He may not be playing head chef anymore but Heinz Egli continues to delight us with his unusual recipes.
For the chef-turned-general manager, Heinz Egli of Novotel Mumbai, the kitchen continues to be a sacrosanct place even though he barely gets to play the head chef now. “Once a chef, always a chef,” Egli beams happily. He’s busy with endless meetings and most of them involve issues of hotel administration, even the choice of music that has to be played while people enjoy their food at the hotel.
Food, of course, occupies a very central role at Egli’s hotel. The Chilli Chocolate Mousse, for example, is a favourite with patrons and Egli continues to surprise guests with his creations like pumpkin seed oil in ice-cream or, better still, his latest signature dish which he has christened Kingfisher Chicken. “Beer is perfect for marinating chicken and it does not dry the chicken,” reasons Egli. He defends his unconventional style of cooking and maintains that though his ingredients sound unusual, sometimes the pairing of two completely different ingredients can work wonders for creating dishes. “Chilli, for example, compliments cocoa beans really well and together they can be a perfect combination.”
An avid musician, 38-year-old Egli plays the guitar and is now learning to play the sitar. “Don’t take me to be just an old chef. I have my own rock band in Mumbai,” he chuckles. When he is not overlooking the younger kitchen hands, Egli jogs along the beach. He even nurtures the hope to inspire his Novotel Mumbai team to run the Mumbai marathon next year.
After one-and-a-half years of being in India and running as many as five restaurants at Novotel, Egli says that he refuses to serve pasta with curry or, for that matter, combine spaghetti with Indian spices. “I won’t cook to please others and I certainly can’t alter my style of cooking,” he says.
Being a perfectionist, Egli — not surprisingly — has personally created and tested every single dish that is listed on Novotel’s carte du jour. If you come away impressed with the presentation and dressing of any dish on the menu, remember to credit Egli for it.
Spread across 2.5 acres of scenic Juhu beach-front, Novotel is Egli’s baby. “I came to India as a consultant for Novotel, and stayed back as the GM. I have set up the entire hotel, including the menus, staff uniforms, eco-friendly measures adopted in the hotel and even the wine selection,” he says with an unmistakable sense of satisfaction in his voice.
From being chef for nearly 28 years, his graduation to an administrative role as general manager has taken a lot of restraint, confesses Egli. “The younger chefs on the kitchen floor have so many ideas that I felt it was time to step aside and make way for them.” So Egli now heads a team of 300 people at Novotel but he still begins his day by the doing rounds of the kitchen and monitoring the chef at work. “I will always be a chef first,” he smiles.
Touche.
FAVOURITE RECIPE
KINGFISHER CHICKEN
1 whole chicken
For the marination
Paprika powder 10 gm
Crushed black peppercorn 5 gm
Barbeque sauce 50 ml
Fresh rosemary 2 gm
Salt to taste
Oil 15 ml
1 Kingfisher can (500 ml)
Take the whole chicken and drain off excess water and pat dry it with towel. Prepare a marination of all the ingredients, check for seasoning and marinate the chicken for a minimum of six hours. Set the oven at 180° C. Take the marinated chicken and place a rosemary sprig in the cavity.
Open a Kingfisher can and seat the whole chicken on the can (as shown in picture). Place the can and the chicken in the oven and roast for 30 minutes. You should, however, keep checking the temperature and colour of the chicken (it should be golden).
When cooked, serve the kingfisher beer flavoured chicken with the can.
