Eat like a Maharaja

Dressed in a spotless white chef’s coat,Vikram Singh is at Vivanta by Taj Blue Diamond to host a Sailana food festival. He moves around in the kitchen with ease,guiding the in-house chefs on creating the perfect dish by making sure that the recipes are followed to a tee. Talking about the exotic food items on the menu,Vikram Singh surprises with his simplistic views. “Just because they are exotic does not mean that all of them are very difficult to cook,” he says. “There is one recipe that we make from just five ingredients — meat,ghee,salt,whole red chillies and water. These are available in the remotest villages of India and with this method,one can cook meat,game,fowl or even potatoes,” says Vikram Singh. The dish,called jungli maans,is on the menu for Puneites to savour.

Vikram Singh has selected some of his signature dishes along with some exotic foods. Jungli maans,Murg Mumtaj Mahal and Tabak murgh,and his innovative take on the classic Kashmiri Tabak maans,are some of the highlights of the main course. “I will also be preparing my signature desert Gulab ki kheer,which is made from the wild Indian rose petals,” says Vikram Singh.

He says that even though the recipes were jotted down by his grandfather,he had to try each one of them and perfect them. “Sometimes,when my grandfather visited other palaces in the country and asked the royal chefs for the ingredients of the particular dish he liked,they would give him generic answers. I have tried and perfected over 700 recipes myself,” he says. His father,Maharaja Digvijaya Singh,had released a book,titled Cooking Delights of The Maharajas,in the ’80s,where he had shared some recipes from their family’s collection.

Sailana Food Festival is on till July 21 at Mystic Masala,Vivanta by Taj Blue Diamond