By Dr Tania Saili Bakshi
Mussoorie, 7 Sep: Four talented chefs with their retinue of thirty have been working round the clock churning out Vadas (savoury) to make it into ‘The Limca Book of Records for over five hundred varieties of vadas’.
With more than five hundred varieties of Vadas, the team is working with indigenous ingredients from Uttarakhand to add local flavour and texture to the savoury accompanied with condiments, along with authentic vadas found pan India.
Talking to us, Smriti Hari, the brain behind this tantalising idea tells us, “This is a dream come true for all of us present here. With the support of The Savoy and Chef Rajeev Badola, Chef Virender Singh Rana and my daughter Khyati Hari (Junior Masterchef fame) we hope to create a new Limca Book Record.” She adds, “We wanted to use indigenous ingredients such as jakhia, black sesame seeds, local mustard oil, madava, kandali, gaitha, jhangora, timru, red unpolished rice, poppy seeds, etc., to showcase our rich culinary heritage along with the regular vadas that we commonly get.”
Mouth-watering cheese burst vada to poha vada, makhana vada to rice vadas, from ringing paneer to sabudana vada all are spread out to entice the eye along with our taste-buds.
The youngest chef, 19-year-old Khyati tells us, “It was a once-in-lifetime experience being guided by such talented chefs including my mother. We thought up the idea, laid our stores in advance and then fructified our dreams.”
Chef Rajeev Badola adds, “We have grown up on these flavours and our focus was to make 51 local varieties that remind us of home and hearth.”
Chef Virender Singh Rana for the past five years has been no stranger to creating new records. From samosas to regional biryani, kathi rolls, raitas to the longest coconut barfi, his forte and core interest has been Indian cuisine. “Vadas are a popular snack. You will find all varieties including 51 regional ones from the hill-state. We plan to publish a book with recipes of 350 of these in the near future.”
With the results rolling in by the end of the month, look out for the space for more.
Among those present on the occasion were author Ganesh Saili; Nagar Palika Chairman, Anuj Gupta; Principal, IHM, Dehradun, Jagdeep Khanna; CJM’s Sister Anita; Fitness Expert & Actor Reza Khan; singer Shekinah Mukhiya and Oho Radio’s RJ Kaavya.
