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  At The Claridges, New Delhi, Neeraj Tyagi rustles up a diced beetroot and goat cheese salad with radish sprouts

It's often remarked in the world of gastronomy that 'small things make the biggest difference'. And now, top Indian chefs are giving the thumbs up to that piece of culinary wisdom and putting their money on petite but flavourful micro greens that are fast becoming kitchen staples. These fresh, baby plants are making all the difference to everything from exotic recipes to ordinary salads.

A peep into many top commercial kitchens reveals baby greens kept within easy distance of the chefs, to be freshly plucked and placed on aesthetic-looking dishes, or generously mixed or sprinkled on salads. 'Micro greens pack a flavourful punch apart from lending a dish beauty, colour and texture,' says Mayank Kulshreshtha, executive chef, ITC Sonar in Calcutta.

So, what are micro greens? The answer is that they are the first, tiny, baby leaves, sized between 1cm and 3cm, that surface from a pot. They include the stem and leaves of a variety of vegetables, herbs and other edible plants.

'The shoots of grains or salad vegetables such as rocket, celery, beetroot or lentils picked just after the first leaves develop qualify as micro greens,' says Vishal Atreya, executive chef , The Imperial, New Delhi.

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  A vibrant orange fennel salad with honey mustard dressing and beet micro greens is a winner at Shangri-La’s - Eros

And these greens have emerged as the clear hot favourite of the season.

According to Neeraj Tyagi, executive chef, The Claridges, New Delhi, these greens also come packed with healthy nutrients, and are becoming a hit with modern day professionals who are looking for quick and healthy bites.

So, you'll find Tyagi incorporating the greens in most of his preparations. Tyagi says these greens can be used as ingredients in seasonal salads or as accompaniments with fish or meat dishes apart from being handsomely used as garnishes on a variety of soups, sandwiches and pizzas.

With their growing popularity, you'll find these greens laid out in most hotel buffets and salad bar menus.

At Shangri-La's - Eros Hotel, New Delhi, executive chef Martin Braecker uses micro greens to enhance the salads on the hotel's buffet.

You'll find a good mix of bright yellow mustard cress, violet beet greens and green pea shoots adding flavours and contrasting hues to the salads here.

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  Sharad Dewan of The Park, Calcutta, offers rosemary tossed summer greens that are a hit with salad lovers

You can dig into dishes trimmed with micro greens like beet carpaccio with crumbled feta cheese and micro greens, orange fennel salad with honey mustard dressing and beet micro greens, mango and glass noodle salad with mustard seed greens and grilled green asparagus.

Atreya says that apart from the presentation, micro greens impart a subtle range of flavours in their pairing with the main ingredients of a dish. 'For instance, mustard and daikon enhance the flavours of fish-based preparations while red beet micro greens pair beautifully with seafood or duck,' says Atreya.

In Calcutta, chef Kulshreshtha grows mustard cress regularly to keep up with the demands of mustard-loving Bengalis.

His most popular dishes are pan-seared bhetki with mustard cress and feta cheese, and rocket with fennel cress salad. 'Fish and mustard complement each other — even when the fish is teamed with mustard cress greens,' says Kulshreshtha.

At The Claridges, you'll find Tyagi going creative with these delicious greens. He's quick to rustle up scrumptious offerings like diced beetroot and goat cheese salad with radish sprouts. A highly recommended dish is a toasted sandwich of Portobello, gruyere and rocket cress apart from shrimp and boiled egg canaps with micro radish and cilantro greens.

If you want more, then walk into 1911 restaurant at The Imperial in Delhi and discover a colourful buffet replete with special platters of micro greens. There's a profusion of greens like wheat grass, lentils, green peas, red amaranthus, mustard cress, radish cress to go with a wide selection of meats, seafood, bakes and vegetarian options. Enthusiastic guests are invited to pluck the fresh greens and create their own garnishes or salads and team them with their favourite dishes from the huge buffet spread. 'Guests keep coming back for the experience of choosing and plucking fresh greens for themselves,' says Atreya.

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  Vishal Atreya from The Imperial, New Delhi, pairs saffron and seafood broth with mustard cress micro greens

Chef Sharad Dewan, area director, food production, The Park, Calcutta, is also rooting for healthy micro greens and his menus are high on them. Dewan has gone innovative by using micro greens in dishes like harey matar ki gilauti with pea shoots, mixed lentil micro greens fresh spring rolls, ginger tofu with mixed micro greens and a healthy and light, rosemary tossed summer greens salad.

While all these preparations make for healthy treats, micro greens are not very easily available yet in India. According to Braecker, micro greens are also expensive due to their short shelf life and also because they are mostly imported.

Locally produced varieties like mustard seed greens cost about Rs 132 to Rs 150 for 25gm of usable micro greens says Braecker.

It's no surprise then that to meet the demand for micro greens, apart from sourcing them from a few specialist vendors, chefs have started growing their own. Unlike, regular micro greens which are grown in soil, chef Atreya grows his soil-free, on a bed of cotton which keeps them fresh for presentation and plucking.

Chef Dewan does the same. 'To avoid a mess in the kitchen and to keep the food presentation aesthetic, it's preferable to grow micro greens on a layer of sterilised cotton,' says Dewan.

The demand for these little wonders is bound to escalate, predict the chefs. For these flavour-packed bombshells can take just any ordinary dish to another culinary level.