after the joy of cold beer,when ice creams and watermelon melt away, we have to continue to eat.
The talented chefs of New Delhi's Maurya Sheraton have just introduced a summer cuisine to tell you how to eat when you can't stand the heat. A popular summer belief is that foods should be simple and bland, but according to the chefs, some amount of zesty seasonings may not be a bad idea because they also wake you out of your heat-induced stupor. In the summertime, palates are looking for something interesting. The appetite dies down with the heat, so you need a little something to wake it up.
After delving into archives of traditional recipes that beat the heat the natural way, the chefs make lavish use of fresh herbs this summer - saffron and mint being favourites - that quickly transcend garnish and become primary ingredients. Curd is a key component that makes summer cuisine preparations not only a cooling option, but refreshingly different as well.
Executive Chef Sultan Mohideen recommends the Boorani Gosht, tender lamb morsels cooked in very mild garlic flavoured curd gravy and served chilled. Or the Dahi Ki Pasliyan, lamb chops marinated with tursi kasipur mirch and curd cooked on dum. Soyabean ki Kadhi - curd and soyabean gravy with soyabean koftas, tempered with cumin and coriander seeds - is interesting for vegetarians. Mangoes are summer's bounty. Even plain curd rice with shredded raw mangoes - tempered with til oil, curry leaves and mustard seeds - goes down well on a hot summer afternoon. Garnished with fresh coriander, this cool preparation is known as Dadhyodhana. Try Zawari Ki Machchi, fish
marinated with ginger and fenugreek, stuffed with raw mango, mint and almonds. Dipped in curd batter, coated with cholai seeds and lightly shallow fried, this fish kabab is unputdownable!
Another mango-punctuated ecstasy is the Kairi Ki Dal, arhar lentils cooked on low heat along with green mangoes and tempered with asafoetida and cumin. Sparked by tartness from the raw mango, the dish has a real burst of flavour, along with its keep-cool advantage.
Chef Sultan has a knack of creating hitherto unheard-of preparations. Summer cuisine can never be complete without the exotic Paan Kabab,lamb mince marinated mildly with light spices, packed in fresh betel leaf and pan grilled. It could be associated with the Greek vine leaf preparation. A poppy seed kabab, prawn cooked with tender tamarind leaves and a Biryani cooked in milk with rose water are further examples of innovative and researched traditional cooking. The Fish Supreme stuffed with mint and methi, cooked lightly in saffron gravy, was a dish enjoyed by Nawab Wajid Ali Shah.
Raw things are good for summer. Try Saib Malai, sliced rose apple topped with tender coconut malai and lemon dressing. Summer sweets are naturally light and relatively easy on calories. You can choose between puddings, kulfi and halwa. But judging by summer cuisine revellers, Amba Kunda is a must try - a light kheer made of semolina, with folded-in freshly diced mangoes and a dollop of cream. So if you don't want to heat up your kitchen, cool cuisine at Maurya is the way to go. The summer concoctions are available for dinner at Dum Pukht and for both lunch and dinner at Pavilion.
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