Sea bass poached in cilantro jus

Now that Diwali is behind us, and Christmas and the New Year are still some weeks away, let’s try and detoxify ourselves. Some people I know eat only fruits when they try to rev up their bodies after a gluttonous season. I wouldn’t advise such drastic measures. I would instead suggest that we add fresh fruit juices to our food.

Niladri Chakraborty, corporate chef at The Sonnet in Calcutta, has been doing that for a while. “Fruit juice has a wide range of benefits,” the chef says.

As for me, nothing gives me more pleasure than seeing a chef squeeze out a large half of a juicy orange or a grapefruit into a frying pan. The juice sizzles in the heat, adding colour to the dish that’s being cooked and a wonderful aroma wafts up to tickle your nose. “Juices add taste, colour, flavour and acidity,” says my friend — a trained and amateur chef — Vikram Marett.

Chicken parcels in citrus saffron emulsion

There are no hard and fast rules about which juice goes well with what, though Marett holds that apple juice goes particularly well with pork. Chef Chakraborty prepares a fresh fruit salad with cinnamon and rose extraction. And chef Pradip Rozario, who runs K.K.’s Fusion in Calcutta, extracts the pink core of a red guava, mashes it into a sauce and cooks it with chicken.

If you like your food a little sweet as I do, you’ll probably want to prepare a sauce with some citric juice. Chef Chakraborty does that effectively with his bouquet garni stuffed chicken parcels in saffron emulsion and sea bass poached in citrus cilantro jus. Juices — suitably reduced with the right spices and herbs — get infused into the dish, changing its complexion.

Orange or other citric juices can be used with most ingredients — including fish and fowl. Chef Rozario, for instance, poaches a chicken breast in sweet lime juice and orange juice infused with rosemary. “Citrus juices can be paired with anything. You can present it with roast chicken or cook pink salmon in it, with a bit of wasabi,” he says. “Even a boiled egg goes well with a citrus sauce.”

And when he is not cooking with orange juice, chef Rozario likes to experiment with watermelon juice. One of his dishes — reduced watermelon juice flavoured with mint — goes particularly well with basa fish.

Fresh fruit salad with cinnamon and rose extraction

The chefs suggest that if you are cooking in fruit juices for the first time, try it out a couple of times before inviting your friends over for dinner. Getting the sauce right is all about reducing it to the perfect consistency. The sauce should be a bit thick, but if it gets even a little bitter, you have to do it all over. After a few attempts, you’ll know when the sauce is done.

The problem is that a sauce can become a bit too sweet if you’ve not reduced it to the right consistency.

But there is a remedy for this. Chef Rozario counters the extra sweet taste in a sauce with a bit of brown sauce or even Tabasco, while Marett says he uses vinegar or lime juice.

Don’t forget that cooking with fresh fruit juices won’t just add to the taste, but endow the food with additional vitamins. “Fruit juice is a good source of nutrients,”chef Chakraborty points out. And do remember that your body is getting detoxed in the process — all so that you can get back to some wild wining and dining later in the month.

Braised chicken salad with grape juice and honey (serves 1)

Ingredients:

• 1 chicken breast • 50g black grapes • ½ cup assorted lettuce leaves • 2tsp honey • a few sprigs of basil • salt and pepper to taste • 2tbs lemon juice • 150ml grape juice

Method:

Marinate the chicken in grape juice, honey, lemon juice, basil leaves, salt and pepper. In a non-stick pan braise the chicken, till the juice is reduced and the chicken is done. Refrigerate. Toss the assorted lettuce leaves and place at the centre of a plate. Cut the breast into thin slices and place on top of the lettuce. Pour some reduced juice
on top. Garnish with black grapes.

Casserole of bacon-wrapped prawn in orange juice (serves 1-2)

Ingredients:

• 300g prawn • 4 rashers bacon • 250ml orange juice • salt to taste • ½ tsp crushed black pepper • 2 sprigs of rosemary •15g onions • 2 cloves garlic • 1 sprig chive

Method:

Shell and de-vein the prawns. Marinate with salt and pepper. Wrap the prawns with bacon. Cook the bacon-wrapped prawns in orange juice with onion, garlic and rosemary till the prawns are done. Remove the prawns and reduce the juice till it has the consistency of a thickened sauce. Place the prawns in a row on a plate and the juice over it. Serve hot garnished with an edible flower
and chives.