Italian restaurant Prego in a new avatar

HIMALAYAN MIRROR
GANGTOK, WEDNESDAY 04 FEBRUARY 2015
TRAVEL/LIFESTYLE/ FOOD
5
Experiments happening in every Indian How mother's lifestyle affects
obesity risk of kids
kitchen: Chef Sanjeev Kapoor
Mumbai : The conventional dal-roti staple
apart,
every
Indian
kitchen is witnessing
experiments
galore.
Whether it's a desi twist
to the Italian pasta or a
tinge of the batata vada in
a burger, Indians are trying food items and
cuisines more than ever
before, says veteran star
chef Sanjeev Kapoor.
The 50-year-old, best
known for his apron-clad
avatar behind the kitchen
counter look in TV's
"Khana Khazana", says
he has witnessed a wave
of change in the country's
culinary system in his
over two-decade career.
"A lot of change has
come in India's culinary
system. By watching
cookery shows, people
have broadened their
cooking skills. They have
started making their own
recipes. Now chefs don't
hesitate in trying out new
recipes," Kapoor told
IANS during an interview
here.
"There was a time
when people were happy
being restricted to 'dalroti', but now experiments are happening in
every kitchen," he added
during a cookout session
ahead of the new season
of "MasterChef India",
where aspiring chefs
worked on innovative
vegetarian recipes.
Kapoor, a judge on the
Star Plus show, believes
that it's not just Indians'
affinity for international
cuisines that has seen an
upsurge. The country's
regional delights have
also found several takers for example, people in the
north are hogging on
dosas and idlis.
"Food is no more divided amongst regions.
Unlike times when dosa
(fermented crepe made
from rice batter) was only
a favourite in southern
states, it is now becoming
popular in other regions
too.
"Due to various infor-
mation sources like
books, internet and TV,
people's curiosity for
regional food recipes has
increased.
"Also, international cuisine has become a centre
of attraction now. Earlier,
it was considered a parttime meal. But now people are consuming it on a
regular
basis,"
said
Kapoor, who has authored
many cookbooks, is a
restaurant owner and consultant and has appeared
in shows like "Sanjeev
Kapoor Ke Kitchen
Khiladi" and "MasterChef
India" - and also launched
the FoodFood channel.
While he agrees that
foreign food items are
being lapped up by the
new
generation,
he
strongly feels that international cuisine in India
always ends up getting a
"totally different" twist.
"Nowadays more of
international foods like
macaroni and pasta are
becoming popular in
India. But Indians are giving it a 'desi' touch by
adding spices to it. So, it
should be called Indian
food not international," he
said.
"The pasta and macaroni that people cook here
are not similar to what
you get abroad. Here (in
India), there is no difference between a 'batata
vada' and a burger," he
said.
Therefore, he conjectured that at least for the
next 10 to 20 years, it will
be India's regional food
which will be in high
demand in the country, no
matter how much the
availability of international cuisines increases.
Kapoor's own expertise
in food can be tasted at his
popular
diners
like
Signature by Sanjeev
Kapoor, Brooklyn Shuffle
Diner,
Options
by
Sanjeev Kapoor, Sura
Vie, The Yellow Chilli
and Khazana in various
cities.
He feels that while several restaurant owners are
emphasising on their
eatery's ambience, design
and dressing of the food
"just to seek the attention
of customers", "taste of
the food must also be kept
in mind" to pull in longterm patrons.
London :
Mother's
lifestyle and diet even
before conception can
affect the chance of her
kids becoming obese later
in life, a study has confirmed.
"Our findings suggest
that interventions to prevent obesity need to start
earlier, even before conception, and that having a
healthy body weight and
not smoking at this time
could be key," said lead
researcher Sian Robinson
from
University
of
Southampton in Britain.
For the study, the
researchers looked at five
early life obesity risk factors, a short duration of
breastfeeding (less than
one month) and four
maternal factors during
pregnancy - obesity,
excess pregnancy weight
gain, smoking, and low
vitamin D status.
