BEYONDCURRY

Tender lamb Slow braised in spicy coconut broth,

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 28 Dec 2013 05:27:00 -0800

Tender lamb Slow braised in spicy coconut broth,Carrot cumin puree, appam, fried egg yolk, and caramelized vegetables. (aatirachi curry)

The plate is a dedication to Christian and Muslim communities for their contributions to Kerala culinary history. Lamb masala is inspired by the Muslim preparation of Malabar region, and the egg appam is from the Christian household.

Serves: 4

Course: main

For lamb masala

600 g lamb breast, diced

30 mL coconut oil

5 g mustard seeds

1 sprig curry leaf

15 g ginger, thin sliced

20 g garlic, thin sliced

2 green chilies, sliced

150 g onions, chopped

5 g turmeric powder

10 g coriander powder

10 g cumin powder

15 g chili powder

5 g garam masala powder

700 mL mutton stock

Salt to taste

For carrot puree

100 g carrot

20 g grated coconut

3 g cumin

5 mL oil

For slow-dried vegetables

12 carrot ribbons, sliced fine

8 onions, sliced fine

100 g sugar

100 g water

For plating

2 appam (page 145)

12 sprigs mint cress

4 eggs

Marinate diced lamb with one-third of turmeric, chili powder, ginger, garlic, and green chilies. Add salt and boil, adding lamb stock over slow heat until tender and soft; this may take up to an hour and a half.

Meanwhile, make carrot puree by lightly sautéing carrot with cumin and coconut in hot oil and pureeing finely.

For dried vegetables, make stock syrup with boiling sugar and water until you get one stringy consistency.

Dip sliced vegetables in syrup, arrange on greaseproof paper or silicon mat, and dry in a pre-heated oven with a temperature of 85 °C for 2 hours. Keep in oven for longer if the texture is not crisp enough.

Heat coconut oil, and add mustard seeds, curry leaf, ginger, garlic, and green chili slices; sauté until light in color. Add onion and sauté until light brown, then add all remaining spice powder and sauté, keeping the pan away from direct fire.

Add cooked lamb pieces, mix well, and put back in fire. Sauté again without burning the spices. Add lamb stock, bring to a boil, and allow to simmer gently. Dilute coconut milk powder to a thick, creamy consistency by adding warm water.

When the sauce reaches a thick consistency, mix in the coconut milk and stir until you get a shiny, smooth finished lamb sauce. Keep on a warm surface ready for plating.

For plating, cut appam into four equal rectangular slabs. Fry eggs and cut yolks using a round cutter. Arrange lamb masala on top of appam slab, place fried egg and vegetable crisp as shown in picture, spoon on drops of carrot puree, and finish with mint cress.

Suggestions:

The method can be used for cooking game meats. Eggs can be substituted with quail eggs, which have more nutrients than normal eggs.

Beyond Curry: A fine dining version of gods own cuisine: 1 (Finedinigindian cuisine)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 23 Dec 2013 12:07:00 -0800

click on link
Beyond Curry: A fine dining version of gods own cuisine: 1 (Finedinigindian cuisine)

CHEF CHARLIE TROTTER - OUR SALUTE TO GREAT CULINARY MASTER YOUR LEGACY REMAINS

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 5 Nov 2013 13:24:00 -0800

Charlie Trotter opened Charlie Trotter's (Chicago) in 1987 with his father, Bob Trotter as his partner. The restaurant has been open for almost 25 years.

Chef Trotter did not come from a "food focused" family. His interest in food was developed while he was in college and his roommate, Joel Fish (who was an avid cook) would prepare various courses for his friends to taste.
Trotter became interested in what Joel was doing, and soon found himself immersed in the world of cookbooks and preparing meals as a way of entertainment for his friends and roommates!

Mid way through his college tenure (University of Wisconsin in Madison, WI) he decided to take a year off and read every book he could. This included cookbooks. As a way to make a living while on this break from school, Trotter took a job as a waiter. Upon return to college, where he earned his Bachelor's of Science degree in Political Science, he began once again cooking and actually doing small catering parties.

After graduating from college Trotter traveled around the U.S. and Europe to dine at only the finest restaurants. He wanted to learn how the "best" gained that title, and see what the future could possibly hold for him.

He returned to the States and began doing catering parties (tasting menu format) for friends of his family. This was his way to "test the waters" on his culinary skills and his focus on the caliber of service and wine emphasis he desired. After doing this successfully for just over a year, he decided to open Charlie Trotter's --with his now deceased father, Bob Trotter, as his partner.

The figure who most impressed Trotter during his culinary development was Fernand Point (of the famed Ma Gastronomie). Trotter was impressed most by Point's sense of generosity...and to this day it is something which resonates within Trotter's own highly philanthropic nature.

Trotter never went to culinary school, and is completely self taught. His first cooking job was at a restaurant in the North Shore area of Chicago called Sinclair's (of the famous Gordon Sinclair). He was a cook there and worked under many now well-known chefs including Norman Van Aken and Carrie Nahabedian.

Chef Trotter has always had a strong philanthropic sense and his establishment of the Charlie Trotter Culinary Education foundation (which supplies scholarships to those entering culinary programs) as well as the Excellence Program (which allows high school students to come in and experience the cuisine of the restaurant, all the while hearing from various staff members about how they pursue excellence on a daily basis) are two closest to his heart.

Charlie Trotter's is regarded as one of the finest restaurants in the world. For nearly 25 years, the restaurant has dedicated itself to excellence in the culinary arts. Charlie Trotter's Restaurant is innovative and progressive in the world of food and wine and has been instrumental in establishing new standards for fine dining worldwide.

The restaurant is recognized by a variety of prestigious national and international institutions. Among those include its being a member of Traditions et Qualité . This Forbes Five Star award winning restaurant has won 11 James Beard Foundation awards, including 'Outstanding Restaurant' (2000) and 'Outstanding Chef' (1999) and most recently Chef Trotter won 'Humanitarian of The Year" (2012). Wine Spectator named the restaurant 'The Best Restaurant in the World for Wine & Food' (1998) and 'America's Best Restaurant' (2000). Wine Enthusiast named it ‘America’s Best Wine Driven Restaurant’ (2006) and it has been voted one of the ‘World’s 50 Best Restaurants’ by Restaurant Magazine since 2004. Chef Trotter is the author of 14 cookbooks, three management books, and is the host of the nationally aired, award winning PBS cooking series, The Kitchen Sessions with Charlie Trotter.

(source courtesy :charlietrotter.com)

SLOW ROASTED AND BRAISED DUCK FILLET, POTATO COOKED IN SPICED COCONUT SAUCE

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 21 Oct 2013 03:50:00 -0700

Slow roasted and braised duck fillet,

Potato cooked in Spiced coconut sauce.

In this recipe, you can make traditional duck (tharavu) mappas, which is done in a curry style, and combine with a slow-roasted duck breast with greater control in cooking texture.

Serves: 2

Course: main

Slow-roasted duck

2 duck breasts

10 mL lime juice

10 g ginger garlic paste

3 g turmeric powder

10 g coriander powder

7 g chilli powder

For duck mappas

2 duck breasts, diced

300 mL duck stock or water

1 g cloves

1 bay leaf

2 g cinnamon

50 mL coconut oil

2 g mustard seeds

1 sprig curry leaves

100 g white onion, sliced

10 g ginger garlic paste

2 green chillies, sliced

3 g turmeric powder

7 g chilli powder

10 g coriander powder

5 g fennel powder

5 g garam masala powder

70 g tomato, diced

150 g coconut milk powder

100 g potato (1-cm cubes)

Salt to taste

Trim duck breast, removing excess skin or fat. Dice one breast into cubes, same as potato; for the second one, score on skin side (ideal for pan roasting). Marinate both duck breasts separately with a pinch of turmeric, chilli, salt, and 2 g ginger garlic paste.

