let's see what this is mmm princess Alia Sultana Barbie requests your presence at the garden palace in balasinor India to prepare our beloved lamb dish lasagna keema that sounds exotic like an Italian Indian dish when the whole family is going to be there to test it out I have no idea what this is but I'm always up for a challenge so let's get going and turn this dish into something modern and funny I am Christian Bower executive chef and co-owner at troika Sky dining one of Malaysia's most innovative fine-dining restaurants I wanted to have some fun with my European heritage and my love of world cuisine so I came up with the idea of taking over the kitchens of royal families and reinventing traditional Palace dining.
My style of cooking is modern but it always has a definite twist who doesn't love a challenge join me as I put my culinary skills to the test I [Music] just arrived in Gujarat by train what an incredible journey it's my first time in India and I can't wait to get stuck into it and see more the place it's exciting India is really complete sensory overload the sound the smell the people it's it's completely mad but I like it a lot this is my very first real Indian child I mean I've had it in Europe but I'm in India the first one that should be real chai is India's national drink this spiced tea is bald in a brew of water and milk and it is served sweet very sweet my god is hot I know why they have such small cups there's so much sugar in here I think I only need one a day to be able to stay alive I could live on that I'm on my way to Palestine Oh to cook for princess alia and the family now the palace is in a rural area so all the produce will be farm-fresh should be really exciting the royal family of balasinor comes from the formidable Barbie dynasty they came from Afghanistan with Mughal warriors who gifted the Barbies with princely states in Gujarat they bestowed the honorary title of nawab or prints on them the Barbies are muslim and maintained a non vegetarian lifestyle unlike the mostly Hindu population now that's a welcome Palestine Oh is one of the few remaining places in India where a Muslim royal family still retains its presence and what a warm welcome they've prepared I'm eager to meet princess alia and learn more about the family's history and culinary traditions that is stunning my god after I should collect myself before I go in there and meet the princess I've not had such a welcome oh my god princess alia hello Chris welcome to Bala Sonam here is lovely to meet you come have a seat it's a wonderful place that you have so much and you have a lot of portraits yes so it is all by ancestors who's the baby on the wall over there that's my father mm-hmm he was crowned at the age of 11 months because the throne can't remain empty yeah it's like the king is dead so who's this gentleman here that's my great-great grandfather his highness zoravar kanji babi of balasinor hmm and he was so strong that you know in the olden days we had these coins golden coins so with his thumb he could just remove the imprint from the coin with this thumb and his finger.
Just like this I read the family recipe and I'm quite excited to redo it in a modern way yeah it's an age-old recipe which has been handed down through generations and it's been a personal favorite with all the family members mmm so should I be scared I think so you should I hear you your mother's going to be there to taste what I'm doing yes I don't know if you're aware but my mother is an exceptional cook oh she's a celebrity chef in her own way oh my goodness so she might not like the fact that I'm going to redo her recipe ah she may like it or she may not I'm gonna try and charm her first I've got some brownie points before I start well let's see if she gets jump can we have a look around the rest of the palace uh yes come let's go the original palace was destroyed in a blazing fire in the 1940s this place is actually the old guest house so you can imagine how absolutely enormous the old palace must have been me and Chris this is a dining room where we'll be having a lunch beautiful fantastic nothing for you food I never say no to food you see kebab a balasinor mmm who's that you'll be surprised to know it's my mother really sure with pleasure the traditional kebab of minced mutton is another favorite of the royal family and part of their culinary heritage mogul cuizeen boasts an incredible number of spiced lamb and goat dishes cooked in an exotic variety of ways Chris this is my mother her Highness biggest I prefer it Sultana