The Chef

Maravan’s Recipes

Maravan’s recipes are partly inspired by Heiko Antoniewicz’s wonderful cookbook Verwegen kochen: Molekulare Techniken und Texturen (Matthaes Verlag). In the following collection of recipes, Antoniewicz has simplified the preparation and, where we thought necessary, allowed the dishes to be made with less elaborate kitchen equipment. The amounts specified for the Love Menu recipes are for a ten-course meal for two people. Those for the Promotional Menu are for four people.

The Love Menu

Mini chapattis with essence of curry leaf, cardamom and coconut oil

Urad lentil ribbons in two consistencies

Ladies’ fingers curry on sali rice with garlic foam

Poussin curry on sashtika rice with coriander foam

Churaa varai on nivara rice with mint foam

Frozen saffron and almond foam with saffron textures

Sweet and spicy spheres of cardamom, cinnamon and ghee

Glazed chickpea, ginger and pepper vulvas

Jellied asparagus and ghee phalluses

Liquorice, honey and ghee ice lollies

Mini chapattis with essence of curry leaf, cardamom and coconut oil

Mini chapattis

65g wheat flour

40ml lukewarm water

1 tsp ghee

Work the flour and water by hand into a very smooth dough, kneading for about 8 minutes. Cover the dough with a muslin cloth and leave to rest for 1 hour. With floured hands make marble-sized balls of dough. Sprinkle a work surface with a little flour, flatten the dough balls and roll them into thin rounds. Just before serving, dry fry them on both sides in a hot cast-iron pan until brown.

Essence of curry leaf, cardamom and coconut oil

100g coconut oil

9 fresh curry leaves

1 cinnamon stick, coarsely ground

Put all the ingredients for about 1 hour in a rotary evaporator at 55ºC. For the essence you can use either the distillate from the upper flask or the concentrate from the lower one. Maravan mixes the two. Drip the essence onto the chapattis using a pipette.

Urad lentil ribbons in two consistencies

200g dal lentils

150ml milk

50g yoghurt

70g rock sugar

2g agar agar

Leave the lentils to soak in the sugared milk for at least 6 hours. Blend to a fine paste. Spread half of this onto a baking sheet, cut lengthways into strips, and dry in the oven at 50ºC. Remove from baking sheet while still warm and twist into the desired shape.

Mix the other half of the paste with agar agar and heat to 90ºC. Stir in the yoghurt, then also spread thinly onto a baking sheet. Leave to cool and cut into strips of the same width as the others. Intertwine with the dried spirals before serving.

Ladies’ fingers curry on sali rice with garlic foam

Ladies’ fingers curry

10 tender okra pods (ladies’ fingers)

2 green chillies, finely chopped

1 medium onion, finely chopped

¼ tsp fenugreek seeds

½ tsp chilli powder

½ tsp salt

5-8 fresh curry leaves

50ml water

50ml thick coconut milk

Wash the okra and leave to dry or pat with kitchen paper. Cut into 3cm pieces. In a saucepan mix the okra, chilli, onion and all the spices thoroughly. Add the water and cook until almost all the liquid has evaporated. Stir and add the coconut milk. Cook for a further 3 minutes. Reduce the liquid on a low heat.

Sali rice

1 cup sali rice

2 cups water

salt

Briefly pan fry the rice and add the water. Cover and leave to cook for about 20 minutes in the oven at 160ºC. Remove from oven and immediately break up the rice with a wooden spatula so that it doesn’t stick. Put into a form and keep warm. When needed, remove from the form and place the curry on top.

Garlic foam

200ml chicken stock, all fat removed

1 clove garlic

1 dash lemon juice

2g soya lecithin

Blend the stock finely with the other ingredients and pass through a sieve. Combine with the soya lecithin, season and whisk. Cover a large bowl with some clingfilm to prevent splashing, and under this whisk up the foam, working in plenty of air. Leave to settle for a while. Using a slotted spoon remove the foam and arrange as desired.

