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Tandoori duck and salmon kebabs? Of course. But don’t forget the guchchi pulao at the Punjab Grill

(All photos: Ronjoy Gogoi)

Guchchi pulao? As in mushroom and rice?

You must be joking, I think silently, as Zorawar Kalra urges me to try it.

Why?

I eat vegetarian food, some, because I must — to stay healthy, to stay alive and all that mush.

So, I sigh, and say okay, but chiefly because this amiable, enthusiastic 32-year-old has softened me up with a flaky, fragrant salmon tikka, a robust, falling-off-the-bone tandoori duck, and a soft galouti kebab deeply redolent with a bouquet of spices.

I am with Zorawar to see how they made the salmon and the duck. This creative approach to Indian cooking intrigued me (though the roadside dhabas of Kerala do interesting things with duck) enough to make a mid-day journey to a place I abhor: The Select Citywalk Mall in South Delhi, a haven for consumerism and crowds.

So, here I am, starting this blog with a vegetarian entrée instead. Left to myself, I would never order the guchchi pulao at the Punjab Grill, a three-month restaurant that wants us to appreciate Indian fine dining.

Marinating the salmon, normally Norwegian, but this is Scottish

The mushroom pulao is — let’s just use a cliché — amazing.

Let me clarify that the mushrooms are not your everyday button mushrooms but expensive Kashmiri morels, delicately stuffed with paneer, herbs and khoya, then sealed and put on dum — steamed with the rice.

They don’t appear to make much money off this seemingly simply mushroom and rice, priced though it is at Rs 500.

The morels cost about Rs 15,000 per kg.

No typo there.

During the off-season, they soar to Rs 22,000 a kg.

Why would Punjab Grill offer them?

“We wanted to introduce them to people, so they can learn and appreciate (the morels),” says Zorawar, 32, the owner of the Grill, an MBA from Boston. He was once an analyst in Chicago before he returned to start a business with creative Indian food and make his father a brand.

Zorawar’s father is one of India’s kitchen legends: Jiggs Kalra, the man who gave Delhi’s Maurya Sheraton its legendary Dum Pukht restaurant and the Radisson its hit restaurant, The Great Kebab Factory, and people like me much pleasure with his books and thoughtful takes on Indian food.

I thought I would get into Zorawar’s kitchen, participate in getting the duck and salmon ready, maybe grab a bit of each and head out.

The salmon goes into the Punjab Grill tandoor. It’s ready within five minutes

On Zorawar’s urging, I sit down and wade through a six- or seven-course tasting menu. I have to say the Punjab Grill is everything you would expect from a Jiggs Kalra, who invented, modified, refined and finalised the entire menu.

Let me say that marrying western ideas with Indian food is not easy. It is an intuitive thing and you really need to have a feel for food and fusion.

I have previously seen such a creative approach to Indian food only at a restaurant in Vancouver, Canada, called Vij’s, which a New York Times food critic once called the best Indian restaurant in the world. It’s run by a man called Vikram Vij, a Mumbai Punjabi, who boasts daily lines of enthusiastic patrons — among them, in the past, Harrison Ford and Goldie Hawn, I’m told — waiting to get in. You can read about him here.

Jiggs is now confined to a wheelchair after a stroke and avoids red meat, but otherwise at 60, he is clearly as enthusiastic as he has ever been. “He doesn’t slow down,” muses Zorawar, who, like me, tries to avoid vegetarian food.

So, he understands when I refuse the vegetable galouti kebab (made of yam, turai and a little channa dal for binding), even though it’s smoked with a burning ember of coal, desi ghee, garlic and ginger to give it a faux out-of-the tandoor taste.

I don’t try the dahi ka kabab either, a fried, golden oval made of hung yogurt (one step before paneer),

Zorawar Kalra, owner of Punjab Grill, with his staff, duck and salmon

gramflour, herbs and spices.

What I do gleefully accept is the end result of the salmon and duck, which I earlier watch being cooked in the Punjab Grill’s minuscule, congested kitchen.

The restaurant occupies a prime spot at the Mall, but since it was originally designed to house a retail store — maybe jeans, jewellery, toys, underwear, take your pick — it was quite a task piping in the gas, piping out the exhaust and installing much powerful machinery to keep the air pleasant in the guest area and preventing asphyxiation in the kitchen.

You can read how to make the salmon and duck at the end of this post, but let me insist that you order them if you get to Saket. The salmon was Scottish (the restaurant orders only Norwegian, which leaves Zorawar asking his staff a few questions), marinated with a Jigg Kalra formulation, left overnight and cooked within 5 minutes of plunging it on a skewer into the tandoor.

It’s not cheap at Rs 725 (plus taxes) for five pieces, but it’s evidently very popular. Just the kind of thing, Delhi’s globalised Punjabis love — exotica with the flavours of home.

The duck is Rs 1,050 (plus taxes) and Zorawar muses that it is indeed expensive. But for that, you get the tandoori duck, enough for 4 people, I reckon.

The duck is marinated, partially and gently cooked without charring in a handi and kept aside for its final 15-minute plunge into the 900 deg F tandoor, which warms my bum very nicely despite the thick steelwool padding between us.

I love duck, but it can often be tough. The Grill’s duck meat, though, can be picked off the bone, a sign of great finesse.

Back at the tasting table, I listen as Zorawar expounds his plans of taking the Punjab Grill — and Jiggs Kalra — international. It began more than a year ago at Gurgaon’s Ambience Mall, the perfect place to test the market for nouvelle Punjabi cuisine. The Grill is opening in Chandigarh before the winter of 2009 ends and in Mumbai by December 1 in the plush, new Paladium Mall at the Phoenix Mall of central Mumbai.

He’s in talks to take Punjab Grill to similar prime locations in South East Asia.

