Dear Friends;
This article is from the N Y Times (April 10, 2012). While you read this, you cannot stop your mouth watering. . -bhuban April 10, 2012, 2:49 AM At the Varli Food Festival, Andhra Shrimp and Halwa Cupcakes By SHIVANI VORA Michael Toolan for Neerja Patel PR Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi sampling at the Varli Food Festival in Manhattan, New York on Thursday. Seafood momos and spicy crab meat stuffed inside papadum cones. Kachori chaat and paneer kati rolls. Gajar ka halwa cupcakes and date rose pistachio chocolate dark truffles. It was an Indian food fantasy come to life on Thursday night at the second annual Varli Food Festival at the Metropolitan Pavilion in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, and these were just a few of the offerings. A hungry crowd of more than 2,000 turned out for the extravaganza which was hosted by Top Chef’s Padma Lakshmi and Indian celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor, and featured tastings from 60 high-profile Indian chefs mostly from the Northeastern United States. Hemant Mathur from the Michelin-starred Tulsi in Manhattan and Vikram Vij of the famous Vij’s in Vancouver were a couple of the headliners. Varli Singh, who is publisher and editor-in-chief of Varli, a magazine focusing on Indian dining in the Northeast United States, is the brainchild behind the festival, which is meant to showcase the diversity in Indian cuisine. The event was an unexpected success in its debut last year, when it sold out an 800-person New York City venue. Several hundred people even tried to buy tickets at the door. The larger space this year also sold out. Michael Toolan for Neerja Patel PR The momo booth at the Varli Food Festival. The ambiance resembled a mela – the food stalls were festooned with bright tablecloths and flowers, and attendees were clearly in a party mood, perhaps thanks to the open bar included in the $100 ticket price. True to Varli’s mission, the generously sized tastings reflected the vast range of Indian cuisine. Some choices were surprisingly predictable such as chicken tikka masala and samosas, but most others were adventurous. Mr. Vij, for example, served a kangaroo loin and said that he was out to prove that Indian food could be as complex as the finest French food. Mr. Mathur dished out curried mushrooms on a bed of tapioca and toast and Peter Beck, the chef at new Manhattan eatery Benares, had grilled shrimp on top of a grape chutney. My favorite taste of the night was from Thali restaurant in New Canaan, Conn.: fried shrimp “Andhra-style,” served in a paper basket topped with fresh coconut, micro cilantro stalks and roasted coriander seeds. _______________________________________________ assam mailing list [email protected] http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
