A passion 
for good 
food

THE RED chilli being synonymous with Indian cuisine is a myth, and quite an insulting one if you ask the Qureshi brothers, Mohammed Ashfaque and Mohammed Irfan Qureshi, two of India’s top chefs. Throughout the vast subcontinent, dishes are infinitely varied in flavour, colour and degree of “hotness”.

“There are at least 1,000 types of red chilli in India, but you must know which one to use when and not always a dish requires chilli. In fact, 50 per cent of food made in India does not use chilli powder,” said Ashfaque.

“Here, at Indigo, we bring Kashmiri chilli, the most expensive in India, which has the redness and flavour, but not the hotness of the red chilli.”

Once every few months, the two chefs are travelling to Abu Dhabi for several days, making sure their food at Beach Rotana’s Indigo restaurant, for which they are consultant chefs, is up to their reputed fame. This past week, their cooking here was somewhat extra special, as the restaurant celebrated its fifth year anniversary.

“In 2007 we were in Dubai, working for Zaika, another Rotana group restaurant. The company wanted us to translate this into a classic Indian restaurant with a modern twist. This is how the concept for Indigo was formed. The modern twist is in the technical aspect of cooking, in ingredients used, but where we could keep the authenticity of the dish, we would. We didn’t want fusion cuisine,” explained Ashfaque.

Every time they visit Indigo, the chefs create a special menu and this time three set menus were designed: “Yesterday”, “Today” and “Tomorrow”, each presenting dishes that were, dishes that are and dishes that will be on the general menu of Indigo.

“In the tomorrow set menu there is, for example, chicken sous-vide, a relatively new, international method of cooking. The leg of chicken is marinated in rosemary, chilli and orange and served with radish salad and shitake mushrooms. It is not an Indian classic, but it is an experience we want to create,” said Irfan.

Often, in fact, the two chefs come up with a jam session of gastronomic creations, inspired by ingredients that are in season.

“We want to continually reinvent ourselves. We get something fresh from the market and we do something different with it,” added Irfan.

Pushing culinary boundaries and aspiring high is, after all, in their blood. The latest generation in an over 220 years family line of chefs, the two brothers were destined for the kitchen. Their father, Mohammed Imtiaz Qureshi, grand master of Indian cuisine, researched and popularized the forgotten cuisine of the nawab of Awadh, the rulers who governed the Awadh state of India in 18^th and 19^th centuries. For hundreds of years, in fact, their ancestors have been cooking for moguls.

“It was not much of a surprise for us that sooner or later we would do it too, but it wasn’t forced upon us. Becoming a chef it was our choice,” said Ashfaque.

Only one of the five Qureshi brothers is not a chef and even their sister is married to a professional chef. Passion for food is an understatement for this family.

“We began learning since we were young boys. It started with traditional cooking at home, when we were first taught how to eat, what goes with what. You can’t cook if you don’t know how to eat,” stressed Ashfaque.

For 14 years they have been working with top hotels in India and in 2000 they brought their extraordinary culinary skills to UAE. While they regularly change part of their menus to bring fresh ideas, techniques and flavours to the table, the Indian classics never change. Dishes such as Butter Chicken or even Biriyani will always be available.

“Indian food is seriously influenced by Persian cuisine. The Biriyani, for instance, is a Persian dish. The Persians perfected the way to cook rice, but the Indians diversified it. The Persian Biriyani is limited to only one or two varieties, but in India there are 40 or 45 types of Biriyani,” explained Ashfaque.

“When the Arabs first went to India, they entered through Malabar in Kerala and this is where they took the Biriyani from, which is now popular in the Gulf. Unfortunately, this is not the best technique, because the element of making it light and healthy is not there.”

To prove this point, the Qureshi brothers did an entire Biriyani festival last December at Indigo, cooking 13 different styles of Biriyani! For this they brought Basmati rice, which comes from North India, the region the two brothers claim to be the best commercial producer of rice.

They may not be particularly impressed with the variety of locally made Biriyani, but both Ashfaque and Irfan love being here, as they are able to find ingredients from all around the world. Once the shopping is done, they could spend up to 12 hours in the kitchen, cooking.

“We never take short cuts in the kitchen,” stressed Ashfaque.

“Butter Chicken sounds like a simple thing, but it takes time and we don’t skip any step. Cooking is an art. You can’t put it in an easy formula. You take a bit from here, an ingredient from there until somehow everything clicks in the end.”

As much as he loves cooking, when going home he stays away from the kitchen.

“It is my wife who cooks at home. She is good, but her food is simpler. She comes from the North-East region of India, where the food is not as varied,” said Ashfaque, stressing he is not complaining, though.

As for now, he strongly recommends a “future” menu, especially the sous vide chicken and the salmon cooked with kasundi mustard, a strong Bengali mustard, with cucumber jelly and pickles, dishes that by now are prepared to perfection by Gaurav Gaur, the speciality chef of Indigo, who stays in charge when the Qureshi brothers leave.

silvia@khaleejtimes.com