Sometimes recipes get lost over time. Almost. Chef Ranveer gets his hands on a 10 year old recipe of Murg Choley, hand written and signed by the chef who created it at a small hole in the wall eatery, at New York. Chef Ranveer also cooks the yummy Mutton Beliram. Its namesake Chef Beliram was a very soughtafter street chef of Lahore but heres a twist he was vegetarian. Manu bhaiya is suitably bewildered and impressed with the taste.
Talking about traditional Indian medicine, Chef Ranveer turns our attention to our own backyard, quite literally. In the olden days, food itself was medicine for everything. All we had to do was look in to our kitchens and kitchen gardens and be aware of whats around. With neem leaves from Juliet auntys backyard, Ranveer makes a catfish curry with neem leaves and shares the medicinal properties of catfish and neem. The recipe is from a tribal region in Chattisgarh. He makes sure the dish has enough elements to counterbalance the bitterness of neem. Chef Ranveer also makes an amazing black rice kheer, from a northeastern variety of black rice.
Chef Ranveer is surrounded by an exciting variety of fruits, vegetables and spices on his friends farm. He cant possibly leave without cooking. So there he is, making a pumpkin curry. He is fascinated not just by the versatility of pumpkin but also by the fresh spices he will use in the curry. Fresh kokum, fresh nutmeg, fresh black peppercorns and clove leaves. He roasts some mackerel in galangal and banana leaves and speaks about the tradition of cooking in leaves present throughout Asia. For a salad, he puts together roasted beetroot, cashew apple, star fruit, and kokum juice.
Hindi
Travel, Food
Ruchir Arun