UAE chefs share their five-star recipes for Diwali

Courtesy Tresind

Courtesy Rang Mahal

Courtesy Tresind

Courtesy Mint Leaf of London

This Diwali, serve up a banquet with these five-star recipes shared by some of the UAE’s best Indian chefs.

Soup: Butternut squash and coconut soup

Serves four

Ingredients

1 butternut squash

500ml orange juice

25g sliced ginger

15g sliced garlic

10g red chilli powder

5g cumin seeds

10g sea salt

5g turmeric powder

25ml olive oil

25g butter

25g sliced onion

1 stalk sliced celery

75ml coconut milk

150g puff pastry

Method

Cut the butternut squash in big chunks with skin on and drizzle with olive oil. Roast in oven at 200°Celsius until soft and caramelised. Remove and discard skin. Purée the butternut squash to a fine consistency.

Heat olive oil in a deep pot over medium heat and add cumin seeds. Once they crackle, add garlic. Sauté until soft and then add the onion and celery. Cook until soft, but make sure they don’t change colour. Add puréed squash to the pan and cook for 5 minutes.

Throw in the powdered spices and cook for another 15 minutes on low heat. Once it starts to bubble, add 250ml of water and bring to a boil. Add the ginger and salt and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the coconut milk and bring the mixture back to a boil. Cook until it reaches a single cream consistency.

Add butter and orange juice and bring to a boil. Remove and strain through a thick strainer. Pour the soup in ovenproof serving bowls. Cover with puff pastry and bake in the oven at 200°Celsius for 5 to 7 minutes or until the pastry turns light brown. Serve hot.

• By Chef Siddharth Krishna, executive chef, Rosewood Abu Dhabi, home of upscale Indian restaurant Spice Mela

“For this dish, I got inspiration from childhood memories, since I come from a family of vegetarians. During Diwali, my mother used to prepare a tempered pumpkin dish and we used to eat it with puri [deep-fried, puffed Indian bread]. It was a simple recipe and I have used similar ingredients to prepare this recipe as well,” says Krishna.

Appetiser: Kolkata-style jhal-muri fried rice

Serves four

Ingredients

150g basmati rice

2 tbsp mustard oil

1 chopped onion

1 chopped tomato

1 tsp roasted cumin powder

1 chopped cucumber

2 chopped green chillies

1 tsp chaat masala

2 tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp black salt

Mint and coriander chutney

Tamarind chutney

50g puffed rice

Fresh coriander leaves

Roasted black gram

50g nylon sev

Method

Cook basmati rice and set aside. Heat mustard oil in a pan and add chopped onion. Sauté until onions are pinkish brown. Add chopped tomato and cumin powder. Add cooked rice cucumbers and green chillies. Season with chaat masala, red chilli powder, black salt, mint chutney and tamarind chutney.

Add puffed rice. Garnish with coriander leaves, roasted black gram and nylon sev.

• By Chef Himanshu Saini, executive chef of Tresind, Nassima Royal Hotel, Dubai.

“This is a street speciality,” says Saini. “Here we have combined the humble puffed rice with fried rice to serve as the perfect accompaniment for card parties during Diwali.”

Main: Achari gosht (lamb masala in pickled spices)

Serves 10 to 12

Ingredients

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup mustard oil

1 1/2 tbsp cumin

3 to 4 bay leaves

5 dry red chillies

1 1/2 tbsp crushed coriander seeds

1kg sliced onion

1/2 cup chopped garlic

1 cup grated ginger

2.5kg lamb cubes (from leg)

Salt (to taste)

1 cup ginger garlic paste

3 to 4 tbsp coriander powder

500ml whisked yogurt

1kg tomato purée

1 tbsp Kashmiri chilli powder

1 and 1/2 tbsp turmeric powder

1 cup chopped fresh coriander

1/2 cup ginger julienne

1 cup chopped mango pickles

1/4 cup pickle spice mix (fennel seeds, onion seeds, mustard seeds)

Lemon juice (for seasoning)

Method

Heat vegetable oil and mustard oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot. Splutter cumin seeds, bay leaf, dry red chilli and coriander seeds. Add sliced onion and cook until translucent. Add chopped garlic and grated ginger to the onion mixture.

