The Foodhall Cookbook is a curation of easy recipes for the home chef in you who wants to wow dinner guests
Sabyasachi Gorai
For me, cookbook recipes have always been inspiring, much more than the recipes you get off the Net," says Chef Sabyasachi Gorai, ex-director of kitchens at Olive Bar & Kitchen, and winner of the best chef award at the National Tourism Awards in 2012. "Ever since I entered the Institute of Hotel Management, Mumbai, I started collecting cookbooks. I still do. I used to go to all the culinary fairs and stand in line and get my cookbooks signed by their respective celebrity chefs!"
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Today, Gorai is part of The Foodhall Cookbook, which also features four other chefs — Gresham Fernandes (Salt Water Café, Smoke House Deli), Pooja Dhingra (Le 15), Zorawar Kalra (Masala Library) and Kelvin Cheung (Bastian). "After years of being a destination and an experience that provides world-class ingredients spanning various cuisines, we have created a cookbook that is an amalgamation of our thoughts, vision, and never-ending love for food. To celebrate this beautiful relationship with food, we have collected and curated recipes that take you around the world, as you flip through these pages," explains Avni Biyani, Concept Head, Foodhall.
The highlights of the book include Chef Saby's section which brims with vivid flavours of the Mediterranean; Gresham's Warm Mushroom Salad that showcases the beautiful textures of earthy mushrooms that highlight the simplicity of Modern European cuisine; Cheung's delightful Pumpkin Congee that is reminiscent of the very popular Indian khichdi with brighter colours and extra crunchiness; Kalra's section that stays true to Indian cuisine, yet modernises it to make it cooler and much sexier and Dhingra's Kesar Pista Cupcakes and Falooda-inspired Rose Chia Pudding. "What we have tried to do is simplify the recipes so that it doesn't need a professional chef to make sense of it," says Gorai, "the culinary terminology has also been given a break —we don't use confusing words like salamander and confit.
It's hard for us, as we use those words in the kitchen, but the aim of the book is to make sure an amateur chef can make the recipe as close to as the chef imagined it." Gorai says, the book hopes to make readers realise the importance of fresh produce and quality ingredients. "They will also learn elegant but simple plating," he signs off.
Chef Saby's Mukhalal (traditional Lebanese pickled vegetables used as an accompaniment to a mezze platter)
Ingredients: 2 cucumbers, cut; 2 radishes, cut; 2 beetroots, cut; 1 ¼ cups of water, boiled; 10tbsp white vinegar; salt to taste; 2tbsp sugar; 2 green chillies
Method: In a big bowl, combine the cucumbers, radishes, beetroots, boiled water, vinegar, salt and sugar; stir to prepare a pickling solution. Place the vegetable mix along with the green chillies into a jar. Pack tightly. Pour the pickling solution over the vegetables to cover completely. Cover tightly with a lid and pickle in the jar overnight (for best results). Serve along with snacks, pita bread and various mezze dips.
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