Why Vikas Khanna served pink appams to Pepsi’s Nooyi
Vikas Khanna wanted to serve Indra Nooyi, the worldwide head of beverage and snack giant PepsiCo, a breakfast that would make her remember her childhood. So, on Tuesday morning, he served her pink appams.
Vikas Khanna wanted to serve Indra Nooyi, the worldwide head of beverage and snack giant PepsiCo, a breakfast that would make her remember her childhood. So, on Tuesday morning, he served her pink appams.
The setting was right. They had breakfast at Vasantha Bhavan, an eatery in Chennai, Nooyi’s hometown. It was the day before Onam, south India’s harvest festival. But pink appams?
Appam, made from fermented rice batter and coconut milk, is white, with a little bit of brown around the edges that comes from the cooking.
Not for Khanna, though. He added urad dal, bajre ka atta, oats, and an unexpected ingredient that turned it pink.
The pink appam Vikas Khanna made for Indra Nooyi
“I used beetroot juice to make the batter, and a little bit of milk,” Khanna told HT over the phone. He also made pesarattu, the green gram pancake from Andhra Pradesh, with oats. And he made idli – usually made with urad dal and rice -- with oats.
“Oats is my invisible superhero. It blends beautifully with anything -- as simply as water -- and adds to the nutrient value of the dish. Kisi cheez ko achchha karna hai, ek mutthi oats dal do (you want to improve a dish, add a fistful of oats),” said Khanna.
That may also have to do with his role as the evangelist for Quaker Oats. But Khanna is as much a fan of other grains that have gone out of Indian cooking in the modern era.
For instance, he loves barley. “I have lived in Tibet and barley – over there they call it tsampa -- is the super food there. It is one of the few crops to grow in the Himalayas. They dry-roast it and grind it. Those who climb the Everest eat a lot of barley,” said Khanna.
He also loves millet, baajra, and raagi. “I call these enchanted grains. As a country rich in carbohydrate diet, it is important for us to incorporate more protein and fibre.”
He really pushed the envelope in making payasam for Nooyi. The sweet dish is usually made with rice, Khanna made it with oats. He used palm sugar, which is healthy. He put in a bit of coconut only in the end.
“We had a great time enjoying some of my favorite traditional dishes while exchanging ideas on how we can adapt these time-honored recipes with knowledge of nutrition,” Nooyi said in an email through her public relations agency.
The oats in everything would have brought back childhood memories with a twist, but Nooyi would hardly mind it; PepsiCo owns Quaker Oats.
But there is more. “Indra said the payasam tasted like temple cooking,” said Khanna. He will happily settle for that.
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