MEGHA KOHLI

LAVAASH BY SABY NEW DELHI

Deeply influenced by her grandmother’s and mothers cooking, Megha Kohli started pottering around in the kitchen when she was barely 5, indulged, as she was by her grandmother who had no qualms about her messing up the kitchen. And today Megha is one of India’s youngest chefs and a popular name in the F&B industry who has created quite a buzz at Lavash By Saby, the Armenian restaurant in Delhi’s artsy Mehrauli area. Her mantra is that cooking is an emotional process and not a technical one. You can serve the most perfectly prepared dishes, but if you haven’t connected with the food and the farmers while making it, it’s an effort gone waste. She was involved with Lavaash since its inception and research about Armenian cuisine. She firmly believes in using only local, regional and sustainable produce. Her restaurant is one of the first restaurants in India that has a menu that uses 100% local ingredients and nothing in the kitchen is imported. Known for her very warm and affable nature, Megha loves to interact with her guests and rattle off the history behind each dish she serves. She wants her guests to know just how much thought, effort and research have gone into the preparation of each dish.

ALMOND PHIRNI

by MEGHA KOHLI

Phirni or Firni is a traditional Indian dessert made with milk and rice. This sweet dish was introduced to us Indians during the Mughal era. Slow cooking is the key technique of cooking this dessert. The milk slowly reduces and gets infused with the rest of the ingredients.

INGREDIENTS

50g rice, soaked in water for 30 minutes 150g sugar, you can add less, depending the sweetness you desire 1l milk 2 tsp almond essence ½ cup almonds, chopped ½ cup pistachio, chopped

Method

Put the milk in a kadhai and give it a good boil. Make a paste of the rice with 1 tablespoon of water in the mixer. Once the milk has boiled, lower the flame, add the rice paste and stir it at regular intervals. After 30 minutes the milk would have reduced. Check if the rice has cooked and add the sugar, almond essence and stir. Pour the mixture into your serving bowl and let it cool for 30 minutes. Once it reaches room temperature put it in the fridge for 2 hours. Serve chilled and garnish it with almonds and rose petals.