Isn’t it astonishing??? The way one humble ingredient can take on so many different avatars! The uses of Gram Flour can be seen from sweets to curry to savory snacks as it’s like the Iron Man in every kitchen pantry.
Hi, I am Pranav Upadhyay the first Indian chef to 3D Print an indigenous recipe. Born in Mumbai, raised in a small town Silvassa tugged between Maharashtra and Gujarat being Half Gujarati & Half Punjabi gave me a lot of insight on the culture and cuisine of our country. After passing PGDCA from Culinary Academy of India, I started my career with The Taj group (IHCL) and later worked as a Head Chef at Wet Wine Bar by Chef Gaggan Anand. Staged with some of the legendary Michelin Restaurants Tickets, Enigma, Disfutar in Barcelona & Gaa in Bangkok.
Since, childhood Khandvi was one of my favorite snacks, the super delicate pin wheel always had my head welting about its creation. In 2019 I decided to give the classic Khandvi a makeover, There were 2 challenges I set for my self One, to keep it as delicate as it is Two, to only use the same ingredients used in the classic version. I was off on a voyage of thoughts, nature being my biggest inspiration the subtle details of a honey comb hit my head.
Chaos & Challenges
Once the Gram flour is cooked you have a small window to mold it, with my initial thought to create the comb I used a piping bag and a nozzle. The results where unsatisfactory as it was very difficult to pipe the hot mixture. After multiple trial and error for 3 months, I finally figured out the way to stabilize the resistant starch in the mixture. The stabilized mixture helped me to plate out my first Khandvi comb, The comb looked like a piece of art on the plate but overall lacked finesse.
The Components
Coconut: Fresh desiccated coconut is traditionally used as a garnish, I converted it to a creamy spiced mousse to center fill my Khandvi. Mustard seeds: Traditionally khandvi is tempered with mustard seeds, I placed the tempered mustard seeds on the comb to depict bee pollen and drizzled the tempered oil over it. Coriander leaves: Fresh fine chopped coriander leaves are used as garnish, I used coriander cress to bring element of nature to the plate.
3D Printing
In the search of improving on finesse use of Artificial intelligence and Technology was my final resort. During my internship in Spain, I came across 3D food printer and the recipe I started developing in 2019 finally seemed as it had met its destiny. With the help of the 3d printing company I had my design feed in to the system and tried my first Khandvi comb, A dream turned in to reality.