ADITYA KUMAR JHA

THE MANOR NEW DELHI

Born in Bihar and brought up in New Delhi, India. Aditya Kumar Jha’s culinary job was in 2010 at The Oberoi Hotel, New Delhi where he honed his culinary skills with Indian and international cuisine. After gaining four years’ experience at the hotel, Aditya felt he wanted to further with con-tributing to Indian cuisine and decided to start experimenting with the food. After reaching out to a handful of world-renowned chefs and restaurants, he was offered the opportunity to work at Gaggan in Bangkok, alongside Gaggan Anand. At Gaggan, he was introduced to the world of mo-lecular gastronomy and was constantly pushed to try new things. He worked tirelessly with the team on unique, innovative creations, leading the team under guidance of Gaggan to win the title of 2015 Best Restaurant in Asia at the 50 Best Restaurants in Asia by San Pellegrino and Acqua Panna. Later in 2015, Aditya joined the culinary team at Tamba in Abu Dhabi, here he excelled, judged as the 2016 What’s On Chef of the Year, won the Taste Of Abu Dhabi Best chef and a semi-finalist of the 2017 San Pellegrino Young Chef of the Year. Returning back to India, in 2018, Aditya took over as the Executive Chef of The Manor New Delhi, he joined during the refurbishment period and since created in-Q, where every dish has a story to tell, serving uniquely presented dishes, with deeply familiar flavours yet totally unexpected.

SLOW ROAST CAULIFLOWER, CORIANDER GLAZE

INGREDIENTS Roast cauliflower paste

125g cauliflower / 5g ginger, chopped / 6g garlic, chopped / 5g salt / 3g chili powder / 10ml canola oil 3g cumin powder / 4g coriander powder / 3g turmeric powder / 2g cumin seeds / 25g onions, chopped / 20g tomatoes, chopped / 30g cream

Method

Heat oil in a pan, add the cumin seeds and allow it to splutter, add the garlic and sauté for 20 seconds. Add the chopped onions and let the onions get to light golden brown. Add the chopped ginger and sauté for 10 seconds. Add the cauliflower and roast on low heat, add the powder spices and sprinkle water and cook for 3 minutes and add the tomatoes. Let it cook by covering it with a lid. Finally add the coriander and put the lid back on, turn off the flame and allow the spices to mature. Blend it with cream and pass it through fine strainer.

Cauliflower mousse

225g roast cauliflower paste / 3g gelatine sheets

Method

Hydrate the gelatine sheets in cold water. Bring the cauliflower paste to the temperature of 60C and add the gelatine sheets to it. Put the mixture in a siphon and put 2 number nitrogen chargers and allow it rest for 30 minutes. Take out the mixture on to square silicon sheets and freeze for 3 hours.

Coriander and ginger glaze

70g fresh coriander juice / 30g ginger juice / 25g lemon juice / 35g caster sugar / 3.75g gelan (texturas) 1.5g gelatine sheets

Method

Blend all the ingredients together, bring it to a boil and allow the mixture to cool down to 58C. Dip the frozen cauliflower mouse into the glaze and allow it to rest on the grid till it gets to 12C.

Serving

Microwave the glazed cauliflower twice for 10 seconds, dust yoghurt powder and put the hot cauliflower mousse on the centre of plate and garnish with viola flower.

by ADITYA KUMAR JHA