Boil diced duck meat very tender with duck stock, clove, bay leaf, cinnamon, and a few sliced onions.

When the duck is soft, pick out and discard the whole spices.Dilute coconut milk powder by adding stock and keeping a thick consistency.

Heat oil in a thick-bottomed pan, add mustard seed, and let crackle. Add sliced onion and ginger garlic paste; sauté until light brown. Add all spice powders and sauté on slow heat without burning.

Mix in tomato and cooked duck along with the stock. Bring to a boil and simmer. Stir in coconut milk, add potato cubes, and cook slowly without bubbling until potato is cooked.

Meanwhile, pan sear the second duck breast skin side first, apply coconut oil, and turn until the skin is nicely browned.

Roast in a preheated oven at 180 °C until the core temperature of the meat reaches 63 °C or even less as per your taste. Allow it to rest for half of your cooking time before slicing; this will help all juices get reabsorbed by the meat tissue. For the sauce, check seasoning and adjust consistency as per your requirements; ideally, it should have a thick, creamy texture.

Spoon stewed duck onto two deep plates and trim sides of roasted breast. Divide in two equal pieces and place on centre; garnish with micro cress.

Suggestions:

Duck should be treated the same as red meat and given enough time to rest after roasting. It’s best to cook it medium rare.

STEAMED AND SEARED HADDOCK - MEEN VEVICHATHU RECIPE

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 21 Oct 2013 03:43:00 -0700

Steamed and seared haddock loin,

gingered vegetables, curried cauliflower emulsion, cardamom, and lime air.- meen vevicathu.

Serves: 2

Course: main

For fish

340 g haddock fillet

5 g garlic puree

2 g turmeric powder

2 g green chilli paste

10 mL oil

Salt to taste

For cardamom and lime air

10 g cardamom powder

10 mL lime juice

5 g lecithin powder

100 mL thin coconut milk

For vegetables

70 g fine beans

30 g carrot

20 g peeled peas

2 g cumin seed

10 mL oil

1 g pepper

Salt to taste

For cauliflower emulsion

100 g cauliflower florets

20 g butter

2 g turmeric powder

20 g chopped shallots

30 mL thick coconut milk

30 mL water

1 g white pepper powder

Salt to taste

Cut fish to equally sized portions; marinate with mentioned ingredients for fish and set aside.

Blanch fine beans, cut in equal lengths, and split in half. Dice carrot to 0.5-cm cubes and blanch.

Heat a thick-bottomed saucepan with butter, shallots, and turmeric; sauté for 30 seconds.

Add sliced cauliflower and sauté for a minute; pour in water and coconut milk, and cook slowly until the cauliflower is tender. Check seasoning. Puree to a very fine emulsion using a commercial blender.

In a deep mixing bowl, mix lecithin powder, cardamom powder, and warm, thin coconut milk. Blend using a hand blender; stop when the foam starts coming up. Add lime juice; during plating, blend again until you get strong foam that stands when you take it in a spoon.

Heat oil in a small frying pan; add cumin seed and toss in all the vegetables you prepared before. Season and place on a kitchen paper to remove excess oil.

When time to serve, steam fish in a steamer or steamer basket, placing skin side on top.

Remove the fish when it’s 80 per cent done. Pan-fry the skin side using a non-stick pan or greaseproof paper. Start plating the vegetables as per the picture; when the fish gets golden in colour, place on top of the beans with skin side on top.

Heat and spoon the cauliflower emulsion as shown in the picture, and place a spoonful of cardamom air on top of fish.

Suggestions:

For steaming, consider using flat fish or flat cuts of fish, which helps in cooking evenly. Pan searing the skin after steaming provides a unique crispy texture to steamed fish.

KERALAS BEST SEAFOOD RECIPE COLLECTION WITH FINEDINING APPORACH

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 20 Oct 2013 17:42:00 -0700

Seafood Recipes

Kerala being coastal area seafood is great source for food. We get the best prawns, crab and sea water fishes. Few selected recipes are given here, many recipes can be substituted with fish or seafood available near you.

FEW RECIPES WE ADAPTED

Kerala spice coated crispy king prawn

Steamed and seared haddock loin

Pan sauted spicy rainbow trout

Banana leaf wrapped pearl spot

Meen molly

Njandu piralan

KERALA SPICE COATED CRISPY KING PRAWN

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 20 Oct 2013 17:38:00 -0700

Kerala spice coated crispy king prawn

Same recipe can be tried with anchovies

Serves: 1

Course: starter

3 king prawns

1 g turmeric powder

3 mL lime juice

2 garlic cloves

4 curry leaves

1 g black peppercorn

5 g shallot, peeled

5 g dry shrimp powder

2 g red chilli powder

2 g coriander powder

3 g coconut milk powder

1 no: mini poppadum

200 mL oil

Salt to taste

For beetroot air

Follow the same method as for cardamom lime air in meen vevichathu; add beetroot juice plus all other ingredients.

Remove shell from king prawns, leaving the head and tail, devein, and marinate with salt, lime juice, and turmeric. Coarsely grind garlic, shallots, pepper, and curry leaf, and mix in with prawns; keep for 10 minutes.

Now add and mix all dry powder. Check salt and leave in fridge for 10 minutes before frying; this is to avoid losing spices when the prawns are dropped in hot oil.

Heat oil to 160 °C, as this is best for frying without burning the spices yet gives a crisp texture. After frying prawn strain the oil fry mini poppadum in same and discard the oil , it may not advisable to re-use oil after second tme.

Suggestions:

You can try the same recipe with fresh, cleaned calamari (squid) rings, anchovy, white bait..

Quickly fry it without overcooking to keep it soft, but with a crisp spice coating. If you need a more crispy texture, add Japanese bread crumbs (the crumbs have more similarity to desiccated coconut). Large crumbs give the right mouthfeel.

PAN SAUTED SPICY MARINATED RAINBOW TROUT AN ALLTIME FAVOURITE KERALA FISH RECIPE

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 20 Oct 2013 17:09:00 -0700

Pan sauted spicy rainbow trout

The spice mix I used can be easily adapted to any geographic area.

Serves: 4

Course: main

4 fillets rainbow trout

4 baby plums

2 sprigs coriander leaf

First marinade

2 g turmeric powder

Salt to taste

Juice of 1 lemon

Second marinade

1 sprig curry leaf

5 garlic cloves

10 g fennel seeds

5 shallots

10 g black peppercorn

5 g red chilli powder

10 g coriander powder

Clean the fish, check for any bones, wash, and pat dry. Score fish on skin side, apply first marinade, and set aside.

Grind together curry leaf, fennel seeds, peppercorn, shallots, and garlic to a smooth paste; mix in coriander powder, chilli powder, and salt; and apply the mixture evenly on both sides of the fish.

Keep refrigerated for at least half an hour. Heat coconut oil in a thick-bottomed pan. Fry fish on skin side until 80 per cent done on medium, turn, and remove to a kitchen towel.

The fish will cook fast depending on thickness; keep it moist for a brilliant mouthfeel. Pan-fry plum tomatoes; serve with coriander leaf.

Suggestions:

Oily fish is best suited for pan-frying, including mackerel, trout, salmon, and sardine.

For restaurants, you can keep the marinade ready in advance; apply the first marinade, then the second, and cook when ready to serve.

Lobster, prawn, fresh clam, and mussel can be pan-fried using this style of marinade.

SAUTÉED CORN-FED CHICKEN AND VEGETABLE STEW A KERALA SPECIALITY WITH EUROPEAN INSPIRATION

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 20 Oct 2013 16:49:00 -0700

Sautéed corn-fed chicken and vegetable stew

Stews are inherited from the colonial period and have a distant relationship with European stew.

