Weekend Exclusive | Master Chef Manish Mahrotra added Indian "Tadka' to the world Gourmet Summit, 2011

Cooking is an art, and Indian cooking is something like a canvas painted by an artist in bright and aromatic colors of spices. Every Indian state has it's individual cuisine and an entirely independent cooking culture. Though Indian spices were famous earlier, Indian cuisine is gaining global popularity day by day. The credit of course goes to the few of the expert Indian Chefs, who have been adding their magic touch (read taste) to the great Indian dishes and serving them to the world.

Adgully has brought you an exclusive interaction with Award-winning Indian Chef, Manish Mehrotra . He has received the rare honor of being invited as a Master Chef to the world-renowned and celebrated World Gourmet Summit 2011 in Singapore.

Manish Mahrotra works with Old World Hospitality as Executive Chef - Pan Asian Cuisine, where he heads the kitchens of Oriental Octopus (Delhi, Noida & Lavasa), Tamarai (London) and Indian Accent (New Delhi). He is a graduate from Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition, Mumbai (1996). He began his career as a Pan Asian Chef at the Thai Pavilion, Taj President, and Mumbai and got his initial training under the expert guidance of master chefs from Thailand. During his tenure of 5 years with Taj Group, he organized various Thai Food Festivals at different properties of the group.

While discussing his experience at World Gourmet Summit 2011 he said, "The experience has really been enriching. The World Gourmet Summit celebrates the finest cuisines, diverse tastes and food cultures from around the world and I am honored to be a part of it. You get to work with the best chefs from different parts of the world and see their creations. This is also the first time that a chef is getting an opportunity to combine traditional Indian food with Chinese medicine. I have incorporated Chinese herbs by Eu Yan Sang, a healthcare company and traditional Chinese medicine specialist, into my menu creations at the Eu Yan Sang dinner and the Herbal Culinary Master class."

He believes that local dining scene in India is always evolving. The way that the customers in India have accepted new food trends and experimented with cuisine over the last few years has been fantastic. The popularity of Indian food is growing and also gaining acceptance worldwide. People are willing to experiment beyond curries. Now the availability of ingredients is also good, you get lot many things easily at your local markets. Now people get world class food outside 5 star hotels. And most of the times it is better quality and at better price.

Taking about Indian's tastes and if there is any culinary not accepted by Indians he said, "Now Indians are open to different types of culinary experience, but we still have to open up for more new things."

When asked about the challenges as a master chef he said," The main challenge is to retain the authenticity of a cuisine while incorporating foreign ingredients as well as forgotten ingredients and cater to the twenty first century diners with the flavors and traditions of India. I concentrate on a satiating mix of fresh organic seasonal produce with global ingredients to create innovative version of old world flavors with new world presentation and flair."

He added, "The main premise behind this is to make people realize that there is much more to Indian cuisine than Butter Chicken."

In the course of conversation while sharing the most blissful highlights of his career he said, "First was the opening of Tamarai London. It required lots of hard work as he was an Indian chef who was doing pan Asian fine dining cuisine in London."

"Second was to head the Indian Accent as I had to do a lot of research to develop a path-breaking contemporary menu that is sure to excite the adventurous, yet satisfy traditional palates" he added. At the World Gourmet Summit 2011, Chef Manish had represented Indian Accent and was a host of four events including culinary experiences, master classes and exclusive dinners. | Manjiri Pupala [manjiri(at)adgully.com]