Kitchen Toro: FINAL PROJECT: GLOBAL DHABAS REVISITED -- UNDER CONSTRUCTION

From Delhi Dhaba to Cornish Game Hen 'Butter Chiken-Style'

Dhabas are homey restaurants found along the highway in India that serve up staples like samosas, saag paneer and butter chicken. In Scandinavia the warm, cozy spots are kafes. In Poland, bar mleczny. This menu takes diners to the pushcarts, bistros, stage coaches and trattorias around the world and reinterprets cultural classics from these global dhabas.

My influences are located on the cross-cultural map between comfort food and road food. The earliest travels I remember were via the ingredients in the kitchen: my mother's Italian-American kitchen in Long Island, my grandmother's kitchen in rural Massachusetts and when my family moved to Hong Kong, our cook, Ah-Hing's kitchen. Watching these women cook, I developed an adventurous palante and a passion for food and cooking that led me to explore my culinary heritage and that of friends with whom I've shared many memorable meals.

Through this ten month education in the classroom kitchens of the French Culinary Insitute, experimenting in my home kitchen and exploring the culinary world of New York and beyond, I've been fortunate. Between furthering my stuy and working at the Dining section at The New York Times, I've eat in some of the city's trendy restaurants and enjoyed haute cuisine. But some of the foods I've enjoyed most are the simple standard dishes at local haunts.

This five course menu features the flavors of comfortable classics presented in refined, sleek and inventive ways.

In April I began documenting my culinary adventures on this website. It is a cook/reporter's notebook fo the making of this menu, cataloguing the influences, the trials, the processes and the final products of this menu.

Below you'll find the criteria for the final project, the menu, posts for each dish detailing how they were made, and you'll see how the project was first conceived and how it changed over the past two months. Also included are the costing details for each dish and a bibliography.

criteria, experimented on dishes in school and out, decided on a theme, meditated on a complete menu, searched for plates to fit the its style and bought the shoot materials. I've been posting drafts of the menu for the final project with the precis, continually tweaking things until it's finalized and now, finally, I've finished cooking all the dishes.

There were more ambitious plan for six additional dessert dishes and a homemade beer. The desserts will have to be cancelled and the beer is fermenting but there's just not enough time so it won't be included in the bound book. It's now time to pull together the book with the introduction and the costing. I'm still not quite finished.

See the menu on the jump now with pictures next to the finished dishes and links to the posts which described how each was made and conceived.

REMINAGINED CLASSICS FROM GLOBAL DHABAS

Dhabas are homey restaurants found along the highway in India that serve local cuisine. Between attending the French Culinary Institute and working at the Dining section at The Times, I've eaten some good food in some of New York City's trendy restaurants and enjoyed haute cuisine. But some of the food I've enjoyed most during this time and overall are still the simple standard dishes I find at local haunts. Two of my favorite upscale restaurants that I've visited since January are A Voce and Momofuku Noodle places that serve meatballs and soup. The idea is to upscale standard comfort dishes you'd find in cozy, down-home, hole-in-the-wall restaurants of different cuisines.

MENU

APPETIZER

Frozen Caprese

Homemade Mozzarella Ice-Cream, Tomato Ice-Cream, and Basil Ice-Cream with Balsamic Vinager Watercolor and Fried Basil Leaf

or

Bul Go Gi

Rib-eye steak, rice kimchi paste, romaine lettuce and seaweed wrapped in rice paper, served with kimchi and sugar-soy dipping sauce

PASTA

Pierogi In Seven Bites

Seven Pierogi: Potato Dandelion, Roast Garlic, Beef With Almond Paste and Raisins, Sauerkraut and Bacon, Potato and Cheddar, Saffron Mushroom Duxelles, and Wasabi Yams, Accompanied by Apple Sauce With Chili Peppers, Beet Chevre, Horseradish Sour Cream and Broccoli Sprouts in a Grapefruit Vinaigrette

or

Pho

Beef consommé with homemade plum paste rice noodles, spicy pork and beef meatballs, thin cuts of beef and tripe, porcini, cremini and oyster mushrooms, green onions, mint, lime, bean sprouts and chili peppers topped with a poached egg.

FISH

Seared Gravlaks

Citrus, Salt and Tequila Cured Salmon Sauteed, with Korean Flaked Chili Pepper Mashed Potatoes and Braised Arugula

or

Stoplight Ceviche

Cod With Lime Juice and Cucumbers; Shrimp In Lemon Juice With Green Peppers; Scallops in Grapefruit Juice With Yellow Peppers, Tuna In Orange Juice With Orange Peppers; and Cod, Shrimp, Scallops and Tuna in Pineapple Juice With Red Bell Peppers Served in Fried Plantain Scoops; Accompanied by Roast Corn, Tomato, Avocado and Pineapple Salad and a Shot of "Tiger's Milk," a Mixture of Ceviche Juice and Vodka.

ENTREE

Murgh Makhani

Cornish Game Hen 'Butter Chicken-Style,' Spicy, Butter-Tomato Cream Sauce; 'Saag Paneer,' Spinach With Homemade Paneer Cheese; Indian Naan Bread; & Cucumber-Radish Raita, Yogurt

or

Steak Frites

Pan-seared Filet Mignon Au Jus, With Sauteed Granny Smith and Dried Apples, Oyster, Cremini and White Mushrooms, and Light Greens with Orange Vinaigrette and French Fries Sprayed with Framboise Lambec Reduction served with Chili-Pepper Aioli

DESSERT MENU

Kha Niao Man with Cha Yen Ice Cream

Thai Iced Tea Ice Cream with Coconut Sticky Rice and Fried, Wonton-Wrapped Banana Slices With Chocolate Ganache Trimming