Mix and match

For

their fusion food festival Art You Can Eat, Fusion 9 brought down German chef Olaf

Niemeier, 53, head chef at the Fusion Restaurant in the SIDE Hotel Hamburg,

who is popularly known as ‘chef Picasso’ for his style of fusing ‘opposite’

cuisines. He tells us more of his craft.The focus: To introduce Hyderabadis to

an entirely new ‘Fusion’ cuisine. Make people aware that you can mix western food

with Asian spices. There

are 25 specially crafted dishes, marrying eastern and western ingredients (Japanese,

Chinese, Indian, European), all using only fresh local produce (think mille

feuille of methi chicken, orange noir samosa, chocolate rasmalai ginger terrine

and more).Two must orders: For non vegetarians,

bulgogi (beef marinated in Korean style with ginger, garlic etc) and for

vegetarians, it will be herb ricotta tart and lasagne of mixed mushroom.Inspiration: I like creating new

cuisines based on my vast experience with food in countries like Europe,

USA, China,

Taiwan, Hong

Kong, and Bangkok and India,

where I have worked. My cooking has undergone a transformation, using Indian ingredients,

South East Asian spices infused with modern and traditional European cooking, I

love to cook with Indian spices, and eat spicy Indian food.A versati le cuisine: Indian.

Most of my food will have curry leaves and all kinds of Indian spices. I feel

it is the most versatile. I prefer using mustard seeds, chilly, ginger, garlic,

mangoes, nuts, etc, in my cooking. An example is dal makhni with monk fish, which is

popular in Germany. Or lamb marinated with European vegetable.Or tandoori

pineapple with truffle ice cream.