The dinner that Mehigan will lay out on Sunday will consist of seven courses, preceded by a “snack attack”, which will consist of dishes, each with his personal touches, representing the best of Japanese, French, Italian, and of course, Australian classics…writes Sourish Bhattacharyya
Gary Mehigan, who was behind the humongous success of ‘MasterChef Australia’, has become a registered Indophile by the look of it.
Somewhat like the Australian (and also Delhi Capitals) cricket star David Warner, who almost became the face of Tollywood during his stint with Sunrisers Hyderabad, Mehigan knows more about India than any homegrown desi would on a good day.
Not surprising, considering that he has been here 12 times in 18 months, travelling across the country from the highlands of Munnar in Kerala to Ladakh, soaking in the Hemis Festival, to Nagaland, chilling at Hornbill. Sampling ‘langarwali dal’ and roti at Anandpur Sahib one day or, on another, riding a truck in Kolkata carrying an idol of Goddess Durga being taken for immersion to the Hooghly, shooting for Nat Geo’s ‘India Mega Festivals’ series.
Gary Mehigan. (File Photo: IANS)
And of course, if you’re a chef who spends more time in India than back home in Melbourne, how can you not get interested in the butter chicken controversy that has pitted one of the Moti Mahal owners against the duo behind Daryaganj?
When Mehigan conducted a poll among his Instagram followers about their favourite butter chicken, Moti Mahal was trailing behind Daryaganj by 7 percentage points, and he also got advice on the other butter chicken offerings he must check out before arriving at any conclusion, notably Havemore, Minar, Mughal Mahal, Kwality, and even Aslam’s.
Mehigan, however, is at the Taj City Centre in Gurugram, along with a team from his Indian collaborators, the Bengaluru-based multi-vertical food platform, Conosh, and several cases containing the single malt, The Ardmore, for an event far removed from the world that his travels take him to. As he puts it, he keeps moving from “the pavement to the penthouse”.
The dinner that Mehigan will lay out on Sunday will consist of seven courses, preceded by a “snack attack”, which will consist of dishes, each with his personal touches, representing the best of Japanese, French, Italian, and of course, Australian classics.
No Iftar delicacies here, which he sampled in Hyderabad and Delhi, but definitely a platter of nigiri or a duck confit, and even the flavours of Alphonso. So, what would the pairing of The Ardmore and the Alphonso be called? The Alphmore? Mehigan broke into a hearty laugh. MoreAlph, maybe!
Being originally an Englishman, Mehigan loves his Single Malts, and he says they pair very well with food, contrary to the popular belief that they are best imbibed before and after a meal.
Although The Ardmore, which comes from the Highlands, is slightly peaty, Mehigan pointed out that it has clear notes of cinnamon, honey and toffee. The flavour profile makes it just right for cocktails, or, better still, to be paired neat with a duck or a lamb shank. Mehigan’s take: “That’s not a difficult one to pair. It has lots of flavours for us to play around with.”
Coming back to his love for India, Mehigan said he’s curating “food travel experiences” for just 60 world travellers along with his MasterChef Australia co-host Matt Preston and the international upper-crust travel company, Luxury Escapes. The India tours sold out in 12 hours.
And while he’s doing all this, and maybe wondering which one is truly Delhi’s best butter chicken, he’s soaking up more of India by reading up Arundhati Roy’s ‘The God of Small Things’, Rohinton Mistry’s ‘A Fine Balance’ and Jhumpa Lahiri’s ‘Inheritance of Loss’. Did anyone say chefs only read recipes and KOTs?
Steak Tomatina balls:– Take 2-3 tablespoon of oil in a pan. Fry fresh and evenly cut steak in it. After frying, put the steak out. In the same pan, cook onion and garlic until they get golden brown. Put the already fried steak in it.
Add cornflour to the mixture. Pour salt, pepper, red chilly and other spices of your taste. Now add the magic ingredient that is red wine (half the quantity of steak) in the pan. Mix and cook well. Add 3-4 tomato’s puree to the mixture and cook until the gravy gets a thick texture. Put the mixture aside. In a bowl, take 3-4 mashed boiled potatoes and add salt, chopped green chilly, red chilli powder in it (all as per your taste). Make small balls from the mixture. The second magic ingredient to add is small cubes of Cheddar cheese inside the potato balls. Take a baking tray and evenly spread the thick gravy on it. Put the cheese potato balls in a stroke on the gravy paste. Bake the same for 20 minutes in an oven. Serve hot. (To add more taste, serve with tomato ketchup sauce).
