himanshu.verma@shotstories.net

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Chasing Kiwis

As rare and exotic is Kiwi in a fruit basket, rarer still it is, as a food ingredient. Whenever You hit the kitchen to prepare lunch, Your hand reaches out for cereals, grains, breads, flesh.. but Fruit?? not unless that`s the challenge You`ve taken up.


Now how do You use a fleshy, juicy, sweet fruit to prepare a three course meal. A kiwi fruit salad or drink would seem an easy way out..




Put Your imagination on the main burner and allow it to come to boil. The first thing to come to the surface would be,
Kiwi Marinated Civiche of Clam with Rocket cress. 
        Click on the picture on Your left for a better view. Those leafy red and white shards are meat slices of surf clam, marinated overnight in a heady concoction of coconut milk, lime juice and crushed kiwifruit.


Add to it some rocket leaf garnishing and olive oil dressing, and serve it cold. 
You have to try this even if You`re not a great fan of seafood. I hate seafood, but I loved it.


There`s even a soup from the exotic fruit, and it goes like this, "Chilled Roasted Pepper, Chinese Gooseberry & Jerez Soup".   Fancy name.. I wonder where they derive the nomenclature from. It`s made by adding nicely cut capsicum to onion and garlic and mixing it with kiwifruit and cooked to form a paste, which is then blended and met with sherry. Garnished with Yoghurt and chilli oil this too is served cold.


Now if You`re thinking, that the fruit can only give You light, intuitive recipes, then I have for You 



the "Loin of New Zealand Lamb with `Kiwi de Menthe` jelly and Moroccan Jam Quinoa" , 
This one has cooked lamb placed with Quinoa, garnished with juliennes of mint & coriander.

Just like the Kiwi fruit, all the dishes we`ve had so far have a seemingly refreshing and light appeal.

Care for some dessert?? A Sushi platter!! Yes.. a Sushi dessert platter.. So Here goes




And How do we get there.. cook some rice with milk sugar and cardamom pods just like kheer until very thick. Now roll the kheer into balls onto a sushi mat covered with cling film and garnish with sliced Kiwifruit.
Just loved this one.. Yummy!!





We had a great time experiencing the Kiwi Menu and bringing it to You with these pics.. 
This came out of a party thrown by the Shangri La hotel, Delhi, where it`s Wizard Chef from Oz, executive chef, Darren Conole was working his magic. The  Kiwis came from the Zespri stable.





Thanks everyone for all the attention, Now go and check it out for Yourself at the ShangriLa.
Cheers!!