The winners of the HT Café Taste Of Mumbai contest were thrilled to have shared the stage with renowned chefs Ritu Dalmia and Nadia Lim at the culinary extravaganza at Marine Drive.
Winning readers Shilpa Gupta, Trupti Merchant and Dylonne Miranda attended two sessions on March 23 and 24. In the first session, Dalmia taught Gupta and Merchant how to prepare an Italian dish — Beetroot Carpaccio with Almond and Tomato Gazpacho. As she instructed them, she shared the story behind the origin of the name of the dish’s non-vegetarian variant. “There was this famous Italian painter called Vittore Carpaccio, whose work had a lot of reds. And there was a restaurant in Venice called Harry’s Bar. The owner of the bar prepared a special raw meat, which had shades of the reds from the paintings and hence, he dedicated the dish to him and named it Carpaccio,” she said. After the session, the crowd rushed to taste her creation. “Having been part of the food industry for 12 years, this is a dream come true moment for me,” said Gupta.
In the session on March 24, Chef Lim was at her kindest as she taught Miranda to cook Pan-Fried Scallops with Sweet Potato Puree and Coriander Oil. During the session, she expressed interest in Indian fast food. Contest winner Miranda, who has won 82 such contests by sheer luck, suggested, “You must try Pani Puri and Vada Pav, Mumbai’s street food specialties.”
Beetroot Carpaccio
(By Ritu Dalmia)
In the session on March 24, Chef Lim was at her kindest as she taught Miranda to cook Pan-Fried Scallops with Sweet Potato Puree and Coriander Oil. During the session, she expressed interest in Indian fast food. Contest winner Miranda, who has won 82 such contests by sheer luck, suggested, “You must try Pani Puri and Vada Pav, Mumbai’s street food specialties.”Beetroot Carpaccio
(By Ritu Dalmia)
Ingredients:
2 roasted/boiled beetroot
200 gm Mozzarella
Pine nuts and basil for garnishing
Dressing:
3 parts Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 part of Balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper
Method:
Sprinkle salt on the bottom of a dish and place the beetroot over it. Cover the beetroot with Mozzarella slices and bake in an oven until the cheese is fork-tender. Then remove from the oven and let it cool at room temperature. Keep aside. Meanwhile, prepare the dressing with the above-mentioned ingredients. Season the dressing with salt and pepper. Keep aside. Heat vegetable oil over medium heat, fry sage leaves until crisp. Peel the beetroot into thin slices. Garnish it with mozzarella cheese, pine nuts, basil and the fried sage leaves. Serve hot.
Almond and tomato gazpacho
(By Ritu Dalmia)
Ingredients:
2 roasted tomatoes
Handful of almonds
1 roasted garlic
3 strawberries
2 onions
Half a cucumber
Salt and pepper
Method:
Mix the tomatoes, cucumber, garlic, almonds, onion and some water in a blender. Add more water, vinegar, extra virgin olive oil to the mix and sprinkle salt. Blend till smooth. Season with pepper. Refrigerate Gazpacho for 30 minutes. Before serving, season with salt and pepper. Add extra virgin olive oil to taste.
Pan-fried scallops with sweet potato puree and coriander oil
(By Chef Nadia Lim)
Ingredients:
Sweet potatoes
6 scallops
2 onions
Coriander oil
Red chilli flakes
Lime juice
50 gm Pak Choi leaves
Extra virgin olive oil/sesame oil
100 gm butter
Soya sauce
1 lemon
Salt
Method:
Boil sweet potato in salted water; make puree using coconut cream and onion, until smooth. Add Pak Choi to boiling water for a minute, drain and drizzle with soya sauce and extra virgin olive oil. Season scallops with salt. Heat butter in a pan. Pan-fry scallops on each side for two minutes. Make the coriander and chilli oil by mashing chopped coriander and chilli in a mortar and pestle with salt, olive oil and lime juice. To serve, put some sweet potato puree onto a plate, top with scallops, Pak Choi leaves, sprinkle coriander and chilli oil.
Twitter contest
Win a chance to attend a cooking workshop with expert chef Ajay Chopra!
Participate in this HT Café contest held in association with Taste Of Mumbai and you could be one of the 10 lucky readers to attend a workshop on Mediterranean cuisine by celebrated chef Ajay Chopra at Prego, The Westin Mumbai Garden City, Goregaon (E), on March 30. To participate and win, follow us on Twitter — @htcafe — and keep track of our updates March 26 onwards.