After screening The Hundred-Foot Journey, my curiosity got the best of me when it comes to people and their passion for food. I will be giving a full review of the film later, but basically it’s about a family who is forced to leave their native country of India and ends up settling in the south of France. Food is a main character of the film, but it’s the passion that some people have for food. I get that. I know that the moment I smell certain foods, I am taken back to a time and place.
Both of my grandmothers were immigrants. My maternal grandmother coming from Poland and my paternal grandmother from Cuba. Both made very different types of food. One consisted of potato latkes, kreplah and lots of matzo ball soup. The other would make incredible congri, fried plantains and a favorite dessert, natia, which was a Cuban custard with cinnamon. Ahh, I am getting hungry. It’s amazing how if you have a taste or a scent from foods from our past, how quickly each bite can take you back home. Here’s a look at what I mean with The Hundred Foot Journey.
Le Cordon Bleu and The Hundred Foot Journey
Because the film centers around food and recipes from Le Cordon Bleu, I got to visit the Los Angeles school and take a cooking lesson, where I prepared a delicious meal while being instructed by some of the best chefs and chefs in training. What an awesome experience.
When we arrived, we were welcomed with a tour of this massive cooking facility. We met and cooked beside some really passionate people that are currently going to school there. When we sat down there was a plate of appetizers to get us started, which consisted of Quiche Lorraine, salad and Boeuf Bourguignon.
After enjoying everything on our plate, Kas of Southern Bella’s Way, my cooking partner, and I headed to the kitchen to start our creation. 
We were pretty spoiled having everything laid out for us. And to have the help of our chef Melissa was a huge bonus. But I did learn a better way to cut a mango, and I loved using spices that I don’t normal use while cooking. The smell of the spices, the heat of the kitchen, and the fun of doing it with your friends made this such a fantastic experience.
So what were we making? Parisian Mumbai Salad. What is that? It’s a salad with curry grilled chicken, mangoes, apples and lots of seasonings.
Ingredients
- Chicken Marinade:
- 1 cup plain yogurt
- 1 tsp. ginger, freshly grated
- 1 tsp. garlic, minced
- 1 tsp. ground cardamom
- 1 tbsp. curry powder
- 2-6oz. skinless, boneless chicken breasts
- 2 tsp. salt
- 2 tsp. pepper
- Salad:
- 4 oz. mixed greens
- 1 mango, julienned
- 1 apple, with skin, julienned
- Vinaigrette:
- 2 tbsp. salad oil
- 1 tsp. red wine vinegar
- 1/4 tsp. Dijon mustard
- salt and pepper to taste
- Naan-tons:
- 1 piece Naan bread , torn into 1-inch squares
- 1/2 oz. salad oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- Curried Walnuts
- 1 oz. grape seed oil
- 1 tsp. granulated sugar
- 1/ tsp. curry powder
- 2 oz. walnuts
Instructions
- In a plastic bag, combine the yogurt, ginger, garlic, cardamom, curry powder, salt, and pepper.
- Add the chicken pieces and marinate (squish the bag to get the flavor to mesh) for 45 minutes; set aside.
- Julienne the mango and apple and set aside.
- Proceed making the vinaigrette; in a bowl mix Dijon mustard, & red wine vinegar together. Add salt and pepper.
- Slowly incorporate the salad oil continuously whisking as you do. Set aside.
- Take the bread, and tear it into 1″ cubes (or bite sized pieces), drizzle with oil; season with salt and pepper.
- Bake Naan in the oven at 375 degrees F for 8–10 minutes. Halfway through cooking check the bread and toss it around to give it an even coating then place it back in the oven until golden brown.
- While waiting for the bread, toss the walnuts into the grape seed oil, along with sugar and curry powder; set aside.
- Get the chicken, then grill it until the meat is white and not translucent. To create crisscross grill marks, grill the chicken following a 10 o’clock to 2 o’clock pattern.
- Cut the chicken into thin strips.
- Assemble the salad – we made a mound and added the mango, chicken, walnuts and apple.
Trust me, there are a lot of ingredients, however, if I can do it, you can too! It was really super easy to make, and we did it in about an hour. We ended the meal with Crème brûlée. We didn’t make it, but we did get to torch it.
That was fun! Every part of it! I love trying new foods, and to make them is even better!
THE HUNDRED-FOOT JOURNEY, August 8, 2014
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*I was invited by Disney to screen The Hundred Foot Journey and then experience Le Cordon Bleu School in Los Angeles as part of a press trip. All opinions are my own.
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That looks like fun and the salad looks well balanced