Wherever they go, however much they get Jiggy with it and continue on their journey, the one thing they will always offer is their number one item: Dal makhani.

The duck, just out of the tandoor and ready to be dressed for the table

Yes, the global Punjabi may feast on duck and salmon, but she (or he) must have the ubiquitous black, buttery dal and butter chicken at hand.

Even the butter chicken gets the Jiggs treatment.

Its gravy is painstakingly strained a few times, so that it really becomes a smooth sauce familiar to the Western palate. The same gravy-turned-sauce turns up in a low-spice, high-flavour mutton curry I sample. Overall, everything’s quite mild, and it’s unlikely you will reach for your water. “We’d rather focus on flavour, not mirch masala,” remarks Zorawar.

The fine dining approach helps draw hordes of expats who flow in as I sit there. This, on a Thursday afternoon. The Grill also has a capacious outdoor terrace space, and with Delhi’s weather balmy and clear, it ought to be a fine experience.

I am still wary about braving the evening traffic to make the journey, but instead of fleeing the Mall, as I usually do, after an occasional Sunday morning movie, I finally have reason to stay back.

SALMON TIKKA

INGREDIENTS

1kg/2^1/4 lb                                Salmon

The First Marination

90ml/6 Tbs                               Red Wine Vinegar

35g/2 Tbs                                 Garlic Paste (strain)

15g/2^1/2 tsp                               Ginger Paste (strain)

2.5g/1 tsp                                 Fennel Seeds

1                                              Star Anise

Salt

The Second Marination

150g/5 oz                                 Yoghurt Cheese (hung yoghurt)

30ml/2 Tbs                               Cream

30g/1 oz                                   Cheddar (grate & mash)

30ml/2 Tbs                               Mustard Oil

1.25g/1/2 tsp                            Ajwain

2.25g/3/4 tsp                            Paprika Powder

1 sprig                                      Dill (chop)

5g/1 tsp                                    Honey

10ml/2 tsp                                Lemon Juice

Salt

The Sprinkler

A generous pinch of Amchoor/Mango Powder

A generous pinch of Black Rock Salt

A generous pinch of Kasoori Methi/Fenugreek Leaf Powder

Serves: 4

Preparation Time: 45 minutes

Cooking Time: 4-5 minutes

PREPARATION

THE FISH: Clean, bone, wash, pat dry and cut into 2^1/2″ cubes.

THE FIRST MARINATION: Mix all the ingredients, evenly rub the fish cubes with this marinade and reserve for 15 minutes.

THE SECOND MARINATION: Whisk yoghurt cheese in a bowl, add the remaining ingredients, mix well, evenly rub the fish cubes with this marinade and reserve for     15 minutes.

THE SKEWERING: Skewer the cubes slightly apart, keep a tray underneath to collect the drippings.

COOKING

Roast in a moderately hot tandoor for 3-4 minutes. On a charcoal grill, for the same time. In a pre-heated, oven (on a greased baking tray) for 5-6 minutes. Remove and hang the skewers to allow the excess moisture to drip off. Roast again for a minute.

Recipe courtesy: Jiggs Kalra

Rs 725 + taxes for two

TANDOORI DUCK

INGREDIENTS

8                                              Breasts of Duck (boned)

Desi Ghee/Clarified Butter for basting

The First Marination

90ml/6 Tbs                               Red Wine Vinegar (or Malt)

60ml/1/4 cup                            Orange Juice

60g/2 oz                                   Raw Papaya Paste

20g/3^1/2 tsp                               Garlic Paste (strain)

10g/1^3/4 tsp                               Ginger Paste (strain)

Salt

The Second Marination

100g/3 oz                                 Chakka Dahi/Yoghurt Cheese/Hung Yoghurt (whisk)

20g/3^1/2 tsp                               Garlic Paste (strain)

10g/1^3/4 tsp                               Ginger Paste (strain)

3g/1 tsp                                    Black Pepper (freshly roasted & coarsely ground)

1.5g/1/2 tsp                              Zeera/Cumin Powder

1.5g/1/2 tsp                              Daalcheeni/Cinnamon Powder

0.75g/1/4 tsp                            Motti Elaichi/Black Cardamom Powder

0.75g/1/4 tsp                            Lavang/Clove Powder

0.75g/1/4 tsp                            Jaiphal/Nutmeg Powder

A generous pinch of Kaala Namak/Black Rock Salt Powder

Salt

Serves: 4

Preparation Time: 4:30 hours

Cooking Time: up to 20 minutes

PREPARATION

THE FIRST MARINATION: Put vinegar and orange juice in a saucepan and reduce by half over low heat. Remove to a bowl and cool. When cool, add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Evenly rub the duck breasts with this marinade and reserve in the refrigerator for 3 hours.

THE SECOND MARINATION: Put all the ingredients in a bowl, mix well, remove duck from the first marinade, evenly rub with the second marinade and reserve in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

THE OVEN: Pre-heat to 350oF.

THE SKEWERING: Skewer the duck breasts, without any gaps, and keep a tray underneath to collect the drippings

COOKING

Roast in a moderately hot tandoor for 7-8 minutes. On a charcoal grill, for about the same time. In the pre-heated oven, for about 10-12 minutes. Remove and hang the skewers to allow the excess moisture to drip off (approx 3-4 minutes), baste and roast again for 3-4 minutes.

Recipe courtesy: Jiggs Kalra

Rs 1050 + taxes for two

(6 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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Posted by Samar Halarnkar on Friday, November 6, 2009 at 9:04 pm 
Filed under Food · Tagged Dal makhani., mushroom, Punjab Grill, rice, salmon kebabs, Select Citywalk Mall in South Delhi, Tandoori duck, Zorawar Singh

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