At Palaash in Tipeshwar sanctuary, dinner is an adventure
The Hindu
At Palaash, a unique seven-course meal fuses Maharashtrian and Assamese cuisine, slow-cooked on an open fire for hours. Set in the middle of the Tipeshwar Wildlife Sanctuary, the degustation menu features local recipes made with fresh and locally sourced ingredients. The restaurant is run by Chef Amninder Sandhu and 80% of the kitchen staff are tribal women from the Marathwakdi village. The meal is a celebration of regional cuisine, empowering the women with a stable income and a dignified lifestyle.
I hail from the lush, forest-wrapped district of Adilabad in northern Telangana, where dining in the woods is a traditional affair. Exploring the forests with friends and family often involved cooking on a chulha (firewood stove) and enjoying meals served on plates made by weaving the leaves of palash (Butea monosperma) tree, also known as the flame of the forest.
But a recent visit to Palaash, an exclusive dinner-only restaurant run by Chef Amninder Sandhu near the virgin forests of Tipeshwar Wildlife Sanctuary in Maharashtra’s Yavatmal district, unveiled a surprise: a distinctive seven-course meal, fusing Maharashtrian and Assamese cuisine, slow-cooked on an open fire for hours. Since Amninder grew up in Assam, she has interestingly added the state’s delicacy, bamboo smoked pork, and combined it with Maharashtra’s indrayani rice in the menu.
Tipeshwar sanctuary is a picturesque five-hour drive from Hyderabad and a three-hour journey from Nagpur, the Orange city. A hotspot for wildlife enthusiasts, the mesmerising forest setting of the restaurant at the Tipai luxury safari resort by Wildlife Luxuries makes dinner feel like an adventure: it is set in the middle of the woods raising hopes of sighting wild animals, including a tiger.
The degustation menu at Palaash opens with amuse-bouche, a delicate white chocolate ball bursting with fresh orange juice, followed by the Ambaadichaat, a combination of homegrown tangy ambaadi (sorrel) leaf, charred ananas (pineapple) and curd. The subtle tanginess of the creamy curd and ambaadi leaf is well balanced by sweet pomegranate and tamarind and if you wish, you can pair the dish with Sula Brut.
Every recipe is inspired by locally sourced ingredients, says Amninder, who is a champion of sustainable open-fire cooking. “I like to cook Indian food the way it was always cooked. I think it’s not always important to reinvent the wheel. If you can make it better, that’s fine. If not, it can be celebrated in its original form. Palaash does just that by offering a regional local dining experience that stays true to its roots,” she says.
Soon, head chef Vasundhara Gupta emerges from the island kitchen with ratalu tart, a beautifully presented dish consisting of the pastry base with a layer of dal makhani, kashiphal (pumpking paste), ratalu gulab (sweet potato) and a slice of lemon.
For the vegetarians there is arbi (colocassia) bhakri, which is like a desi taco -- cooked colocassia is spiced up with lal theccha (red chill chutney) and placed on palm-sized rotis made with rice flour. Meat-eaters may like to tuck into a smoky raan cooked for over eight hours in the underground barbecue pit. Both the dishes go well with chardonnay.
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