Vegetable stew presented with chapatti (whole-wheat bread) in stacked up style

Serves: 2

Course: main

2 corn-fed chickens supreme

For chicken

3 g turmeric

2 g cardamom powder

3 g garlic paste

3 g pepper powder

Salt to taste

For vegetable stew

100 g peeled, diced carrot

100 g peeled, diced potato

50 g peas, peeled

5 cardamom pods

2 bay leaves

100 g diced onion

4 slit green chillies

20 g chopped ginger

200 g coconut milk powder

Salt to taste

30 mL coconut oil

2 g mustard seed

1 sprig curry leaf

Marinate chicken supreme with ingredients mentioned in marinade. Cover and refrigerate. Boil 400 ml water with cardamom, bay leaf, ginger, and green chillies; add potato when half-done, then add carrot and onion. When both are cooked, add peeled fresh peas. Remove from fire and strain and discard cardamom, green chillies, and bay leaf. In remaining stock, dilute coconut milk powder

Heat coconut oil in a saucepan. Add mustard seed and allow to crackle, then add curry leaf and strained vegetables. Pour in coconut milk, simmer for a minute, check seasoning, and keep out from fire.

Pan-fry chicken breast skin side first to a light brown colour, then fry the other side. Finish in oven, rest for 2 minutes, and serve on top of hot vegetable stew.

Suggestions:

Vegetables should not be overcooked, and the colour should be preserved. You can finish with a pinch of cardamom powder.

STIR FRIED WOOD PIGEON WITH COCONUT AN AUTHENTIC KERALA RECIPE

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 20 Oct 2013 16:24:00 -0700

Stir-fried wood pigeon with coconut

Pigeon thoran—a Kerala style stir-fry preparation with grated coconut; here we used game bird.

Serves: 4

Course: main

720 g wood pigeon

First stage

30 mL coconut oil

10 g ginger-garlic paste

3 g turmeric powder

50 g shallots, sliced

10 g red chilli powder

2 sliced chillies

1 sprig curry leaf

500 mL chicken stock or water

Salt to taste

Second stage

For stir-frying

50 mL coconut oil

3 g mustard seeds

1 sprig curry leaf

10 g chopped ginger

2 green chillies, sliced lengthwise

100 g shallots, peeled

3 g turmeric powder

5 g crushed fennel seed

10 g coriander powder

10 g jeera powder

50 g fresh grated coconut

Salt to taste

Joint wood pigeon to 30–40 g pieces with bone. For fine cooking, de-bone and make stock with bones.

Mix pigeon pieces with ingredients mentioned in first stage except oil and stock.

Heat a thick-bottomed pan with oil and add the pigeon mix. Sauté to sear evenly, add stock, and cook the meat until tender.

Reduce the stock and allow the stock to absorb completely into the meat.

For the second stage, heat coconut oil in a stir-fry pan, and splutter mustard seeds, curry leaf, ginger-garlic paste, and green chilli. Sauté lightly and add peeled shallots.

Mix in all powdered spices, crushed fennel seeds, and cooked pigeon pieces. Stir-fry until all the spices are mixed properly, and it starts giving a roast flavour. Check seasoning and finish with fresh grated coconut.

Sauté for a few seconds until the coconut is spread evenly. Serve in a deep plate garnished with micro cress, or arrange on a flat plate.

Suggestion:

Game birds require long cooking periods. You can adapt modern cooking techniques of sous vide, which help in controlled slow cooking.

KERALA TODDY SHOP INSPIRED FRIED CHICKEN DELICACY-OFFALS-PICKLED SHALLOTS-CHILLI TOASTED DOSA PANCAKE

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 20 Oct 2013 16:05:00 -0700

Toddy shop–inspired fried chicken delicacy

With pickled shallots, chilli-toasted dosa pancake

Serves: 2

Course: starter

100 g chicken liver

100 g chicken hearts

100 g chicken gizzard

First marinade

10 g fennel powder

15 g ginger garlic paste

5 g pepper powder

10 g chilli powder

5 mL lime juice

Salt to taste

Second marinade

20 g coconut powder

10 g rice flour

Dosa crisp

10 g ghee

4 dosa pancakes (page 110)

To finish

200 mL coconut oil

4 pickled shallots*

2 g micro cress

Soak offals in cold milk overnight. Before preparation, remove from milk and remove any fat bits or fibres around the meat. Wash thoroughly and pat dry.

Marinate chicken offals with first marinade ingredients and salt as required. Mix with second marinade and set aside.

Trim dosa pancake to a slab of 4 cm by 7 cm. Toast in a pan by smearing ghee until golden in colour. Sprinkle with chilli powder and salt.

Shallow-fry the marinated offals using coconut oil, just enough to give a good crispy outside but pink inside to keep the natural flavour of delicate offals.

Remove and keep in paper towels to rest. Slice the pieces, arrange on top of toasted dosa, and place sliced pickled onion and micro cress on top.

Suggestions:

When frying, try not to crowd the pan; allow to colour before you turn the sides.

Resting is as important as your cooking. If you try to cut the offals early, the juices will be lost and result in a dry meat texture.

The spice level can be increased by adding or reducing the chilli powder quantity.

*Pickled shallots you may buy from the market, or preserve in a pickling mixture—1 part water, 4 parts neutral vinegar, whole spices, 0.5 part salt, 0.5 part sugar. Warm all together, cool down, and pour in jar with peeled shallots. Use after 48 hours.

Toddy shops are great culinary retreats where spiced, aromatic dishes are made to accompany the purest toddy that is obtained by naturally fermented sap from the coconut tree.

TRADITIONAL COUNTRY CHICKEN CURRY GUN POWDER TOSSED STEAMED RICE PUDDING - IDLI

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 20 Oct 2013 15:53:00 -0700

Traditional Country chicken curry,

Steamed savory rice pudding (Idli) tossed in gunpowder.

Serves: 2

Course: starter

For chicken wings

4 country chicken wings

40 mL coconut oil

2 g mustard seed

1 whole red chilli

4 curry leaves

3 g chopped ginger

4 g chopped garlic

50 g chopped onion

3 g turmeric powder

5 g coriander powder

5 g red chilli powder

50 g chopped tomato

50 mL coconut milk

Salt to taste

For spice fried idli

1 idli (page 110)

20 mL clarified butter

5 g gunpowder (page 124)

Salt to taste

Clean and trim chicken wings, keeping the skin intact for flavour.

Heat oil and add mustard seeds and red chilli; allow mustard to crackle. By then, the red chilli must have turned dark brown; remove and discard. The chilli is used for infusing the flavour.

Sautéing continuously, immediately add ginger, then garlic. When this turns golden, add onion; sauté until light brown.

Now add the chicken pieces, and sprinkle salt in the sauce until the skin gets caramel-coloured. Salt helps in getting colour quickly by removing water from the skin.

When the chicken is coloured, add all powdered spices and sauté for 30 seconds. If the pan is hot, sauté by removing from direct fire; this helps prevent the spices from being burned.

Add chopped tomato and allow it cook for a minute. Add water just to get enough sauce to cover the chicken wings.

Allow to cook over medium heat; check frequently to ensure you get enough liquid.

Once the chicken is cooked, finish with coconut milk; check and adjust seasoning.

For spice fried idli

Dice idli into 10 equal cubes as shown in the picture; each plate gets 5. Heat a flat pan and sauté idli pieces in clarified butter.

Once the golden colour is achieved, sprinkle with gunpowder and salt. Keep in a kitchen towel in a warm place.

For plating

Consider using a deep pasta plate. Place the wings with a spoon of sauce in the centre; arrange idli pieces around, keeping equal distances between chicken and idli; spoon on the sauce; and garnish with micro herbs. We used mustard flower as it goes with the flavour.

Suggestions:

For restaurants, this is a brilliant idea of utilizing one dish for garnish and as a bread side portion. For home, this is a recycling idea for extra idlis that were cooked for breakfast.

