The client wanted to surprise his guest with a classic Pakistani menu. Maravan allowed himself to add a few surprises. His take on arhar dal, a classic lentil dish, was a ring of dal risotto served with coriander air and lemon foam. With a little gelatine he turned the nihari, a beef curry cooked on the lowest heat for six hours, into nihari praliné, and combined it with an onion emulsion and onion crisps on rice purée. The chicken for the biryani was vacuum-packed, cooked at a low temperature and served in a spicy palm-sugar crust made with the biryani spice mixture – accompanied by peppermint air and cinnamon ice cream. Happy to be cooking something different, Maravan worked with great concentration in the kitchen, which was poorly equipped, but jazzed up with plenty of granite and artificially aged wood. A certain Herr Schaeffer – a gaunt, stiff man – had met them at the door and given them all the instructions he could.
