Theory Of Relativity

What (We Think) Makes Them Happy

Winter Caprese by Chef Saby, Executive Chef, Olive Bar & Kitchen, Delhi. (Photograph by Tribhuvan Tiwari)

Recipes For Happiness

The Mood-Enhancing Recipe

Ingredients:

• For salad: Tomatoes, 2; smoked mozarella, 50 gm; rocket leaves, 20 gm; Spanish chillies, 2; kalamata olives, 5; sea salt, black pepper, to taste; walnuts, 15 gm; almonds, 15 gm
• For pesto: Basil leaves, 10; pine nuts, 5 gm; parmesan grated, 5 gm; garlic, 2 cloves; olive oil, 15 ml; salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

• For basil pesto: Blend all the ingredients to a grainy consistency.
• For salad: Arrange slices of tomato and smoked mozarella, making a circle in a bakeable pan. Season with sea salt and black pepper. Heat the sliced tomato and cheese at 180 degrees in the oven. Drizzle some pesto, top up with rocket leaves, toasted walnuts and almonds. Arrange pickled Spanish or home made chilles and kalamata olives and serve hot.

Warm Chocolate Tart by Alex Sanchez, Head Chef, The Table, Mumbai. (Photograph by Amit Haralkar)

The dessert recipe

Ingredients:

• For tart dough: Sugar, 175 gm; flour, 2.5 cups; orange, 1, zest only; butter, 250 gm, cold, cut into small pieces; egg yolks, 4, lightly beaten
• For tart filling: Egg, 1 whole; egg yolk, 2; sugar, 20 gm; dark chocolate, 150 gm; butter, 90 gm; water, 20 gm

Method:

• For tart shell: Mix together the sugar, flour, and orange zest. Add the pieces of butter and rub it into the flour until it forms pea-sized lumps. Add the beaten egg yolks and mix till the dough comes together. Refrigerate for minimum one hour or overnight. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surfaced to 1/8 inch thickness and carefully transfer to 4-inch tart moulds. Using a fork, poke a few holes into the dough to prevent it from puffing up. Bake the tart shells for 8 to 10 minutes until dark blonde to light brown in color.
• For tart filling: Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Whisk together the egg, egg yolks, and sugar until pale yellow in color and has nearly doubled in volume. Melt the chocolate and butter together, over a double boiler or microwave. Allow the melted chocolate to come to room temperature, then gently fold in the egg and sugar mixture with a spatula. Add the water, folding it in. Fill the tart shells with the chocolate filling and bake for 4 minutes, rotate, and bake another 4 minutes. Serve immediately with vanilla ice cream!

The "Comfort Food" recipe

Kofta Manchurian, Van waale Noodles by Manish Mehrotra, Executive Chef, Indian Accent and Oriental Octopus, New Delhi (Photograph by: Jitender Gupta)

“What makes me happy about chowmein is that it makes everybody nostalgic, especially those who have witnessed the Maggi revolution! Chowmein has reached the grassroots, we have made it so intrinsically Indian.”

Ingredients:

• For noodles: Refined oil, 10 ml; chopped ginger, 5 gm; chopped garlic, 5 gm; chopped green chilli, to taste; boiled noodles, 75 gm; green chilli sauce, 5 gm; tomato ketchup, 5 gm; sliced onion, 20 gm; capsicum julienne, 15 gm; shredded cabbage, 15 gm; shredded carrot, 15 gm; a pinch of white pepper powder and sugar; salt, if required; dark soy sauce, 10 ml; seasoning powder, 10 gm; chopped spring onion, 10 gm; chopped coriander, 10 gm
• For dumplings and sauce: Chopped cabbage; 15 gm; chopped carrots, 15 gm; grated paneer, 30 gm; chopped ginger, 5 gm; chopped garlic, 5 gms; chopped coriander, 10 gm; chopped spring onion, 10 gm; chopped green chilli, 5 gm; oil, 15 ml; dark soy sauce, 10 ml; white vinegar, 5 ml; seasoning powder, 5 gm; green chilli sauce, 5 gm; corn flour, 45 gms; salt to taste; a pinch of sugar; oil for frying

Method:

• For noodles: Heat oil in a wok, sauté ginger, garlic, green chilli. Add onion, carrot, cabbage and capsicum. Add half dark soy sauce, tomato ketchup, chilli sauce and mix. Add boiled noodles and toss well. Add remaining sauces along with pepper powder, sugar and seasoning powder. Finish with chopped coriander and spring onion.
• For dumplings and sauce:In a dry mixing bowl add cabbage, carrot, paneer, half of the ginger, half green chilli, salt, half coriander and 30 gm corn flour. Mix well and make 3 to 4 dumplings. Fry the dumplings till golden and keep aside. Then heat oil in a wok and sauté remaining ginger, green chilli and garlic. Add 100 ml veg stock or water. Add dark soy, seasoning powder, vinegar, green chilli sauce and sugar. Add remaining corn flour (mixed with 2 tbsp water) to thicken the sauce. Add coriander and spring onion. Add vegetable dumplings to the sauce. Serve hot on the bed of noodles.

The Business Of Happiness

• Fitness & Slimming: Growing 25% per annum, expected to become Rs 60,000 crore in 2012
• Wellness services: Spas, wellness guidance, medical resorts, day spas etc are now a Rs 11,000 crore industry, expanding 35% a year.
• Herbal products: Foods, plants and weeds repackaged into cosmetics and drugs. Annual market size is Rs 7,500 crore per annum.
• Nutraceuticals: Health “boosters” such as flax, tea, wine, chocolates, fish oils, coral extracts, natural minerals are a Rs 1,200 crore industry.
• Spirituality: Indians spent more than Rs 2,000 crore this year on spiritual gurus.
• Yoga: Market size unknown, but instruction CDs, books, etc are top sellers, second only to Bollywood music sales.
• Hair/beauty saloons: A booming Rs 7,000 cr industry, growing 35% annually.
• Adventure sport: No estimates, but the industry offering unusual getaways and sports is growing at 500% in the last two years.
• Self-help books are approximately 30% of the shelf space in any bookstore—most of them are motivational.

Compiled by Neha Bhatt and Pragya Singh