Pic/Poonam Bathija

It's a given that whenever Chef Milan Gupta of Café Haqq Se wants to prepare the Chicken Chettinadu -- Tamil Nadu’s spicy signature -- he will employ the En Papillote technique. For the uninitiated, it’s a French technique that involves wrapping the food in parchment paper, foil, corn husks, or anything that is oven-safe. “The Chicken Chettinad is packed with strong spices like garam masala, Madras onion and red chillies. Due to the complexity of the masalas involved, some flavours remain predominant, while the rest tend to lose their essence when exposed to heat. This technique helps retain the original flavour of the ingredients,” says Gupta.