Chef Izzat Hussain blends exotic flavours with guilt-free cooking techniqueIzzat se Awadhi
Shraddha Solanki
A plethora of colours and beckoning smells of delectable dishes greet us as Chef Izzat Hussain presents Awadhi cuisine in his very own unique style at Modern Awadhi Food Festival at JW Marriott.
Chef Hussain is an enthusiast of the Awadhi culinary tradition. He belongs to the royal family of Awadh and is related to the last Nawab of Awadh, Wajid Ali Shah. Explaining his take, Chef Hussain shares, “Owing to my family history, I had an extensive exposure to the exquisite Awadhi cuisine from a young age. I was always enamored by the intricate play of ingredients and techniques which imparted this cuisine its unique place in the culinary world. I have used my training in Unani medicine and my interest in cooking to present to you a menu that is something entirely new and nutritious.”
Chef Hussain has carefully curated the menu for the food festival to bring together the art of delivering exotic flavours with the science of guilt-free cooking. “Food is both science and art. Without the science, the food isn’t nutritious or helpful in any way to a person. So, it’s important that the food is cooked according to the nutritious need of the consumer. But now a person doesn’t just eat to fill their stomach, food should also stimulate the person’s eyes and tantalize his taste buds. So, making a dish is also an art. Each morsel should be satisfying and its presentation should be beckoning enough to make the person want to taste the dish,” says Chef Hussain.
He has mastered the art of cooking food without water and where ever water is required, it is substituted with milk instead. Each and every dish, be it paneer tikka or chef’s famous specialty Izzat ki Galauti, every dish is cooked in a way that made it both tasty and healthy. Izzat Ki Galauti Kebab, in which the traditional yogurt marination is replaced with raw papaya and exotic spices, including kalpasi, kalaunji and saffron to make it easily digestible. Similarly Chef Hussain’s version of murg tikka, called the murgh kalpasi, sees the chicken getting marinated with the goodness of kalpasi or stone flower, an age-old Indian spice known to add an aromatic flavour and a zing to the dish along with its pain relieving and digestive properties.
“Food is the natural medicine. Most of our illness can be cured with natural ingredients. For example, when you have an upset stomach, you eat khichdi and curd. Khichdi is light and curd has bacteria that fight the illness.”
On till March 1
