Top

Masala mavericks

Chefs celebrate their love for traditional Indian food at their famous restaurants

From the verdant hills of the once tiny outpost of Dehradun came Vikrant Kapoor, brimming with flavours and traditions from the gharana. Today his restaurant zaaffran at Darling Harbour in Sydney is privy to the most eclectic Indian bites. There’s experimental chef Gaggan Anand whose humble beginnings turned molecular gastronomy on a plate, an El Bulli degree later, he was among the top 50 in the world, the only Indian one — Gaggan in Bangkok. In the lush surrounds of Kerala was a young lad who watched his family cooking at their tea shop, and he turned it into South Indian chain Rasa in the UK. Uber chef Karam Sethi has taken British Raj ka dawat khana and swirled it into Gymkhana that celebrates Indian cuisine with an irreverence only a chef can muster. Of course, there is a storehouse of knowledge from Atul Kochhar, who was the first Indian chef to get a Michelin Star with his almost prayerful ode to Indian cuisine with Benares in London.
Each chef started with a simple love for traditional food, and turned it into a galaxy of dishes continuing a tradition of celebrating India. They are the keepers of a culinary history hundreds of years old, and this is their ode to desi khana.

Chef Vikrant Kapoor works on the Indian flavour trail as a continuous endeavour. “The mystery of unique spice combinations are so addictive. Today, everybody travels and is so much more open to different cuisines and the popular programmes on TV and articles on food have helped with the acceptance and awareness of spices and Indian cuisine,” he says.

This son of a tea-planter and retired army officer is giving Australia the most wondrous bites of Indian khana. Vikrant has taken the ghar ka khana route with Zaaffran, which he started with two brothers Freddie and Rush (as partners) when he migrated Down Under. “At Zaaffran we bring age-old recipes from gharanas — passed from mother to daughter... home food that is nutritious, robust, rustic — we believe that food should not only please the palate but all the senses. Our intention is to make people re-evaluate perceptions of what Indian food should look, smell and taste like. Our take is ‘food just as your mum would cook it but with added refinement and flair’,” says Vikrant who has also worked his kitchen magic in Paris, Hawaii, etc.
Today, zaaffran sits on years of learning, “I learnt from the lady of the house, who made gharelu khana and got the khansama to grind spices. This has been given a contemporary touch. For instance, our mushroom naan has an international twist with truffle butter enhancing flavour,” he adds.

Chef Vikrant recalls his childhood in Dehradun, where his family would gorge on goat curry with patli roomali roti at a small dhaba near the station, and it finds itself on his seasonal menu. Celebrating India in its diverse flavours is a journey he revels in. “It is the mystique of spices. We are the only cuisine, apart from some African ones, that uses so many spices,” he says.

Taking best of south to the west

In London, the go-to for home-cooked Kerala cuisine is Rasa. The self-taught cook, who learned from his grandmother, offers the most simple and tasteful spread. Das Shreedharan is also starting a cooking school that will train orphans into spreading flavour back in Chalakudy in Kerala.
“The recipes are from my late mother, and she trained most of our early staff at home in Kerala. Rasa has remained truly traditional. We started Nair vegetarian cooking, seafood specialities from the fishing community, Syrian Christian food from Travancore and fast food meal boxes from tea shops to suit the working class too,” he says.
His ‘Cooking with Das’ evenings also popularise simple Indian cooking. Das feels Indian cuisine’s use of colourful and vibrant spices is attractive to people in the West. “History and colonial connections helped previous generations love Indian food and a majority of British eat at least one curry meal a week. In the past 20 years curry has been known as the national dish of Great Britain! Promoting a whole vegetarian meal to the growing vegetarian-consciousness has drawn people to Rasa. Dishes like beetroot with spinach, yogurt with sweet mangoes curry were all revelations to people,” explains Das.

Serving up molecular magic

This chef from Kolkata has taken Indian food into the molecular gastronomy halls of an epicurean Nobel. Gaggan Anand serves Indian food with odes from El Bulli concept.
“In this era, the attention span of people is short and unlike our gharelu Indian khana, we portion down the size so people can enjoy it. Less is always more and we do that with molecular gastronomy. I have created a phirnee, it’s a jasmine rice porridge with pistachio gel, garnishes of almond flowers. I invented a rose perfume that we spray for a rose aroma over the guest’s head. It’s innovative and keeps the taste alive,” explains Gaggan.
His food is Indian reinvented. “Our starter spread has papdi chat, channa chur, gol gappa and samosa — I have interpreted it. The gol gappa is in a chocolate shell with spiced water. But it’s a truffle of gol gappa,” he says. “I want people to know that India is not just a curry house. There are so many delectable dishes, we have to rediscover them.”

Karam Sethi of Gymkhana: The 30-year-old Sethi’s celebration of British Raj cuisine is meat worthy yet simple. Gymkhana was recently named Britain’s best restaurant and this middle-class son of a chartered accountant from Delhi grew up in Finchley and went on to woo the epicurean world with his staunch focus on Indian food with that Britsh Raj lurking over it… but this time it was for the better. He learned to cook thanks to his mum Meena and today Gymkhana is being waxed eloquently on pages and text across the globe.

Atul Kochhar, the first Indian chef to be given a Michelin Star when working in Tamarind, shines with his Michelin starred restaurant Benares in London.
His best offering:
This Jamshedpur-born chef is a twice Michelin-starred chef and he paved a new path where Indian cuisine walks proud in modernity. Taking heritage recipes and his love of British ingredients, his innovative modern Indian cuisine at Benares Restaurant & Bar has a menu replete with myriad Indian tastes.
His culinary directory takes Indian food and waves a magic wand of authenticity.



( Source : dc )
Next Story