Bombay Brasserie @Taj Cape Town will be, bringing the ‘heat’ to the inner city this Spring with the first Bombay Brasserie Spring Chilli Festival.
Taj’s award winning Executive Sous Chef, Harpreet Longani, shares his love of chilli with this multi course menu showcasing a number of rare and hard to find chilli cultivars from India and around the world. “Chillies are an essential ingredient in any gourmet kitchen, but here in South Africa we are only exposed to a few of the varieties that are used for cooking and adding flavour to fine Indian cuisine.”
The Chilli Festival’s four course menu includes vegetarian and non-vegetarian options including sweet corn kernels with sago, pineapple relish and Deghi chillies; lamb kebabs flavoured with Roghani chilies cooked in beetle leaves; Lotus stems and water chestnut spiced with Gunter chillies; and lady’s finger tossed in mango powder, fenugreek leaves and Byagdi chillies.
Speciality breads will accompany the dishes including, Chilli Olive Naan, Masala Parantha and Roghani Kulcha. Desserts include home-churned Indian ice cream infused with a hint of red chilli and fennel and black pepper scented pancakes round off this exotic feast.
One of Twankey Bars’ finest Craft beers has been paired with each course to compliment the spicy flavour. Jack Black Pre-Prohibition style lager is paired with the Pink pepper corn soup and the CBC Craft Pilsner accompanies the evening’s starters. The main courses are paired with Lumber Jack Amber Ale and the desserts are served with the CBC Krystal Weiss. Guests can also try some of the exciting chilli infused cocktails and mocktails created for the event, such as a chilli mojito, chilli caipirinha, or Twankey Bar’s speciality; a chilli bloody mary.
The chilli, difficult as it may to believe, is classes as a fruit. However, it was not intended for human consumption, but for birds. Birds, who cannot taste the capsicum that gives chillies their ‘burn’, disperse the seeds of the chilli in flight to propagate the species. Humans are the only mammals known to eat chilli.
Throughout the month of September, Bombay Brasserie, one of Cape Town’s finest Indian speciality restaurants, is paying tribute to this special pepper with the first Chilli Festival.
The cost to attend is R495 per person and the craft beer pairings are optional at an extra R85 each. For non-beer drinkers, you can substitute for wine pairing instead for R250 per person.
