‘Foraging for morels would be fantastic adventure’

BENGALURU: When it comes to food, I like the simplicity that Japanese cuisine holds. I think the way a dish is presented, the plating style, the isolated flavours and the fact that it looks so clean is amazing. That’s probably something I use in my cooking as well. I experimented for about six months before I realised that I could do this on a daily basis.

There are many unique ingredients one comes across during one’s culinary pursuits. The ones that have simply awed me for their distinct character, aesthetic beauty and flavour are fiddle head ferns and morels. I came across both in my hometown Uttaranchal.

Mushrooms being one of my favourites, I would definitely think of morels as one my most favourite ingredients.

Morels are edible sac fungi or simply put ‘mushrooms’ - the beauty is that they can’t be cultivated. They are hand picked and harvested, the complex symbiotic relationship these wonderful fungi have with trees cannot be replicated in an artificial environment. The flavour is earthy, nutty, meaty and intense but never over powering. They truly satisfy every quality one looks for - olfactory, visual, taste and texture.

Like the saying goes ‘morels are everywhere and impossible to find’. I have never had a chance to forage for them but was gifted a few hundred grams by a close friend and a few hundred grams of fresh morels are a treasure not to be taken lightly.

I love them sauteed in butter and seasoned with sea salt and if I really feel adventurous, then have them with soft gooey eggs as an accompaniment.

I have never been able to serve them at our restaurant (except on our Christmas menu which was well received), because of the difficulty in procuring them.

I would like to actually go to the mountains and forage for them myself one day - that would be a fantastic culinary adventure.

The positive feedbacks helped too. Now I’m a director and chef at Forage. The food we offer here is also quite different from the others in the city.

My partners, Mayura and Rajnish, are all runners and swimmers. We brought a change in our lifestyle when we took interest in the sport. When I got into competitive running, I changed my outlook towards the way I look and maintain myself. I stopped having dairy products, processed food and anything that had preservatives.

This was something I did for myself, but when Mayura, Rajnish and I realised that this might be something others like us will also be interested in, we decided to open Forage. We need food that is nutritious and gives us enough energy to make it through the day.

– Chef Himanshu Dimri, Forage