Eats Shoots 038; Leaves

This time,it is not about Parmesan replacing paneer although that is happening or Japanese breadcrumbs panko substituting breadcrumbs that cant boast any nationality in particular although that too is happening. It is about the chef at Indian Accent in Delhi experimenting for weeks on end to get the filling of his dosa right. It is about a Hyderabadi chef in the swanky new restaurant,The Zest,giving Delhi its best vegetarian kebab,till now considered a culinary absurdity,made of wild almonds with hints of mint and cardamom and bursting with untamed flavours. It is about Tote on the Turf,Mumbais gargantuan new restaurant at the Mahalaxmi Race Course,revelling in its jaw-dropping cubist décor and in a menu that offers more vegetarian than non-vegetarian entrees.

There has been an interesting turn in vegetarian cuisine, says chef Bakshish Dean of The Park,Delhi,looking up from a bowl of vegetarian haleem made with lentils and couscous and simmered for four hours that he is garnishing. It is a popular pick for vegetarians who drop by Fire,The Parks Indian diner,and whose numbers seem to be rising. Combining flavours and creating new textures have helped in making vegetarian food more popular, says Dean. And we are devoting an equal number of hours in working around the veggies as with the meats. Dean is wary of the adjective fusion,but it unmindfully floats around in restaurant kitchens,even his own. At Tote on the Turf by Rahul and Malini Akerkar,you even find a dessert marvellously turning into an appetiser and this is courtesy of a tiramisu of mushroom and walnut,with pears poached in red wine on the side. The sweetness is leached away but the taste survives. Keyur Chandorkar,chef de cuisine at Tote on the Turf,says since most vegetables have quiet flavours,they need to be carefully combined to create complexities. We experiment a lot and bring together flavours that complement each other, says Chandorkar. That is how we came up with Corn and Kaffir Lime Cakes. Since the corn is slightly sweet,we paired it with a mildly spiced green curry.

Even nightclubs like Delhis Smokehouse Grill have their finger in the vegetarian pie. We get about 35 per cent vegetarians and have to constantly experiment with vegetables, says senior sous chef Mayank Tiwari,who works with molecular gastronomy to create vegetable caviars and fruity foams and puts lavender and mustard flowers to add a new character to the food.
These are dishes whose provenance is often a chefs imagination. But then there are others who have flown in with a passport,mostly from or via Tokyo.
When one of Delhis most expensive restaurants,Wasabi by Morimoto,rolled out a new menu this year,they left no greens unturned. Alongside white fish soup and salmon caviar rolls are a delectable soup of edamame baby soybeans and cappuccino,and a Japanese avocado salsa in a crispy rice basket. Gnocchi,too,finds a new partner in taro instead of potato,with the sweeter,chewier tuber blanketed in its own crispy skin and a pungent twist of ginger sauce. When ten of the most powerful families in India stick to veggies,it is unwise to concentrate just on the meats, says Hemant Oberoi,corporate chef at The Taj. He does not elaborate on the families,but clearly suggests that you cant ignore one set of well-off taste buds.

We emphasise a lot on vegetarian food; we always have, says Jasjit Singh,manager of San-Qi at Four Seasons,Mumbai,which notably serves a variety of vegetarian sushi. So does the InterContinental at Marine Drive,which wraps its sushis with Indian-palate-friendly spinach instead of seaweed.
It is not that vegetarian experiments are always a culinary hit. There is,for instance,the Carpaccio Charade. Carpaccio,which basically means a sliver of raw meat or fish,tests ones adventurousness when it comes to eating and dexterity when it comes to serving. But when a platter is served as tomato or zucchini carpaccio,it is little more than a tame vegetarian salad with a dressing. And the Indian Pesto needs to be controlled. Either make the real thing with basil or serve a coriander chutney; lazily substituting basil with dhania and calling it Indian pesto is an indigenous farce.

The exotica in the food often results in vegetarian dishes,which were once thankfully cheap,becoming pricey. Now,vegetarian food is as expensive as non-vegetarian food, says Dean. Morels,for instance,come for Rs 14,000 a kilo,points out Gurpreet Singh of Indian Accent. There is,of course,too much fad in the fire. Tiwari too talks about ratte potatoes,slightly elongated tuber with a nutty flavour,which cost at least Rs 2,800 a kilo.

Although vegetarian carpaccio is underwhelming,the next big things in vegetarian cuisine will be raw food and the migration of regional cuisine. Punjabis are trying Bengals mochar banana flower chops and Kolkatans are getting a taste of Gujarats khandhvi. South Indian and Bengali cuisine offer a variety of flavours that can be tucked and trimmed to create new ones, says Dean,now getting ready to sauté the greens,like the Bengali shaak,for a Delhi palate.