Poussin curry on sashtika rice with coriander foam

Poussin curry

200g poussin, cut into bite-size pieces

3½ tsp coriander seeds

½ tsp cumin seeds

½ tsp black pepper

1 dried red chilli

1 large onion, chopped

¼ tsp fenugreek seeds

1 pinch turmeric powder

6 cloves garlic

salt according to taste

400ml water

½ tsp tamarind paste

6-8 fresh curry leaves

1 dessertspoon thick coconut milk

Finely grind the coriander and cumin seeds, pepper and chillies. Simmer the poussin, onion, fenugreek seeds, turmeric, garlic and salt in 300ml water, covered. Dissolve the ground spice mixture and tamarind in 100ml water and add, together with the curry leaves and coconut milk. Bring to the boil, simmer for 2 minutes and remove from the heat.

Sashtika rice

1 cup sashtika rice

3 cups water

Salt

Prepare as for sali rice above.

Coriander foam

200ml chicken stock, all fat removed

20 coriander seeds

1 bunch coriander leaves

2g soya lecithin

Prepare as for garlic foam above.

Churaa varai on nivara rice with mint foam

Churaa varai

250g shark steak

200g shredded coconut

¼ tsp turmeric powder

½ tsp ground pepper

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp salt

¼ tsp chilli powder (or according to taste)

1½ dessertspoons coconut oil

1 large onion, chopped

4 dried red chillies

½ tsp mustard seeds

9-11 fresh curry leaves

Steam the shark steak and leave to cool. Flake and mix thoroughly with the coconut, turmeric, pepper, cumin, salt and (according to taste) chilli powder. Sweat the onion in a pan with coconut oil until translucent. Add the dried chillies, mustard seeds and curry leaves, and fry until the mustard seeds start to jump. Add the shark mixture and stir everything together thoroughly on a low heat.

Nivara rice

1 cup nivara rice

3 cups water

salt

Prepare as for sali rice above.

Mint foam

200ml chicken stock, fat removed

1 bunch mint, leaves picked from stems

A little low-fat milk

2g soya lecithin

Prepare as for garlic foam above.

Frozen saffron and almond foam with saffron textures

Saffron textures

200ml mineral water

80g rock sugar, powdered

2g saffron powder

2g saffron threads

2g agar agar

1 leaf gelatine, soaked and squeezed out

40g ghee

Heat the water with the rock sugar. Dissolve the saffron powder in the water and stir in the agar agar. Bring to the boil and add the gelatine. Pour onto warmed plastic trays and leave to cool. Cut into 2cm wide strips. Brush with a thin covering of ghee and arrange the saffron threads on top. Roll up and arrange the cylinders on the plate so that they flank the foam.

Frozen saffron and almond foam

300ml cream

3g saffron powder

140g grated almonds

2 egg whites

1 dessertspoon rock sugar, powdered

2g salt

Heat the cream to 60ºC and thoroughly blend all the ingredients except the egg whites. Add the egg whites, put everything into a 0.5l siphon, spray using a nitrogen cartridge, and chill for 3 hours. If required put nitrogen into a Dewar flask and chill a metal spoon. Spray a walnut-sized ball of foam onto the spoon and turn for 20 seconds in the nitrogen bath. Arrange between the saffron textures and serve immediately.

Sweet and spicy spheres of cardamom, cinnamon and ghee

Spice paste

200ml coconut water

40g ghee

2 spikes long pepper

1 cardamom pod

1 pinch cinnamon powder

40g palm sugar

0.5g xanthan gum

2g calcium lactate

In a mortar pound the ghee and spices to a fine paste. Warm the paste, pass through a sieve and mix with the texturizers in the coconut water. Leave to rest until the air bubbles have disappeared. Gently heat before using.

Brine

500ml mineral water

2.5g alginate

Mix the two ingredients and leave to stand.

Using a round spoon make balls from the spice paste in the brine. Draw some warmed ghee into a disposable syringe and affix a needle. Inject the spheres in the brine with ghee, retract the needle, then turn the spheres immediately so that the pricks close up. Leave for 3 to 5 minutes in the brine. Rinse with water and keep warm at 60ºC under clingfilm.

