Chef Balvinder Lubana: Goan Food Thrives On Limited Ingredients

CHEF BALVINDER LUBANA began his journey as a chef at Goa Marriott, where his maiden induction took place. Several years later, after hopping across cities and brands, he's back at the property in its 25th year – it was the first Marriott in the country, located in Panjim. In a discussion with the writer, he discusses what changes he brought to the Goan cuisine at Marriott, and the essence he retained. Edited excerpts below:

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Not really. My induction took place here many years ago. It was like life coming full circle. Also, people from all over the country travel here. It's a resort more than a hotel. So when they travel with their families, they want to try new, local food and, at the same time, they want to stick to their comfort food. As a chef who has worked in several cities, I know what they want.

Was it particularly challenging to switch to the Goan style of cooking?

As a North Indian, as a Punjabi, I'm fascinated by it. We play around with so many flavours to cook even the simplest of meals. Goan food uses very limited ingredients. They don't play with 20 ingredients, but just four or five. Yet the food is so delicious, in its own hyperlocal way.

How did you make the Goan cuisine more authentic at the property?

Whenever I get a transfer, I make an effort to understand the local cuisine and the local flavours. I had to venture out when I shifted to Goa Marriott. I tried food at both the famous places and also the people's favourites. I tried my Goan teammates' food at home. Getting homecooked food to a hotel makes a lot of difference. When you go out, it feels a little commercialised, instead of authentic. This year on Mother's Day, we invited eight moms of our team members and asked them to cook their best dish for our Mother's Day brunch. People went bonkers when they tried out those dishes.

Also, we have a lot of local guests frequenting the hotel for over 20 years and they said it's the kind of food they have at home and also want to taste outside. We respect their feedback because they've been visiting our property for so many years on a religious basis.

What is it about the Goan cuisine that those on the outside often get wrong?

When people come to Goa, they assume the cuisine will have a Portuguese influence. That's not necessary – we have a Catholic style and a Saraswat Brahmin style. Catholic food is inspired by toddy vinegar, wine, and pork. Saraswat Brahmins also make both veg and non-veg, but their flavours are derived more from natural ingredients like kokum, ambari, and triphala. We replicate both cuisines here. Some dishes taste better in the Catholic style, for instance, vindaloo, because you need to have that pickled flavour. Also, you don't get that taste the same day. You need to make it a day prior, keep it in the refrigerator, reheat it the next day, and it tastes better.

How do you perfect the Goan thali?

Firstly, we take great pride in reducing our carbon footprint by controlling our portion size and food wastage. The Goan thali is very big – I call it the Baahubali thali. Come on! You need two to finish that thali. Or you need to skip at least two meals to finish it. Otherwise, if you eat the thali on your own, you're off the radar for the next three meals. So we serve smaller portions – served in smaller frequency, and bowls aren't too filled up either. Of course, there are certain elements we can't get away with – red rice, fried fish, prawn curry, among others.

Secondly, our request to people is when you try a Goan thali, try and pace it out. Don't be in a rush. Go easy and you'll be able to finish the thali. If you treat it like another meal, you won't be able to finish. That food takes time – every item has a different balance, a different flavour. Like if you try Japanese cuisine, and move from one sushi element to another, you have to clean your palate first.

You also have a food truck by the pool that serves Goan-style burgers. How did that idea come about?

Every hotel tends to have a monotonous menu – with pizza, pasta, sandwiches, and finger food – and the menu is done and dusted. We have a unique burger menu featuring dishes like a keema burger, which is North-West Frontier-style – a ragda-style keema on a soft-roll sesame-seed bun, with mint chutney and mayonnaise. It gives you the nostalgic feeling of biting into a juicy keema pao. Southern burgers are served with banana fries and fritters, while Northern burgers are served with potato fries or hot chips in a paper basket.

For the Goan experience, we have a double chorizo burger in which there's chorizo, bacon, and fried egg that's a little runny. When you bite into the egg, the yolk comes out of it. It makes the burger creamier in texture. There's also the Alsande – a red bean, like the Kashmiri rajma, that we serve with that burger. You don't get those beans anywhere else in India. Then there's also the chicken cafreal served inside poi bread.

Do you bake these breads in-house?

We don't make poi in-house. There are certain elements that you can't get right in a hotel. People who make Goan bread here are called the Poder. They make native varieties of bread like Poi, Khatre Pao, Undo, and Pao in a food-fried oven. They sell these breads in a basket which they tie to their back and announce their arrival on a bicycle with a hand horn.

Also, we do a lot of pop-ups in the lobby facing the sea. We have a precise menu – 3 dishes; no rocket science; 250 bucks, and done. Do you get anything for 250 rupees in a 5-star restaurant, while you look at the sunset over the sea?

You've also introduced Sea Grills, a paddy house-style restaurant between the swimming pool and the sea. What's the concept behind that?

You select your own catch for the grill. It's a very famous, old-school Monger Basket style. When you go to a seafood market, you see a guy with a tokri (basket) that has the day's catch. You smell and check if you want to go for that. You select your catch, your marination, and what kind of protein and starch you need on the side. You can also decide on the cooking style. Then it makes a hell of a lot of difference if you dine inside a five-star restaurant or out in the open, facing the sea. The structure gives you the feeling of a shack, but the service is that of a five-star hotel.

Finally, how do you nail the dessert menu at the hotel?

Goa is known for bakeries that are 100 years old or even older. So we took inspiration from them. Then we took some inspiration from our childhood. For instance, I love buttercream instead of the regular cream-based cake. Also, if I have 18 desserts in my buffet, there should be a balance. They shouldn't have the same appeal, the same appearance, the same flavour, or even the same texture. 

I play around with texture because when you eat desserts, you also eat with your eyes. So I don't have loud colours. I like to play with natural colours like saffron, pistachio, mango puree, or passionfruit puree. Even though I'd eat only 100 grams of each, I like to have variety. That's my nature, and I like to portray my nature on the plate. Six ice-creams, six condiments – so you can develop your own sundae.