Try the chicken curry recipe with other chicken parts, boneless pieces if it’s a restaurant. Then it’s best to add some chicken stock for more flavour and body for the curry sauce.

POULTRY RECIPE COLLECTION FROM THE COOK BOOK-CHICKEN-DUCK-PIGEON-COOKED IN TRADITIONAL TECHNIQUES

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 20 Oct 2013 15:20:00 -0700

The Recipe Collection

“Whatever meat you cook, respect the ingredients; a life is lost in the transition to being a food commodity.”

Poultry Recipes

The most common in poultry is chicken, but I prefer locally grown country chicken, which takes long hours to cook.

Other food source birds found in Kerala houses are duck, quail, turkey, pigeon, and occasionally wild birds, although these are illegal.

STARTING A RESTAURANT BUSINESS WIT FOCUS ON KERALA CUISINE

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 20 Oct 2013 15:12:00 -0700

Starting Your Own Restaurant

Working for yourself is a great and bold decision—stick to it.

I suggest it is better to have a service industry background to start a restaurant business. If you are only a promoter, it’s fine when you have an expert team to take care of your business.

You need to have a strong plan and make several decisions before you take your first step. Once you have made your decision, never look back, whatever hardship it may take to make your plan a reality.

“Any remarkable journey starts with a single step.”

Style of Restaurant Service

You should decide the type of service according to the clientele you wish to cater to. Clientele can be varied according to your restaurant’s location.

A city centre restaurant in a commercial hub can be best suited for fast-paced, informal dining service.

A site close to a residential area with a wealthy clientele crowd around can be a good place for a formal fine dining restaurant.

Casual Dining

In casual dining, the service is maintained at the required level to meet the customer’s expectations.

Most casual dining operates with a lower staff-to-guest ratio. In this service style, you do not need to maintain a high level of service standards.

You can run a casual dining service with employees of minimal service industry experience. However, train the team in the service you want to deliver.

Fine Dining

In the fine dining style of service, the guest is offered the full service option. Staff members are required to be well trained and highly professional in attitude.

The fine dining service style is costly in day-to-day operation. However, you can demand the price for the service and food you provide with confidence.

In India, stand-alone fine dining restaurants are less common compared to other similar European metropolitan areas. The reason is the cost involved and high standards to maintain. However, many five-star hotels have at least one fine dining restaurant, and most of them serve Indian cuisine.

When you want to provide fine dining service and food, everything you select for your restaurant should be of high quality, from the colour of the paint used in your restaurant to the staff uniform, and from the plates used to the meat selection in the menu.

Hard work and dedicated passion to excellent food are required to maintain the stature of the restaurant at the top level.

For fine dining food presentation and cooking methods, chefs give extra care that adds to the value.

Fine dining restaurants provide a memorable experience of service and food.

There are many unwritten rules of fine dining restaurants, including concept-based menus, amuse-bouche before any orders, and tasting or degustation menu options.

Chefs come up with their own ideology to be competitive enough in today’s fast-paced culinary revolution.

Pre-Opening Stage

Once you have decided which style you’d like adapt, start planning backwards from your ideal opening date.

All your strategies and ideas can be put down in black and white; this will help later when you’re stuck somewhere. The first thing you need to prepare is a detailed business plan.

A business plan can be explained as a detailed list of steps that are required for starting up and smoothly running any business.

People often think a business plan is only essential for start-ups to secure financial assistance. This is incorrect; since a business plan is a detailed version of a business’s vision and strategies, it will always be relevant.

A good business plan must contain detailed background information about the business, the operational plan, the marketing plan, the financial plan, decision-making criteria, and so on.

Based on your business plan, create a checklist that contains the task, the person responsible, the time frame, and the status of task. The checklist is very essential in tracking your business development.

An ideal task list can include naming the restaurant, developing a vision and mission statement, finding a location for the restaurant, identifying and applying for the licences required, pre-opening marketing plans, advertising for job vacancies, recruiting, training, and procurement of hard and soft items.

A large and detailed list ensures that all areas are covered and that you can peacefully work through the list without being distracted by other opinions.

Recruiting the right staff with the right attitude is the key part in the pre-opening stage. Your staff has to believe in your restaurant’s vision.

When all your hard work is in place and the opening day comes, give your best service, which the customers may not expect from day one. Keep an eye on competition and market trends, and always cater to your loyal customers’ expectations.

Create your own marketing strategies by involving local community and charity organizations and organizing events for them. Remember that word of mouth is always the best, cheapest, and most long-term advertisement method—use it wisely.

Best wishes for your venture. I will be privileged to help you.

FACTORS AFFECTING FOOD DESIGN CONCEPT-HOW-WHAT-WHERE

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 09:00:00 -0700

Factors in Food Design

How, what, where

These factors have to complement each other. When combined, they will result in excellent food presentation. You have learned two presentation styles and how to maximize your cooking skills and ingredients used. Sometimes you need to play with contrasting colours when presenting complex dishes (more than three main ingredients)

We learned cooking is the art and science of good eating. In addition, it can be defined as the study of food and culture, with a particular focus on gourmet cuisine.

In Indian cuisine, the cultural influence on food is very high, and as Indians, we have to preserve our cultural heritage.

How

This factor defines the material in which you are going to serve the food. It can be any kind of material, such as metal, ceramic, or wood. However, make sure it does not react with the food ingredients.

Plates can come in any shape or size. You should carefully select appropriate plates. The food placed in the plate should get 100 per cent of the attention, so the plate you select should act as a canvas for your food.

For dark-coloured food items, try to choose white plates.For light-coloured food items, you can try coloured or shaded plates. For saucy dishes, try deep plates with larger rims.

Keep one thing in mind: whatever the plate is, it has to be large enough to leave empty space. We strongly suggest you try the same food on different plates to find the best one.

What

The food you place on the plate should get the prime focus, and your plate will support you to get the result.

When you plan your food, it should be balanced in colour, texture, and flavour. These three factors in food are the first we experience through our senses. They have a big impact on presenting the food.

Colour

The colour of the food is the first element that influences our senses. You can include colours by using natural ingredients alone or combining them, including spinach, tomato, turmeric, milk, and squid ink.

Would you hesitate to eat an orange that was purple in colour? You would probably be reluctant.

People associate certain colours with certain flavours, and the colour of food can influence the perceived flavour in anything from candy to wine. “Natural” foods such as oranges and salmon are sometimes also dyed to mask natural variations in colour.

Colour variation in foods throughout the seasons and the effects of processing and storage often make colour addition commercially advantageous to maintain the colour expected or preferred by the consumer.

Texture

Texture is the combined effect of physical variation from liquid, soft, hard, or brittle states. Texture/body/mouthfeel is a product’s physical and chemical interaction in the mouth, an aspect of food rheology.Texture is a concept used in many areas related to the testing and valuating of foodstuffs, and it is evaluated from initial perception on the palate, to first bite, through mastication to swallowing and aftertaste.Many people will relate texture to a product’s water content, hard or crisp products having lower water content and soft products having intermediate to high water content. You always have the liberty to provide external textures to your dish, if it lacks texture combinations. For example, you can use tuile, parmesan crisp, vegetable crisp, or freeze-dried fruits. In Indian cuisine, we have an amazing range of dishes that vary in texture. In savoury, we have pappadums, kasta rotis, bujias, and more to give a crunchy texture to our meal.

Flavour

Flavour, or aroma, is the factor that makes us feel the food is appetizing. If we preserve the flavour until it gets to the table, we are successful. In Indian cuisine, we have numerous spices that can influence flavour in a food. Use them wisely; some flavours can stop us from eating the food, whereas some can tempt us into having more.

Your personal liking of flavours will not be the same as your guests’, so keep a common flavour balance. If you are trying something new, ask for the opinions of your colleagues and regular guests before putting the dish on the menu.

