New Delhi, Feb 20 (life) India is the land of spices. With spices being used in Indian food to improve taste, aroma, flavour and colour of a preparation, it is no wonder that fine dining Indian restaurants are making age-old authentic delicacies and spices their selling points.
On the heels of a successful decade-long run in Rohini, Crowne Plaza's restaurant Spice Art has recently opened in Greater Noida. Chef Hardev Singh, Masterchef at Spice Art says the menu is a hand-picked selection of North Indian favourites with dishes from Punjab, Awadh and Mughlai cuisines. He has co-prepared the menu with Chef Qaleem Qureshi.
Greater Noida is a great potential market for a fine dining authentic Indian restaurant as the city has a great corporate and HNI (high networth individuals) residential base and lacks such fine dining options currently, Chef Hardev said on the location of his latest venture.
Asked what has been the traditional role of spices in Indian cuisine, the seasoned culinarian says: "In India, certain spices like turmeric are also considered therapeutic and are an important element in day to day Indian cooking," he told life.
"Indian culinary scene is extremely vibrant at present with a lot of innovations and fusions coming into play. However, there is an equal pull towards authentic recipes to connect back to roots and simpler ways of eating or cooking. With Ind settled abroad in various parts of the world, Indian cuisine has really gone global and is well accepted too," he said.
His thoughts on the food trends that could pick up in India soon?
The industry is changing rapidly as more and more people are becoming aware of food and we are heading back to our roots searching for soul food, and comfort food with very basic ingredients, like grains or millets. Also, I have seen so many changes where people are turning vegetarian and choosing healthy and fresh food over non-vegetarian food.
(Siddhi Jain can be reached at siddhi.j@.in)
( With inputs from IANS )