Sujoy Gupta

Sujoy Gupta is the Executive Chef of St James Court and Taj 51 Buckingham Gate Suites & Residences, London prior to which he was heading Taj Bengal & Taj Umaid Bhawan Palace for 10 years curating high end weddings. With twenty years of experience, he specializes in team challenges along with unique bespoke experiences. Chef Sujoy joined Taj Group of Hotels in 2005 as Senior Chef De Partie at Taj Bengal, Kolkata. After years of hard work, his culinary journey took him to the magnificent Palace in April 2015 as Executive Chef.  He says one of his career highlights is handling the much spoken about wedding of Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas at the Taj Umaid Bhawan Palace.

 

Do you have a favourite time of the year or set of ingredients that you look forward to working with?

Winter is the most exciting part of the year where the ingredients are favorable with the best of the quality, colors and more importantly the varieties .

What would you do if you weren’t a chef?

This is very difficult to answer as I have always wanted to be a chef since my school days when I used to visit my uncle’s hotel (those days ITDC, Ashok). My uncle was the cold kitchen chef and I use to be excited with the butter and margarine sculptures, the vegetable carvings and the fruit carvings. If not a chef i would have been an engineer by profession.

Do your personal preferences influence the menu at all?

I always work towards simple, elegant, single flavored profile dishes, keep them natural as possible, natural colour contents in each plating and focus on the textures of the dishes.

What do you think is the most over-hyped food trend currently?

The usage of chemicals, liquid nitrogen, dry ice in food and use of too much of garnish on a dish to make it attractive are trends that i feel are over hyped.

When are you happiest?

I am happiest when my guests love my creations and shower compliments about me, all this makes all the difference.

When you’re not in the kitchen where can you be found?

When i am not in the kitchen i am at home with my family.

 Where is your favourite place to dine?

I like to eat at home which used to be my mother’s kitchen and is now taken over by my wife. The food can’t be more delicious and comforting than this place.

What’s your favourite takeaway or comfort food?

Macher jhol with steamed rice has been my always first choice being a Bengali. For that matter fish or prawn curry in any form – i am clearly obsessed with my home-style fish curry and rice. In addition i am fond of Oriental food and biryani.

What makes the local food scene so exciting?

GO LOCAL has always been in trend now-since quite some years because of the sustainability, low carbon emission value, in order to be able to support the local farmers, freshness of the ingredients, seasonality and so that we are not restricted to fancy ingredients.

Which is the dish you’ve created that you are most proud of and why?

In TH 51 there is an excellent chicken dish – Caraway Malai chicken, Kafir lemon Makhani. This dish has characters of  creamy buttery melted chicken morsels cooked in clay oven enhanced with caraway seeds and the kafir lemon leaf infused makhani is a twist given to the sauce which compliments every bite of the creamy cheese charred chicken which is not greasy and fatty and at the same time much enjoyable with its flavor and texture.

You’re having friends over for dinner tonight. What’s on the table?

Whenever i have friends over i prefer to serve comfort food and my all time favorite Indian food which is chicken biryani with raita, plain tawa paratha and keema with potatoes.

Name your favourite city that has it all: food, culture, and nightlife.

My favorite city is Kolkata with it’s wide variations of flavors in terms of the food available across the city right from the old retro era, British influenced food, Mughal influenced food, Bengali specialties and all the international cuisines are popular. The night life of Park street, Kolkata is famous.

 

Can you tell us more about the cuisine at your restaurants?

The restaurant TH 51 which has a concept of global cuisine with a creative spin. We draw inspiration from cuisines and flavors around the world, exploring the unexplored and imagining the un-imagined to create a food and drink experience that excites all senses. Beyond unique recipes and flavors, we believe food and drink are best enjoyed in the company of others. For this reason, we imagine creative dishes and cocktails meant to be shared. With utmost respect for our ingredients, we celebrate nature’s seasonality and handpick the freshest, highest quality natural produce for our guests. We welcome communities of food lovers to pique their palates, enjoy our worldly flavors and above all, relish great conversations in stylishly comfortable surrounds.

 Easy to share, easy to eat – that’s how we approach our diverse menu of global tapas, small plates and sharing platters created to be enjoyed in the company of others. Creative recipes celebrating the freshest ingredients sourced from around the world, dynamically changing with the seasons. Travel the world with your taste-buds. Enjoy creative expressions of global flavours.

The globally acclaimed House of Ming restaurant opened its doors to diners in London at the end of May. House of Ming is housed within St. James’ Court, A Taj Hotel, and offers diners dishes inspired by regional Sichuan and Cantonese cooking,  unique creations from the creative chef team and recognizable House of Ming favourites.

The restaurant opened under the direction of an outstanding team who hold a wealth of experience travelling around and working in kitchens in Hong Kong, China and London. This has resulted in a creative and experimental menu that is designed to delight the palette. The menu is inspired by the leading elements and ingredients influenced from the original House of Ming restaurant in New Delhi, diners can discover food that has evolved over almost five decades of history and is authentically House of Ming.