Flavour is the sensory impression of a food or other substance, and it is determined mainly by the chemical senses of taste and smell. The flavour of the food can be altered with natural or artificial flavourings, which affect these senses.Flavouring is defined as a substance that gives another substance flavour, altering its characteristics and causing it to become sweet, sour, tangy, and so on.

The perfect seasoning also enhances the flavour tremendously.

In Chinese cuisine, they season almost all dishes with salt and sugar, which results in bringing up the flavours that stimulate our appetite.

Of the three chemical senses, smell is the main determinant of flavour. While the taste of food is limited to sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and savoury (umami)—the basic tastes—the smells of a food are potentially limitless. A food’s flavour, therefore, can be easily altered by changing its smell while keeping its taste similar.

Nowhere is this better exemplified than in artificially flavoured jellies, soft drinks, and candies, which, while made of bases with a similar taste, have dramatically different flavours due to the use of different scents or fragrances.

Taste

Taste is one of the five traditional senses and is received through taste buds situated in the mouth and tongue. Taste is perceived as sweet, bitter, sour, salty, and umami.

Umami

This taste makes you feel like licking your finger after a tasty meal. If we identify those mixtures, we can replicate the delicious umami effect in each of our dishes. In Indian food, knowingly or unknowingly, we use lot of umami-rich ingredients.

One kind of taste enhancer, “chat masala,” has a similar effect. That is why our traditional tandoor chefs dust every kebab with chat masala—it makes you want more. Tomato is one of the natural fruits enriched with high umami content, and we use tomatoes in high quantities.

Where

This is the most important factor that will determine how your food is perceived.

You might have come up with a fantastic presentation, excellent food, and a great plate, but all of this will be worthless if you serve the food in a multicoloured discotheque or dimly lit pub.

FOOD DESIGN CONCEPT DEVELOPED FOR FOOD PLATING

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 08:55:00 -0700

Food Design Concepts

Food can stimulate several of our senses—sight, smell, taste, and touch. Food design can be explained as a selective and thoughtful process of cooking and presenting food to maximize its visual appeal.

Food presentation is not limited to ready-to-eat foods; it starts from selecting the ingredients, the cooking process, the cuisine, the chef’s skills, and the service wares. My perception of food will not be the same as yours, but visual appeal is mostly the same to everyone.

There is a great saying: “We eat with our eyes first.” This is very true—an indifferently presented dish will not get any praise for the chef.

If, in reading this book, you gain wisdom about cooking and presenting an excellent dish, our vision will be achieved. Please pass the knowledge you gain on to your colleagues and juniors—“knowledge is to share, and to share is to care.”

Food design is developed in a next-generation Indian cuisine movement by modifying, processing, arranging, or decorating food to enhance its aesthetic appeal.

Nouvelle cuisine chefs often consider the visual presentation of foods at many different stages of food preparation, from the manner of tying or sewing meats, to the type of cut used in chopping and slicing meats or vegetables, to the style of mould used in a baked dish.

The arrangement and overall styling of food on the plate is called “plating.”

Some common styles of plating include a “classic” or “old school” arrangement in which the main item is in the front of the plate with vegetable or starches in the back, a “stacked” arrangement of the various items, or the main item leaning or “shingled” on a vegetable bed or side item.

Item location on the plate is often referenced as for the face of a clock, with six o’ clock being the position closest to the diner.

A basic rule of plating, and even in some cases prepping, is to make sure you have the five components of a dish: protein, traditionally at a six o’ clock position; vegetable, at a two o’ clock position; starch, at an eleven o’ clock position; sauce; and garnish.

This kind of plating is seen in culinary colleges only for teaching purposes.

Chefs are only limited by their own creativity when it comes to plate designs nowadays.

Clock styles are outdated, and many chefs don’t follow guidelines. Instead, they use an abstract style, line style, pattern style, or even serve food straight on the cooking pan.

Lateral Arrangement

Slow roast lamb loin, coconut tossed rice dumpling, stir-fried spinach.In this style, we tried to arrange food on a line with alternate textures and items and focused on texture and cooking, since it is a medium rare lamb loin. This style is fit for a confident chef to show off his or her meat-cooking skills.

Stacked Style

Fennel spiced pan-roasted wood pigeon, In this style, ingredients stacked together and give focus to natural food colour’s.

COOKING UTENSILS USED IN KERALA CUISINE FEW TRADITIONAL ONE

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 08:41:00 -0700

Kerala Cooking Utensils

Appa chatti: Concave pan for making appam.

Cheena chatti: Deep frying pan made of aluminium or cast iron, introduced to Kerala by China.

Dosa kallu: Cast iron griddle for making dosa (rice pancakes).

Mun chatti: Clay pot for cooking curries. Nowadays curries are also made in non-stick pans. However, clay pots are a more environmentally friendly and healthy option, and they add a distinct taste to the curry.

Puttu steamer: Special utensils for steaming roasted rice flour.

Idli/idiyappam tattu: Mould for making idli and idiyappam.

Seva nazhi: Extruder or mould for making idiyappam.

Unniappam pan: Concave pan with twelve or more slots and a 30–50 mL batter-holding capacity in each slot.

Uruli/varpu: Flat utensils best for making large-volume dishes, made with aluminium or bronze.

KERALA HAS ITS VARIED COOKING METHODS FEW COMPLEX BUT MAINLY SIMPLE COOKING TECHNIQUES

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 06:01:00 -0700

Cooking and Preserving Methods in Kerala Cuisine

Kerala cuisine is blessed with some fantastic cooking methods that have been carefully designed for the maximum utilization of natural resources. I have described our traditional cooking methods in terms of international cooking styles. Therefore, I may not use traditional wording, but the result is the same. Kerala cuisine has a great tradition of vegetarian cuisine related to Hinduism. Most of the vegetarian dishes are slow cooked and require boiling, stewing, or a combination of these methods.

With the influence of other non-Hindu communities in Kerala, some excellent non-vegetarian recipes came to exist./

The traders who came to Kerala for spices brought together their cooking traditions and cooking methods. Kerala cuisine also boasts traditional methods of preserving food ingredients by pickling and drying. Pickles are the first dish served on the banana leaf for “Sadhya.”

Some common cooking methods that still exist are described below.

Stewing

Stewing is a method of cooking all the ingredients together in a liquid over low heat for a relatively long period. In Kerala cuisine, most of the curries are made in this style. The cooking period depends on numerous factors, such as cuts of meat, quality of the ingredients, cooking equipment, and method adopted. Vegetables like carrots, potatoes, green peas, and tomatoes are the main ingredients for a stew.

In Kerala, most of the stewing curries are thickened naturally either by potato used in the stew or by reducing and then finishing with coconut milk. Meats such as beef, chicken, or lamb are suitable for slow cooking.

In a stew, the gravy usually covers the meat. One of the best ways is to sear the meat and vegetables before stewing. In Kerala cuisine, we have a prominent influence of Portuguese cooking, and some of the stewing methods have been adopted with few changes. Vegetable stew or ishtew is used as an accompaniment to chapatti and appam. Innovative chefs have tried preparing lamb and chicken in a similar style and had good success in those dishes.

Boiling

Boiling food in water is an ancient and traditional method used in Kerala cooking. Boiling temperature is maintained above 99 °C, and you can see the vigorous motion of the liquid on the surface. It is a very harsh technique of cooking. It is best to cook meat and root vegetables by boiling because of their hard texture. Rice and potatoes are suitable for boiling. Rice is boiled first, dried, and then partially milled to remove its husk.

In Kerala almost all tea stalls have a traditional wood-burning boiler that is heated almost twenty-four hours a day. It has multiple uses, including steaming bananas, boiling eggs, and making tea.

