AN IRISH AMBUSH

The Triveni Terrace Café presents a curated Irish food festival, on till November 30, that highlights fresh ingredients, traditional techniques, and global culinary expertise learnt at the famous Ballymaloe cooking school. Yes, oven-roasted Irish lamb stew is on the menu!

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(L-R) Chefs Pramod Kumar, Gary Masterson, Hari Gurung and Vinod Dani

FOR chef Vinod Dani, of Uttarakhand, the connection with Irish food was immediate and personal. "Back home, a simple dal would simmer for four or five hours in an earthen pot. The depth of flavour and the nutrients you retain when you cook slowly is a philosophy we grew up with," he says. It was this tradition that he and other young chefs from Delhi picked up in their 20-day training programme at the Ballymaloe cooking school in County Cork, run by Darina Allen, a celebrity chef, known for being a 'face' of the slow-food movement in Ireland.

The cooking school is set in a 100-acre organic farm that produces its own vegetables, free-range meat, eggs, and dairy. A typical day at Ballymaloe began with bakery sessions, followed by the preparation of a wholesome breakfast of eggs, breads, and salads. The afternoons were devoted to kitchen classes and farm explorations. Its vegetable garden offered lessons in organic cultivation and sustainable farm practices — the chefs from Delhi made it part of their practice. The three chefs, Vinod Dani, Hari Gurung, and Pramod Kumar, who are presenting the lessons they learned at the celebrated cookery school at the Triveni Terrace Café at Triveni Kala Sangam are currently hosting an Irish food fest, a curated menu of the country's food.