If it’s chocolate, this must be Belgium

Hercule Poirot, Tintin and chocolates are what come to mind when one thinks of Belgium, not cauliflower. That is, until you’ve been to a Belgian buffet.

The cauliflower soup was creamy but light, and obviously white. But what lingers in your mind is a warm and woozy feeling you normally associate with Belgian beer, of which of course there was plenty of variety on offer before the meal - hardly a surprise from a country that produces 500 different beers.  The most unusual of the lot is a wheat beer from Brussels that is brewed without the addition of yeast for fermentation. How is that possible? Well, the mild-weathered, barley-and-cherry-growing Flanders region in Belgium has the unique distinction of having enough yeast in the air to let brewers simply put out their mashed wort in large, open vessels, and it just turns into beer spontaneously. This small miracle also takes some of the bitterness out of beer, and the result is fresh, malty, and smooth.

But let’s get back to that other delicately flavoured liquid I was enjoying, the cauliflower soup. Now, before you turn your noses up, you should know that in Belgian homes, a dark crusty hunk of bread dipped in soup is a lunch staple. And they make all kinds of soups, even one with beer called sweet ale soup.

The Belgian intersection
Here of course, at the Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai where the Consulate General of Belgium was trying to make the point that fine European cuisine is not just French or Italian, the spread was a little more elaborate than soup and bread. There was a roast beef with green beans and an asparagus vol au vent that went particularly well with a fresh and yet subtle Belgian white wine (yes, they make fine wines too, not just beer).

So what is so Belgian about all this, anyway? Just like the savoir-faire they have with chocolates — producing endless combinations and variations so different from the mass-produced chocolate bars we see in malls — the Belgians are equally inventive with their main course, explains chef and sommelier Eric Boschman, who seems to have as much fun with words as he does with food and wine. To him the keys to Belgian cuisine are what he calls the “intersections”.

Wedged in as it is between so many large European nations, Belgium has a history of being run over by invaders, from the Romans and Vikings to the French, Spaniards and Austrians in later years. Each invasion left its mark on the cuisine, until Belgium became a sort of laboratory for mixing and matching European tastes. So the roast beef has the simplicity and robustness you would associate with an English or German beef with beer combo, but its presentation in thin slices with pickles to go with it is more like a French touch. It’s the best of both worlds, where both gourmets and gourmands can feel equally at home, declares Boschman. Asparagus with eggs, mushrooms with lettuce, beer with apple jelly — surprising, frolicsome intersections.

The chocolatier’s art
But if it’s Belgium, we have to turn our attention back to the chocolates. Belgium has no cocoa trees. All their cocoa comes from far-off places like the Congo. It’s what they do with the cocoa that wins Belgian chocolatiers accolades the world over.

I’m not much of a chocolate person myself, but at Boschman’s urging I tried a thin tablet of it. I should have guessed it wouldn’t be what it looked like, a simple piece of chocolate. Embedded in that thin tablet was a layer of honey. Yummy. Then Boschman asked me to take a sip of white wine, and I experienced another of his intersections. The same wine that had seemed light and cheery when I had it with the asparagus now took on a deeper, more mature character because of the chocolate and honey on my palate. These Belgians have figured it all out. No wonder Poirot cracked all those murder mysteries.

Rice pudding tart
Ingredients:
For the pastry: l200g plain flour l1 egg yolk l1/4 tsp salt l1tbsp sugar l15gm yeast l100ml milk l30gm butter
For the rice pudding: l150gm rice l1litre milk l1 pinch salt l1/2 sachet vanilla sugar l4tbsp castor sugar l2 egg whites l1 egg yolk

Method:
lAdd a pinch of salt and vanilla sugar to the milk and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to minimum and add the rice, rinsed in cold water. Cook on low flame for 40 minutes, stirring from time to time. Remove from heat and cool.lTo make the pastry. Sieve the flour into a bowl with salt. Heat the milk until tepid and stir in the yeast with a pinch of sugar. Leave for 15 minutes. Add the sugar to the flour and make a well in the centre. Pour the yeast mixture into the well and mix well. Add the egg white and the softened butter and mix well. Turn out onto a floured work surface and knead well for ten minutes. Put the dough on one side to double in volume in a warm place, covered with a tea towel and away from drafts.lRoll out the pastry into a 30cm diameter circle and use it to line the base and sides of a 27cm tart tin. Prick the base with a fork and leave to rest for 15 minutes. Beat the egg whites until stiff and gently fold them into the rice pudding with a spatula. Pour the rice mixture into the lined tart tin to fill it. Brush the surface of the tart with the beaten egg yolk, then bake for 20 minutes at 180°C.

Roast beef with pickles and green beans
Ingredients:
lRoast beef lPickles lChicken broth or veg broth lGreen beans lOnion
Method
lColour the beef in a pan, put for about 6 mins in the oven (180°C). Cool down and season it with pepper and salt. Cut the meat into thin slices and place on a plate. Put the pickles in the middle. Cook the green beans in salted water till done. Cut the onion into small pieces and melt in butter. Put the green beans into the pan with the onion, season it and place next to pickles.