At age four, children
with four or five of these
factors were four times
more likely to be overweight or obese than chil-
dren who had experienced
none, and fat mass was,
on an average, 19 percent
higher.
By age six, the risk
increased and these children were 4.65 times
more likely to be overweight or obese and fat
mass was 47 percent higher.
Importantly, these differences
were
not
explained by other fac-
tors, such as the children's
quality of diet or physical
activity levels.
The data analysed came
from 991 children taking
part in the Southampton
Women's Survey - one of
the largest studies of
mothers recruited before
pregnancy, along with
their infants and children.
The study appeared in
The American Journal of
Clinical Nutrition.
White blanket wraps
Himachal's Queen of Hills
Italian restaurant Prego in a new avatar
Chennai : Prego, the 56cover fine dining Italian
restaurant at the Taj
Coromandel hotel, has
literally turned on its
head - morphing into an
informal joint, anchored
by a new and young
Italian chef with his
brand new menu.
From being a very formal outlet with a dress
code and with children
barred, Prego (welcome
in Italian) is now more
down-to-earth and welcomes the little ones with
an open heart.
The restaurant is now
lively with children coming in and the tables are
more sexy as there is no
white cloth covering
them.
While I mulled this
over, 26-year-old Luca
D'Amora, the new Italian
chef, came over to the
table and presented the
new menu.
With around 10 years'
experience in commercial kitchens overseas,
D'Amora is also adept in
whipping up Mexican,
Spanish and French dishes.
Queried about the philosophy behind the new
menu D'Amora told
IANS: "It is fresh and
modern. The plating is
simple and the dishes are
more flavourful. The
accent is on using fresh
vegetables and making
the sauces and other
items rather than relying
on readymade ones."
"I prefer a small but a
good menu card. The fish
used here are the day's
catch from the Bay of
Bengal. The pasta is
made afresh," he said
serving the hot and tasty
potato beignets/fritter,
goat cheese cream, tomato coulis and caramelised
cherry tomato.
However, to arrive at
the new menu with an
expected life span of
around six/eight months
was not easy as D'Amora
had to test around 300
dishes to finalise the
offerings.
Meanwhile, other tasty
appetisers - seared scallops, truffle and parmesan cream, EVOO soy
ginger glazed chicken
mille feuille, garlic cream
and parma ham, fresh
mozzarella and confit
tomato - arrived at the
table and soon vanished
from the plates.
It was time for the
soup, and D'Amora
offered truffle scented
provolone/cheese soup
which was gentle. One
can also add a good
amount of pepper and dip
crispy bread in the soup
before taking a bite.
Non-vegans can dive
into
asparagus
and
spinach
soup
with
bronzed scallops.
Following next were
the pastas - the attractive
goat cheese and spinach
ravioli pasta, the handrolled purple potato with
asparagus sauce and the
tagliolini seafood and
squid ink sauce.
It may take two pieces
for one to get accustomed
to the taste of goat cheese
but the purple potato and
taglioline seafood went
down easily.
On the pricing front,
officials said that the net
outgo under the new
menu will be lower for a
guest and with two types
of portions - small and
large - one can taste a
greater number of dishes.
"In wines - white and
red - we have a large
number of varieties.
Guests need not buy a
full bottle but can have
even half-a-glass and can
pair it with the food,"
Alok Anand, executive
chef at Taj Coromandel,
told IANS, offering the
crispy ortolana and feta
cheese pizza. "Our focus
is on increasing footfalls
to the restaurant by offering an authentic experience," Anand added.
D'Amora's disappointment was visible when
one said "finito" Italian
for finished.
To cheer him up and
ready for the main
course, it was time for
Jasmine tea and a little
wait, which was worth it,
as the pan seared fish
topped with powdered
pista tasted great.
So was the square
shaped zucchini and
tomato timbale balsamic
reduction.
Chicken and cheese
lovers can go for mozzarella chicken with
Sicilian lemon and caper
sauce.
One can also try out
braised lamb shank, celeriac cream, caramelised
shallots; pork belly
cooked for eight hours;
balsamic figs and apricot
glaze; and Zucchini and
tomato timbale (tomato
sauce).
