Friday 03 / May / 2024
Keeda, the intangible bug that makes you think out of the box, takes you places, and instils the urge to achieve, is the one thing that most creative minds across the world have in common. It may be called differently in different parts of the world but the essence of breaking the rules and pushing boundaries to do something different remains the core. And this is the very same word that I got for an answer when I asked Chef Ajay Chopra about how he came up with this whacky concept of cooking which he calls ‘modern Indian food’.
Cooking is an art; right from the time we plan a menu till it finally touches our palates. But in recent times science has taken over this art to an entirely new level. Cooking and science? Sounds interesting, doesn’t it? While I grew up with the notion that science is all about chemical combinations, physical quantifications, and biological interpretations, I was surprised to know that Chef Ajay Chopra actually uses these concepts in his culinary art. Recently I went to Jashn restaurant, all excited to meet Chef Ajay Chopra who is one of the most popular chefs in India and has achieved the status of being a celebrity chef after being a part of popular TV shows such as Masterchef India, Food Food, and Northern Flavours. All I wanted from him was the recipe of one of his homemade Indian food which would take me back to my home country, but what I got was an introductory lesson to a whole new concept of cooking and food science which got me wondering as to how far we have come in terms of culinary arts and science.
Indian food, as we know it today, originated from the Middle East. The Mughals brought it with them to Afghanistan and finally India around the 16th century from where it evolved and transformed to suit the tastes of Indians. However, when we talk about Indian food now, especially as expatriates residing in different countries, the entire menu boils down to the same 150 odd dishes that is served everywhere alike. While there are some classics that need to be retained unaltered, there is scope to experiment, redefine, and modernise several other dishes which break the tag of being the ‘usual suspects’.
Chefs from across the world have been on a quest to redefine and reinvent the age-old dishes to give it a twist and a rugged freshness. The result? A dining experience like never before that introduces you to new colours, textures and, most importantly, makes you a part of a culinary adventure. We’re all used to the idea of drinking tea, what if you were asked to eat tea? Instead of drinking a fresh watermelon juice, what if you were served watermelon juice caviars? Olive oil is a liquid that you pour on your pan, but what if you were given to eat olive oil powder? All these culinary adventures is known as molecular gastronomy.
Molecular gastronomy is food science which uses modern cooking techniques to blend chemistry and physics to transform the look, taste, and texture of a particular dish. What is delivered on the platter will make you go “woah” and “oooh” as well as “mmmm” after every bite. The term molecular gastronomy was coined in the early 1990s by Elizabeth Cawdry Thomas, Nicholas Kurti, Herve and Harold McGee who got together to learn about the physics and chemistry of cooking. There are a number of restaurants that serve molecular cuisine, especially in Europe and America today. However, many chefs refuse to call their cooking molecular gastronomy, including Chef Chopra and prefer to call it as modernist, contemporary or progressive cooking.
Chef Ajay Chopra in his attempt to introduce Oman to modern Indian food has brought to the menu of Jashn a whole range of dishes that scream brilliance and exoticism and yet retain the Indian essence with every bite.
The first dish I was told I would be served was Khandvi, which is a typical Gujarati savoury snack which comprises of tightly rolled bite-sized pieces made of gram flour and yoghurt. What was served were four spoons with cute yellow molten-looking balls. I looked at the waiter skeptically and he just smiled and gave me a nod silently asking me to put it in my mouth and enjoy. I put the fancy Khandvi in my mouth and watched my friend see my eyes grow wide out of surprise and then shut slowly with a widening smile on my face as I let the flavours and taste seep in. What a treat.
That was when I knew that the forthcoming dishes were going to be distinct and few more surprises were on my way. What came next was the mushroom cappuccino. Weird eh? It was frothy and brown in colour and I was in a fix. I wasn’t sure if I had to sip it off the cup or use the soup spoon that came with it to drink it like a normal soup. The waiter understood my dilemma and said that this was the Shahi Mushroom Cappuccino soup and that was my cue. It tasted like clouds from heaven, creamy, frothy and just so delicious. The south Indian chettinad flavoured asparagus served with kokam (dried tamarind) foam tantalised my taste buds and prepared it for the other dishes that were to be served, some of which were regular Indian food, some modern Indian, while others were food inspired by the science of molecular gastronomy. The desserts, according to me, were the highlight of Jashn’s modern Indian food. The gulab jamun crème brûlée was as fancy as it sounded. I haven’t met anyone yet who doesn’t like gulab jamun and I am no exception.
So as soon as the chef mentioned that he would be serving it for dessert I just couldn’t wait. I was expecting two brown gulab jamun balls immersed in sugar syrup, probably with a slightly different garnishing to be served on my plate. But what came was a big cup with a yellow base with gulab jamuns and strawberries used as the garnishing. I carefully used my spoon to pierce into the hard caramel coating to scoop into the mashed gulab jamun inside. I was just not getting used to these surprises.
So Chef Ajay Chopra explained the different types of dining options available while I was letting my stomach digest and my mind register this culinary adventure I had been through. “So there is casual dining, fine dining, and fun dining”, he said. Just when I was sure that he would say that what you had today was an example of fun dining he said, “What you’re going to have now is a classic example of fun dining”.
He very dramatically brought a cylindrical steel vessel which had smoke coming out of it. He placed it on my table and quietly handed me a tissue paper. He said “watch” and took out a popcorn out of the smoking vessel and placed it on the tissue and immediately put it into his mouth and kept rolling the popcorn around with his tongue. I didn’t realise it but I was looking at him with my mouth wide open. Before I could ask him anything he asked me to follow suit. I was highly skeptical but was totally up for the adventure. It almost felt like magic. I probably seemed like an overgrown overexcited four-year-old to the waiters while I tried my liquid nitrogen popcorns. Once I popped it into my mouth I had to move it around with my tongue because it was too cold. It tasted like caramel popcorn but eating it was an experience in itself.
In fact the whole two hours I spent in the restaurant was a dining experience that I won’t be forgetting any time soon. If you are bored of the same old mundane Indian food and the simple and boring ways of dining, then visit Jashn, which for me, turned out to be a culinary Disney Land.
