Adding a twist of his own

I started my career in 1999 with BJN Group of Hotels. After a few years of service, I moved to Dubai in 2010 and was there for six years. Currently, I work as a senior executive chef at Jalsa Gold. 

I am from Nepal but have been in Bengaluru from last 20 years. When I was small, my family travelled to India frequently and this gave me a chance to explore the diverse cuisines of the country and eventually helped me develop an interest and passion for cooking.

I have always like to experiment with my cooking and providing quality food to my customers has been my priority. Being on par with the current trends and implementing those in my cooking is what I aim for. 

Having said that, it often becomes a challenge to introduce a new concept to my colleagues as they take time to learn and work on it. My forte lies in Pan Asian fusion, Italian, Indian and Continental cuisines. Fresh Pan Asian ingredients like mushroom, thyme, rosemary are must-haves in my kitchen. 

Since I spend most of my time in the kitchen, I love to relish fresh-cut vegetable salad when I am home. Grilled and stir-fried dishes are also my go-to comfort food.  

For me, health is a priority. I make sure to keep my dishes as nutritious as possible without compromising on the taste and quality. 

Today, I am sharing the recipe for ‘Chicken Thupka’. It is a Tibetan dish but this one is my mother’s recipe. It is an easy-to-make-at-home recipe. I have added dim sum chutney, double fried egg and grilled chicken to make it wholesome. 

Recipe: Chicken Thupka

Ingredients

- Chicken (Grilled) - 30 gm

- Egg - 1 
- Onion - 1/2 
- Ginger - 1/2 tsp
- Spring onion - 1/2 cup
- Green chilies - 1 
- Coriander leaf - 2 stalks
- Garlic cloves - 2 number
- Salt to taste
- Lemon - 1/2
- Chili flakes - 1/2 tsp
- Chicken stock - 1ltr
- Noodle (boiled) - 200 gm
- Tomato chopped - 1/2 tsp
- Oil - 2 tsp
- Cabbage - 1/4 cup
- Bok choy - 2 stalks
- Soya sauce - 1 tsp

Ingredients for chutney

- Sesame seeds roasted - 100 gm
- Byadgi chilli boiled - 4
- Tomato (charcoal roasted) - 2 no
- Coriander roots - 5-6 stalks
- Lemon - 1 no
- Salt to taste
- Fresh red chili - 2 no

Ingredients for stock

- Chicken Bone - 1/2 kg
- Celery Stalks - 1
- Carrots - 1/2
- Cabbage - 1/3
- Onion - 1 no

Method

- Stock: Coat the bottom of a medium stock pot with olive oil. Place the chicken bone pieces, side down in the bottom of the pot. Heat on medium-high, and let cook until the chicken is browned. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir the pot, cooking and occasionally stirring until the moisture out of chicken and veggies is no longer of rawness.
- Chutney: Take a mini food processor or blender, purée the charcoal roasted tomato, roasted sesame seeds, byadgi chilli, pre-washed coriander roots, fresh red chilli, and salt then blend it well altogether. Squeeze the lemon in blended chutney. Refrigerate, covered, at least 1 hour to let flavours develop. Lay out wrappers to set out in a small cup.
- Main preparation: Sauté chopped Garlic and Ginger then add ready homemade chicken stock in a preheated pan and cook in a slow flame. Keep adding shredded cabbage, bok-choy, soya sauce, chilli flakes, salt, lemon juice then simmer it till all the ingredients are cooked. Arrange the Steamed Noodle and Thukpa soup on a Bowl then garnish with chopped of tomato, green chilli, coriander leaf, strips of grilled chicken and double fried Egg. 
- Put a heaping teaspoon of chutney in the centre of Thukpa.

Chef Padam Ruchal