Last year in November, a pop-up gourmet delivery service called The Dinner Box concept was launched in Delhi. It is an attempt to bring together noted chefs from across the country with local Delhi restaurants in a collaborative format. While the launch menu was kicked off by Chef Amninder Sandhu, renowned Chef Sujan Sarkar is now serving a new festive menu with seasonal ingredients combined with his signature culinary flair. We got Chef Sujan to tell us a bit more about the hearty feast.
Tell us about your association with The Dinner Box concept and what do you find exciting about it?
Through the lockdown, I feel what has been a real plus is the collaborative nature in which chefs and other stakeholders in the F&B industry have come together, to help one another through this extraordinarily difficult time. The Dinner Box concept revolves around bringing together well-known chefs from across the country, to serve special menus to culinary enthusiasts in different cities. The launch of this concept took place in Delhi, with a menu by celebrated Chef Amninder Sandhu. Since she is from Mumbai and therefore needed a kitchen to base herself out of, I was approached to see if Rooh, New Delhi could be used as space from which Amninder could prepare and dispense the meals. Having known Chef Amninder for a while now, and because our approach to Indian cuisine is so aligned, I was all for it, of course. During the festive season, we felt it could be interesting to launch a separate, special menu with some traditionally holiday-esque touches. I was more than glad to create this menu, especially for The Dinner Box.
What excites me about this concept is how on-trend it is – at-home dining has never been more popular, and I do see it extending into 2021. Why not give at-home diners the same luxury experience they would get at their favourite restaurants, right from the luxe packaging that The Dinner Box uses, to the meal itself? It’s exciting to recreate fine dining at home for our discerning and enthusiastic audiences.
Tell us about the festive menu and the cooking methods you have used for the same.
Modern Indian cuisine is my forte, and this is what the festive menu for The Dinner Box is all about. I’ve tried to seamlessly incorporate more Western ingredients with traditional Indian techniques and vice versa, like using a jackfruit crumble in the Duck Haleem; Goan Chorizo in the Scotch Egg; and a Shorba made of Pumpkin, as a nod to the season. The filter coffee yule log is a clever play on a very traditional Christmas dessert, made with a coffee all Indians know and love. It’s a fun menu that is also a fine dining menu – I really hope diners have been enjoying it!
During the lockdown, you started feeding the unemployed and elderly. Has the pandemic changed the way you cook or how you think about food?
If there is one thing this pandemic has taught me, it’s that people need, want, and appreciate the simplest comforts in life right now. And what greater comfort can there be, than food? Cooking is what I know – so I decided to give back however I could, by cooking and distributing meals to those in need. My partner Manish Mallik and I have been serving 300-600 meals, initially to frontline workers and now to those in impoverished neighborhoods, the elderly, the unemployed, and so on. It’s our way of doing what we can to help, in light of a pandemic that has put the entire world on hold. What’s changed for me now is that I’ve developed an even greater appreciation of how lucky we are to be safe, healthy, and cared-for, and how much food can do to bring about a sense of comfort and security.
RECIPE BY CHEF SUJAN SARKAR
Duck Haleem
Ingredients
For Haleem Masala:
1 tsp caraway seeds
3 bay leaves
4 cloves
5 green cardamom
2-inch stick of cinnamon
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp black pepper
6 dry red chilies
Method:
Dry roast all the spices and turn into a powder using a spice blender.
For Cooking Grains:
1 1/2 cups broken wheat
1/2 cup chana dal (Bengal gram)
1/2 cup yellow moong dal (yellow split peas)
1/4 cup toovar dal (pigeon peas)
1 tsp turmeric
2 tbsp ghee
Salt
Method:
Wash and soak the grains and lentils for 1 hour.
Boil the soaked grains in water with salt, turmeric powder and 2 tbsp ghee till they are completely cooked.
Grind 3/4th portion of the cooked wheat and lentils to a fine paste and leave 1/4 portion as it is.
For Cooking Duck
1 whole duck
1 large onion sliced
1 large piece of ginger roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves crushed
1 green chili
2 tbsp oil
Salt
Method:
Heat oil in a pressure cooker and fry sliced onion till light brown. Add chopped ginger, garlic, and green chilli and cook for few minutes.
Place duck into the cooker and add enough water and salt and cook till duck is fully done.
Remove the duck from the cooker and let it cool down for a few minutes.
Strain and save the cooking liquid.
Remove the skin of the duck and pull all the meats from the bone.
Cooking Haleem
3 tbsp Haleem masala powder
4 tbsp ghee
2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
2 tbsp chopped coriander
1 tbsp chopped mint
1 large lemon (juice)
Method
Heat ghee in a large non-stick pan and add ginger garlic paste and saute till golden.
Add haleem masala and all the cooked wheat and lentil mixture and shredded duck meat.
Add deck stock and bring to a boil, reduce the flame and cook on low heat for 45 minutes. Keep stirring in between.
Add chopped foie gras pieces and cook for another 5-10 minutes.
Add lemon juice, chopped coriander and chopped mint and check seasoning.
Final Step – Garnish
1 tbsp chopped mint leaves
1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
1 chopped green chilies
Juice of 1 lime
1 tsp haleem masala powder – garnish
2 tbsp chopped ginger
1 cup fried red onion
1 tbsp ghee
Assembling:
Serve haleem in a bowl and garnish with all the above ingredients.
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