my 'demo experience' of North Indian food

Whatever the doubts about the health benefits of Indian cuisine i have, not so many things can compare with it delicious taste. Taking into consideration my total love to cooking, after seeing the announcement of a free master class on North Indian cuisine in one of the best restaurants in town, i didn't take a long time to think,  dialed the proposed number and put my name in the lists of participants.

Honestly, I thought it would be something like "Master Chief", with the possibility of trying to cook on your own also. But after i saw the same number of vehicles at the hotel guest parking, I realized that most likely it is going to be just a demonstration with the possibility of tasting. That was actually true.



place for magic to happen



our experienced chefs



The spacious and lovely room already had chairs, screen, and a table on which the magic performance was going to happen.

The chef greeted those who were present and said that three of the most famous dishes: "Dal makhani", "Galouti kebab" and "Strawberry Phirni" would be shown. The names on their own have aroused my interest.

in the process

ready to eat



Yummy



are you ready to try kebab?

"Daal makhani" is prepared from the lenthils, in Hindi "Daal" means lenthils. Makhani means 'butter', but the title is there not only because butter is added to the dish in sufficient quantity, but also because the beans during cooking process acquire butterlike structure and taste. The traditional(or according to the rules of proper restaurant) dish is cooked allmost for the entire day. Imagine, first you cook daal for 6-7 hours, then add ghee and spices, and again put it on the fire for overnight. In the home environment 'daal makhani' is prepared only for the occasions, because it takes a lot of attention, patience and gas.

"Galouti kebab." A long - long time ago in the far north of India, there lived a harsh ruler. As soon as he get old, his teeth start to say 'goodbye'. Displeased with such a fact the ruler strictly ordered his cooks to invent a recipe for meat (he could not live a single day without it), where the teeth wouldn't be needed. Cooks took their time and served this kebab. The raja was pleased with it,because  "Galouti" can be translated as "the one that melts in your mouth." It consists of mutton, which is mexide with raw papaya, cashew pastes and a bunch of spices (all of them i've written on a piece of paper). Afterwards you add some 'smoke' and leave the dish for several hours. Chef assured the public that it is possible to eat kebab even raw, like American steaks. The last stage is 5 minutes of roasting on the huge pan. 



"Phirni" represents the  class of desserts. Dish has quite deep historical roots also. In our case, it was strawberry, because Mahabeleshwar is close and the season of the strawberries have already started there. It consists of milk and rice paste. Soak rice for 3-4 hours, drain water, grind. Add to hot milk and boil this  mixture for an hour at the skim fire. Next step is all about using your imagination to design the filling and flavor. Then put it in fridge for an hour or two for the acquisition of proper density. 'Strawberry phirni' s ready to be served.

After an hour of the observation i went to have a bite. A little bit of everythin. Broke a piece of kebab and put it in my mouth... was it me, who telked about law-fat and healthy diet? Meat just melts in your mouth, in the truest sense of these words. And those "roti", with which in the form of spoons you eat Daal they were simply Yum. Daal, mmmm, no words. I think that it was one of the most delicious of my experiments with Indian cuisine. Even the dessert could not leave me indifferent. Had a glance around, I noticed a lot of happy people who just received their "moments of heavenly delight", did a couple of pictures and went home.

Thanks to Pune festival and Radisson for master classes. The point for the hotel was difinitely advertising, because most visitors certainly will come more than once after they had tasted such a delicious cuisine. To ensure this coupons for discount as well as a lot of other free material were given to the participnats. Now i have an idea to cook something at home. Let's see, what can be done.