What happens when you invite a group of international chefs to India with one brief in mind – to create dishes using Basmati rice as the main ingredient? That was precisely what happened at the APEDA conference titled “Basmati for the World” which took place at the end of November.
Fragrant, nutty and long grained, Basmati is only grown in northern India and Pakistan and it was traditionally considered a premium ingredient. As an Indian government agency, it’s part of APEDA’s job to promote the export of Basmati across the world as a unique ingredient and for its 2011 campaign, the agency has chosen food as the carrier of its message. Over the two-day conference, the international chefs created innovative dishes while the Indian chefs prepared more traditional dishes all using Basmati as the main ingredient. A coffee table book of recipes titled “Basmati: Fragrance, Flavour & Finery” was also released.
Below is a selection of photographs from the conference:
