Noodling around in Spice Route: Food festival

Symphony no. 9, yes. Symphony no. 5, sure. But Noodle Symphony?
There is no outdoing Beethoven when it comes to music. But Delhi-based chef Veena Arora has changed the goalpost.
Her newly curated Noodle Symphony targets one's palate, and not the ears. And she hits the spot with each of her seven movements - all with noodles.
The chef has tweaked popular dishes from Southeast Asia for a festival at The Spice Route in Imperial Hotel.
It consists of dishes with some tongue-twisting names but droolworthy flavours such as Kieow Tieow Kheow Waan (Thai rice noodles, wok fried with green curry paste), Tom Yum Kieow Tieow (spicy soup served with thai rice vermicelli noodles) and Kieow Tieow Naam (clear soup served with flat broad rice noodles and sliced chicken).

The Chef de Cuisine at The Spice Route has also created some elaborate new set of dishes -- including stir fried cellophane noodles with cherry tomatoes and scrambled eggs.

"I always sleep with a pen and note-pad next to me because you never know when some different experiment or recipe crosses your mind," the chef, who grew up in Thailand, says.
What eventually ends up as the apple of everyone's eye is the quintessential Malaysian dish Sen krob -- as easy to pronounce as it's delicious to taste. This consists of wok fried crispy noodles infused with carrots and peppers, and is prepared with por-piya or spring roll skin.

The festival, on till August 31, also a delectable fare for vegans, who, she says, often complain about lack of choice.
The menu for vegans includes Mee Goreng -- served with mock meat prepared with soya and konjac.
"To cater to my vegetarian guests and make the menu equally desirable as meat lovers, I have added vegan meat in all the vegetarian recipes," says the chef who was honoured with the "Best Lady Chef" award by the Ministry of Tourism in India 2012.