Chennai, Nov 4 Hemp pasta in basil pesto with vegetables and garlic bread, flourless jaggery chocolate cake, ragi-almond pan cake, five grain khichdi and immunity booster drinks, prawn 'kuzhi paniaram', 'annachi sundal', are some of the interesting new dishes that star hotel chefs in Chennai whipped up during and the Covid-19 lockdown period.
While some of the dishes have found their way into their hotel menu cards, a few more are on their way, chefs told .
According to the chefs, the whole focus in designing the new dishes is not only to guard against Covid-19 but also to offer wholesome healthy food.
"Hemp seeds have several nutritional benefits but are not largely used. We decided to come out with hemp pasta in basis pesto with vegetables and garlic bread," Gopi Thangaraj, Sous Chef, Novotel Chennai Chamiers Road here told .
With hemp giving the flavour and the taste, the dish was not only tasty but distinct.
Apart from pasta, millets or hand pound ponni rice or seeraga samba rice or other exotic rice could also be used.
The other interesting item that Thangaraj has divined during the lockdown was the flourless jaggery chocolate cake made with cocoa, almond power, jaggery, eggs, butter and chocolate.
The dessert consistency was like slightly hardened mousse with a liberal dose of chocolate and almond powder delighting taste buds.
Star hotel chefs noticed that their guests were moving towards healthy food options and decided to offer the same with new ingredients and designs.
"We tried around 45 desserts and after receiving some constructive feedback, we worked on the finalised 18 dishes which are currently in our dessert options in our hotel menus," Thangaraj remarked.
WelcomHotel Chennai Executive Chef Suju George John found `work from home' and `work at home' a new experience during the lockdown.
George came out with two new items - The Perfect Ragi-Almond Pancake and the Bombay Pizza.
"Ragi is rich in proteins, iron and calcium and is good for digestion. These pancakes are easy and quick to make, serve as a nutritious breakfast dish and is now part of the hotel menu," George told .
On the making of Bombay Pizza, George said that one day it was decided to make home-made pizza; but there was not enough pizza base nor the normal meaty toppings that one commonly relishes.
However, he had a pack of tortilla wraps and some left over bhaji from the pav bhaji.
"So, the wrap base was a bhaji topping with home-made tomato concasse and a melange of cheeses. Voila! Out came the Bombay Pizza," George mused.
As for the dish name which will find its place in the menu he said it was inspired by the usage of the pav bhaji leftover which is essentially a Bombay thing!
At the Oberoi Group's Trident Chennai, Prakash Jayadevan, General Manager told that immunity booster Indian dishes like: Five grain khichdi
( With inputs from IANS )
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