Veg Tortilla wrap: – To prepare the marination, slice five mixed peppers (red, green, yellow), three onions, four soya bean sticks in a baking tray. Put fajita seasoning spice with olive oil on the mixture. Bake the same for 25 minutes in the oven. In another tray, brush 1 tablespoon melted butter and place approx nine tortillas to cover the whole tray. Add the already prepared mixture on the pieces of tortillas with grated cheese and spicy Doritos chips. Cover the same with other tortillas to wrap the whole mixture. Bake the same for 20 minutes.
To prepare the dip, take a 100 gms fresh cream, 50 gms mayonnaise in a bowl, now put fajita seasoning, 1 tablespoon lime juice, 1 tablespoon honey and evenly cut jalapenos in the paste. Mix it well and here is your delicious sour dip.
Butter chicken, stuffed naan:- To prepare the marination, take fresh and natural yoghurt in a bowl. Take minced garlic, red chilly, salt, chopped green chilly and lemon juice and add it in the yoghurt. Now marinade three chicken breasts in the mixture for 20 minutes. In a jar, take 1 cup warm water; add 1 tablespoon of sugar and half tablespoon activated yeast and five tablespoons yoghurt in it. Let it rest for 15 minutes. Take bread flour and add melted butter and salt (as per your taste) in it. Make dough from the same after adding the activated yeast mixture in it. Let it rest for 30 minutes. Till then take the marinated chicken and bake it for 15 minutes. In a pan, prepare the same gravy as you did for the first recipe with extra tomato puree in it. The magic ingredient is the addition of half cup heavy cream in it. Now add the evenly cut marinated chicken breasts in it. Roll out a plain base for naan and stuff it with the prepared gravy mixture and grated cheese. Bake the same for 20 minutes in an over. Serve hot. (ANI)
FnB columnist Riccha Grrover in conversation with Chef Saransh Goila to know more about his GOILA BUTTER CHICKEN in London and launching meal-kits & a nationwide delivery system in the UK
One of India’s most widely respected chefs, Saransh Goila has developed a cult-like following for his eponymous butter chicken recipe globally. Having garnered a legion of high profile followers after the opening of his restaurant Goila Butter Chicken in Mumbai in 2016, Saransh was flown to be a guest judge on Masterchef Australia in 2018 where he judged contestants’ iterations of his signature dish. In 2019 his Goila Butter Chicken won the ‘people’s choice’ prize at India’s famed food festival, World on a Plate (WOAP); and in February 2020 Saransh teamed up with the Templeton brothers for a sell-out fortnight-long residency at Carousel (Marylebone), before setting up a London-wide hot meal delivery service in November last year. He has been in the Forbes 2019 Celebrity 100 list and amongst Facebook’s 100 Future Tycoons of India.
Saransh Brings ‘Goila Butter Chicken’ To London
RICCHA GRROVER- Tell us about your journey as a professional chef, across kitchens and FnB set ups from India to London. Did you always plan to be a chef or did you dabble into the profession as an extension of a hobby?
SARANSH GOILA- I grew up in Pitampura near Delhi. From a very young age, I had an inclination towards cooking. By the age of twelve, I started experimenting and cooking in the kitchen with my mom and granddad. Soon, I started cooking for my uncles and aunts and neighbours and my grandpa wanted me to pursue a career in cooking looking at my aptitude and interest. I believed in his vision of converting my hobby into profession and someday being a chef like ‘Sanjeev Kapoor’ and decided to pursue culinary arts from Institute of Hotel Management- Aurangabad, India.
After completing my professional studies and work at the Leela Hotels in Bengaluru for a couple of years I wanted to try something different. I wanted to be on television in order to teach people more about India Cuisine. After many failed attempts, I secured a spot as a contestant on Bollywood celebrity Madhuri Dixit’s comeback show, Food Food Maha Challenge, which was being hosted by Chef Sanjeev Kapoor. I went on to win the show and that got me what I wanted a food travelogue that made me travel 100 days of India by road is search of lost regional recipes and street food artistes. It was called Roti Rasta Aur India (which meant – Bread, Roads and India).
