4 International Dishes to Wow Your Guests With

Tired of having the same meal each week, or in need of an impressive dish for your upcoming party? Our properties are well versed in the local foods of various cities – we share four recipes curated by our in-house chefs from around the world to help shake up your meals and excite your guests.

Nalli Gosht

Hailing from Lucknow in the north of India, Nalli Gosht is essentially lamb shanks stewed in spiced yoghurt curry. An exotic Nihari dish, the lamb shanks are cooked slowly to achieve tender, fall-off-the-bone meat.

Fraser Suites New Delhi Executive Sous Chef Kapil Rawat shares his recipe.

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

• 1000g lamb shanks (~120g each)
• 600g chopped onions
• 3g coarse coriander seeds
• 7g whole shahi jeera
• 15g whole large cardamom
• 160g soya refined oil
• 160g beaten curd
• 50ml mutton stock
• 10g  julienned ginger
• 5g shahi jeera, roasted

For spice paste

• 15g red chilli powder
• 15g salt
• 5g turmeric powder
• 100g fresh ginger garlic paste
• 61.8ml water

Steps

Spice paste

1. Thoroughly wash the lamb chops in running water to remove any bone chips or stray hairs
2. Heat oil in a thick wok or saucepan. Add the chopped onions, coriander seeds, whole shahi jeera and whole cardamom.
3. Once the onions turn brown, add the spice paste mixture. Cook until the oil separates out before adding julienned ginger. Cook further.
4. Add lamb shanks and cook till seared.
5. Add beaten curd and cook slightly till it blends in with the rest of the spices.
6. Add mutton stock and cook till the meat is cooked through.
7. Let the mixture reduce further till a gravy-like consistency.

To serve, plate 2 lamb shanks and spoon about 350ml of gravy. Garnish with roasted shahi jeera.

Soy laksa

In case you haven’t heard, laksa is one of Singapore’s most loved dishes. Consisting of noodles and meat or seafood in a spicy coconut soup, it has its roots in Peranakan cuisine, and variations can also be found in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

Don’t fret if you are watching your weight – simply swap the coconut milk with soy milk for a low-fat but equally delicious version that you can enjoy.

Chef Jeffrey Cheong from Capri by Fraser, Changi City / Singapore shows us how he does it.

Ingredients

Serves 1

• 150g fresh turmeric
• 100g blue ginger slices
• 300g ground chilli paste
• 100g candlenuts
• 60g dried shrimp paste (belacan)
• 400g peeled shallots
• 200g peeled garlic
• 200g lemongrass (only the tender inner bulb)
• 60g coriander powder
• 100g dried prawns
• 100g laksa leaves (kesom)
• 200ml vegetable oil
• 2L water
• 2L soy milk

For garnish

• 300g beansprouts
• 600g thick rice vermicelli
• 1kg tiger prawns (cooked and deshelled)
• 30g laksa leaves (slivered)
• 200g quail eggs (cooked and deshelled)
• 300g fish cakes (deep-fried and sliced)
• 100g tau pok (tofu puffs)

Chilli sauce

• 200g red chillis
• 100ml vegetable oil
• 5g salt

Steps

Laksa stock

1. Grind all ingredients together into a paste.
2. Heat oi in a pot and fry ground spices for half an hour over low fire. Add some water to prevent spices from getting burnt.
3. While frying, add 1 litre of soy milk and stir continuously to ensure no lumps form. Allow the stock to boil while stirring for 30 minutes, and add salt to taste.
4. Finally, add remaining soy milk to thicken the stock. Continue to cook on medium heat for 10 minutes. Do not cover the pot.

Chilli sauce

1. Remove the seeds of the chillies and place them in a food processor. Pulse slightly before adding oil to blend and salt to taste.

Serve

1. Blanch thick rice vermicelli and beansprouts in boiling water and drip dry before pouring into a bowl.
2. Place prawns, quail eggs, fish cakes and tofu slices on the noodles. Ladle over laksa gracy to cover the ingredients and sprinkle over finely-sliced laksa leaves. Serve with chilli sauce on the side.

Stuffed mahshi with lamb chops

A popular Middle Eastern dish, zucchinis or marrows are stuffed with stuffed with ingredients of choice and simmered in a tomato sauce. Also a favourite with the Egyptians, Mahshi is inexpensive to make, highly nutritious and also great as a vegan or vegetarian option if you skip the meat.

Check out Fraser Suites Doha’s version which pairs the stuffed veggies with seasoned lamb chops.

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

• 1kg baby marrow (courgettes)
• 1kg baby aubergine/eggplant
• 350g minced beef
• 150g short grain white rice
• 100g fresh/canned diced tomatoes
• 5 tbsp vegetable oil
• 4 tbsp tomato paste
• 750g lamb chops
• Water or stock
• A pinch of pepper
• A pinch of ground cinnamon
• Salt to taste

For garnish

• 4 tomatoes sliced in circles OR stuffed vine leaves

Steps

1. Core the courgette and aubergine. Rinse and set aside.
2. Mix the minced beef, rice, salt, pepper, cinnamon and diced tomatoes together.
3. Stuff the courgette and aubergine with the meat and rice mixture.
4. In a saucepan, heat the oil and fry the lamb chops.
5. Lay the lambchops at the bottom of the saucepan and arrange the stuffed courgette and aubergine on top. Top off with a layer of tomato slices and add water or stock till it just covers the lamb chops. Stir in tomato paste and sprinkle some salt.
6. Cover the saucepan with some plates to weigh down the mixture and then the saucepan lid.
7. Bring it to a boil before lowering the heat to a simmer for 45 minutes.
8. To serve, arrange the lamb chops, aubergine and corguette on a plate. Spoon sauce over before garnishing with the tomatoes or stuffed vine leaves.

Vietnamese fresh spring rolls

Perfect as a starter or even a light meal, vermicelli, pork, prawns and vegetables are wrapped in rice paper and served fresh with a dipping sauce on the side. Not only are they easy and quick to make, you can even spice things up at the dinner table by getting your family and friends to wrap their own rolls!

Simply prepare the ingredients as directed by this recipe from Capri by Fraser, Ho Chi Minh City / Vietnam and leave the rest to your guests.

Ingredients

Serves 1

• 3g rice paper
• 20g pork
• 60g prawns
• 10g beansprouts
• 5g Vietnamese basil
• 5g lettuce
• 5g chives leaves
• 20g fresh rice noodle
• 5g garlic
• 5g chilli
• 5ml lime juice
• 20ml fish sauce
• 10ml water
• 30g sugar

Steps

1. Boil pork until soft and slice. Remove the shells of the prawns before slicing into half lengthwise.
2. Arrange pork, shrimp, fresh noodles, beansprouts, Vietnamese basil, lettuce and chives leaves in the centre of the rice paper. Wrap the sides into the centre, and then roll into a cylindrical wrap.
3. For the dipping sauce, mix fish sauce, lime juice and water in a bowl and stir well. Add some chopped garlic and chilli as desired.
4. Serve the spring rolls alongside the dipping sauce. Finish off with Vietnamese basil leaves as garnish.

Craving Chinese food instead? Check out how the Executive Chef of Fraser Suites Dalian is serving up seafood with a twist and try his simple recipe.

Adapted from Fraser Cachet Issue #19 © Frasers Hospitality