Event: The Past is Present: Indian Food Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow, Sept 29th

a style=

The Past is Present: Indian Food Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Date: Wednesday, September 29, 2010.
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Place: Indique Heights at 2 Wisconsin Circle, Chevy Chase, Maryland
At the intersection of Western Ave. & Wisconsin Ave. – take elevator to 2nd level
Parking: Available in the building for $3.00; Metro: Red Line Friendship Heights
Cost: Les Dame Members $55.00; (1) Guest of a Dame $55.00; Additional Guests and non-Dames $65.00
RSVP: Online at www.lesdamesdc.org or by phone at 202-973-2168 by 9/25/10

There’s nothing new about fusion cooking in India, where, for centuries, a thrilling amalgamation of borrowings and innovations have joined with tradition to produce one of the world’s great cuisines. Over the years, cultural and religious multiplicity, climatic and geographic diversity, and successive invasions by Persians, Greeks, Romans, Moguls, Portuguese, British, and others have shaped India’s regional dishes. And though “fusion” has new meaning in today’s global kitchen, in India the past is always present.

Our evening kicks off with slide-illustrated talks explaining how modern Indian food combines time-honored and distinctly regional styles with new culinary influences and cross-cultural ingredients. A dazzling exhibit of aromatic spices further illustrates the complexity of Indian cuisine. And our lavish buffet dinner brings the urbanity of today’s Indian table to tasty life.

Describing the traditional (and his own take on it), is our host K.N. Vinod, master chef and Chennai native and co-owner of Indique Heights, Indique, and Bombay Bistro restaurants. Dame Monica Bhide, cooking teacher, culinary journalist, and author of Modern Spice, The Everything Indian Cookbook, and The Spice is Right: Easy Indian Cooking for Today, explains the contemporary, with an emphasis on the transnational cooking she experienced growing up in an Indian family in the U.S.

Special Les Dames d’Escoffier Regional Menu Cocktails & Snacks: Tamarind Margarita & Mangotini and Passed Marsala Peanuts & Cashew Pakoras Appetizer Station: Vegetable Samosa Chat and Papri Chat – New Delhi; Bhel Puri – Mumbai; Mussels a la Indique – Pondicherry; Syrian Lamb Fry – Kerala Main Courses: Malabar Shrimp Curry – Kerala; Chicken Mughalai – Lucknow; Lamb Nilgiri Khorma – Tanilnadu; Bhindi Sholapuri – Maharashtra; Aloo Jerra – Uttar Pradesh; Kadai Paneer – New Delhi Mushroom Matter – New Delhi; Dal Makhani – Punjab Assorted Breads; Papads; Lemon Rice – Tamilnadu; Jerra Pulao – New Delhi Accompaniments:Cucumber Raita, Assorted Chutneys and Pickles Desserts: Mango Cheese Flan with Raspberry and Mango Coulis; Shreekandh Brulee (Indique Heights’own version)