babi of balasinor nice to unity please have a seat thank you I'll leave you two experts to discuss about your favorite fashion food thank you I'm going to take the traditional recipe of the keema okay and I'm going to turn it into a very modern dish the lasagna keema is a centuries-old dish of minced mutton with green garlic topped with egg reflecting the family's rich culinary traditions are you sure you can make it I don't know I don't know you'll be there to judge hopefully my head will not be on the chopping block I hope not this recipe you've been making for a long time a very long time it was been handed down to me by my grandfather my mother's father they used to have it for breakfast for breakfast during winters because they have this green garlic on it you know and that we only get it during the winters what strong green yeah it's quite strong I think so there it is the gauntlet has been thrown down I must now prepare a modern interpretation of the traditional lasagna keema and it must be good enough to impress the Begum the princess's mother meanwhile princess alia has a prehistoric surprise for me well I guess we're a few hundred million years too late phenomena I'm afraid so [Music] I've come to Palestine Oh in Gujarat India to prepare a modern version of the traditional royal dish of lasagna keema I am a guest a princess aliens the princess is not only a royal she is also a dinosaur enthusiast and proudly takes me on a tour of India's very own Jurassic Park Chris you are here at the world's third-largest dinosaur fossil excavation site that's not a fossil no that's a model of a dinosaur mm-hm and today we are going to make you a paleontologist from a chef just imagine Chris this whole area as far as your eyes can see was full of dinosaurs more than 65 million years ago I'm glad they're gone now otherwise I don't think we would be standing to be running yes so how did you get started with all the dinosaur part when I was a child I was learning the words like Apple and but after that the first spelling I learned was off the Diplodocus so and I was four years old so I guess it was my calling from all very young is how do you spell it all right now I don't remember your is your tool the most important tool for a paleontology all right I'm gonna go off and find my own dinosaur all the best I'm not quite sure how much I'm gonna have to blow Oh Chris I'm afraid that's not a bone yeah come on I'll show you a fossil all right okay Chris this looks promising so let's try your luck here hey I think we've got something here what do you think the basis of the soup or not well you certainly have found a fossilized bone and this is the bone of the Roger Soros an Indian dinosaur right and this is the fossilized egg of the dinosaur whoa you can see the shell and the tiny pores on it and a very interesting story behind this egg is that it was found with a village woman and she was using it to grind her masala.
So it was all covered with chilies when we found it well I guess we're a few hundred million years too late for an omelet I'm afraid so speaking of eggs I do need to go to the market to get my ingredients for the lasagna keema but first we make a quick stop at a primary school supported by princess alia and her brother Prince Salauddin the royal family makes regular trips to the villages to promote the children's education and they have invited me to join them [Applause] they study all the subjects here a b c we support you know the education here because a lot of people are actually needy so it's just not here in various other schools also we try and help them out in whatever way we can so in general of course education is very important as part of our philanthropic work after a cheerful chamber i head to the market to buy ingredients for my version i am to make a marinated stewed lamb instead of minced mutton and also a ghee fried egg white pancake I must say Her Highness Begum Bobby has really put me on the spot and I want to impress her still I'm going to take a risk even though there are no tomatoes in the original royal recipe I need some fresh ripe tomatoes for my own stool and that's small but they're nice and red so I'm gonna get I really got a lot of those ah I love holding p5 this is so simple it's just Oh strip fried and then I think with some chili on it Adam a default what's delicious India's gonna make me fat to marinate the lamb I need ginger coriander cumin and absolutely all the green garlic I can lay my hands on I need green garlic green garlic where can I find green garlic.