Glazed chickpea, ginger and pepper vulvas

50g sali rice

300ml milk

2 dessertspoons chickpea flour

1 dessertspoon ghee

2 dessertspoons palm sugar

1 dessertspoon chopped almonds

1 dessertspoon raisins

3 dates

½ teaspoon powdered ginger

½ teaspoon milled black pepper

Steep the rice in milk and blend, adding milk all the while, until you have a fine, moist paste. Add a further 150ml milk and stir well. Pass everything through a fine muslin and squeeze out well. Add another 50ml of milk to the extract. Fry the chickpea flour in ghee, boil it up in the liquid together with the sugar and stir continuously on a low heat, working it to a viscous mixture. Add the remaining ingredients and keep stirring for another 2-3 minutes on a low heat. Spread the paste onto a baking sheet and leave to cool. Cut up into equal portions, form the desired shape and glaze. Dry in the oven at 60ºC.

Glaze

100g icing sugar

1 dessertspoon pomegranate syrup

Mix the ingredients and glaze the biscuits. Allow to dry to a matt sheen.

Jellied asparagus and ghee phalluses

(This recipe uses fresh asparagus. Maravan uses dried asparagus, reducing the liquid in the rotary evaporator.)

200g white asparagus

1 dessertspoon sugar

A little salt

4g agar agar

1 leaf gelatine, soaked and squeezed out

1g chlorophyll

4 cardamom pods, finely ground

100g ghee

Put the asparagus in a saucepan with cold water, cover and bring to the boil. Add cardamom and cook until the asparagus is tender. Purée the asparagus and pass through a sieve. Put 4 dessertspoons of the mixture to one side and mix with the chlorophyll. Mix 3g of the agar agar with the rest of the purée, bring to the boil and add the gelatine. Pour into a flat form and chill until the mass is workable. Cut into strips, roll these in baking paper and chill. When these have set, roll into sausages and cut into 10-cm long pieces. Boil up the rest of the asparagus with 1g agar agar. Dip one end of each jellied asparagus into the pan to a depth of 2cm several times until a green bulge is formed. Chill. Cut the green heads with small scissors so that they look like asparagus tips. Serve with a small bowl of warm cardamom, chilli and ghee dip.

Liquorice, honey and ghee ice lollies

100ml water

20g liquorice paste

30g honey

30g ghee

0.5g xanthan gum

40g pistachios, cut into thin slices

Heat the water. Stir in the honey and liquorice paste. Mix in the xanthan and stir the ghee into the warm mixture. Pour circles of the mixture onto a sheet lined with baking paper, and give each one a wooden stick. Sprinkle with the pistachios and freeze. Take from freezer and serve when required.

The Promotional Menu

Cinnamon curry caviar chapattis

Baby snapper marinated in turmeric with molee curry sabayon

Frozen mango curry foam

Milk-fed lamb cutlets in jardaloo essence with dried apricot purée

Beech-smoked tandoori poussin on tomato, butter and pepper jelly

Kulfi with mango air

Cinnamon curry caviar chapattis

(Made without using rotary evaporator)

40ml mineral water

4 fresh curry leaves

1 cinnamon stick

1 pinch sugar

1 pinch salt

120ml coconut water

1g alginate

2g calcium chloride

500ml water

10g coconut oil

Briefly heat the water. Add the spices and leave to infuse for 1 hour. Add salt and sugar. Strain through a fine muslin, squeezing well. The liquid should give 20ml of essence. Mix with the coconut water and season to taste. Blend the alginate with a wand mixer. Leave until all air bubbles have disappeared. Mix the chloride with the water and put to one side. Put the curry mixture into a large syringe and squirt drops into the brine. Leave for a maximum of 1 minute and rinse in water. Drain well and serve quickly so that the balls do not set in the centre. Arrange on the warm chapattis and grate a little coconut oil on top.

Baby snapper marinated in turmeric with molee curry sabayon

Baby snapper marinated in turmeric

4 boneless baby snapper fillets

1 pinch turmeric

salt

60ml liquid coconut milk

juice and zest of 1 lime

Make a few cuts in the fillets and arrange in a form. Blend the other ingredients with a wand mixer and put on top of the fish. Marinate for at least 6 hours in the refrigerator. Take out and pat dry. Starting with the head end, roll up the fillets and fix them with wooden skewers. Bake for 12-15 minutes on a lightly oiled sheet in a fan-assisted oven at 60°C, so that the fillets are still slightly translucent.

