| Living in Delhi is very different from growing up in a farm off Ferozepur. But Navin Ansal, entrepreneur, has managed to find rural idyll at his MG Road farmhouse, Delhi. "Even a half-hour walk on the grass is enough to make me feel connected to the soil," he says. Then, there's a patch of veggies he tends to, off and on, "though I don't have that much time these days". There are dogs and cats and rabbits that his young son (with dreams of owning a mini zoo in a farm, in a village somewhere) adores and so forth. But there is another way in which Ansal has managed to stay connected with his early life "" through cooking. |
| Growing up on a farm meant that the games the boys played included shikar "" it was obviously legit then. Game meat would be cooked on open fires, with basic ingredients gathered from nearby villages and Ansal enjoyed the process, including cooking on "bricks...the way poor people do". Old habits die hard and as we step into his modern kitchen, we find Ansal expertly bhunoing some mutton. The recipe involves only a few, simple ingredients, a throwback to the shikar days when resources were few. "Mughlai dishes usually make use of everything... hundreds of ingredients for rich sauces. But I like to keep it simple because I want to taste the ingredient,'' he says, strangely echoing many an acclaimed chef advocating "modern" Indian cooking. He debates whether to stir in some yoghurt; some javitri and jaiphal, mace and nutmeg "" in the manner of his ex-father-in-law, former Patiala royalty, a good cook who, Ansal admits, influenced him in culinary ways too "" but decides against it "" because his 11-year-old son, who just won't have any of the chillies or heavy spices, is looking forward to the dinner dad is cooking. |
| The family obviously likes him in the kitchen. (His staff too; the cook has just told him to repeat this particular demo many more times!) "Raseel (his wife) won't have any other mutton curry," he says. Like most people fond of good Punjabi food, Ansal prefers mutton and chicken and paneer; and mutton over chicken (despite the stereotypes) because, of course, the former is more flavourful. But he has cooked other stuff too. When quail was easily available in Gurgaon, he would woo Raseel with that. Today, though, he regrets he isn't able to cook as much as he'd like to. "Earlier, when we would have small dinners, I would cook, but now it is impossible to personally do that on a large scale." What he does do is make the wife an occasional cup of tea. |
| "What I like is strong tea." At home, he makes that from memory "" of his dhaba visits. "I can still smell that," he tells me. When he is not brewing that cuppa, he likes to go off in search of one. Sundays are devoted to another passion "" bikes. And with biker friends in tow, Ansal takes little roads off the highway, goes dhaba hopping, and comes back a happy man. |
| Favourite Recipe |
| Punjabi Meat |
| 1/2 kg mutton, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces 1/2 kg onions, chopped 1/2 kg tomatoes, chopped 2 tsp each of ginger and garlic, chopped 1 black cardamom, pounded 1 tsp zeera powder 1 green chilli 2 tbsp oil |
| Take oil in a pan and put the onions in it. Brown and add the garlic and the ginger. Add the tomatoes and stir fry till soft. Now add the mutton and the zeera, chilli, cardamom and salt. Bhuno till the masala is well done and starts leaving oil. The browning should take 15-20 minutes. Add 1 1/2 glasses of water. Pressure cook for 15 minutes. Serve hot. |
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