Weekday Lounge Exclusive | Vegetarian with a twist

For many Hindus, shravan (a period of a month before the onset of the Ganesh festival) and the Ganesh Chaturthi festival are times of abstinence—of home-cooked, vegetarian meals. Gastronomic experiences of meat eaters is narrowed down to a few types of vegetarian dishes.

The chefs at the InterContinental, Marine Drive, in Mumbai, make this festive month a celebratory experience for food lovers with an innovative vegetarian menu.

The Tarkari Bazaar Festival, which started at the beginning the shravan season, and will go on till the second week of September (the end of Ganesh Chaturthi) at their Indian restaurant Kebab Korner, has a host of dishes made with fresh, seasonal vegetables in north Indian style. “Our restaurant gets a good number of vegetarian guests on a regular basis. During this time we wanted to give them choices beyond the traditional dishes usually made during the festival season, available anywhere else,” says executive chef Amit Bharadwaj. According to him, Ayurveda promotes eating vegetables that are in season for the best taste and good health. So, besides dishes made from paneer, mushroom and potatoes, they have dishes made from gawar (cluster beans), French beans, flat beans, fresh peas, methi (fenugreek leaves), spinach and other green vegetables.

Besides an exciting chaat counter for lunch, the seasonal menu has Tulsi Paneer (See picture), Achari Methi Ka Phool and Afghani Aloo for starters along with warm Rajma and Adraki Paani (a lentil and ginger flavoured broth) and cold cucumber soup. Main course dishes include Subz Khurchan, Diwani Handi and Noorani Kofta. The meal can be ended with traditional desserts such as modak or petha. Special Jain fare has food without garlic and onion and for more variety, their regular menu has vegetarian fare, too. Paranoid vegetarians, do not fret: All food items are prepared in pots and pans kept separate just for cooking vegetarian.

A meal for two would cost Rs4,000. For more details, call 022-39879999