Abu Dhabi: One of the best ways to delve into Indian culture is by taking a railway trip, which provides a window on picturesque scenery, people and the varying Indian cuisines.
While we cannot experience the scenery from Abu Dhabi, food lovers can still enjoy India’s railway meals with Beach Rotana Hotel’s limited time promotion, Cuisine of the Indian Railways.
Mohammad Irfan Qureshi (of the prominent Qureshi family), who came up with the railways menu at Indigo Restaurant, said that a cuisine developed in parallel with the growth in Indian railways over hundreds of years. Such growth gave the food a distinctive flavour, and made it particularly intrinsic.
“We decided to do a little work on the food served on Indian railways, but because of the variety, and the large amount of data we managed to get, we decided to streamline,” Qureshi told tabloid!.
He continued, “The only way we could make a menu is if we took a route. Initially, we wanted to take seven or eight routes, but we were talking about dishes running into hundreds, and that was not possible.”
To offer the best from across India, the restaurant offers three set menus, each highlighting a different route; Mumbai to Delhi (Mumbai Rajdhani), Delhi to Kolkata (Howrah Rajdhani), and Delhi to Jaipur and Agra (Palace on Wheels).
As for the dishes, they include aloo chaat (tangy potato starter), vegetable momos (an Indian version of dim sum), railway tomato soup, bihari kebab, various curries, and sitaphal ice cream with kalakhattagola (a pumpkin ice cream exclusively served on Indian railways), among others.
“If you’re not familiar with Indian Railways, you can come to Indigo and expect a pleasant surprise. There is something very unique, very bold, and very flavoursome about the food,” Qureshi said.
“Sitting in one place like the railways, if you can experience so much diverse food, why would you go to any other place? And Indigo is like a train; you’re just sitting in your place, and you get the flavours from the whole country,” he added.
To ensure the food is a truly Indian affair, Qureshi used various spices such as kokum, chili, saffron, turmeric and tamarind.
The menu also includes numerous vegetarian dishes such as dal bati churma (a trio of lentils, bread, and wheat crumble), aloo gobi (s potatoe and cauliflower dish), and aloo ki tikki (potato cutlets), among others.
The Qureshi name is famous for the dum pukht style of cooking, which was created in India to feed villagers during famines. Chef Irfan Qureshi is currently the joint director of Grande Cuisine of India, and acquired his cooking skills from his father, masterchef Imtiaz Qureshi. Irfan has participated in culinary festivals in the US, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Belgium, Singapore, and India, among others.
