Chefs are mixing unusual ingredients to amp up health benefits of usual dishes

The change came about last year when the pandemic made health a top priority.
Paan jamun
Paan jamun

Like most Indians, Mumbai-based pastry chef and founder of Le 15 patisserie, Pooja Dhingra, grew up seeing her parents sip ginger-infused tea and take haldi doodh (turmeric milk) regularly. She didn’t think much of it, in fact, it was just a routine thing.

Little did she know, there would come a time when many of her bakes would incorporate the wholesome goodness of these herbs. The change came about last year when the pandemic made health a top priority.

And not just immunity-boosting ingredients, people like Dhingra are also experimenting with other herbs to add a pinch of well-being to their plates.

Dhingra put out a recipe of PMS cake on her Instagram feed and got a great response. She now plans to incorporate it in her menu' in which she uses ashwagandha powder, known to reduce anxiety, boost fertility and improve brain function.

"While chocolate has always been a binge staple for women when they're chumming, I thought it would be a good idea to add something that would give them a boost of health. And because the flavour of dark chocolate balanced itself out well with the bitterness of ashwagandha, the result was satisfactory," she says.

Herbs and More

According to reports, in 2016, Google reported a 56 per cent increase in search for turmeric between November 2015 and January 2016. And that’s close to when turmeric latte or India’s humble granny’s home remedy, haldi doodh, suddenly became the 'cool' beverage worldwide.

It’s natural then that when the coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc across the world, Indians started relooking at their medicinal herbs. And chefs who were always experimenting with these herbs found acceptance among foodies. Take for instance Chef Sugandha Saxena’s haldi nimbu laddoo, which she conceptualised early in 2020.

During the recent festive season, it was her second bestseller after her famous besan laddoos. "That it is a gluten-free, refined sugar and vegan laddoo perhaps did add to its popularity. I did not intend to promote it as an immunity booster but its health benefits were quite obvious," says Chef Sugandha.

Dhingra too incorporated haldi in her bakes when she conceptualised the 'golden butter cookies'. She says, "Turmeric latte has become so popular in the West, something which we’ve been drinking for centuries. So, I wanted to include turmeric in baking."

The golden butter cookies have a generous amount of haldi that gives these butter cookies the lovely golden colour. Dhingra’s YouTube channel and IGTV have got a steady following for these cookies with a lot of people trying out and giving great feedback.

Silver Lining
After years of neglect, ancient Indian grains and herbs have finally been gaining popularity. Millets suddenly became popular on menus of five-star hotel restaurants and medicinal herbs became sought-after plants. Chef Anas Qureshi Amaranth introduced the Amaranth vanilla mousse. “The inspiration came when I was talking to fellow chefs about the dying popularity of ancient grains. So we innovated 
and presented it in an attractive way,” he says. 

Desi Platter
This was a year of discoveries. When Chef Harangad Singh started his cloud kitchen Parat, he conceptualised it as a tribute to modern Indian flavours. One of the dishes on his menu is the ‘paan jamun’. The idea was to combine gulab jamun and paan. The result was a spectacular sweet dish. So the next time you hear of an ancient herb, know that there are fun ways of using it in your meals.

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