Molee curry sabayon

1 small onion, finely diced

1 small chilli, deseeded and very finely chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

10g diced ginger

20g coconut oil

1 fully ripe tomato

5 crushed peppercorns

2 crushed cloves

1 cardamom pod

4 curry leaves

Baby snapper marinade

300ml fish stock

50ml coconut oil

1g xanthan gum

1g guar gum

Sweat the onion with the other spices in the coconut oil until translucent. Quarter the tomatoes and add to the pan. Fry until the spices have fully opened up their aroma. Pour on the marinade, bring to the boil and reduce slightly. Add the fish stock and reduce again in a water bath to 300ml. Strain through a fine sieve and mix with the coconut oil. Blend the xanthan gum and guar gum with a wand mixer. Put into a 0.5l siphon, spray using a nitrogen cartridge and keep warm at 60°C in a water bath. Put the fillets on the plates and arrange with the sabayon from the siphon.

Frozen mango curry foam

200g mango purée

150g cream

20g chickpea flour

10ml ginger juice

1 pinch chilli powder

1 pinch cumin powder

1 pinch Kashmir curry powder

(Maravan fries the spices individually and then grinds them to make his own curry powder.)

Briefly blend all the ingredients, pass through a fine sieve and place into a 0.5l siphon spray using a nitrogen cartridge and chill. If desired, the foam can also be sprayed onto a metal spoon cooled in nitrogen and turned in nitrogen for a maximum of 20 seconds. Serve immediately.

Milk-fed lamb cutlets in jardaloo essence with dried apricot purée

Milk-fed lamb cutlets in jardaloo essence

2 lamb cutlets with bones

200ml lamb stock

2 onions, finely diced

20g ginger, finely diced

2 cloves garlic, finely grated

2 cinnamon sticks

1 small chilli, mashed

A little cumin

1 dessert spoon ghee

Sweat the onions in the ghee and add the spices. Fry gently until the oils are released and give off their aroma. Add the lamb stock and reduce everything by half in a water bath. Finely strain the stock and put with the lamb cutlets in a vacuum pack. Cook in a water bath at 65°C for 15 minutes, remove the cutlets, pat dry and fry briefly.

Dried apricot purée

100g stoned unsulphured dried apricots

50ml orange juice

1 dessertspoon white wine vinegar

100g softened onions

Soak the apricots in the orange juice and wine vinegar. Heat up with the onions and work to a fine purée. Put the purée on the plates and arrange the sliced lamb cutlets. Add the potatoes and pour around some of the cooking liquid.

Beech-smoked tandoori poussin on tomato, butter and pepper jelly

Beech-smoked tandoori poussin

2 boned poussins

1 clove garlic, grated

10g ginger, finely chopped

1 chilli, finely chopped

8 ground coriander seeds

1 pinch garam masala

salt

Juice and zest of 1 lemon

30g yoghurt

Place the poussins in a vacuum bag. Make a fine paste out of the other ingredients and add to the poussins. Close the bag and poach for 20 minutes in a water bath at 65°C. Remove the poussins and fry briefly.

Tomato, butter and pepper jelly

100ml tomato juice

100ml red pepper juice

20g ghee

2g agar agar

1 tsp beechwood smoking sawdust

Blend the juices with the ghee and the agar agar. Bring to the boil and pour into a rectangular form. Chill for two hours and cut into pieces of the desired size. Warm in the oven at 90°C.

Put the poussins in petri dishes and arrange the jelly. Add some of the poaching liquid. Burn the smoking sawdust in an electric pipe and pass the smoke under the petri dishes. Serve immediately, smoking for a maximum of 1 minute.

Kulfi with mango air

Kulfi

100ml milk

100ml cream

40g sugar

A little lime juice

1 pinch cardamom

1g saffron

Heat the milk to 60°C and dissolve the sugar in it. Stir in the lime juice, cardamom and saffron. Mix with the cream and season to taste. Using a whisk, beat the mixture with nitrogen in a coated vessel to a creamy ice and immediately form into balls.

Mango air

200ml mango juice

a little lime juice

2g soya lecithin

4 leaves of silver leaf

Mix all the ingredients together and whisk in air with a wand mixer. Wait until the foam has stabilized and then remove. Serve with the ice cream with the silver leaf.