Once the onions are cooked until golden brown, add the lamb cubes and salt. Stir to sear the meat on medium to high heat. Add ginger garlic paste, coriander powder and whisked yogurt to lamb. Mix gently and cover the pot. Allow the lamb to cook on low heat. Add a little water to deglaze the pan.

Once the lamb is cooked to 70 per cent, stir in the fresh tomato purée, Kashmiri chilli powder and turmeric powder. Continue cooking the lamb on low heat until cooked. Gently toast the pickle spices in a pan and crush them coarsely. Add these spices, the chopped mango pickle, chopped fresh coriander, and ginger to the lamb. Adjust the seasoning with salt and lemon juice.

Let the lamb rest for 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

• Chef Atul Kochhar, patron chef of Rang Mahal by Atul Kochhar, JW Marriott Marquis, Dubai.

“Achari gosht is one of the favourite dishes in North India,” says Kochhar. “A unique combination of spices and flavour make this a perfect afternoon lunch feast, where all the family members sit together and plan their evening celebration. I remember this particular recipe from my school days when I was invited to my friend’s house to celebrate Diwali.”

Dessert: Gujjia dim sum with strawberry-green chilli chutney

Ingredients

For strawberry chutney

1 tsp vegetable oil

1 star anise

2 gm fennel seeds

1 tsp onion seeds

1 chopped green chilli

1 cup fresh strawberry purée

2 tbsp granulated sugar

1/2 tsp salt

For the filling

1 cup khoya (thickened milk solids, available at any Indian grocery store)

1 cup sugar

1 tsp green cardamom powder

1 tbsp almond chopped

1 tbsp desiccated coconut

For dim sum wrappers

1 cup wheat starch

2 tsp tapioca starch or flour (available at Carrefour)

3/4 cup of boiling water

1 tsp vegetable oil

Method

For chutney

Heat oil in a pan. Temper star anise, fennel seeds, onion seeds and green chilli. Add strawberry purée and sugar cook for 10 minutes. Add salt and let it cool. Serve at room temperature with steamed gujjia.

For filling

Sauté khoya over medium heat until it looks slightly fried. Take off the heat. When cool, mix in the sugar, cardamom, almonds and desiccated coconut.

For dim sum wrappers

In a large bowl, combine the wheat starch and tapioca starch. Slowly stir in the boiling water until there is no dry flour in the bowl. Set aside for 5 minutes. Add some oil and knead the flour into a dough until smooth. Knead the dough again to remove the air and then roll the dough into a cylindrical shape of about 2.5cm and then cut it into small sections around 2.5cm in diameter. Roll the small section out to thin round wrappers one by one. Add the prepared filling and wrap them one by one. Steam the gujjia until the dough is cooked and serve with the strawberry chutney.

• By Himanshu Saini, executive chef of Tresind in Nassima Royal Hotel on Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai

“You say Diwali and you think about gujiya. These saccharine delights are synonymous with the festival, especially when it comes to exchanging them with relatives,” says Saini. “Every Indian will have fond memories of gujiya boxes being prepared at home and traditionally offered to guests and relatives on days leading up to the festival. With a contemporary twist, these sweet dumplings are perfect to seal the Diwali meal.”

Drink: Diwali Sparkler

Serves one

Ingredients

20ml cinnamon syrup

25ml fresh lemon juice

5ml sugar cane

Tonic water (to top up)

Ice

3 slices cucumber

Cinnamon stick

Method

Pour the first three ingredients into a shaker. Add ice, shake it and strain it into a glass with ice cubes and top up with tonic water as needed. Garnish with cucumber and cinnamon stick.

• By Chef Shyam Krishnakumar, assistant beverage manager at Mint Leaf of London, DIFC

"This drink has an amazing after taste thanks to the perfect combination of cucumber, which makes this drinks so refreshing, and cinnamon, which gives it just the right amount of spiciness."