Vegetarianism has been a dietary choice for many people for a long time and there are many reasons why some may opt to avoid meat in their diet such as health, environmental, ethical, and religious reasons.
However, the Middle East has recently witnessed a surge in the demand for vegetarian dishes, and in turn many of Dubai’s leading restaurants are now offering a diverse selection of plant-based foods with some restaurants offering a whole plant-based menu for diners.
We asked two of the city’s leading chefs cooking up a storm of vegetarian delights in their MICHELIN-starred restaurants to tell us more about this veggie craze. Is it a trend or are we seeing a shift in our culinary scene for more vegetarian preferences?
Chef Himanshu Saini of Dubai’s two MICHELIN star restaurant, Trèsind Studio, and chef Rahul Rana of one MICHELIN star, avatāra, describe vegetarianism as a discipline learned from childhood; simply “a way of life”. Passionate about the health benefits this lifestyle offers, both chefs have made it their professional mission to demonstrate the best of plant-based cooking in their restaurants.
Since they came to Dubai in 2014 and 2016 respectively, Saini and Rana have both seen an increasing demand for plant-based food in the city. Saini believes it will continue to rise in the coming years, due to evolving consumer preferences such as people adopting a healthier lifestyle and being more environmentally conscious.
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“It’s going in the right direction as people have so many more options than they used to.”
Since earning its coveted MICHELIN star, Rana notes that avatāra has attracted more crowds than ever, providing the perfect platform to showcase both the intense flavours that can be delivered through cooking with vegetables independently and the endless possibilities to create different dishes. It’s thanks to this that he believes the demand for vegetarian dishes will only continue to rise over the next five years, and he is passionate to encourage this further.
Both their menus give importance to vegetarian dishes as Indian cuisine thrives on plant-based cooking. They are proud of their heritage and use of fresh and unique ingredients that have yet to be explored by other cultures.
However, they say it can be more challenging to make a vegetarian dish taste good. The taste of their dishes has everything to do with the way the plant-based ingredients are cooked.
Understanding the ingredients is key, so much so that Rana requires up to seven months of research when launching a new vegetarian menu. He advocates that every vegetable has its own character and his team uses five to six cooking applications including roasting, frying, and boiling to optimise the flavour and texture of each ingredient. To maximise variety in his dishes, Rana uses different vegetables from all over the world including his favourite - Jerusalem artichoke - which he loves for its diversity.
“The moment you apply a different cooking application to the Jerusalem artichoke, especially when you fry it, it gives you nuttiness and sweetness. That is one of the best vegetables to cook with I would say.”
From these various cooking applications to off-the-wall recipe creations, both chefs are leaving no stone unturned in their quest to change perceptions of vegetarian cuisine. Saini and his team are focused on wowing their diners with never-before-seen dishes with an edge such as the “Oyster Pearl Lychee Seawater dish,” a plant-based dish with all the flavour profiles and texture of an oyster, served in its shell without an actual oyster in sight.
“It’s dishes like this that show we are breaking boundaries with food and giving customers an experience like never before,” Saini says.
Saini utilises other plant-based ingredients to imitate protein such as coconut, which he cooks and torches to create the texture of squid. He notes that the focus of each dish is not on the “meat” but instead on the flavour with the “protein” acting as a vehicle for the transition of the spices. Flavour is paramount in his dishes, and he is passionate about the quality of Trèsind Studio’s ingredients to achieve this. His enthusiasm is evidenced out on the restaurant terrace where he grows a variety of herbs and spices such as chilli, coriander, curry leaves, and hibiscus – all later used in his kitchen.
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When it comes to the age-old debate about whether you need to have animal protein to have a high-quality diet, Saini suggests that people simply need to have more exposure to Indian food, and they will soon see that meat is not a staple requirement. He believes everyone should practice vegetarianism even if it’s not full time because there are “so many nutrients that we can get from plants that we cannot find in animals including proteins.” This is echoed by Rana who admits that he used to have this perception himself, but it has changed over the years from his research and the fact many athletes in India are vegetarians yet are strong, successful, and healthy. He believes the key to a healthy happy life is simply eating more vegetables!
Both chefs are excited to showcase the best of what vegetarian cuisine has to offer and endeavour to continue changing perceptions, challenging meat dishes with veggie alternatives in both Dubai’s culinary scene and the wider world.
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