Food for the soul

Jain Jalsa

Host: Chef Gautam Mehrishi
Monday-Wednesday-Friday, Zee Khana Khazana, 12 pm
Jain Jalsa on Zee Khana Khazana is an indicator of the direction food trends are taking — by moving out from regional and cultural gastronomic explorations to cuisines influenced by spiritual disciplines. And Jain cuisine followed by Jain practitioners is one of the most strictest form of food discipline — not only is it entirely vegetarian, it also excludes onion, garlic and root vegetables like potatoes in its cooking. For a democratic foodie, it’s hard to imagine a platter without those abovementioned three ingredients. And it is exactly this perception that a dish without onion, garlic or potatoes can only be bland that Jain Jalsa tries to undo right from the first episode.
Anchored by celebrity chef, Gautam Mehrishi, who also hosts other food specials on the channel, the first episode centred around raw banana showcased three exotic dishes like ‘Crispy raw banana with sweet chilli sauce’, ‘Raw banana biryani’ and ‘Raw banana crème brûlée’. Hardly dishes that we’d associate with Jain cuisine, but it’s quite a myth-busting start. Enough to make you get started on it, and look forward to further episodes. For me personally, it was quite interesting to see how Mehrishi uses the raw banana skin slices like onion — he deep-fries it crisp and uses it liberally in the biryani like the onion barista in a regular biryani. Not only are these nuggets of information, but perhaps necessary at a time when onions are turning out to be as precious as gold.
It helps that Mehrishi, who could be mistaken for one of the robust heroes of a Punjabi film, makes cooking seem effortless and fun. Though he is not a Jain, he seems well-versed with Jain food and culture as he has lived in Rajasthan for a long time. He can be seen exploring the cuisine, using only mild spices and fresh vegetables in accordance with the Jain philosophy of ‘sattvic’ food. He also adapts international cuisines (Japanese to Mediterranean) to create dishes based on Jain principles and projects a healthy, fun way of enjoying Jain dishes.
It’s a dream of any foodie to be able to rustle up gastronomic delights with ingredients available in the kitchen, and not be roadblocked by the lack of it. For those trying to achieve that kind of yardstick, you should definitely not miss Jain Jalsa.