Indian food. Two words that we use all the time but in reality have very little meaning. Because really, what is ‘Indian food’? Is it a rich Mughlai curry or fresh fish fry from the Konkan coast? Is it the mild sweetness of Odia or in-your-face flavours of the North East? We’re a country of such varied cultures, heritage, traditions and tastes, and squeezing all of that under a single umbrella is doing a huge disservice to our diversity.
When I first met award-winning Chef Amninder Sandhu in 2018, I saw this belief reflected in her stories and in every delicious plate, as she worked her magic at Arth. Today she’s breached new frontiers with gourmet delivery kitchens and conquered international platforms with The Final Table but the core of every project lies in a profound respect for the nuances of Indian cuisines.
She was one of the first chefs to take on the gourmet delivery game with Iktara opening just 3 weeks before the pandemic long before other fine-dining restaurants had been forced onto the same bandwagon. “I launched it from scratch, naming it, setting up the kitchen, buying utensils, designing a menu…everything.” Though that chapter is now behind her, she took all the experiences she had and brought that expertise to her new ventures.
Growing up in Assam, she was immersed in unique food culture from a young age and her childhood memories often make it onto the plate. Every time she steps into a kitchen, she leaves a little bit of her heart etched into the food but nothing is more completely hers than ‘Ammu’, a delivery kitchen stamped with her identity. “Everything from the name to the menu is an extension of my personality and I put dishes on the menu which reflect that,” she explains. From the South Indian chicken which was a family favourite to the Deomali Mutton inspired by fishing trips with her Uncle, everything has its place. She also adds unique touches to the usual suspects like Butter Chicken by serving it with Manipuri Black Rice. “It’s just food that makes sense to me,” she says.
Barfi and Sons is another cloud kitchen, this time conceived from her own guilty pleasures. “Indian mithai is my big weakness,” she admits, “but I feel like the mithai we have in the market is not really honest. Even when they say it’s made with desi ghee, there’s dalda mixed in it and a lot of artificial colours. So with Barfi and Sons, there’s no colour, high-quality ghee and spices. It’s just a way of doing the known mithai with better ingredients, better hygiene, better packaging.”
Rapid ‘Fryer’ Round
What is your favourite ingredient to cook with?
Raw mango – but not completely raw, not completely ripe. Sort of in between where it’s both sweet and sour. It’s really great. I just made pakoras out of it and they blew my mind.
What is your go-to delivery order?
Surve’s in Pune. It’s a simple Maharashtrian thali. They have a mutton thali I really enjoy.
What is your favourite menu item, past or current?
That has to be the Deomali Mutton. Bamboo smoked mutton with pink sticky rice.
Who’s your current culinary muse?
Daniel Boulud and Nancy Silverton
It’s your last night on earth what are you eating?
Oh god! It would be really hard to know I’m dying the next day, but it would be a Tomahawk steak
What is your food philosophy?
I have this little voice I listen to. You have to be humble and honest with yourself, I don’t follow trends I follow what makes sense in my head.
One ongoing concern she has about the state of the Indian culinary world is the sheer lack of representation. “Early on in my career, I realised that Indian cuisine is not documented well so you have to travel and meet people to learn.” This gap was further exposed during her stint as a contestant on the Netflix cooking contest, The Final Table. She interacted with chefs from across the world and realised that the problem wasn’t just in their understanding, but also the fact that as Indians, we don’t take enough pride in our own food. “Indians outside have always focused more on commercial success, and alter our food to the Western flavour palate. We’ve also suffered from an inferiority complex about serving our food straight up,” she explains. “The Japanese never did that they taught the rest of the world how to eat their food and served it the way it was meant to be served.”
Even though her delivery kitchens are her pride and joy, the next project she’s working on is a dine-in space in Pune. Nora – meaning light and named for the light they brought back to a venue that had been closed for 10 years – is set to be a fun, relaxed spot with dishes from all over the world including many from Sandhu’s travels around India. With an earthy, upcycled vibe, indoor and terrace spaces plus a wide range of offerings including numerous plant-based items, it’s a slight divergence from her usual path but one that’s filled with promise.
This wasn’t always on the cards however and Sandhu admits that she never had plans to open a restaurant in Pune. “But somehow, when I saw this space it just felt right. Now I have a great sense of belonging here.” The choice might surprise many who believed she was currently on a mission to conquer the delivery world, but it’s just another testament to her intuition, and the trust she places in following it.
She’s eager to be back to serving customers in person again though having missed being able to watch her customers enjoying her food in person for so long, “I has a guest send me a voice note once which was refreshing, but that’s about it,” she says sadly. “The first day at Nora we had friends and family over and I was in the kitchen – it was a great feeling – and I realised what I had been missing the last two years. Although I’ve never felt like I wasn’t doing something worth my while. ”
Whichever space she’s exploring, you can be sure that it will have the signature of chef Amninder Sandhu. And what does that entail? A love for fresh, local ingredients, a respect for the diversity and potential of every state and a promise of complete dedication to the craft she loves. As she puts it, “If you’re a cook, your job is to cook, no matter where you are."