Celebrated Australian chef Gary Mehigan has begun incorporating Indian food elements, like curry leaves into his cuisine and is excited to cook south Indian food.
Mehigan, who just wrapped up a visit to India, the third in as many years, is fascinated by the diversity of food in the country and says he would like to introduce Australians to a whole new world of south Indian flavours.
"I think Indian food is delicious and food from South Indian food is quite new to me. I have tried to make appams and on my trip here picked up a few tips and tricks," Mehigan told PTI in an interview.
Invited as part of the 'Oz Fest' celebrations, the acclaimed chef shot pilot sequences for his upcoming TV show in Delhi, Mumbai, Rajasthan and Chennai.
"We have a lot of people from South Asia in Australia so it is perfectly normal to find our restaurant serving different food everyday. One day it is Thai, another it is Indian and yet another it is Malay etc," says the chef who runs his own restaurants in Australia.
Mehigan says he asked for and received a lot of recipes for paneer masala, chaat on his twitter feed, but his current fascination is for appams, masala dosas and malpuas.
"Back home people are familiar with paneer masala and tikkas but they have heard less about appams, the rice puddings and well malpuas. They are absolutely delicious. I have also been incorporating more curry leaves into my salads and food for a different and unique flavour," says the 46-year-old British born chef and restaurateur.
The chef who is a famous name with his reality TV show "MasterChef Australia", says he plans to include a whole lot of Indian food in his new book scheduled to hit stands around May 2014.
