Salad Festival at Westin Culinary Academy ,Westin, Gurgaon .

As an  ardent food enthusiasist , I always look for trying out new dishes and keen to learn new cuisines. When I got an invitation from Linopinion , for a Summer Salad event at Westin, Gurgaon, I immediately booked my seat as I didnt want to miss this chance to learn from Chef Arun Awasthi.
Westin, Gurgaon regularly showcases excemplary cuisines of India and  across the Globe.
The event "Summer Salad " was a one day event on 16th of May, Saturday.

Chef Arun Awasthi is Sous Chef in Westin , Gurgaon and has been with the Hotel from 2012.  So he picked up three low calorie Summer Salad Recipes  from their Restaurant Menu. .

1. Wanut and Beetroot Salad
2. New Olive and Tomato Salad
3. Quinoa Salad with Zesty Lemon Dressing. 

They say, you always learn better if you see the process in front of you rather than reading the recipe . Chef Awasthi had explained about each ingredients and its value for health so well , that it made the entire session more interesting.

Although I am a hardcore Nonvegetarian, I  loved  all the Salads . Quinoa Salad was the rockstar salad of the day.. Let me share few photographs of Salads and the recipe of Rockstar Salad - Quinoa with Zesty Lemon Dressing with you.

Chef Atul Awasthi , Westin, Gurgaon 

Ingredients for Beet Root and Walnut Salad
Beet root, boiled and diced, Orange segments, walnuts toasted, White Wine Vinegar, EVO, Salt and Black Pepper

Beet Root and Walnut Salad 

Ingredients for New Olive and Tomato Salad
Red pepper, Green Pepper, Tomato, Green olives, EVO , Red wine Vinegar, Bread croutons, Black pepper and Spring Onion

Tomato Dressing 

Pesto Dip 

Final touch to the Tomato Salad with the pesto dip on top 

New Olive and Tomato Salad 

Ingrediets of Quinoa Salad , the rockstar of the event

Quinoa Salad with Zest of Lemon 

Recipe for Quinoa Salad
Ingredients
Quinoa- 50 gms
Water- 1 cup
Corn- 30 gms
Chopped Spring Onions - 20 gms
Chopped Walnuts- 20 gms
Chopped Cucumber- 50gms
Apple( Peeled and chopped)- 5 gms
Fresh Coriander (Chopped)- 5 gms
Pitted Black Olives- 20gms
Sea Salt to taste.
Method of Preparation
     Bring the water and add a pinich of slat ot a boil in a large sauce pan. Add the quinoa and bring the water back to the boil. Cover the pan and reduce the heat to low absorbed. This usually takes 20-25 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the quinoa to cool. 

Transfer the quinoa to a large mixing bowl and add the remaining ingredients . Mix well. Drizzle zesty lemon dressing . Over the salad and stir in. Season to sit for 30 minutes to allow the flavours to develop before serving.

Zesty Lemon Dressing
Ingredients
Freshly squeezed lemon juice - 25 ml
Extra virgin olive oil- 25 ml
Lemon zest- 50gms

Method of preparation
 Mix the Lemon juice and olive oil , and stir in the lemon zest. Serve over summer quinoa salad.

And I got a certificate too . 

*  I want to thank Mounisha Chakraborty, Gunjan Kar and Sukhdeep Bahra for giving me the oppurtunity to learn these fanstastic Salads from Chef Arun Awasthi 
Their site - seasonaltastes.gurgaon@westin.com

Lights Camera Action, Rajouri Garden - Pre launch.

Lights Camera Action is a brain child of Varun Puri and Viviek Bhargav . These Hotel Industry professionals are die hard Bollywood fans., and they have chosen to show case the bollywood movies and songs through their food joint.  On 6th of May , My team from The Kitchen Affair got an invitation to  have a first look of the outlet . We were welcomed with some amazing flying lanterns with "THE LIGHTS CAMERA ACTION" imprint on it.

The outlet has two floors ,  one floor is  with beautiful ambiance with Bollywood slogans on walls and Terrace as "Air Bar". I always find Varun as a very ambitious and sincere person at his work. Very few outlets have come up with Molecular Gastronomy , Varun Puri has introduced some amazing dishes with this method.  The Chef of LCA showed us one Dhokla Chat with this method of freezing with liquid Nitrogen.
  Although we didnt try the maincourse but had some good appetizers with spirits. Very soon Me and my team are going for a Food Walk to relish their main course. Sharing some photos of the Pre-launch of the outlet "LIGHTS CAMERA ACTION". The Kitchen Espion team wishes Varun and his partners all success in his new venture. We all will enjoy his success..

demonstration of making Dhokla Chaat with Molecular Gastronomy. 

Dhokla dipped in Liquid Nitrogen

Making of Chat. 

Ready Chat .. 

Amazing Lassi Shots . 

Chicken Sattey. 

Some Poison. 

Chicken Lollipops 

A very interesting way to serve Pav -Bhaji 

Pizza slice.

Honey chilli Potatoes. 

Air Bar... Photo imported from Lights Camera Action team 

Photo courtesy : Lights Camera Action team 

Rustic look 

I had been following all Varun Puri's posts for this ceative Iron Man 

Major attraction.. Photo has been imported from the team of Lights Camera Action 

I want to thank my friend Kaajal Pradhan Lamba for all the brilliant shots , and Vikram Lamba for the Air Bar shot..


To reach
J 2/6B, 3rd and 4th Floor ,
B K Dutta Market , Rajouri Garden
Delhi.
Ping - 08800002598