NUTTY BITES

Loved for their crunchy and neutral taste,water chestnuts are being reintroduced as an exotic gourmet ingredient with restaurants using them cleverly in new recipes

A soon as the waiter sets the tiramisu on the table,its easy to tell that its going to be a treat. The clear cocktail glass it is served in offers a tempting glimpse of the moist sheen of cream peppered with tiny cocoa globules. From the wide mouth of the glass,whiffs of coffee,cocoa and cream waft upward,mingling with the scent from slices of poached green apples that sit atop the dessert,a scent part sharp and tangy and part candy-sweet. The cream is soft and light,and offers no resistance to the spoon that goes in for a scoop. It all looks very promising.

Yet nothing can prepare you for that first bite,which begins with the smooth and lush texture of the cream but quickly moves on to crunchy and fruity. Traditionally a soft Italian dessert,this is a fusion tiramisu,loaded with small cubes of green apple and water chestnut that bring a new bite to it. The green apple bits break to lend a fruity tang to the mix,but the real hero here are the cubes of water chestnut that explode in a burst of fresh,sweetish juice washing the cream and fruit down.

Water chestnuts,sold by street vendors as the humble marsh vegetable called singada,are found in abundance in China and are a regular feature in Chinese cuisine. But the decision to use them in a dessert is a step away from tradition.

Water chestnuts are mainly used in savoury starters and main course items,cooked with sauces. Its often used to add body or crunchiness to a dish. But I wanted to take a popular dessert like a tiramisu,which is Italian,and add a Chinese twist to it, says chef Sachin Joshi,who created the Green Apple and Water Chestnut Tiramisu for the menu at Whispering Bamboo,the Chinese restaurant.

Tiramisu is soft and creamy while water chestnuts are crunchy and watery. The contrast makes for a very interesting texture and flavour, he says. The water chestnuts themselves are poached in fresh apple juice to add natural sweetness to their otherwise neutral taste. Apple goes very well with cream,and because of the juice,I have to add very little sugar to the dessert. The green apple also adds a slight sourness and everything combines perfectly, he says. No wonder its one of the most popular dessert items at the restaurant,as Joshi points out.

Chef Rajiv Das from Mainland China,on the other hand,uses a traditional Chinese recipe for dumplings and adds water chestnuts to give it fresh personality. The Corn and Water Chestnuts Dumplings,a popular vegetarian starter at the restaurant,is light and healthy. Water chestnuts go well with almost everything. Dumplings by nature are soft,and corn is also soft,but the water chestnuts add some crunch and texture to the recipe,making it different, he adds.

At Incognito,the water chestnuts come wrapped in blankets of bacon,a delicious sidekick for an evening of drinking. We roll the chestnuts in bacon,marinade them in thyme and then grill them. Then we pour a honey chipotle sauce over them and bake them and the Bacon and Water Chestnut wraps are ready to eat, says Ravish Arora,one of the directors at Incognito. Bacon has a very intense smoky flavour,so we used the neutral flavour of water chestnuts to balance the taste, he says. Arora shares that water chestnuts werent very popular earlier,but now there is awareness about different foods because of the exchange of cultures and ideas. It also has a beautiful shade of white and completes the colour palette in a dish, says Arora.

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