Chef Rajesh Payanandee has been delighting foodies with Mauritian delicacies for over a decade. And now, the executive chef of the C Palmar Mauritius is coming to Chennai. Gearing up to serve up a feast as part of the Mauritian Food Festival at The Raintree, Anna Salai, the chef has packed close to 20 ingredients from home in his suitcase to keep the flavours more authentic. “These include zasard, a pickle and Dipain laboutik, a bread we eat in the morning,” he tells us. The chef gives us a quick behind-the-scenes recipe of one of his highlights at the festival which goes on till June 24.
Exotic fruits cannelloni & coconut milk sago
Passion Fruit Jelly:
500 g mashed passion fruit
| 100 g caster sugar | 10 g gelatine
| 4 g agar-agar
Method:
• Mix the sugar and the agar-agar.
• Soak the gelatine in cold water.
• Heat the puree then add the sugar mixture and agar-agar.
• Bring it to a boil.
• Take it off the heat and add the gelatine. Mix.
• Pour everything on to a flat plate to get it 2 to 3 mm thick.
For the topping:
1 Victoria pineapple | 1 small ripe papaya | 32 coriander shoots
Method:
• Cut the pineapple into half cm slices. Cut some sticks 5 cm long.
• Use a Parisian scoop to get small balls of papaya.
• Dip the shoots in cold water and then dry them on absorbent paper.
• Keep the prettiest to use as decoration, then chop up the rest to be mixed with the pineapple sticks.
For the Sago in coconut milk:
100g sago | 100ml coconut milk | 30g grated coconut | 100 ml whole milk
• Rinse the sago under hot water and then cook it on low heat in the coconut milk and whole milk for about 15 minutes.
• Add grated coconut at the end of cooking and leave it to go cold.
• Once the sago has cooled, spread it on 20 cm long, 5 cm wide film.
• Along the length of one side, put the pineapple sticks.
• Roll it all in the film wrap to form a good regular cylinder about 2 cm in diameter.
• Freeze it so that it can be handled easily when serving.
For the Coconut Sorbet:
500 g mashed coconut | 50 g sugar | 30 g invert sugar
• Cook it all at 85°C, then blend it in the ice cream maker.
• When it is finished, keep the
sorbet in the freezer.
For the passion fruit sauce:
50 ml passion fruit juice
| 20 g sugar
Method:
• Bring it all to a boil, reduce to form a coating. Then chill.
• Delicately plate up all the elements and serve.
sonali@newindianexpress.com | @brightasunshine