Taking the healthy route

Ashwith Shetty

There’s a lot more to being a hotel management student than just working in the kitchen. It’s a dynamic field and there’s always a lot to learn.

I started working at the age of 18 when I was pursuing my graduation. I worked as a server at Pizza Hut, KFC and Nandos. I helped with the operations in the Bengaluru branch and it’s been a learning experience.

I realised that knowing just the operations department will not be enough. So I took an MBA in marketing. I now work as the city head operations at California Burrito.

My work primarily consists of making sure that we do a trial round of every item that makes it to the final menu. My primary objective is to make sure that the ingredients are healthy. The next important thing is to make sure that it tastes great and is fresh. Before we add the item to the final menu, we check with customers what they think about the item, assess their feedback and perfect it.

It’s probably because of the brand that I work with that I prefer to have healthy food even when I’m not working. I don’t enjoy deep-fried or oily dishes. I like my food to be healthy and refreshing.

When I’m at home, my wife and I take turns to make the food. I find it a stress buster. I usually head to the kitchen and whip up something good when I think that I need to unwind. I can have dal and rice at any time of the day.

Whenever I get a chance to impress my wife, I make my special butter chicken. She loves it.

I see that the trend with Bengalureans is that they prefer the home delivery system. Even if they do go out, they don’t want to wait too long for their meal to arrive. They also don’t want to have the same brand’s food every time. The number of restaurants in the city gives them the luxury of indulging in this impulsive behaviour too. So as a brand, it’s always challenging for us to come up with something that’s quick, tasty and healthy at the same time.

Green Salsa

The recipe shared today is of ‘Green Salsa’, a dip that you can easily make at home. It works well for the health conscious. The ingredients required for this is only a few. It is best to have this at cold temperature. You can also store this in the fridge for more shelf life.

Ingredients

• Green tomatoes, 4 cups quartered
• Diced onions, ½ cup
• Finely chopped onions, 3 tbsp
• Chopped coriander, 2/3 cup
• Green chillies, 8
• Water, ½ cup

Method 1

• Blend all the items together cold.
• After blending, add finely chopped onions and stir.

Method 2

• Roast all the items in the pan.
• Blend all the items except for find chopped onions.
• After blending, add chopped onion to salsa.
• Serve chilled.

Ashwith Shetty