Now, a new cooking show for Jains

Crispy Raw Banana and Sweet Chilli Sauce

Jain cuisine uses fresh, light ingredients and is tasty and healthy. Jains follow certain rules while cooking and don't use root vegetables such as onions and garlic, which are common ingredients in Indian and continental cuisines. Most members of the community have found replacements for these ingredients.

Crispy Raw Banana and Sweet Chilli Sauce

But what about youngsters of the community who want to enjoy pasta, hummus and sushi? Jain Jalsa, a new show on Zee Khana Khazana, provides some answers and shows us how to make a wide variety of dishes - traditional and international with Jain ingredients. The series also makes for good viewing for avid foodies who don't shy away from experimenting.

The show is hosted by Gautam Maherishi of Sun n Sand Hotel, Juhu

Hosted by Gautam Maherishi, a corporate chef from Sun n Sand Hotel, the show features three recipes - a starter, a main dish and a dessert. All the three dishes are made with a core component. The episode that we saw had raw banana as the core component. Chef Maherishi started off by making the Crispy raw bananas with sweet chilli sauce. He dipped halved bananas in a cornflour batter and deep-fried them. Then he made the sauce with sugar, olive oil, chilli sauce, tomato puree and water. While serving, he poured the sauce over the bananas and garnished it with sesame seeds.

For the second dish, Kachche kele Ki Dum Biryani, he used the banana peel as a replacement for fried onions that are seen in vegetarian and non-vegetarian biryanis. The other innovation he did was to bake the biryani instead of cook it on dum. He completed the course with a Raw Banana Crème Brulee made of pureed raw bananas, cornflour, soya milk and condensed milk. He also included saunf (aniseed) powder and elaichi (cardamom) powder thereby adding a desi touch to a continental dessert. The end result definitely looked like the traditional creme brulee (made of eggs and heavy cream) we have tasted in restaurants.

Chef Maherishi uses simple ingredients and methods and peppers the episode with handy tips that give us a peek into Jain culture. For instance, they always use boiled water for cooking.

With a plethora of food shows on the small screen, Jain Jalsa manages to offer something different and makes for informative viewing.

The show is aired on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 12 pm.