l'm still hunting for my green garlic their chives everywhere but where's the garlic I'm counting three different types of Chili's but not a single green garlic this is a green garlic season [Music] I think let me not be happy too fast bingo this is it green garlic I need a lot of that very nice and sharp I think I said it's somewhere between a radish and a horseradish a shape I think after we've stood it it will be a little bit milder but we'll still get a bit of punch out of that for my stew I also need onions chilies spices and of course some big juicy mutton shanks hello do you have any money oh there we go that looks good I need two more of these first time shopping at an Indian market what an experience well I have everything I need so it's time to hurry back to the palace and start preparing my dish for tomorrow's dinner absolutely have to get my lamb marinated tonight and then the lamb will be chilling overnight tomorrow we'll be ready to go the first few ingredients for my marinade are garlic onion and ginger with a little help from a mortar and pestle I'm turning this into a paste right we've got a lovely wet rough paste here I just need to put the cumin and coriander in there a bit of lemon juice some oil and we're ready to marinate our goat now this is a very interesting local black salt it has a very sulfurous kind of flavor a bit like salted egg we've got our goat here so all I need to do now is marinate it now we don't need to be shy about this just slap it on and now for our last vital ingredient the green garlic the green garlic in this dish is an absolute mantra must have green garlic love it I might have gone a little bit mad on the green garlic but Bigham said it's important and now it's hands time really needs to be everywhere so then we have it our legs are marinated all we need to do is keep them in the chiller overnight and we're ready to go tomorrow I know what the royal family likes to eat but what about the locals to find out ahead to the night market for some authentic street food it is full of light and Colour and the smell of tandoori chicken is simply irresistible just a tandoori chicken is marinated in yogurt and seasoned with spices it is the cayenne pepper powder that gives the dish its fiery when huge the name comes from a cylindrical clay oven a tandoor in which the dish is traditionally prepared but a simple grill seems to work just as well with all the pieces cut up small and then the marinade put all around it you really get that Andrea flavor in every single piece this is wonderful I'm gonna pack.
The rest back at the palette next there's more cooking to be done my fate is now in the hands of the royal family of balasinor when they're going to taste my reinvention and their beloved lasagna keema might service food but the lasagna on tour here in Gujarat Northwest India I am a guest of the royal family of balasinor [Music] today is the big day I am cooking for the crown I have altered the family's traditional royal recipe of lasagna keema into a stewed lamb and I'll be serving this with green garlic pesto egg yolk lemon sauce and the ghee fried egg white pancake right here we are in the bright morning in the palace garden I'm gonna start all day by stewing the lamb we marinated yesterday but I'm going to do is keep the lamb on the bone and stew it with all the spices until it's really nice and soft it should fall off the bone then I'll take the stirring juices and turn them into a rich thick sauce that's the first thing the lamb shanks are browned in a pan with ghee and ginger and now I'm going to stew them with tomatoes carrots onions cumin and coriander and we'll just pop our meat into there next will be our green garlic I'm going to make that into a pesto type sauce so we should really be able to taste the full flavor of the green garlic [Music] and now to the egg normally it's just put on top of the dish but I'm going to turn the egg whites into a big decorative fritter every dish needs its vegetable so I am frying some cauliflower and radish with mustard seeds for a more traditional Indian flavor we have it all we've got the lamb we've got the sauce we've got the gene garlic and you've got the egg can't really go wrong can it the clock is ticking and inside the palace members of the royal family are already setting the table and preparing the dining room I guess I had better get on with it and plate up my version of lasagne keema my lamb is nicely stewed is really really soft and tender and now it's all about decorating well that's gonna go on my plate right here I've tossed the cauliflower that were boiled in a little bit of ghee and a couple of mustard seeds so we've got the lovely colour there green garlic sauce got to be a little bit fast otherwise my meat is going to be cold and now all I need to do is cover my meat with sauce last one we're gonna decorate it a little bit of wow factor to my dish we're ready to serve [Music] princess alia prince allow Dean and her Highness vegan Bobby take their seats and the lasagna keema is served this is the moment I have been waiting for the moment of truth will they like my interpretation of their recipe and bestow my dish with a Royal Seal of Approval I think we did well but you never know when you're messing with people's traditional recipes what they're thinking I hope the big room is not too harsh on me I think the radius presented it's good it's a good at with the marination is very good it's very nice and tender also easily cut acts and the marination has just gone right to the meat you know inside I like the vegetables and the sauce but you can't call this the lasagna keema this is a dish by itself correct by itself it's good [Music] so how's it going I'm afraid it's not like the lesson er chemo at all mmm it's got a taste of his own and it's very tasty if it will happen mincemeat kebabs is something and if you would have added the green garlic to it it would have been somewhat closer to it what I'm trying to do with all these dishes is to get something where you eat it and then there's a memory of it yeah thank you thank you what an interesting challenge that was I really enjoyed meeting princess alia and the whole family and I especially liked the bagel maybe it didn't go exactly as I had planned but it was fun nevertheless I hope you'll join me again next time when I am cooking for the crown.
