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What’s hot this week: Butter chicken with a difference by Chef Amninder Sandhu; Tom Ford Beauty’s Black Orchid fragrance; hot ballooning over ancient cities (above); Good Earth’s pomegranates-meet-British roses design collection; Grant’s whisky bar in a box; and IHCL experiences in Goa
Chef Amninder Sandhu or Ammu’s legion of fans insists it is. Many know her as the first modern Indian chef to advocate open-fire cooking in a sandpit or coal and wood-fired sigri and angeethi ovens. She is also the only Indian chef to appear on Netflix’s popular show, The Final Table, in 2018. The launch of her delivery brand, Ammu, first in Pune and then in Mumbai, has people ordering in.
Ammu borrows recipes from her childhood in Assam and gems she has discovered on her travels across the country. So, there is that butter chicken—The Better Butter Chicken or tender pulled tandoori chicken in a curry stewed with tomatoes and cashews. There’s her trademark Deomali—a mutton dish from Arunachal Pradesh which is slow-cooked wrapped in a bamboo stem and served with rice. In kebabs, try the Truffle Naga mushroom kebab stuffed with cream cheese, and the delicate dahi kebabs speckled with chickpeas and pomegranate molasses.
Anita Lal, founder and creative director of Good Earth, and British artist Rebecca Campbell are design icons in their respective countries. While Lal, over the years, has revived several motifs that are emblematic of Indian design, Campbell is known for her bright palettes and richly textured paintings.
Their collaboration collection, Pomegranates and Roses, is part of the brand’s 25th-anniversary collection, BOSPORUS. The bone china tableware Good Earth Pomegranates & Roseshas been hand-painted by Rebecca with fantastical scenes in radiant jewel colours: a cheetah rests under a pomegranate tree with branches that droop with jewel-like fruits; serving plates, bowls and cake stand imprinted with ruby red pomegranates and deep pink roses; cracked pomegranates with arils show up on some of the plates, while roses and pomegranates edge others, while creeping vine of pink roses stretch languidly on some bowls. “There is a delightful Persian cookbook named Pomegranates and Roses. I wanted to create a tableware collection that embodies the book by capturing the delight of alfresco meals on the table,” says Lal.
India is not new to hot air ballooning, though there were very few adventure sports purveyors in the past offering you a chance to float over a city or a destination, given the costs involved (Rs 13,000 for an hour-long flight). And yet, if there is one fun experience you travel for in the near future, make it hot air ballooning, particularly over atmospheric ancient cities.
A few months ago, Varanasi hosted its first three-day hot air balloon festival to mark Dev Deepavali. The balloons flew over a surreal landscape: waters of Ganga flowing below, diya-lit temples, ghats overflowing with pilgrims, and gold-plated spires of the 18th century Kashi Vishwanath temple. And then early in January 2022, at the Mandu Festival in Madhya Pradesh, hot-air balloons rose again from a deserted stretch of land far from the town centre. The balloons flew over the Vindhyan ranges, ancient ruins of the former fort-capital of Parmar rulers of Malwa, Rani Roopmati’s open-to-elements pavilion, the ship-shaped Jahaz Mahal, and Chikli, a village where basil and fennel grow wild—all looking like specks in the distance. Both the experiences were organised by SkyWaltz Balloon Safari, a licensed commercial hot air balloon operator with pilots drawn from India, Madrid, England, and even a Dutch air force man. The good news is they offer regular hot air ballooning experiences over the forests of Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, the pink city of Jaipur, the hills of Lonavala, the surroundings of 15th-century Neemrana Fort Palace, and the holy city of Pushkar. Take that flight to explore your favourite ancient city, mountains, or forests from the point where eagles soar.
The Jam Station Kit from Grant’s whisky is more than just a collection of bar accessories. The luminescent dark green set of three boxes easily transforms into a quick-fix bar. Open it up on your table and out pops a modular kit with a whisky glass, accessories such as a pourer, stirrer and peg measure, bottles of Grant’s Distinction whiskies, a bottle of dehydrated orange, and cocktail recipes that you can make at home. If you entertain and are looking for a fun and quick way to serve whisky cocktails, you can’t do better than this now. A bit about the whisky: Made by master blender Brian Kinsman at William Grant & Sons, Grant’s Distinction is the third best selling Scotch globally. It is bottled in triangular boxes designed by German-British graphic designer Hans Schleger.
Here is what Tom Ford Black Orchid smells like: Black truffle, bergamot, black plum, truffle, Amalfi lemon, and a floral-spicy heart of black orchid (native to China and Japan). Only a brand such as Tom Ford Beauty could blend that many complex scents in a bottle of pure bliss. The fragrance debuted in India on the Nykaa.com website and the Nykaa luxe stores. This unisex perfume is opulent and classically dark. Even the fluted black bottle that holds it makes a glamour statement. The exotic blend was created by the designer in his quest for a “perfect flower – luxurious, elegant, pure and sophisticated”.
If travel is about exploring a destination beyond the tourist traps, then IHCL in Goa—owners and operators of expansive luxury hotels such as Taj Fort Aguada, Taj Resort and Convention Centre, Taj Exotica, and a host of Taj SeleQtions and Ama Trails & Stays—crafts experiences that redefine the destination for travellers.
Like the native dining experience at Taj Fort Aguada, designed by Executive Chef Rishi Manucha and Chef Doyle Alphonso, Chef de partie of Morisco Seafood Speciality Restaurant. While the local thalis they serve are excellent, the lost desserts of Goa revived by Chef Doyle are really something to write home about. Don’t miss the Bolo Sans Rival (a cashew cake with buttercream), Pastel de nata (a Portuguese egg custard tart), and a personal favourite, Dedos de Dama (a lovely caramelised dessert on a stick). At Taj SeleQtion Cidade de Goa, Dona Paula, opt for a languid Panjim walk that takes you to a musician’s home and then the house of another local for a lavish lunch. End the day with The Fado Night at the understated Alfama, where the Cotta Family, who has been preserving the art for generations, will serenade you as you dine on a special four-course menu of Goan-Portuguese delicacies.
