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Jiggs to provide food for summiteers' thoughts

George Iype in Agra

The menu for the historic summit-level talks between Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan will not have just Kashmir.

It will be renowned gourmet Jiggs Kalra's finest selection of cuisine, titled 'Ambrosia of the Gods', that the Jaypee Palace Hotel, the summit venue, will serve the visiting VVIPs during the two lunches and one dinner.

A team of specialists and chefs led by Kalra, his partner Pushpesh Pant, and Narinder Singh, the Jaypee Palace's master chef, are fine-tuning the menu, which they hope will make the two leaders' mouths water.

"We will give Musharraf the finest cuisine culled from different parts of India. It will showcase the regional diversity of our country," reveals Kalra.

Kalra and his team have always won accolades for the exquisite cuisine they have served to visiting heads of state on several occasions. Kalra has accompanied Vajpayee on a number of occasions to specially prepare dishes for him. So it was no surprise when the prime minister's office contacted him last week to take over the summit lunches and dinner at the Jaypee Palace Hotel.

Kalra's own invention, the application of ayurvedic properties to dishes, is being used in the summit items. He has classified food ingredients into hot, cold and rajasik, as per the ayurvedic and unani properties he applies on them.

So the menu will have grilled freshwater prawns, which has been named daura-e-tafreeh. It will be prepared along with fired coral specially brought from Phoolwalon ki haveli in Lucknow. Then there will be the dum ki biryani that will be splattered with the most expensive powdered pearls.

If Vajpayee and Musharraf get their heads and minds heated over the negotiating table, they can cool down with zarraqoosh and shilajit, the cooling fluids of iron ore, which the chefs call ayurvedic elixirs. Also served in plenty will be fried mushrooms, powdered mica, dhingri-shabnam, cheese koftas. The kakori kebabs served will be prepared in 30 special spices.

There will also be specially imported lobsters, morels, ducks, chicken cubes, oysters, dried plums, tiger prawns and princess corns on the dining table. The masalas will be balanced by a hakim. Soup will be the traditional thakkali rasam, a speciality of Kerala.

The dessert will be the tiranga kulfi and pista kulfi prepared in cardamom and saffron.

The chefs claim the menu will be a superb blend of the finest dishes. "We are all prepared to serve our best," says Narinder Singh.

The 'working lunch' on summit day, Sunday, is expected to last a little over an hour. The number of guests, mainly delegates and senior officials, will not be more than 150. The Jaypee Palace will deploy nearly 100 people to serve the VVIPs and their entourage.

As per the security orders, a microbiology lab has been set up in the hotel to test all the raw ingredients brought for the cuisine. The chief medical officer from the PMO and security personnel from Pakistan and India will watch and test the preparations of all food items.

Indo-Pak Summit 2001: The Complete Coverage

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