The table is laid out with the best of Awadhi cuisine and the fragrance of the spices is overpowering. An assortment of melt-in-the-mouth kebabs start off a lunch that includes a tender Nihari Gosht and mouth-watering Murg Parda Biryani (the parda or veil is also edible) as the main course. Chef Rakesh Dhingra’s lunch menu is rounded off with crisply fried imartis — delicious fermented flour roundels that are dipped in saffron syrup.

The venue is Nakshatra, the restaurant at Fortune Select Global Hotel in Gurgaon on Delhi’s outskirts. As executive chef, Dhingra is hands-on in the kitchen which he likes to keep open for guests, so that they can interact with the chefs and even get to see what’s cooking.

Dhingra joined the Fortune Select Global group three years ago, having done stints at Le Meridien Hotel and Sarovar Hotels. He says: “At Le Meriden I picked up the nuances of international cuisines like French, Italian, Tunisian, Egyptian and Mexican.’’ He adds with a smile: “Think of anything, name it and I shall cook it.”

Here he shares some of his signature north Indian recipes.

gajab ka seena (awadh)

Serves: 4

Ingredients
1,200gm chicken breast (boneless but with end bone intact) 50gm ginger 50gm garlic 20gm white pepper powder 60gm Amul cheese 1 egg 100gm fresh cream 40gm cashew nut paste 5gm cardamom powder 2gm mace (javitri) powder 20gm green chillies 20gm fresh coriander Salt and crushed black peppercorn

Method
Remove the fat from the chicken breasts, keeping the end bone intact. Coat with ginger-garlic paste, salt, white pepper powder and set aside for 30 minutes. Make a marinade with cheese, the egg, cream, cashew nut paste and cardamom-mace powder, green chillies and fresh coriander. Marinate the chicken in it, sprinkle crushed black peppercorn and keep aside for two hours. Skewer the marinated chicken and roast in a moderately heated clay oven. Garnish with onion rings and serve with mint chutney.

Haryo Maas (Rajasthan)

Serves: 4

Ingredients
1kg mutton 60gm butter 4gm khada masala (whole spices) 2gm whole red chillies 200gm onion (chopped) 40gm garlic paste 150gm tomato pureé 200gm spinach pureé 10gm red chilli powder 10gm garam masala powder 20gm ginger (julienned) Salt to taste

Method
Cut the mutton into small chunks. Heat butter in a handi, add khada masala and red chillies and sauté. Add the chopped onions and mutton and cook till the onions are mashed. Add garlic paste and tomato pureé. Cook till it releases oil. Next add the spinach pureé. Allow the spices to simmer till the mutton is done. Garnish with ginger juliennes.