Flowers
in the Kitchen
A
dash of the floral is the new trend as chefs across the globe try out new
dishes with flowers plucked from their gardens
The Romans
used them in their cooking as did the Incas. The Japanese have a well
established tradition of cooking with them and the Italians and Spanish use
some of them sometimes, stuffing squash blossoms for instance with pungent goat
cheese. They have been deemed trendy in Victorian times too — not-so-shrinking
violets, peppery-flavoured nasturtiums, primroses et al, used popularly in
salads and desserts in particular. And, of course, Mughal India, thanks to the
Turkish influence, favoured the rose extensively — not just as gulab jal,
sprinkled on meaty savouries, biryani and qormas, but as gulukand, lining betel
leaves.
We may not be used to cooking with flowers but across cultures, it has been a distinct gourmet strain that is beginning to be discovered afresh. In Melbourne, for instance, at the end of last year, when the weather was still warm and the world’s longest lunch table laid out on the banks of the Yarra, one of the simplest but
most interesting salads I had was one done with watercress and nasturtiums in a light vinaigrette dressing. Just ideal in the weather, washed down with crispy white wine; the greens and the flowers having been plucked ostensibly straight from the chef's own garden.
Flower Power
Chefs with their own gardens are, of course, the current big fad, slowly replacing the organic bandwagon. But in India where the kitchen kings are yet to grow their own herbs, veggies and, yes, blossoms, enterprising ones resort to other means to lay their hands on fresh flowers for culinary experimentation.
Chef Manish Mehrotra of Indian Accent, who uses zucchini flower blossom pakoras in kadhi, stumbled upon an unusual use for the lotus. “I was at a subzi mandi in Patna,” he says, “when I saw a woman selling white lotus flowers, which was unusual in a vegetable market.” Mehrotra found that one of the traditional uses of white lotus petals was to batter-fry them as pakoras! If you don’t want to make a usual batter of besan, which may be heavy, use tempura flour and serve up a flowery snack.
Rose apart, many parts of India use local flowers in a distinct way — banana flowers in Bengal and cockscomb flower used to colour Kashmiri gravies are just two of them. But if you are careful, common garden flowers and those that you can get at the florists can be used innovatively too. One of the simplest ways to create spectacular summer drinks is to freeze flowers or just petals with water so that the ice cubes encase these. You can also garnish any dessert with fresh flower petals — a vanilla cake with deep red rose petals, kheer or phirni with gold varq and a few petals of marigold — to create a stunner.
Blooming Glory
Some of the common edible flowers include nasturtiums (used in salads because of bright colour and peppery taste), lavender (to cook with in a range of sweet dishes — from mousse to biscuits), calendula (tasting similar to saffron and can be used in rice and pasta) and violets (the smaller the sweeter and used in cakes et al).
Chef Devraj Halder of The Suryaa New Delhi once did an entire food festival, cooking with flowers he plucked from a farmhouse. One of the recipes he suggests is fish with chrysanthemum flowers. It’s a Cantonese special. Take any fish fillet, saute, cook fully and keep aside. Make a light sauce with ginger and garlic, a dash of rice wine and butter, thicken this with cornflour and add the flowers at the end. Put this on the cooked fish. Tomato and cilantro blossoms can also be used effectively in any dish which uses these flavours — say tomato and ginger fried rice. If you are cooking chicken with spring onions (and a little soy/oyster sauce), use chive blossoms as garnish.
Japanese flowers like sakura and piku are now available in specialised gourmet stores, you can powder them, mix with sugar and use as dusting on any dessert. Or make an infusion for tea. Lavender too is easily available fresh and to use it in any icing or mousse, you need to chop it and boil in milk to get the colour. Use it fresh or the colour starts to fade.
Chef Nishant Choubey of Dusit Bird Hotels suggests making a rose marmalade (start with ginger, and stew apples in sugar with vinegar and cinnamon. At the end, add roses, cook for one minute so that they don’t get discoloured) and putting it to various uses. You can serve it with grilled asparagus. Or you can even stuff chicken breast with this (and some cheese) and grill. Cooking with flowers can be definitely fun.
