Manote Tripathi

Subtleties of the Subcontinent

 

Two leading Indian chefs are at Ginger, the Centara Grand Bangkok, until Tuesday

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Manote Tripathi
The Nation
December 1, 2012

It’s rare that a food festival has an author joining its celebrations. But, much to everyone’s delight, Amitav Ghosh, the author of such best selling historical epics as “Sea of Poppies”, “The Glass Palace” and, most recently, “River of Smoke” was the guest of honour at the official opening of Indian Food

Festival last Thursday at Ginger, the pan-Asian restaurant of the Centara Grand Bangkok.

In his speech, Ghost waxed lyrical about his close ties with Thailand and Myanmar, explaining that one of his books “The Glass Palace” sheds light on the last days of Burma’s last king.

Thibaw’s twilight years were spent in exile in India’s Rattanagiri, not far from Bombay where the author is currently based.

Ghosh joined at the invitation of Indian Ambassador Anil Wadhwa who happened to attend the same college, St Edmund Hall at Oxford, as Ghosh.

“The ambassador always came first in his classes,” Ghosh said with a smile. Providing a feast for the senses were two Indian chefs: Gaurav Malhotra of The Ashok New Delhi and the internationally acclaimed Nand Kishore.

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They set out to highlight the best of India’s regional cuisines, from the north, east, west and south. Wheat is the most popular ingredient in the north alongside onion and coriander. The southerners favour spices, rice and coconut milk as their staples.

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Malhotra is good at creating flavourful and authentic Indian dishes thanks to his expertise in running Indian food fests in places like Colombia, Ecuador, Oman and Lebanon. Kishore, meanwhile, specialises in tandoor and curry, and has cooked for various heads of state.

The food fest is available buffet style and features such classics as Gosht Roganjosh, Haryali Kebab, Murgh Malai Tikka and Murgh Rehana.

Don’t miss the Fish Amritsari. A modern interpretation of the famous street food dish from the Amritsar area, the freshest of fish is coated with ginger, garlic and chaat masala and quickly fried to seal in the juices and add a satisfying crunch.

There’s also a vegetarian menu featuring Paneer Peshawari, a mouth-watering Indian cottage cheese dish cooked Peshawari style. The fresh cheese curd cubes are cooked in fragrant cashew-and-onion gravy and rounded off with cream and aromatic kasurimethi. The dish uses freshly ground spices like cumin, coriander seeds and red chillies.

 

PLENTY TO EAT

The food festival runs until Tuesday. It costs Bt750 for lunch and Bt1,390 for dinner, excluding taxes and service. Book a table at (01) 100 6255.

 

APPETISERS

Assorted Indian Salads

Pineapple Raita

Mix Pickle

Chutney

Papad

 

NON-VEGETARIAN

Fish Amritsari

Murg Makhani Andaz

Gosht Roganjosh

 

VEGETARIAN

Paneer Peshawari

Subz-e-Bahaar

Vegetable Kofta

Palak Corn Masala

Dal Makhani

GajjarMatarPulao

Assorted Indian Breads

 

DESSERTS

Rice Kheer

Shahi Tukda

Fresh Exotic Cut Fruits

Published by Manote Tripathi

Manote (aka Manoj) Tripathi spent two decades as a journalist, editor and feature writer with a multimedia giant in Thailand before switching his career towards media content production. He’s a trained specialist on Britain. As a journalist at The Nation, Thailand’s national English-language daily, which he joined in 1993, he held senior positions on the paper’s writing side, including leading its highly respected “Sunday Focus” features section known for its authoritative coverage of Thailand. His body of work spans the plight of illegal Burmese migrants in Thailand; corruption; forced prostitution; the problems of once-revered elephants; the rising gap between rich and poor during Thailand’s boom years; the book world; and food and drink. His writings introduced influential thinkers: Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, golfer Greg Norman, conductor Zubin Mehta, Egyptologist Zahi Hawass, Nobel laureate VS Naipaul and new age guru Deepak Chopra. His coverage of the book world resulted in an array of interviews with such literary titans as Pico Iyer, Patricia Cornwell, William Dalrymple, Simon Winchester, Justin Wintle, and Vikas Swarup of Slumdog Millionaire fame. He spent two years in Yangon, Myanmar, helping The Nation set up the English section of Myanmar’s Eleven Media Group. In 2005, he won a Chevening Scholarship, a UK government scholarship scheme. Manote holds a Master’s in Modern British History (Victoria to Blair) from Royal Holloway, University of London, and a BA in English Literature (Thammasat University, Bangkok).

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