After the show, I found my space in the FnB industry in Mumbai (the city of dreams!). I came up with my version of butter chicken by a happy accident. I wanted to make a dish that tastes exactly like butter chicken but without the chicken as I wanted my vegetarian parents to be able to taste it. For that made few tweaks to the classic recipe and balanced it out in a way that the base gravy would have all the tasting notes of butter chicken enhanced and well balanced. When my friends in Mumbai first ate it when I moved to Mumbai, they loved it so much that they started a Twitter hashtag, #GoilaButterChicken.
This soon became my signature dish, which I started serving through my outlets and pop-ups in 2016 and it was later also seen on the epic TV show, MasterChef Australia in 2018. It was after this show we got a lot of international acclaim which led us to do a pop in London at Carousel. Post which we built a great relationship with the Templeton bros (founders of Carousel) and that took Goila from Mumbai to London.
RG- How is your butter chicken brand different from all the other Indian restaurants in London in terms of what unique food experience you offer?
SG-The secret to my recipe is the tomato to dairy ratio (80:20 as opposed to the usual 60:40), the all-important infusion of smoke and insistence that only the absolute best ingredients make it into the pot.
It all begins with fantastic tasting, ethical ingredients. That means truly free range, slow-grown, herb-fed chickens from Yorkshire, the creamiest French butter and eco-friendly charcoal from FSC-certified forests.
With less butter than the classic recipe calls for and absolutely no colouring, sugar or fluorescent orange additive, Goila Butter Chicken is made fresh each day by chefs who take pride in turning curry into an art form.
RG- Where does your menu take its inspiration from?
SG- Inspiration for this menu comes straight from my home kitchen in Delhi. It’s what my mom and dad find comforting and they’d eat for dinner almost every weekend. Sometimes less is more. There are six elements to the quintessential Goila meal experience: Butter Chicken, Dal Makhani, Jeera Rice, Sourdough Naan, Pickled Shallots and Coriander Chutney. I do believe… too much choice is overrated.
RG-Tell us about some of your highs and lows in the journey as a chef. What keeps you motivated and what’s been your mantra of success? What advice would you give budding chefs?
SG-Before I set out on my entrepreneurial sojourn, I was working as a chef at The Leela Hotel – Bangalore. I felt like a misfit although I had a stable and a well-paying job. The decision to quit that path for a road of uncertainties where the stakes were high, lack of staunch financial support and inadequate operational experience to run a business has been the most difficult yet rewarding decision of my life.
To have been able to make a self-funded homegrown brand in Mumbai to Masterchef Australia and then opening an outpost in London is a definite high which keeps us motivated to keep innovating and pushing the boundaries further to grow the brand and make Goila Butter Chicken a global brand. What keeps me motivated is to keep promoting Indian cuisine across the globe, our cuisine is so diverse and full flavours and we need to make sure that the world knows about it!
My basic quote for all the young chefs out there – Be true to yourself! Do not replicate a recipe fully. Add your personal touch to it and make it unique to yourself. Your own rendition of the dish will make it a memorable one. For all you know, you may just be able to do more justice to it than the original creator of the recipe! Cooking is an amalgamation of science and art – so experiment and express your inner-self through your food, don’t forget to infuse love into it!
RG- What is your vision for your food brand in the UK- do you have plans of expansion?
Saransh Brings ‘Goila Butter Chicken’ To London
SG-We envision Goila Butter Chicken to be available all across the UK at your doorstep in the next future. Meanwhile our meal kits are already doing that! We plan to expand our cloud kitchens all across UK and will also be indulging in some pop-up stores that will reflect more diversity and innovation in the menu. We really want Goila to be the first choice for people in the UK, whenever they think of curry!
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Chef Saransh Goila’s world-renowned butter chicken is now available to diners nationwide in the UK, for the first time ever, through the launch of Goila Butter Chicken meal kits. Along with the butter chicken, the feasting meal-kit box is complete with Dal makhani – developed by Saransh to be the perfect accompaniment – as well as Sourdough naan fired in a pizza oven, crunchy and tangy Pickled shallots, Coriander chutney and Jeera rice. Vegetarians can replace the chicken with paneer.
