Mishti Doi gets a French toast!

Delicious Concoctions

French chief Olivier Mahut of Le Cordon Bleu Paris, discovered a taste for Mishti Doi and Kulfi during his visit here and plans to re-invent it soon in French style.

“I have tried many Indian dishes. I loved Mishti Doi which is in a clay pot. So I transformed the recipe in one of my demonstration to make it a little bit more Frenchie,” Chef Mahut told PTI.

Holding various classes for young and interested pastry chefs across the country from Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Delhi, the chef plans to further experiment with Indian desserts giving it a French twist and serve it up to his audience the next time he comes visiting to India.

“I have loved Indian cuisine so much that I have developed a pot belly. I have a 10 kg belly now,” Mahut quips.

“I have started working on re-inventing some of the desserts, like I said with Mishti Doi. I have served it up with mangoes or fresh fruit, decorated it a little. You can also add coconut to it,” he says.

“It is very important to be creative so that you can build up the appetite of the customer as well as make it fulfilling for the chef,”says Mahut.

An ardent photographer, who has already taken around 1,500 photographs on his India trip, the chef says a little more refinement is required terms of presentation and the texture of the desserts that he has tried on the current trip.

“I have also tried the Kulfi Faluda which is a very interesting type of dessert. A little bit of improvement is needed I believe on the type of texture. It can be made into a sorbet type texture like ice-cream because Kulfi is a little grainy, so here we need a little improvement,” Mahut told PTI. 

The chef says he was encouraged by the number of people who attended his demonstrations in the cities which he visited. He was especially enthused by responses from students from the GD Goenka and the Sofia College in Mumbai, the IHM in Ahmedabad.

His motto, says Mahut is to “develop the French taste with the local ingredients available”.“I always tell them, whatever is available locally use that as an ingredient which will alter the flavour a little, but will give you the same texture you need. These alterations will not only solve your problem but will also cater to the local taste of your customers,” says Mahut.

Talking about the school of culinary arts – Le Cordon Bleu Paris which offers courses on various fields of culinary cuisine, Chef Mahut also feels that expertise is needed to fine-tune Indian desserts to suit the global palate.

“There are various courses which we offer, from decorating desserts and cake to the authentic French cuisines, in 57 of our campuses world wide, the most famous being Paris, London, Australia among Indian students,”  says Mahut.

Established in Paris in 1859 and boosting alumni of celebrity culinary experts all across the world from Gordan Ramsay to Julia Child and Vikas Khanna, Le Cordon Bleu has also been organising visits from their chefs to India to spread awareness among enthusiasts of gastronomical delights, and help them fulfill their dreams to become a chef.

“This year around 160 or more Indian students have applied for our programs at various centres, which does not include the weekend or a seven day program, which is quite popular among visiting Indian tourists,” said Snigdha Moitra, marketing and sales manager, Le Cordon Bleu India Pvt. Ltd.