KONA

 

At Kona London, we pay homage to tradition with the classic English Afternoon Tea, while also infusing delightful Indian influences with our Indian Jasmine Afternoon Tea. Regal luxury and visionary flavors unite in our indulgent afternoon tea experiences. Drawing connoisseurs of the finest experiences, Kona London invites you to savor the refined ritual of a quintessential British tradition infused with a modern and progressive flair.

 

 

Recipe of Burrata Kale Chaat

Servings – 2 portions

Preparation time – 20 minutes

 INGREDIENTS:                                      QUANTITY

• Italian Burrata (fresh)                                  2 no’s – 120 gms each.
• Cherry plum tomato                                   8-10 no’s
• Chopped onion                                            30gms
• Chopped tomato                                          30gms
• Siracha sauce                                                2 tablespoons
• Fine spiced Sev (savoury vermicelli)       50 gms
• Chopped coriander leaves                                     10gms (for garnish)
• Chat masala                                                  to sprinkle
• Pomegranate seeds(fresh)                          10gms (for garnish)
• Tamarind Chutney                                                 2 tablespoon
• Tamarind pulp                                             500ml
• Jaggery                                                           300gms
• Red chilli powder                                        40gms
• Broiled cumin                                               25gms
• Mint Chutney                                              1 tablespoon
• Fresh mint leaves                                         75gms
• Fresh coriander leaves                                40gms
• Green chillies                                                3-4 no’s
• Fresh ginger                                                  10gms
• Lemon juice                                                  10ml
• Salt                                                                  to taste

Crunchy Crisp Kale                                    2 crunchy fried leaves                               

• Kale leaves (fresh)                                       2 leaves (top head crunchy part)
• Rice flour                                                       20gms
• Water                                                                         50ml
• Salt                                                                  to taste
• Refined Oil                                          ( for frying the battered leaves)

 

METHOD

Crunchy Crisp Kale

1. Clean, wash and dried the kale leaves properly. Pat dry
2. Make the batter with water salt and rice flour.
3. Heat oil, dip the crunch leaves in the batter and fry crispy.

Tamarind Chutney

1. In a pan, please boil together the tamarind pulp & Jaggery.
2. Add the red chilli powder.
3. Boil till the mixture reduced to half.
4. Strain the chutney mixture for smooth final textured tamarind chutney.
5. Finish with broiled cumin powder.

Mint Chutney

1. Wash the mint and the coriander leaves.
2. In a mixer grinder add the leaves with fresh ginger and green chillies.
3. Grind to a coarsy texture paste.
4. Finish the paste with seasoning and lemon juice

Assembling the chaat  

1. Make a mixture with the chopped onion, chopped tomato & sriracha sauce.
2. Place the mixture at the base, crumb the side with the spicy sev (savoury vermicelli).
3. Place the fresh one whole burrata on the mixture of onion and tomato.
4. Pour the tamarind chutney on the burrata.
5. Top up with the mint chutney on the burrata.
6. Sprinkle chat masala on the burrata.
7. Sprinkle the chopped coriander leaves and pomegranate seeds
8. Finally garnish with the crunchy crispy kale on top of the burrata chat and serve.

 

 

Recipe of Mochi Cheese Cake

Servings – 4 portions

Preparation time – 40 minutes

SL NO	INGREDIENTS	QUANTITIES
Chocolate cheese cake
1	Philadelphia cheese	250gm
2	Icing sugar	125gm
3	Whipping Cream	500gm
4	Dark chocolate	250 gm
5	Gelatin sheet	3sheets
Raspberry coulis
6	Frozen raspberry	100gm
7	Cinnamon stick	1 pc
8	Caster sugar	30gm
Mochi paste
9	Glutinous rice flour	300gm
10	Corn flour	75gm
11	Milk	525 ml
12	Trimoline	90gm
13	Vegetable oil	45 ml

 

Method:

• For chocolate cheesecake, whip Philadelphia cheese and half the quantity cream together.
• Soak gelatin in cold water and keep it aside.
• Boil Icing sugar and remaining cream together and pour on chocolate, add soaked gelatin.
• Slowly add the above mixture into the cream cheese mix and fold well.
• Pour the cheesecake in to half sphere flexi mold and freeze it.
• Meanwhile boil raspberry with caster sugar and cinnamon stick, cook well and cool it down.
• Take out the cheesecake from the freezer and scoop out the center with a melon scooper and fill with raspberry coulis. Freeze it again.
• For mochi paste, mix all the ingredients except oil and steam it for 40 minutes. Take out from the steamer and mix with oil.
• Roll the cheesecake in the mochi paste and serve Take out the cheesecake sphere from the freezer and stick two half spheres together.
• Roll the cheesecake in the mochi dough
• Serve cold.