The evening organized by the Chilean Embassy & SS Associates for the launch of ‘Chilean cherries’ was indeed the Cherry on top of my day!
It was an honor to meet the Ambassador of Chile Mr. Juan Angulo Monsalv, who gave us insightful information on their geographically blessed country. Chile is today the largest exporters of Cherries in the world and this delicious fruit is available from October to February, when Indian cherries are out of supply.
Let’s talk about the evening. I couldn’t have enough of these cherries and almost finished up the entire bowl on my table. They have a fantastic taste of juicy, sweet pulp and that intense color just pops out. These Cherries are so versatile that Chef Manish Mehrotra was able to merge this juicy yet slight tanginess flavor with our Indian pallet and gave us some amazing dishes to taste.
I have shared the tasting menu in pictures already, however would like to make a special mention of few dishes. It all started with our Desi Shikanji flavoured with the Cherry juice which was an instant hit….refreshing! Quinao dahi vada with Chilean cherry chutney had an amazingly soft vada with slightly grainy filling. That tangy sweet chilean cherry chutney bowled me over. Yes, the “Chilli crab, sago Pongal, peanuts” was the best dish of the evening. Best quality of Crab meat paired with Sago and finished with a banana crisp on top. It was a killer combo and Chef Manish Mehrotra confirmed that it will be on their regular menu soon. Cooking is indeed an art and Chef Manish definitely knows how to end a meal with a bang. For me it was the “Dark chocolate, Chilean cherry, sesame chikki”. Who could have guessed that sesame and cherry can be paired together and can taste amazing along with pure dark Chocolate. That’s how versatile these cherries are.
Overall an amazing “Cherry red” evening!
– Bhawna Bhatia
