What all were the mouth-watering dishes that were served at the wedding of film stars Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone for the guests at in Italy? True, the list of items at the lavish feast that chosen invitees partook off at the venue by the scenic Lake Combo on Friday has still not come out in full. Yet independent paparazzi photographers have managed to sneak in and let out images of quite a few of the refreshments at the marriage of the 33-year-old Ranveer and Deepika, one year younger to the groom.
The hosts, it's learnt, had put forward just one condition regarding the food: the items should be authentic. Their tastes should be genuine. To ensure that, chefs had reached the venue prepared and sufficiently in advance.
Much to the excitement of the guests, the feast was a tasty convergence of two cuisine streams: South Indian (as the bride is originally from Karnataka) and Sindh (which is the ancestral land of Mumbai-raised Ranveer). One novelty was that filter coffee was the welcome drink. The beverage, redolent of the Deccan, had its chief input arriving from Bangalore, where Deepika had spent her formative years. As for the wedding cake, it was prepared by a Swiss cook after reaching the celebration venue at Lombardy in northwest Italy.
The 'stars' in the feast were two dishes - each the favourite of the bride and the groom.
One, the bangada fry, made out of the ethnic mackerel fish (called ‘ayala’ in Kerala/Malayalam). Prepared from a simple set of ingredients, bangada is Deepika's weakness. In fact, she is generally an admirer of sea fish that is abundant along the Konkan coast of peninsular India.
Ranveer's focal choice was dal pakwan, the Sindhi breakfast dish made out of chana dal (split chickpeas) along a specific set of lentils and fried crisp Indian poorie. Also there was the Sindhi sai bhaji comprising lentils, spinach and other vegetables along with masala.
Taking the Deepika-Ranveer wedding feast we missed as an inspiration, how about preparing bangada fry at your own home?
Ready? Here goes a list of ingredients:
Cleaned ayala: half kg (no need to slice the seven or eight fish), Kashmiri chilles (in full): 7 or 8, coriander: 1 tablespoon, fenugreek: 1 pinch, tamarind: minimal (or, in its place, vinegar), garlic: 4 knobs, water: sufficient, semolina (rava/suji): quarter cup, curry leaves: two stems, cooking oil
Preparation
Brand well on both sides of the fish. In a separate preparation, get a thick paste mixed with Kashmiri chilles, coriander, fenugreek, tamarind, garlic, salt and water. Smear the paste on the fishes and keep it so for 30 minutes. Pour oil into a vessel and put curry leaves into it. Then take the masala-coated fish, roll it in rava and then drop it into the oil. Once the fish is suitably fried, take it out.