To end the elaborate
dinner in a colourful way,
go for The Color (dark
and white chocolate, citrus berries and sponge).
Extending the experience of home-style dining, guests are invited to
Casa D'Amora, the chef's
home where he would
design and serve Italian
family style dining - a
four course tasting menu
per person-based on the
guest's preference which is outside the
menu.
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Shimla : The hills of picturesque tourist resorts
Shimla, Manali and
Narkanda Tuesday saw
more spells of snow,
bringing cheer to the hospitality industry.
This was another significant snowfall that froze
the "Queen of Hills", as
Shimla
was
fondly
described by the British.
The
snowfall
has
brought down the minimum temperature to 0.7
degree Celsius.
According to the Met
Office here, some areas of
Shimla like the Mall Road,
the Ridge, the US Club
and Jakhu hills got plentiful snow. Other picturesque tourist resorts
Chail Kasauli in Solan district and Dalhousie in
Chamba district are experiencing snow.
"High-altitude areas of
Lahaul and Spiti, Chamba,
Mandi, Kullu, Kinnaur,
Sirmaur and Shimla districts have been experiencing moderate to heavy
snow on the second consecutive day," a weather
department official said.
Shimla and its upper
areas
like
Kufri,
Narkanda, Jubbal and
Kotkhai received moderate snow. Manali in Kullu
district and Kalpa in
Kinnaur district experienced 10 cm and 52 cm
snow, respectively. These
towns recorded a low of
minus 1.4 and minus 9.8
degrees Celsius. Tourist
Mayank Bhatia said:
"What a pleasant surprise
to see snow in Shimla in
February."
"The occupancy in
hotels is likely to spike up
owing to snow," D.P.
Bhatia, general manager
of Clarke's Hotel in
Shimla, told IANS.
Keylong in Lahaul and
Spiti district saw a minimum temperature of
minus 6.5 degrees Celsius
with snow of 18 cm. Rain
lashed lower areas of the
state such as Dharamsala,
Palampur, Solan, Nahan,
Bilaspur, Una, Hamirpur
and Mandi, pulling down
both night and day temperatures. Dharamsala,
which recorded 38.6 mm
rain, saw the night temperature at 3.6 degrees
Celsius.
Traffic
movement
beyond Dhalli, 10km from
here, remained disrupted
since a large stretch of the
Hindustan-Tibet Road was
under a thick blanket of
snow.
Switch off smartphone for
healthy sleep
London : The more your
teenage son chats on
Facebook during the sleep
hours, more he or she is at
an increased risk of sleep
problems and depressive
symptoms, finds a study.
Researchers
from
University of Basel in
Switzerland
analysed
more than 300 students
and found that that
teenagers who own smartphones spend more time
online - also during the
night which may affect
their sleep.
"Due to wireless internet connections and cheap
flat rates, teenagers with
smartphones spend more
time online and communicate with their peers for
less money - for example
via WhatsApp - which
has changed their digital
media use pattern profoundly," they noticed.
The results showed that
during
weekdays,
teenagers with smartphones spent more time
on the internet than their
peers with conventional
mobile phones; on average two hours compared
to one hour. In addition,
they wrote more text messages daily - on average
85 messages compared to
seven messages. A particularly noticeable difference was found for the
time when the teenagers
were in their beds at
night.
Only 17 percent of
smartphone
owners
switched their devices off
or put them on silent during the night compared to
47 percent of the
teenagers with conventional mobile phones.
Moreover, teenagers
with smartphones indicated to watch videos, to be
online, and to text with
friends more often during
the night than their counterparts with conventional
mobile phones.
"Most
importantly,
teenagers who used digital media at night had an
increased risk for poor
sleep and depressive
symptoms," the team said.
The researchers recommend that teenagers who
suffer from sleep disorders or severe daytime
tiredness to switch their
digital media devices off
at least one hour before
bedtime. The findings
were published in the
Journal of Youth and
Adolescence.