This year’s “Khana” celebration

CEBU, Philippines - There has been a carousel of various national cuisines served in hotel and restaurants in Cebu. Late last month Indian cuisine was in the limelight at Marco Polo Cebu Plaza, as the hotel launched its Culinary Journey: "Khana: A Celebration of Indian Cuisine," Ms. Judeline Murjani –  a Cebuana married to Devidas Murjani, a son of an Indian chef – was hired as consultant to ensure the authenticity of the Indian fare featured.

Indian cuisine is quite difficult to master and perhaps, it will take a lifetime for one to master. I’ve had sampled only about 80 Indian dishes and those have been my reference points in determining whether the Indian food is delicious or not. New advocates for Indian cuisine would first be confronted with a huge variety of vegetarian dishes. With Indian meat dishes, strict religious protocols about the kind of animals for slaughter are observed.

At Café Marco, during this year’s “Khana” opening on October 25, the salads served were Tofu and Vegetable with Masala Spice, Cous-Cous with Indian Spices, Potato Salad, Kachumar Salad, Chicken Tandoori and Wild Rice Salad. As usual, I tasted a small portion of each and I had preference for the wild rice, simply because I’d missed eating this type of carbohydrate. (Wild Rice does not really belong to the rice family, but it has a desirable nutty flavor.)

Soup was Vegetable Sambar, a lentil-based stew with the broth flavored with tamarind and two types of rice: Vegetarian and regular Biryani.

Main Dishes on display were: Chicken Korma; Aloo, Gobi, Masala (potato, cauliflower curry); Lamb Rogan Josh (slow cooked lamb curry); and Assorted Indian Kebabs. Among the meat dishes, I loved the lamb curry because I could easily relate it to with the local ‘Kalderetang Kambing’. Its taste, however, had been enhanced with the use of cooking oil made with roughan or clarified butter and a special spice mix using 10 spices added in the gravy.

There were also Chutneys (Lime, Pineapple, Tomato, Papaya, Apple, Cilantro, Chili and Tamarind) to be used as sauce.  I tried various chutneys with the main dishes and I found that a mix of the Chili and Tamarind Chutney with the Lamb Rogan Josh and eaten with the Papadum Lentil Bread was the best dish that night. Close second best was the Chicken Korma paired with the Biryani Rice.

The Desserts during this Indian festival caught my attention, because there were some that were unique to my inexperienced eyes. There was a brass vessel with pink wax and a green wick and I thought it was a candle or a lamp. But later, when labels were placed, it turned out to be a dessert called “Rose Water Panna Cotta”. Desserts from the previous festivals were also served, like the “Gulab Jamun”, “Besan Ladoo” and “Carrot Halva”.

Guests also enjoyed scoops of ice creams – like the Rose Water Ice Cream and the Falooda Ice Cream which had noodles (vermicelli) in the mix. This ice cream was made from sabja or basil seed, rose syrup, chilled milk and the falloda sev (vermicelli made with corn starch).  And there was this beautiful Blue Flower Gelatin Dessert at the Café Marco and I could not resist, excuse me, showing it off here. (FREEMAN)