Food is also art, or Philosophy of Indian Cuisine
A master class on cooking traditional Indian dishes was given in the luxurious Yildyz hotel. Chefs of the fashionable Leela Palace in New Delhi Sonu Bhatia and Hateshwar came to Ashgabat specifically to share the secrets of Indian cuisine.
- Today we have presented dishes according to recipes that are rare even for India which makes them even more interesting. Such meal is prepared mainly in the southern regions of the country, Hateswar tells. For example, we brought tea from Darjeeling area. This area has become famous for growing the world famous elite varieties of tea. Its preparation recipe is very simple: milk, ginger, Darjeeling tea leaves, sugar, cardamom, spices to taste.
- The entire Indian cuisine is built on philosophy. Food is also art is thought in our homeland, which presented to the world Mahatma Gandhi, whose 150th anniversary of the birth this culinary festival is timed to.
Three dishes were chosen to acquaint all those interested in the Indian culture and culinary. These are:
Pakora - a battered vegetable snack, eaten mainly with tea before the main course;
Biryani - a vegetarian option, with spices;
Halva - a dessert of carrots with nuts.
The organizers tried to choose such dishes for the demonstration programme, the ingredients to which can be easily found in Turkmenistan. For example, Biryani is an Indian version of such a widespread dish among the Turkmens as pilaf. But one of the main specific features of the Indian cuisine is the abundant, and, at the same time, harmonious use of spices such as black pepper, cardamom, coriander, ginger, turmeric. However, each region has its own characteristic features in using spices. In the south of India, for example, dishes are much spicy than in the north-east of the country.
Mahatma Gandhi, who is revered in India as the father of the nation, had popularized a healthy way of life. As a vegetarian, he advised people to choose attentively what they eat. The cult of nonviolence for all living creatures and ecological ethics form the basis of the Indian philosophy, and culture as a whole.
- We try to avoid eating meat, especially beef, because a cow is a sacred animal for the Indians. According to many Indians, it brings wealth, the guests of Turkmenistan added.
Festival visitors, having seen firsthand how the cooking process goes, were looking forward to the moment when everything could be tasted.
The aroma of spices spread throughout the restaurant, provoking an indomitable appetite. It is a pity that taking a photo to remember the event, it is impossible to capture magic flavors and tasteful grace of “overseas” dishes.
Ashgabat women liked the Indian culinary master class so much that they has been writing down in haste recipes of delicious exotic dishes, intending to surprise their family members with new delights.
Svetlana MAYAK