Frying

In frying, oil is used as the cooking medium. The food is cooked quickly and gets a crispy texture. Adjusting the oil quantity results in several different frying methods, including panfrying, deep frying, sautéing, and stir-frying. Sautéing and stir-frying are similar and use only a small amount of oil for frying on a hot surface.

For panfrying, use only the required amount of oil to immerse one third to one half of each piece of food. Deep-frying is the method of totally immersing the food in the hot oil. Deep-fried oil can be used again until the oil colour changes or taste varies. Dishes used for deep-frying need a coating layer marinade for giving a crispy coating.

Steaming

Steaming is a cooking method using steam produced by boiling water. The food is not put directly into the boiling water, but is kept separate from the water using a perforated plate and is cooked by contact with the steam. With this method, the food gets a moist texture and retains more nutrients than with boiling. In Kerala, there is a special steamer pot. There is a wide variety of steamed food in Kerala, mainly breakfast foods, including idli, idiyappam, and kozhukatta.

Pickling

Pickling is a process of preserving food in brine or an acidic medium. Brine is a solution of salt water. A common test of brine quality involves dropping a clean, washed, raw; egg when it floats, the proportion of salt to water is ideal. The food preserved using this method is called pickle. Pickling enhances the flavours by concentrating them. Pickling promotes osmosis, the process of moving water molecules through a permeable membrane to a higher concentrated solution, thereby equalizing both sides.

Kerala has a large variety of pickles, including raw mango, lemon, garlic, tomato, and chilli. There are non-vegetarian pickles as well. The main fish used for pickling is tuna. Prawns are also good for pickling. The fruits, vegetables, and fish are mixed with ingredients such as salt, spices, and mustard oil, and are set to mature. Pickled foods will last for up to a year or more.

Drying

Drying is the oldest method of preserving food and usually uses natural sunlight. The process removes all moisture from the food. Many foods are preserved by drying and can be stored for later use. In Kerala, fishes such as tuna, mackerel, and sardine are salted and dried. This is done mostly by the fishing community when they have a stock of fish left after the day’s sale. The fish is soaked in salt water for a couple of days and is dried in the sun. The fish can be later soaked and made into curry or powdered to make chutneys. Dried mango is also very common in Kerala. Sliced raw mango is soaked in brine for two days and then strained and dried under the sun or in hot areas in the kitchen.

KERALA CUISINE COOKING INGREDIENTS

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 05:22:00 -0700

Kerala cuisine ingredients

Spices, defined as strongly flavoured and aromatic substances obtained from plants in seed, leaf, bud, or flower form, form an integral part of Kerala cooking. In ancient times, spices were as precious as gold and diamonds. India produces many kinds of spices, and most quality spices come from Kerala.

Spices are considered good for our taste buds and health. The commonly used spices are cumin, green chilli, coriander, cinnamon, clove, cardamom, pepper, dried red chilli, curry leaf, coriander leaf, ginger, garlic, mustard seeds, and asafoetida.

Pepper

Pepper has been grown and used in Indian cuisine, and specifically in Kerala cuisine, since 2000 BC. Europeans and westerners came to India only due to the presence of pepper. Pepper is considered the black gold. India and Vietnam are the largest producers of pepper. Pepper mainly comes in two forms, black and white. Black is produced by lightly cooking the unripe pepper with the skin and then drying it. White is the seed of pepper with the skin removed.

Cardamom

Cardamom is the most easily recognizable sweet spice and is grown on the hillsides of Kerala. It is the world’s third-most-expensive spice by weight, outstripped in market value by only saffron and vanilla. Cardamom has a strong, unique taste, with an intensely aromatic, resinous fragrance.

Black cardamom has a distinctly more smoky, though not bitter, aroma with a coolness some consider similar to mint. Green cardamom is one of the most expensive spices by weight, but little is needed to impart the flavour.Cardamom is best stored in pod form because once the seeds are exposed or ground, they quickly lose their flavour. Cardamom belongs to the ginger family Zingiberaceae.

Cinnamon

Cinnamon is a very important spice in any Kerala meat preparation and the spice blend “garam masala,” which is different from the one used in north India.It’s obtained from the inner bark of several trees from the genus Cinnamomum that are cultivated on the hills of Kerala.

Cloves

Cloves are grown in mountain areas of Kerala. They are used in cooking either completely or in a ground form, but as they are extremely strong, they are used sparingly. Cloves are the aromatic dried flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae.

The clove tree is an evergreen that grows to a height ranging from 8–12 m, having large leaves and reddish brown flowers in numerous groups of terminal clusters.

The flower buds are at first pale in colour and gradually become green, after which they develop into a bright red when they are ready for collecting.

Fenugreek

Fenugreek is the small, cube-shaped, yellow seeds of fenugreek plant. Both the seeds and plant are used for cooking.

Fenugreek when sautéed in oil produces an excellent fragrance that is common to Indian curries. In Kerala cuisine, fenugreek seeds are more often used than the plants.

Most Kerala fish dishes are enriched with the flavour of fenugreek seeds, which masks the unpleasant fishy smell.

Mustard Seeds

Widely used for the preparation of dishes in Kerala, mustard seeds are the small, round seeds of various mustard plants. The seeds are usually about 1 or 2 mm in diameter. There are three main varieties of mustard. Mustard seeds grow well in temperate regions. Mustard is considered to be a rich source of oil and protein. Seeds are available as whole seeds, split seeds, or powder and paste. It’s ideal to store mustard seeds in a clean and dry container or jar, because they form clumps when wet. Mustard is used in the tempering of spices. The procedure of heating oil, dropping in mustard seeds, and cooking them until they pop gives many dishes a distinctive flavor. However, mustard is really a preservative, and the seeds are used for pickling in most Kerala households.

Chillies

There is rarely any Kerala food without chillies in it. Chillies are fruits of the capsicum species. They are cultivated mainly in tropical and subtropical countries.India is the largest producer and exporter of chillies. Ripe chillies, which are red in colour, are picked from the plant and dried in the sun.

Fresh, unripe chilies come in various shades of green, and they are better for flavor. Both red and green chilies come from the same plant, it is just that the peppers change colour as they ripen, and they have a strong aroma. Chilies are available fresh, dried, powdered, and flaked.

Curry Leaf

Curry leaf comes from a beautiful tree called the curry tree, which grows well in tropical climates and is native to India. Curry leaf is present in almost each dish in Kerala. As the tree is widely grown, the leaves are inexpensive. Curry leaves are available fresh and dried. They are dropped into hot oil that is then poured on top of many dishes to add flavor. While they add their lingering aroma to a dish, they are normally not eaten by people.

Tamarind

The tamarind tree is an evergreen, long-lived, medium-growth, bushy tree. Its fruit is called the tamarind pod.It has a crescent shape and is brown with a thin, brittle shell.

It contains a fleshy pulp. When it is mature, the flesh is coloured brown or reddish brown. Within this pulp, there is a seed, which is dark brown in colour. The pulp is used as flavoring for its sweet, sour taste and is said to be high in acid, sugar, vitamin B, and calcium. It is available as a pressed fibrous slab or concentrated paste. Tamarind extract is used in some dishes, especially in fish curries, to give a sweet-and-sour flavor to the curry. Tamarind slabs and paste store well and will last for up to a year.

Kokum

Kokum is native to India and is endemic to the western coastal regions of south India. The kokum tree is of tropical evergreen origin. It is a sour fruit that resembles tamarind. Kokum is deep purple in colour when ripe and has large seeds. The fruits are pickled when ripe. The rind is then removed and soaked repeatedly in the juice of the pulp and then dried under the sun. The rind is used as the flavoring for food. It has a sweet-and-sour taste and gives a purple colour to the food.

Tapioca

Tapioca is the fully grown root of the tapioca plant. The name is derived from the cassava or yuca plant. It is often used to thicken soups and sweeten the flavour of the food.Kerala is one of the few states in India that use tapioca as a staple food. Tapioca is gluten-free and almost completely protein-free.

