He emerges from the kitchen with absolutely no sign of a chef in stress. After all, the clock has struck two. A Malay buffet at the newly opened Tamra, the multi-cuisine restaurant at Shangri-La’s-Eros Hotel, New Delhi, was open to be devoured or dismissed. The restaurant dons a Malay festive tone with red lantern and dream catchers hanging from the ceiling. Chef Muhammad Hajral Bin Lisarni inspects the food and heads in our direction only after giving a reassuring smile to his team that’s ready to serve to a bunch of food critics, patrons and hotel guests.
“You know in India it’s a win-win situation. Familiar spices are going to break the ice,” Lisarni says. He quickly points out common Indian ingredients used in the Malay cuisine: coriander powder, turmeric, green chili, red chili powder, palm sugar (jaggery) and ginger. For a millisecond, we thought we have landed in an Indian curry house. But then it takes a few bites to understand that Malay cuisine is anything but Indian or Thai for that matter. It’s subtler than Indian food but richer than any other pan-Asian cuisine. “Mostly, it’s the best of both worlds, a fusion of Chinese vegetables and Indian spices. The blend makes our food rich and fresh,” says the 32-year-old chef. The menu seconds him. If you can find sup sayuran dengan soohon on the menu that resembles the Chinese vegetable soup with glass noodles, you also can relish gulai kawah kaki kambing, lamb shank slow-cooked in a mild curry sauce that seems to be a derivative of our very own curry-based meat dish. Kerabu pucuk paku dengan taugeh or bean sprout salad with fiddle fern leaf makes an appearance along with acar timun (cucumber pickle). Fish and seafood too flow freely. Ikan kerapu masak lemak cili api, grouper fish cooked in spicy coconut and turmeric sauce, and sambal sotong (squid in chili and shrimp paste) find its place in the menu. For dessert, Chef Lisarni has chosen the star of every Malay menu: kuih nagasari (deep-fried sweet green bean) and the interestingly titled bubur cha-cha, a colourful sweet stew made with sweet potato and yam.
Two menus, two distinct set of entrees and main course with ingredients from our backyard. Looks like a custom-made flavourful journey for Indian food connoisseurs. Lisarni, who’s in India for a nine-day Malay food festival, insists that there’s something unique about the food he’s grown up with. “We might use a lot of coconut, garlic and fresh chilies just like you do in India but our food has some homegrown ingredients—roots, flowers, herbs—that are found only in Malaysia. It imparts a unique flavour to our food,” he says. The chef is, in fact, carrying some spices, Malay curry paste and a ‘secret’ ingredient with him on his maiden trip to India.
Just a couple of weeks of his visit and he’s already tasted the best that India has to offer (read dal makhni, mutton rogan josh and dum biryani) and also made a quick trip to the Taj Mahal. “I want to make my trip as interesting as I can.” The chef seems to be on a roll just like the rest of his life journey. Chef Lisarni started late—he picked up a spatula for the first time when he was 24—but has been in the top gear ever since. For eleven years at Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur, he’s carved a niche by using simple techniques that enhances natural textures and flavours imbued with cultural influences. We’ll wait to see how he fares in his Indian leg.
The Malaysian food festival will be on at Tamra by the Shangri-La’s-Eros Hotel, New Delhi, from May 23 to 31.