Vij: A Chef's One-Way Ticket to Canada With Indian Spices in His Suitcase by Vikram Vij

Author:Vikram Vij [Vij, Vikram]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780670069507
Amazon: 0670069507
Publisher: Penguin Canada
Published: 2017-03-21T07:00:00+00:00

We opened the new location in early September 1996. Meeru was seven months pregnant with Nanaki, our oldest daughter. It was busy, exhausting. But God we had fun.

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7

NO R E SERVAT IONS

it’s the fault of indians that the world sees Indian cuisine

as bland, homogenized, derivative. We have always served it cheap,

and buffet style. Mom cooked. The daughters served drinks. By the

cash register, a baby would sit idly gumming a discarded spoon.

There were pink plastic tablecloths, loud Punjabi music, no stem-

ware. Napkins were paper, bought in bulk. Wine, when it existed,

came out of a box in the back. The meal ended with a handful of

multicoloured anise- and fennel-flavoured sweets. This is how

most North Americans experience Indian cuisine.

But this model never interested me. I never wanted to join the

inane race among Indian restaurateurs for the best butter chicken.

I’ve always wanted to elevate Indian cuisine, to give it the respect it deserves. It can and should be considered in the same category

as French or Italian cuisine. So you’ll never find butter chicken, or chicken tikka, or any of the bastardized derivatives of the Punjab’s rich cooking at my restaurants.

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120 VIJ

I knew, of course, that change would not come easy. At first,

people didn’t get the food. Customers were thin on the ground. But

I persisted. Slowly, people came around.

For starters, I completely reject the idea that Indian food

should be searingly spicy and burn your mouth. All you’re doing

by cranking up the heat is masking flavours, subtleties. It’s the

same reason Molson and Coors encourage consumers to drink

their beers ice-cold: this helps hide bitter, or dull flavours.

To catch the diners’ attention, I knew we needed to come up

with a dish to rival butter chicken. That was the impetus behind

the lamb Popsicle, our signature dish at Vij’s—still our most

famous, and our most popular.

The idea for the dish came one night after a dinner party

where friends had served rack of lamb. It was sublime. I knew

immediately that I wanted to serve rack of lamb at the restaurant,

but I didn’t want anyone to pry the fine meat apart with a knife

and fork. I wanted people to pick it up, to enjoy the meat’s varied, beautiful flavours right off the bone. At the party, as we were

eating the rack with our hands, someone commented that it looked

like we were eating Popsicles made of meat. I just stared at him. It was an aha! moment. I thought if I called them “Lamb Popsicles”

on the menu, people would know to pick them up with their hands.

Meeru hated the name. But I convinced her.

I came up with a marinade for the rack of lamb and she came up

with the fenugreek cream curry to pair with the turmeric spinach

potatoes. I coached our customers on how to eat the lamb, how to

enjoy it with their hands. “Do you make love with a knife and fork?”

I would tease. The lamb Popsicles were a runaway hit, and became a

phenomenon. We’ve never had anything come close to their success.

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