In Kerala, tapioca is the best combination meal along with a spicy fish curry. I have provided the recipe in the last chapter.

Kerala Banana

The two most famous Kerala banana varieties are plantain (large, yellow banana) and red banana.

Red is a variety of banana with reddish-purple skin and is smaller than other bananas. In comparison to other bananas, the red banana is sweeter and softer. The redder the fruit, the more taste. It is also higher in vitamin C. Red bananas are eaten in the same way as yellow bananas, and they are available year-round.Plantain is used in many forms in Kerala cuisine.

The famous Kerala chip is made from plantain. Numerous sweets and savories are also made from plantain. Raw plantain is good for making crisps.

Banana Flower and Stem

The flower is taken only after the banana has grown to its full volume and is often used in Kerala cooking as a source for the main vegetarian dish enriched with high nutritional value. The banana stem, which is white, is the innermost part. It looks similar to palm heart and is treated the same as the banana flower. Both will oxidize faster if not kept in water after cutting.

Brown Rice

Also called part-milled rice, brown rice is a whole, natural grain. It is more nutritious than white rice. This rice is now more expensive because of its low supply and difficulty of storage. Brown rice has a shelf life of approximately six to seven months.

In Kerala rice is a staple, and most families use brown rice.

Colacasia (Chembu)

Colacasia is a tuber of which both leaves and root are used for cooking. The plant is called “elephant ears” due to its large size.Colacasia is an integral part of sambar, the very famous Kerala dish that is necessary in all vegetarian feasts. Colacasia has a high starch content and a sticky nature. It is good for sautéing or stir-frying with an addition of grated coconut.

Yam (Chena)

Another tuber, the yam is very common in Kerala; its stem and root are used for cooking. Unlike colacasia, the root is hard and requires long cooking. Yam is best for stewing. It can also be used for stir-frying, but pre-cooking is advised.

Coconut

The name Kerala originated from “kera,” or coconut tree, and coconut is termed as “nalikeram.” Kerala cooking is not complete without coconut.

Coconut is used mainly in three forms: grated coconut, coconut milk, and coconut oil.

Kerala dishes will not be authentic if you do not use coconut oil in cooking, according to studies made by the coconut board of the Indian government.

Asafoetida

Asafetida is extracted from the root of perennial plant, which is native to Afghanistan and imported to India .The plant is a species of ferula and looks similar to fennel. Asafetida is mainly sold in two forms: solid cake and powdered. In olden days, Kerala households used solid asafetida diluted in lukewarm water. The raw flavor of asafetida is unpleasant, but heating it with oil or ghee (clarified butter) gives it a very appetizing flavor.

Jackfruit

Jackfruit is the largest tree-borne fruit and is grown extensively in the tropical climate region. Archaeological surveys in India have found jackfruit cultivation as far back as three thousand to six thousand years. In Kerala cuisine, jackfruit is used in both its raw and ripened forms. Varieties are distinguished according to the characteristics of the fruit’s flesh.

Drumstick

Drumstick is taken from the drumstick tree. It is an exceptionally nutritious vegetable tree with a variety of potential uses. Drumstick is the most commonly used vegetable in Kerala. It is a main ingredient in curries and side dishes like sambar, theeyal, and thoran.Drumstick and its leaves are widely available in Kerala and there is at least one tree in almost every house in Kerala.Drumstick is helpful in increasing breast milk in the breastfeeding months. It is also believed to have great aphrodisiac properties.

Toddy

Toddy is an alcoholic beverage taken from the sap of the coconut tree or palm tree. It is a traditional beverage of Kerala with a long history. Toddy is collected in a mud pot from the unbloomed flower pod of the coconut or palm tree. The pot is taken in the morning or evening, where morning is sweet and evening tends to be more alcoholic since it is allowed to ferment.

Toddy was traditionally used to ferment rice to make appam (hoppers). Now yeast is used instead.

Coconut Oil

Coconut oil is extracted from dried coconuts and is commonly used in cooking. It gives flavour to the dishes. Coconut oil has a smoking point of 138 °C.

Coconut oil has a fairly long shelf life of about two years because of its natural saturated fat content.

Mustard Oil

Mustard oil is extracted from mustard seeds. The oil can be extracted from black, brown, and white mustards. In Kerala, mustard oil often used for pickling.The oil is heated before cooking to reduce the strong smell and taste. Mustard seeds have high levels of omega-3. Mustard oil is also used for Ayurveda massages to improve blood circulation.

Gingelly Oil

Gingelly oil is also known as sesame oil. It is an edible vegetable oil extracted from sesame seeds and is used in some Kerala dishes such as dosa and idli.This oil is perfect for deep-frying and can be used for stir-frying meats and vegetables. Hindus use gingelly oil to light oil lamps for God. Gingelly oil is a source of vitamins.

KERALAS SEASONS AND THE BEST MONSOON IN INDIAN

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 05:14:00 -0700

Seasons of Kerala

Constantly pleasant and equable in climate throughout the year, Kerala is a tropical land with the coast running down its entire length and the western Ghats forming a protective barrier against the dry winds from up north.

The main seasons are monsoon ( June to November) and summer (February to May), while winter is only a slight drop in temperature from the normal range of 28–32 °C.

Seasons have a great impact on the farming community of Kerala. Almost thirty years ago, the main occupation of Kerala was farming, including rice, coconut, spices, tapioca, banana, and many tropical fruits and vegetables.

THE GREAT KERALA CUISINE AND ITS VARIATIONS

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 05:08:00 -0700

Kerala Cuisine

Kerala food is moderately spicy in nature, but most flavourful, and its recipes promote locally grown ingredients for cooking.

Kerala is the home of kera known as the coconut tree. Coconut is the base for many dishes and is used in almost every dish in Kerala. Coconut oil is used for cooking. The oil is extracted from the dried coconut or “kopra.” Grated coconut and coconut milk are widely used in dishes for thickening and flavouring.

Rice and tapioca (cassava) are the most common foods of Kerala. Varieties of main dishes are made with these two. Seafood is also one of the very famous foods. Fish, crab, shellfish, lobster, and prawn are used for everyday cooking. Sardines and mackerel are the most commonly used varieties of fish.

The different meat varieties used in Kerala kitchens include poultry, red meats, and a few game birds (now restricted by law).

Kerala breakfast shows a rich variety. Most of the breakfast dishes are made from rice flour. Some of the breakfast dishes are appam, idiyappam, idli, dosa, and puttu. Along with this, some of the side dishes are made with coconut.

For lunch and dinner, the main dish is boiled rice. Along with this, there will be one or more curries and side dishes. There are several varieties of vegetarian and nonvegetarian curries and side dishes.

Popular vegetarian dishes are sambar, rasam, aviyal, kaalan, olan, erisherry, pulisherry, thoran, pachadi, and kichadi.

Food in Kerala is generally steamed and lightly tempered. Most of the dishes are spicy. Non-vegetarian dishes include chicken, fish, and lamb. Curry, fry, and ullarthu are made from these varieties.

Nowadays, Kerala people often have chapattis or food made of wheat, especially for dinner. Grains like ragi and millet are common in some parts of south India.

Onasadhya

Kerala is famous for its traditional banquet called “sadhya.” This is a vegetarian meal served with boiled rice as the main dish and along with variety of side dishes. This traditional meal is prepared during special occasions and festivals and is served in a banana leaf.

Kerala cuisine and the eating habits of its people are closely related to its festivals, especially Onam. A proper sadhya is the traditional vegetarian feast of Kerala. Usually served as lunch, it consists of parboiled pink rice, side dishes, savouries, pickles, and desserts spread out on a plantain leaf. Tradition insists that the tapered end of the leaf points to the left of the seated guest. Rice is served on the lower half of the leaf. The feast begins with the serving of parippu, a lentil preparation made of small gram and ghee.

