Chefs Across Boundaries is a group of Chefs who set up challenges every month to encourage the participants to innovate, think out of the box and explore the culinary world.
This month, one of the Members Hetal Kamdar (http://hetalkamdar.blog.co.uk/) hosted the challenge and her theme was Pondicherry cuisine.he Union Territory of Pondicherry boasts of a sumptuous cuisine that shows strong French and Tamil influences. Fusing the two proved quite a challenge as I had very little knowledge of both Tamil and French cuisine.
Lot of research and some brainstorming and I had the perfect dish. Only the ingredients proved difficult to find. Hmm, plan B. Thought about the French onion soup and a plan seemed to form. Had seen a post of the top layer of the soup being used on baguettes to make bites. Suddenly it clicked. Made a dish that is such a wonderful marriage of the two cuisines
Ingredients
4 idlis
butter
2 large chopped onion
2 minced garlic cloves
1 thyme sprig
1/4 cup white wine
1 bay leaf
salt, red chilli flakes
Smoked paprika cheddar
1) slice the idles to 2″ rectangles and butter fry them on a cast iron pan to crisp.
2) Heat butter, and cooke, bay leaf, thyme, onion and garlic with some salt and red chilli flakes. Cover and cook for 10 mins stirring occasionally
3) Uncover and cook, stirring occasionally until nicely caramelised. Another 10 mins more.
4) Add wine and cook until its entirely evaporated. about 1-2 mins
5) Discard bay leaf and thyme
6) spoon the onions on the fried idli and top with slices of the smoked cheese.
7) Microwave until cheese melts. 30 seconds to a minute. Serve hot.
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