Salad days are here again

Says Rohit Anand, Famp;B Manager at Hotel Regency on Dhole Patil Road, 8220;My purpose is not to make money. My purpose is to educate people.8221; He is referring to his brainchild 8211; the Salad Festival8217; on currently at The Cascade Gardens, Hotel Regency. The number and the variety of salads on offer are mind-boggling and certainly educate the taste-buds. He continues, 8220;The concept of salads is fairly new to Pune. People think that a salad is just cucumber and tomato chopped up with a little lime squeezed on. So now we want to expose Puneites to nutritive, low calorie summer food.8221;

The festival is on till April 30 between 11.30 am 8211; 3.30 pm and 7.30 pm 8211; 11 pm and it promises a fare that baffles and tantalises. There are no notices up at the hotel that announce the festival but do not let that put you off. It is a festival where Anand promises as many as 30 salads a day. And each day you get to taste a couple of different salads. But first, you start with a soup. Anand tells us that there will be a different soup everyday, each guaranteed to have us thinking of Paris, Rome or Beijing with names like Paris Market soup, Gazpacho, Hotpot Mexican and Dahi Shorba. We had the Hotpot Mexican 8211; a thick tomato base in which white beans, french beans and potatoes floated about. Believe us, this soup is meant to be eaten, not drunk. Explains Anand, 8220;Most people are under the impression that soup has to be drunk, but this is not true. Most of our soups are thicker than honey.8221; Another misconception that he dismisses is that salads are always cold. No such thing, because he has cooked up a fewwarm salads to complement the cold soups. He continues, 8220;Salads consist of three essential parts 8211; the body, the base and the dressing. The cabbage or the lettuce forms the base. The dressing can be an oil or a juice. But the body is important and can be whatever you wish to put in. Only it must go with flavour of the dressing. The dressing itself must not dominate the flavour of the body or the raw food.8221;

Anand has used these basics to the fullest 8211; combining vegetables and beans that children would normally push to the furthermost corners of their plate. In one salad, he has tossed crumbled idlis with lemon juice and chaat masala. In another he has mixed brinjal with kidney beans, in another scrambled eggs sit very well with green pumpkin and finely chopped cabbage. The Mexican salad, we thoroughly recommend with the baby corn and the sausage. We were told that the baby corn had been marinated in oil and vinegar for two days to get a flavour that teases the palate. Another one that we thought was pretty good was an affair of fish, cabbage and onions.

The fish is just delicately flavoured and is balanced by the stronger flavours of the onion. A French dressing completes what is a great high-protein meal. The other must-try was the Chicken Hawaiin salad. The nice thing was that the vegetarians were not left out of the feasting 8211; Anand has been equally innovative here combining brinjal with white beans. For the garlic-lovers out there, he recommends the pasta salad which is pasta tossed with freshly crushed garlic. The Californian salad is an all-time favourite for the summer with cubed watermelon and thin cream but we felt that the flavour of the cream was a little too strong.

The bakery at the hotel has also come up with different breads to complement the salads 8211; ginger, garlic, herb and mint. Anand also plans to have at least two sweet salads that will act as the dessert. Anand will be at hand as well, to help you to select the salads or even to toss your own. You can choose from dressings such as ginger oil, chilli oil, lemon cheese, garlic yoghurt and even honey!

The whole package comes for Rs 175 which includes the soup, beer and as much salad as you can eat.

To interest you even further, Maa Aruna will be around to tell you about your future, past, health, ambitions, love and marriage as she reads the Tarot cards.