The second course is sambar, the famous south Indian vegetable stew in which any available combination of vegetables is boiled in a gravy of crushed lentils, onions, chillies, coriander, and turmeric, with a pinch of asafoetida.

Avial, an essential side dish, is a blend of vegetables, cconut paste, and green chillies. Some of the other important side dishes include thoran and olan. Thoran can be minced string beans, cabbage, radish, or grams, mixed with grated coconut and sautéed with a dash of red chillies and turmeric powder. Olan is a bland dish of pumpkin and red gram cooked in a thin gravy of coconut milk.

The savouries include upperi, pappadum, ginger pickle, pachadi, and kichadi. Upperi is deep-fried banana chips. Pappadums are fried, creamy yellow, sun-dried wafers of black gram flour. The ginger pickle is a rich brown, hot, and sweet ginger chutney, while the kichadi consists of sliced and sautéed cucumber or ladyfingers in curd, seasoned with mustard, red chillies, and curry leaves in coconut oil. Pickles are usually mango and lime.

Desserts are served midway through the meal. The payasam is a thick, fluid dish of sweet brown molasses, coconut milk, and spices, garnished with cashew nuts and raisins.

There could be a succession of payasams, such as the palada pradhaman and parippu pradhaman. Pazham, a small, ripe, golden-yellow plantain, is usually eaten with the payasams.

After the payasams, rice is served once more with the spicy rasam. Rasam is a mixture of chilli and peppercorn powders boiled in diluted tamarind juice.Kaalan, seasoned buttermilk with turmeric powder and green chillies, and plain sour buttermilk that comes salted and with chopped green chillies and ginger, are served before the feast is finally wound up.

KNOW ABOUT KERALA ITS RICH CULINARY HERITAGE

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 04:48:00 -0700

Kerala and Its Amazing Cuisine

Kerala or Keralam

is an Indian state located on the Malabar Coast of southwest India.Thiruvanthapuram is the state capital. Malayalam is the main language, but English is also understood by the majority of Keralites.

Kerala cuisine is an unexplored area of Indian cuisine. Its possibilities are unlimited and very cost-effective in terms of producing fantastic dishes.

Kerala dishes are simple and lean compared to other rich cuisines of India, mainly due to the coastal influence in Kerala cuisine.

Kerala cuisine has a fantastic legacy of seafood recipes, which will be an added advantage for any Indian restaurant.

Kerala cuisine has to be marketed to bring in clients since it is a different taste from the normal Indian cuisine.Kerala is India’s top tourist destination and is famous for beaches, backwaters, cuisine, hill resorts, yoga, and Ayurveda treatments. The Kerala tourism board branded the state as “God’s own country.” It lives up to the brand image and is now one of the best destinations in the Asian Pacific.

Kerala may not be popular around the globe, but the world kitchens cannot be complete without spices exported from India.

Kerala’s history is closely linked with its commerce, which until recent times revolved around its spice trade. Celebrated as the spice coast of India, ancient Kerala played host to travellers and traders from across the world, including the Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch, French, and British. Almost all of them have left their imprint on this land in some form or another—architecture, cuisine, or literature.

Kerala is a land of multicultural and religious communities where each community in the state celebrates its own festivals.

There are some festivals unique to the state of Kerala. Most important of them are Onam and Vishu.

Onam is a traditional harvest festival of Kerala. This falls in the months of August to September. The festival is meant to celebrate the annual homecoming of the king Mahabali.

The festival happens for ten days, and colourful carpet is laid in front of every house during these days. Families serve a traditional meal called “sadhya” during this time, especially on the ninth and tenth days. The meal is served in the traditional way in banana leaves with around twenty to twenty-eight dishes.

Vishu is the traditional new year’s day of the state and is another traditional festival occasion for Kerala. Vishu has a lot of significance for Hindus, as Vishu marks the astronomical new year. People believe that Vishu is the festival that brings prosperity and calm to life.

This festival falls in the month of April and is considered the most auspicious day of the year. Even on this day, a traditional meal or sadhya is prepared by the women of the house, and the whole family has the lunch together.

INTRODUCTION CHAPTER OF INDIAN FINE DINING COOK BOOK

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 13:44:00 -0700

Introduction

As a proud Indian and chef, I have a moral duty to give back what I got from my teachers through sharing my knowledge with my juniors, so that they don’t have to start from where I started rather than from where I reached. That will help my fellow chefs conquer greater heights for the benefit of Indian cuisine.

As far as I am concerned, Indian cuisine has much more to offer than is perceived internationally. I’d like to share a few good recipes from my mother and to show our chefs the way to plate Indian food in a fine dining style without altering original style.

I would love to prove a point that all budding chefs have their own individuality. Keep encouraging your own style, and write down your experiments so that one day you can also publish your own cookbook. I believe this book is one of my life’s purposes. I hope to bring a change in the way we cook and present Indian food. In order to start, I decided to focus on the flavourful Kerala cuisine, my home cuisine. Later, I intend to research other great Indian cuisines and reveal their potential to the world one by one.

We have a great cuisine with amazing regional variations. We do not have to copy other cuisines in order to achieve modernity. Our cooking methods are so strong and diverse when fully used for the benefit of each ingredient; Indian cuisine is the best in all standards in the modern kitchen.

I remember a question I was asked on my campus interview for a management trainee position in one of the prestigious hotel companies in India: “Why you want to specialize in Indian cuisine, and what do you want to do?”

The answer got me my first job: “I strongly believe Indian cuisine is the only cuisine you cannot get the original taste without experiencing the authentic dish, and cannot replicate by reading the recipe. The changes I want to bring to Indian cuisine are simple cooking methods, simple recipes, and positive eating habits.”

Through the book I’d like to influence my great Indian chefs in presenting dishes to an international platform where chefs in other countries should be inspired by our cuisine.

If I can inspire one of you to come up with a culinary manual of your own cooking style, then my objective is fulfilled

No other country in the world is categorized as independent ruling states through the languages people speak. Each state has its own customs and culinary heritage. As a first step, I’ll discuss with you my home state—Kerala.

Kerala cuisine is a hidden gem of Indian culinary heritage.

Kerala is a southern state of India and is advertised by state tourism as “God’s own country” for its natural beauty. When considering international recognition for Indian cuisine, Kerala has not yet received its deserved place.

As a chef I am proud to represent my homeland. In this book the basic recipes are preserved in their original forms from my mother, even when presented in a luxurious way.

This book is done more as a chef-learning diary than a normal cookbook; all the recipes are tested and tried in my home kitchen. Through the book, I would like to share more than Kerala and its cuisine. We will discuss food design, plating concepts, the restaurant business, and being a restaurant owner.

“Dear chefs: Have the dream to own your food business while working for some one ”

MY SINCERE THANKS TO ALL WHO TOUCHED MY PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL LIFE

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 13:35:00 -0700

Acknowledgement
My sincere thanks go to my wife, Supriya, for providing the necessary research and editorial support, to my mother, Geetha, for inspiring me to cook through her culinary skills in my early childhood, and to my brother, Arun, for his love and support.

My heartfelt respect goes to teachers from my school, culinary instructors from college days at IHM Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, and my senior chefs in all levels, from whom I gained my cooking knowledge. For my friends in all stages of my life, I remember all their contributions and support in my career. To name a few: Ms. Padmakumari, Chef Rajshekar, Chef Pradosh Pai, Chef Sony Haq, Chef Ivan Thomas, Mr. Premchand, Chef Natrajan Kulandai, Chef Arzooman Irani, Chef Philippe Maratier, Chef Robert Cauchi, Chef Andy Brookes, Chef Kunj Kashyap, Chef Vincent Menager.

With great regards and respect,

Bobby retnakumar geetha