Debunking Myths - New Indian Summer Menu
One of the country’s leading Indian restaurants, Brighton’s Indian Summer has unveiled a new menu in keeping with its philosophy of providing simple, healthy, delicious cooking with well-sourced, seasonal ingredients. Using family recipes handed down through the generations, the cooking is kept fresh through constant innovation, creating new exciting dishes, on its mission to educate the curry-loving public to the delights of real Indian food.
Indian Summer has just reported its best month of trading in more than a decade confirming the growing demand for authentic Indian cooking and an up turn in the wider economy.
Amongst the new starters is a Paneer Shashlik – a vibrant looking taste sensation. The re-innovated dish has featured regularly on Indian Summer’s evolving menus. A traditional dish of spicy marinated Indian cheese, it is more usually served with tangy and sour fruits such as tomato and sweet peppers. Indian Summer’s new take combines sweet pineapple, earthy beetroot for colour contrast with sour cherry tomatoes, “To add vibrancy to the dish but not to stop there,” according to Head Chef Parth Shukla, who adds a “Fancy touch of vegan Indian caviar (sago granules marinated in balsamic vinegar, which brings a completely new dimension to the dish.”
New main courses include Pao-Bhaji – an all-time Indian classic. The two-part dish with Pao (a bread bun and Bhaji (as spicy tempered mixed vegetable) is a popular Indian street item found on dhabas (street food stalls). Top 5-star hotels also serve their own “posh” versions.
Although the true origins of this dish are hotly disputed, Parth believes they lie in the southern coastal state of Goa, a former Portuguese colony. 'Pao' means ‘bread’ in Portuguese). Although the ‘Bhaji’ (mixed vegetable) has evolved regionally, state-by-state variations over time, they share a common mashed potato and marrowfat pea base. Indian Summer has opted to add a baby sweet corn and broccoli Subzi, cooked and tempered with whole spices, served with a bread bun, basmati rice and topped with freshly chopped coriander and butter.
Also new is Pork Belly Vindaloo. This Bangladeshi curry house classic and a fabled Indian dish carrying a dozen myths, is infamous for all the wrong reasons, according to Parth.
“People who think it is suppose to be hellishly spicy and comes with big potatoes, couldn't be more mistaken,” he said. “I finally decided to take the bull by its horns and to rest the myths from it.”
Another Portuguese dish, the name 'Vindaloo' derives from ‘carne de vinha d'alhos’ meaning ‘meat – traditionally pork – in vinegar and garlic.’ Parth has created an Anglo-Indian version with pork belly marinated overnight in cider vinegar, fresh ginger and spices such as cloves, cinnamon, star anise for overnight, to create an unusual sweet and sour end taste – with a crisply pork crackling.
In the UK, few Bangladeshi restaurants offer pork, because of their Islamic beliefs. However Islam is a minority region in India and pork is widely eaten across the sub continent by Hindu and Christian communities.
The Rajasthani Laal Maas is a fiery lamb dish, changed little from its traditional Rajasthani roots, following the principle of 'less is more'. ‘Laal Maas’ literally means ‘red meat’. It has six spices, with a base of freshly chopped garlic, tomatoes and the lamb added to be cooked off. This simple approach is contradictory to usually complex and intricate Indian 'curries'. Indian Summer serves it with boondi raita to cool the palate and fragrant saffron rice.
Chef's tip - cook the lamb in pressure cooker for succulent tender meat and reduced cooking time.
The Butter Chicken is a highly fragrant and silky-smooth curry made in the Brahmin tradition (completely without onions), using only tomatoes, butter and honey. Butter Chicken is a popular north Indian dish, especially in Delhi. This dish could be prepared with on the bone chicken as well. Although the chicken is often grilled, roasted or pan-fried then add to the sauce, Indian Summer prefers to tandoor chicken pieces for a “fantastic” end result.
Editors’ Notes: Menus, recipes and hi res photos available.
Widely accepted as being in the vanguard of the new wave of modern Indian restaurants, Indian Summer has been pioneering authentic regional food from the sub continent for over a decade. The Brighton favourite is listed in the ‘Top 100’ restaurants in the UK by the Cobra Good Curry Guide 2103. The consistency of Indian Summer’s high culinary standards has been recognised with the award of a TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence for 2013. This prestigious accolade places the restaurant in the top-performing 10% of all businesses worldwide on the TripAdvisor reviews website. Other recent awards: Brighton & Hove Food Awards, AA Rosette, Harden’s Food Guide, Open table Best Restaurant.
Vegetarian, vegan and gluten free versions are available on request
Indian Summer was founded in 2001 by Minesh Agnihotri (who gave up a career making medical prosthetics) and Byron Swales (whose family was forced to flee Burma in a wooden plane), with a mission to bring authentic cooking to Brighton and recruited Indian Head Chef Parth Shukla, who heads a team who have worked in many of India’s leading restaurants including Bukhara, Delhi, Delhi and Karvalli, Bangalore. Chef Shukla has assembled a brigade of talented chefs drawn from across the regions to offer truly pan-Indian fine dining.
W: indian-summer.org.uk
