From SCREEN to SKILLET

Ismail Merchant captured a great deal of media attention recently when the film that he produced, “A Room With a View,” garnered eight Academy Award nominations.

“Room” wound up with three of those awards--best costume design, best art decoration and best screenplay adapted from another medium. Teamed with director James Ivory and writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Merchant has a long list of notable credits, including the recent “Heat and Dust” and such older films as “Shakespeare Wallah” and “The Householder.” And he is hopping from one continent to another to work on a string of new projects.

But until lately, only close friends and working associates knew that he could produce with remarkable flair in another field--cooking. Wider appreciation came last year with the publication in the United States of his cookbook, “Ismail Merchant’s Indian Cuisine” (St. Martin’s Press: $19.95). The book was published first in England and has some distribution in India, where Merchant was born.

It is a small volume, and most of the recipes are simple, for they reflect Merchant’s rapid, personal style of cooking rather than classical Indian cuisine, which can be quite involved.

An intriguing part of the book is a series of testimonials from friends verifying that Merchant can produce a meal in seconds from almost nothing.

The typical scenario is this: Merchant investigates a friend’s refrigerator and, in half an hour or so, creates a sumptuous meal from a handful of scraps. Or Merchant volunteers to cook for a party, doesn’t show up until the nervous host has despaired of any food, totes a bag of groceries into the kitchen and, in a flash, turns out an impressive dinner.

It makes good reading. But could anyone really do this? Or are these the exaggerations of loyal associates? There was only one way to find out, and that was to submit Merchant to a test. Merchant would have to perform these magical cooking feats before objective witnesses in an objective laboratory environment.

Would he agree to such a test? The answer was yes. And so Merchant came to The Times’ Food department one afternoon, nattily clad in a high-collared suit made in Bombay but equipped with nothing, not even a copy of his book. His assignment: to produce whatever he wanted from whatever he could find in the test kitchen refrigerator and spice cupboards.

What happened? To sum up, his performance was a dreadful put-down for those of us who, in the privacy of our home kitchens, labor over printed recipes, measure every grain of salt and tremble over the outcome. Here was Merchant under fire in an unfamiliar kitchen, snatching things from the refrigerator, grabbing utensils he had never seen, issuing instructions to volunteer aides, chatting nonstop, posing for photographs, charming everyone and working without hesitation.

When he was done, the counter held three never-before-prepared dishes, and Merchant reveled in the triumph not only of watching us devour them but hearing us rave about them. Elapsed time: slightly less than 45 minutes.

Although he sandwiched the cookery test into an appointment-crammed day that ended with a flight to New York, Merchant lingered in the kitchen longer than one would expect. His pleasure was not merely that of an actor responding to applause.

“I love chatting,” he said. “I love seeing everyone eat and be together.” And he telephoned later to say again how much he had enjoyed the experience.

That day, Merchant was inspired to simmer shrimp in a mustard-lemon sauce with herbs and caraway seeds. He tossed steamed broccoli with a tangy mixture of mustard, lemon juice and cayenne and composed a sort of ratatouille of eggplant, tomato, onion and garlic, which he seasoned with vinegar, bay leaves and a heavy dusting of black pepper.

“The simpler things are the best,” he said. Merchant grew up in Bombay, and his food is stamped with the character of India. But the spicing is different, milder, more European.

“Indian food is always considered hot and spicy. Well, mine isn’t,” he said. His staples include Dijon mustard, French herbs, lemon juice and black pepper. And he likes especially to work with shrimp and broccoli.

Merchant cooks fast and freely, and it was challenging to record his actions with exactness. (Richard Robbins, who composed the music for “A Room with a View,” put the recipes in order for Merchant’s cookbook.) Nevertheless, we managed to simulate his impromptu creations quite adequately and have added a recipe for lassi, a salty yogurt drink that Merchant recommends as an accompaniment.

Merchant is not falsely humble about his ability to cook.

“One thing I guarantee always is that it will taste good,” he said. Here are the guaranteed dishes.

MERCHANT-STYLE MUSTARD SHRIMP

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon fines herbes

1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds

Juice of 1 1/2 lemons

2 tablespoons oil

1/2 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

Salt

1/2 cup cilantro sprigs

Mix mustard, fines herbes, caraway seeds and lemon juice. Heat oil in medium skillet. Add shrimp and saute 2 minutes. Season to taste with salt. Stir in mustard mixture and cook 2 minutes longer. Turn into serving dish and garnish with cilantro. Makes 2 to 3 servings.

SPICY BROCCOLI

3 tablespoons Dijon mustard

Juice of 1 lemon

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 bunch broccoli (1 1/2 pounds)

Salt

Combine mustard, lemon juice, paprika, cayenne and olive oil. Cut off tough ends of broccoli. Cut lengthwise into florets, retaining stems. Place broccoli on steamer rack. Cover and steam over simmering water until tender. Remove to bowl. Season to taste with salt. Add mustard mixture and toss until thoroughly coated. Makes 4 servings.

ISMAIL’S EGGPLANT IMPROVISATION

2 tablespoons oil

1/2 large onion, sliced lengthwise

2 bay leaves

1 medium eggplant, cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks

1 tomato, cut into wedges

2 cloves garlic, sliced

2 teaspoons white vinegar

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Salt

2 teaspoons chopped parsley

Heat oil in large skillet. Add onion and bay leaves and saute 2 minutes. Add eggplant, tomato, garlic, white vinegar and pepper. Season to taste with salt. Cover and cook until eggplant is tender. Add parsley. Turn into serving dish. Makes 4 servings.

SALTY LASSI

(Yogurt Drink)

3 3/4 cups plain yogurt

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

3 3/4 cups water

Combine yogurt, salt, cumin and water and whisk 3 to 4 minutes until mixture becomes frothy. Adjust seasoning. Serve chilled or at room temperature. Makes 6 servings.

Food styling by MINNIE BERNARDINO and DONNA DEANE / Los Angeles Times