EASY TIPS
Sprinkle edible flowers in green salad and serve with a light vinegar-based dressing Place a colourful gladiolus or hibiscus in a clear glass bowl and fill with your favourite dip Decorate creamy cakes and desserts with rose petals. Use lavender to colour these Freeze whole small flowers into ice cubes and add to punches and other drinks You can make herbal teas and tisanes with some of the flowers, boiling them in water Make sure flowers have not been sprayed with something, especially if you are asthamatic If you are prone to allergies, use flowers a little at a time so that you can know the effects
We may not be used to cooking with flowers but across cultures, it has been a distinct gourmet strain that is beginning to be discovered afresh. In Melbourne, for instance, at the end of last year, when the weather was still warm and the world’s longest lunch table laid out on the banks of the Yarra, one of the simplest but
most interesting salads I had was one done with watercress and nasturtiums in a light vinaigrette dressing. Just ideal in the weather, washed down with crispy white wine; the greens and the flowers having been plucked ostensibly straight from the chef's own garden.
Flower Power
Chefs with their own gardens are, of course, the current big fad, slowly replacing the organic bandwagon. But in India where the kitchen kings are yet to grow their own herbs, veggies and, yes, blossoms, enterprising ones resort to other means to lay their hands on fresh flowers for culinary experimentation.
Chef Manish Mehrotra of Indian Accent, who uses zucchini flower blossom pakoras in kadhi, stumbled upon an unusual use for the lotus. “I was at a subzi mandi in Patna,” he says, “when I saw a woman selling white lotus flowers, which was unusual in a vegetable market.” Mehrotra found that one of the traditional uses of white lotus petals was to batter-fry them as pakoras! If you don’t want to make a usual batter of besan, which may be heavy, use tempura flour and serve up a flowery snack.
Rose apart, many parts of India use local flowers in a distinct way — banana flowers in Bengal and cockscomb flower used to colour Kashmiri gravies are just two of them. But if you are careful, common garden flowers and those that you can get at the florists can be used innovatively too. One of the simplest ways to create spectacular summer drinks is to freeze flowers or just petals with water so that the ice cubes encase these. You can also garnish any dessert with fresh flower petals — a vanilla cake with deep red rose petals, kheer or phirni with gold varq and a few petals of marigold — to create a stunner.
Blooming Glory
Some of the common edible flowers include nasturtiums (used in salads because of bright colour and peppery taste), lavender (to cook with in a range of sweet dishes — from mousse to biscuits), calendula (tasting similar to saffron and can be used in rice and pasta) and violets (the smaller the sweeter and used in cakes et al).
Chef Devraj Halder of The Suryaa New Delhi once did an entire food festival, cooking with flowers he plucked from a farmhouse. One of the recipes he suggests is fish with chrysanthemum flowers. It’s a Cantonese special. Take any fish fillet, saute, cook fully and keep aside. Make a light sauce with ginger and garlic, a dash of rice wine and butter, thicken this with cornflour and add the flowers at the end. Put this on the cooked fish. Tomato and cilantro blossoms can also be used effectively in any dish which uses these flavours — say tomato and ginger fried rice. If you are cooking chicken with spring onions (and a little soy/oyster sauce), use chive blossoms as garnish.
Japanese flowers like sakura and piku are now available in specialised gourmet stores, you can powder them, mix with sugar and use as dusting on any dessert. Or make an infusion for tea. Lavender too is easily available fresh and to use it in any icing or mousse, you need to chop it and boil in milk to get the colour. Use it fresh or the colour starts to fade.
Chef Nishant Choubey of Dusit Bird Hotels suggests making a rose marmalade (start with ginger, and stew apples in sugar with vinegar and cinnamon. At the end, add roses, cook for one minute so that they don’t get discoloured) and putting it to various uses. You can serve it with grilled asparagus. Or you can even stuff chicken breast with this (and some cheese) and grill. Cooking with flowers can be definitely fun.
EASY TIPS
Sprinkle edible flowers in green salad and serve with a light vinegar-based dressing Place a colourful gladiolus or hibiscus in a clear glass bowl and fill with your favourite dip Decorate creamy cakes and desserts with rose petals. Use lavender to colour these Freeze whole small flowers into ice cubes and add to punches and other drinks You can make herbal teas and tisanes with some of the flowers, boiling them in water Make sure flowers have not been sprayed with something, especially if you are asthamatic If you are prone to allergies, use flowers a little at a time so that you can know the effects
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Anoothi Vishal SET120708
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